Want to Study Abroad? You Should.

Before my freshman year at Belmont, my now-adult friends, no matter their alma mater, always told me to do one thing as a college student — study abroad. Lucky for me, I always wanted to. I grew up gathering intellect via international exposure from television figures like Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern, personally going on a multi-nation European adventure in high school, and (sarcastically) like most young children, studying atlases and knowing the flags of the world by memory at age 7. So when the time came around to study abroad in Spain during my sophomore year, I rose to the occasion and challenged myself to what would be the most influential semester of schooling in the entirety of my college career. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be able to engage with the world on the level I was able to, giving me insight on how I can transform it in the years to come.

It all began in high school, where I was lucky enough to travel to Spain, touring the central and southern parts of the country. The opportunity came to be due to my AP Spanish classes, where we no longer learned about grammatical phrases and noun constructions and instead focused on Spanish culture, Spanish-speaking peoples, the complex political nature of Spanish-speaking nations, and other similar topics. Finally, after four years of taking boring, grammar-focused classes, we could genuinely explore all-things Spain. While taking these classes, I grew more passionate than ever before about learning the language and the implications and potential global impact of doing so. Therefore, when my professor offered a 10-day summer trip to Spain, I had to pounce on the opportunity. I’m so glad I did.

This high school experience in Spain changed my life for the better. Whether it was the tapas, the friends, the advancements in my Spanish-speaking abilities solely from a short 10-day trip, I was addicted to the language. From the moment I came home from this trip, I told my parents I was going to study abroad in Spain in college, even though my mom was super hesitant about the idea. Fast-forward nearly four years later, and I can wholeheartedly say my college study abroad experience in Spain profoundly changed my worldview, forced me out of my comfort zone, and taught me things about myself I would’ve never known previously. It taught me to engage with my new world on a whole new level, so much so I’ve now taken my Spanish language skills to my current internships, translating for a Latin American immigration law firm, actively changing the lives of those needing or wanting to change theirs.

“Hola cariño! Que tal?” said Paquí, my host mom in Alicante. Shaking from a mix of nervousness, adrenaline, and a massive hit of jet lag, I walked into my new Spanish home for the second semester of my sophomore year in Alicante, Spain. Right off the bat, everything I thought I knew about the Spanish was thrown out the window. As generous and loving as my host mom was, she spoke at a rate that was nearly impossible to comprehend for a non-native speaker like me. I thought the listening units in my Spanish classes back at Belmont were hard, but Paquí was a whole different level. And don’t even get me started on my host dad, José. A short, rough, and strong Spanish Alicantino local from the country, understanding José wasn’t much easier. He spoke like the rest of the men in Spain – so quickly and mumble-like you couldn’t possibly tell the difference between their speech and a broken muffler on the back of an F150. I was frustrated. I simply couldn’t communicate with my host parents.

In addition, everything else about the new world I was living in was unfamiliar to me. Whether it was eating a small octopus for my first meal, getting lost in the new, unfamiliar city streets, or routinely eating Gazpacho a La Mancha each week, a soup made of bread and olive oil served with, in typical Spanish fashion, more bread and olive oil, I was a tiny fish in a big, big sea. Anxiety, nervousness, and concealment are typically words I’d never use to describe myself, but it was definitely what I was feeling at the time.

Just weeks later, however, I was myself again. I actually understood my host parents, started school and made friends, knew my neighborhood like it was my own back in Illinois, and even helped my host mom make her famous Gazpacho a La Mancha every week, a dish that to this day confuses me. After all, who makes a soup that’s 80% bread and olive oil and then serves it with bread and olive oil? Oh, the Spanish. Such an interesting culture. Nevertheless, the acclimation period that was so difficult for me proved to be the launching point for the next and best two months of my life.

I was pushed far out of my comfort zone, and it turned out to be an awfully good thing. This new, changing, and temporarily uncomfortable environment led me to realize my worldview isn’t the only one of importance. In this process, I learned an awful lot about myself. I learned I am resilient. I learned I am constantly optimistic. I learned I love people, no matter how vastly different they are or how they see the world and themselves. I learned to love the Spanish language even more than I already had previously, using my abilities now with my internship to engage with those wanting to transform their lives for the better, something I thank God for every day. I engaged with the Spanish world and its people, and I’m still influenced by my time abroad today, using my knowledge of the culture to help immigrants in Latin America with my current internship.

I want to close by saying this — the world is so big and so different from our lives here at Belmont. Explore it. There is so much to learn, so much that simply cannot be taught in the classroom. Get out of your comfort zone. Take risks and chances. Challenge yourself. Be okay with not being okay for a bit. Be grateful for every day. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help. After all, you simply never know where God is going to take you in life, and in my opinion, that is pretty exciting. Carpe diem.