The TRUTH About Studying Abroad

"Three and a half months in Spain?! Girl, you're so lucky! I'm so jealous."

These are the phrases I heard all summer from my friends and family back home before leaving fall, 2018 for Spain. Yes, it's true: I get to spend almost four months in another county studying the beautiful language and culture of Spain, and for this I'm incredibly thankful. However, there are things I've run into that I wasn't expecting and/or wasn't sure how to handle.

Jumping right into things, let's talk about money while abroad. Everything costs money, and as someone who has had a part time job since I was sixteen, I'm used to having a steady income. The notion of not making money for almost four months sounds pretty scary. I've had to budget quite strictly, and because my parents are helping to contribute to the program cost itself in the form of a loan, I didn't want to ask them for more money on top of that. Having a budget isn't bad, it just means I can't always go out and do all the fun things everyone else is doing. I've set priorities and goals for while I'm here and if that means not going kayaking with my friends one afternoon so that I can have this other adventure down the road, that's okay. I've found it helpful to over estimate how much money I'll need for something just to be on the safe side. Money doesn't grow on trees, you have to be smart with what you have while studying abroad and choose the activities, food, restaurants, and experiences that will fit into your plan.

Next thing is the language. As someone from Texas, I've been around Spanish for a bit. I wouldn't say I'm amazing at it, but most of us have been exposed to some form of Spanish in school or at work. Well newsflash: Mexico Spanish is not the same as Spain Spanish. They use different words, different verb forms, and they have different accents. On top of that, Seville (where I'm studying) is in Southern Spain, a region known as Andalucia. Sounds like a country from a fairy tale, right? In this area, the natives don't pronounce the 's' in their words and they squish their sentences together more than normal. So common phrases like, "hasta luego" (commonly translated 'see you later') comes out sounding like "hada lego." And of course like many other cultures, they talk very fast. I find myself constantly asking people to slow down and repeat themselves. This was quite frustrating at first and I found myself growing sick of Spanish, but then I realized, every culture does this with their language! They shorten some words, squish others together, or just leave out words that every native speaker is aware of. For some reason, I find it easy to get this selfish mindset that English is a universal language and everyone should cater to me; but that's such a wrong perspective! I've been majorly humbled just in the past few weeks. It doesn't matter that I can understand my Spanish teacher in the classroom and actively participate in group activities. If I can't communicate with Spanish people in Seville, I'm the one who needs to adapt to their way of speaking, not the other way around.

Next thing: friendships. When studying abroad, you don't always get to choose your friends. I've become friends with people I would normally never hang out with. It's been both a challenge and a blessing. I've had to graciously look at things from different points of views. I've had to learn to speech up and let my opinion be heard when it isn't shared by others. I've had to know and be able to defend my beliefs when others question them. Or perhaps I don't want to partake in a specific action that everyone else is okay with... why don't I? This kind of self introspection has helped me grow as a person; however, it's often a lonely or painful growth that required strong will and confidence. People are all unique and different. You don't have to like everyone, because, let's be honest: not everyone is going to like you. You can, however, learn from everyone and appreciate the unique qualities they posses and what they contribute to the world.

And lastly (for now) the food. Oh it's different here in Spain. They eat bread with everything! SO. MANY. CARBS! As someone who is big into fitness, health, and exercise, this freaked me out at first. I was worried I was going to lose my gains and get fat. However, I've learned that's a bit of an exaggeration. Because I have less control over what I eat... I decided to focus more on the quantity of food I'm consuming. This has helped me maintain weight while still being able to appreciate and try all the fun Spanish cuisine. I've had to let go of my inner control freak I didn't know I had and find a happy balance with all varieties of food and exercise. Not only is the food here different, the timing of everything is different too. Whereas breakfast time is similar, lunch isn't served till two or three in the afternoon, and then dinner isn't till nine thirty! In fact, most places (stores, restaurants, etc.) close down from three to eight pm so the locals can go home and have their siesta which is basically a time for rest, food, and sleep. It's been an adjustment, I'm still not loving it, but I'm slowly becoming more okay with it.

So there you have it! Some of the less glamorous parts of studying abroad in a different culture. Don't get me wrong; it's a blessing to be able to be in Spain for a whole semester, but people need to know it's not always rainbows and unicorns. Hope y'all enjoyed it and it was a bit insightful! Living in a different country is so different than simply visiting for a week. I've had to keep reminding myself of a phrase my professor uses. He's tells us: it's not better or worse, it's simply different. It's much different; but you know what? That's okay; It's normally when I'm most uncomfortable where I know I'm learning and growing the most. I need challenges to keep my brain sharp and alert. So cheers to new adventures and about three more months here in Seville!