Study Abroad

As a part of my degree program, I was given the opportunity to spend a semester abroad in a foreign country to further my understanding of their language and culture. One goal I had before studying abroad was to further my speaking abilities in my target language, which is Spanish. Speaking Spanish has always been something I have wanted to become proficient in, but has constantly been a struggle for me. In the Fall semester of 2024, I studied in Barcelona, Spain with a program through CEA CAPA. During my time in Barcelona, I was able to form connections with people from the area, improve my Spanish speaking skills, and better my cultural understanding of Spain, specifically the Catalan region. 

 

Prior to my departure, I felt very nervous regarding my assimilation into the culture there, especially as someone who would be arriving alone. I did not know anyone else that was studying abroad at that time, and so I had many anxieties about my time away from home. I had done things alone before, such as attending a university hours away from my family and friends, but nothing to this extreme. In order to ease my nerves, I made sure to reach out to people through the housing portal to become familiar with some of the people I may be living with or traveling with throughout the next three to four months. This ended up helping me a lot upon my initial arrival, as I was able to connect with my roommates deeper since I had already spoken to them before. My roommates attended a different university than I do, so it was interesting to learn about their college experiences as well as meet their friends. Over half of my program was made up of students from their school, which was Cal Poly. Because of this, they were able to then introduce me to their friends, allowing me to grow my connections while in Spain. 

 

The program I went abroad with, CEA CAPA, did a great job of offering a multitude of opportunities for students to take advantage of. These included weekend trips to other cities, a fútbol game, and various chances to meet locals within the surrounding community. As someone eager to meet new people and create new experiences, I made sure to attend any events that I was able to attend. Some of the events had local students from a Spanish university attend too. These events were labeled as “Meet the Locals” and were a great way for the American students to meet people who are native to Barcelona. By attending these events, I was able to bond with a few of the local students. Following the meet-ups, we would end up going for a drink as a group. Without these events, I would not have known how best to connect with those around me that were not in my program. Another big aspect of my experience abroad was becoming involved with the program by becoming an ambassador for CEA CAPA. This was something that I had done at the beginning of my experience. In order to complete the semester as an ambassador, I had to attend a certain amount of activities they put on as well as connect with the other students within the program. Seeing as I had already begun to branch out and befriend those in the community, that aspect of the position was not difficult for me. I was able to be the voice of the students to the program staff, which felt very rewarding, since I was able to help students share their opinions and get their voices heard, which can be hard when one is in such a large group setting. 

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One aspect of the Spanish culture I witnessed that is very different from American culture is their attitudes around meals together. From the moment I arrived, I immediately had to adjust to the difference in meal times. Prior to studying abroad, I would eat dinner at approximately 6 pm, but in Spain, the restaurants don't open until 8 pm. Because of this, I had to change my schedule for each meal. I also had to get used to the custom that people would sit after finishing their meals for a very long time, chatting amongst each other even if they were not planning to order anything. This is very different than American custom as most waitresses try to "flip" the tables rather quickly. I enjoyed this Spanish custom since it allowed for me to eat slowly and not rush my conversations with those I was eating with. Another aspect of the culture is the portion sizes. I thoroughly enjoyed this change because they prioritise "tapas" over a full dish. This made it easy for me to try many Spanish dishes without ordering too much food at once. Overall, this aspect of the Spanish culture was something that I did not struggle with. Even though I am now back in the United States, I still frequently follow some of these customs, especially the one of ordering "tapas", or appetizers, rather than one full meal. 

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My biggest goal that I set for myself before leaving for Barcelona was to practice my Spanish speaking skills as much as I possibly could. In Barcelona, I found that it was difficult to practice this to some degree because a lot of the locals spoke English. When I would enter a store or a coffee shop, the employees would immediately start talking to me in English. This caused me to be very discouraged to practice because I thought I would just embarrass myself. I was able to connect with one employee at a restaurant I frequented though, who told me he would help me with my Spanish skills if I helped him with his English skills. We did not meet up outside of the restaurant, which I now regret not doing, but he did teach me some new words in Spanish. Another challenge was the difference in language in Barcelona. When walking around the city, I began to recognize that most of the people were not speaking Spanish to each other, rather they were speaking an entirely different language called Catalan. I was able to learn a little about the Catalan language and culture by taking a Catalan class through the program. It was very interesting to see how little Spanish was seen around the city, since everything was written in Catalan. Even the traditions that were celebrated were primarily Catalan traditions, including their independence day from the rest of Spain, which never ended up happening. As I began to learn a little more of the Catalan language, I was able to better understand a lot of the signs and sayings that we say around Barcelona, but it still made it difficult for me to practice my Spanish. Although I didn’t get as much practice as I was hoping, I still saw a great improvement in my ability to communicate in the Spanish language. 

 

My roommates and I made a pact at the beginning of the semester to take any and all opportunities that come our way to engage with the community, whether that be academic related or not. One aspect of this was to travel on the days we were free, which was the weekends. During our time abroad, we were able to see 10 different countries, taking every opportunity to learn about different cultures and see new places. I think it is very important to interact with a variety of people from different places to learn about their specific culture and teach them about yours. In each place we traveled to, we made connections with different people from different places. One example of this was our trip to Valencia, Spain. This was our first trip all together, and so it was full of many firsts and getting to know how well we would travel together. We stayed in one big hostel run that has 10 beds in it, so there were other people also staying in the same room. Before leaving for the trip, we were all skeptical about how staying in a hostel would go, as we had all never done so previously. One of the girls that we were traveling with was from Germany, and so she was more acquainted with hostels, which made all of us feel a little more comfortable. The experience ended up being one of our favorites from the whole trip. The people that were in our room were very fun and nice, going so far as inviting us out with them one night. During the trip, we met people from Italy, Finland, and other cities in Spain. Following this experience, we were all very excited for the trips to come. 

 

Another difficult aspect of studying abroad for me was leaving at the conclusion of the program. No one can quite describe the feelings that one has as they are leaving a place where they made various new friends and many new experiences. Prior to going abroad, I was nervous about experiencing a new place with no one I knew, but I was still very excited for what was to come. As I was leaving, I felt nervous about entering back into my day-to-day life in the United States. The study abroad experience is full of new adventures, and going back to all the old aspects of your life can be challenging. Getting back into a regular routine can be very stressful, especially as you are reminiscing on the amazing experiences from the past few months. Although it was hard and took some time, I was able to fully appreciate the return to my home country and get back into a routine. The key to doing this is being positive with the experience and sharing it with anyone that wants to listen or talk about it. I make sure to urge people to study abroad, sharing how it was the best experience of my life. The people I met, the new cultures I explored, and the experiences I had will forever be something that I have to hold onto.