This summer I spent 6 weeks studying abroad at the University of Valencia in Valencia, Spain. During this time, I took classes in Spanish Culture and Spanish Literature. On top of classroom activities, the program I participated in also included excursions with in the city of Valencia and to other cities in Spain such as Madrid, Toledo, and Barcelona.

This trip taught me a lot about myself and the world around me. Spending 6 weeks in Valencia reinforced what I already knew about European life and more specifically the Spanish lifestyle. This trip made push my limits and leave my comfort zone. I returned from this experience feeling much more independent and more confident. Also, academically I feel much more confident in Spanish communication skills. Throughout my classes and excursions, I also gained a lot of knowledge about the history of Spain and why the country is the way it is today and the values of the Spanish people. Three parts of my trip strongly influenced my personal and academic development. These three parts were my time within the classroom, my excursion time, and my interactions with Spaniards and other students from my program.

My time spent in classrooms played a very important role in my experience abroad because our interactions with our professors were a key part of our interactions with locals. Not only did our professors share with us cultural, historical and literature information, but they also shared with us their day to day lives and what it means to be Spanish. I learned so much from the professors about how very different Spain is from the US and why they are so different. They also gave me confidence in my writing skills as well as my speaking skills.

I enjoyed our time on excursions because it gave us time to explore the differences in culture and language within the country of Spain. In particular our excursion to Barcelona was very eye opening due to the tense political situation there. During our weekend in Barcelona we witnessed a march for Catalonian independence. It was the first time I had ever witnessed any kind of protest and after hearing about the situation in Catalonia for so long it was intense to see it unfold before our eyes. These excursions also gave us the opportunity to explore new cities on our own and by the end of the trip I felt I gained an overall sense of confidence not only in my ability to get around cities as big as Barcelona, but also in just living on my own in general. In coming back to the US, I feel much less anxious in my day to day life knowing all I was able to do abroad.

While we didn’t have many interactions with Spaniards outside of our homestays and waiters at restaurants simply being surrounded by the language at all times helped better grasp the language and made any real interactions we had with local even more impactful. Every night at dinner we would sit and talk to our host brother about his life in Spain and we got to meet some of his friends a couple of times since they were only a few years older than us it was interesting to see how they viewed their own country and the United States. Most surprising of all was how much I learned from my fellow Americans. It was a great opportunity to learn about people from all different places, backgrounds and hardships. Meeting them really made me reflect on my life and learn from them.

Not only did this trip knock out classes for a large part of my major, but it also put me a huge step closer to reaching my goal of becoming a bilingual doctor. Learning about Spain’s history and culture while in the country also helped me gain perspective about the world around me. My entire experience abroad really helped me gain confidence and independence that I don’t think I could have gained any other way.