My time abroad in Spain has been an incredibly unique and valuable experience that I would recommend to anyone who may be interested in studying outside the United States. I have a belief that getting to know people of different backgrounds is incredibly important for personal development. Empathy is a quality that is so necessary in our society and also severely lacking. When we gain a deeper understanding of people who seem different than us, it helps make us more empathetic and less prone to making quick judgments about others. Studying abroad created the perfect venue for me to connect with people different from me.
Of course, meeting locals was one of the main ways I experienced this. In coffee shops, bars and restaurants, I got to practice speaking Spanish and immerse myself in the local culture. When conversing with the people I met, I picked up on plenty of differences between cultures. We discussed these differences often in classes and in past blog posts. But I also saw so many similarities between our group of Texans and the locals that we encountered. The people in our group that spoke Spanish fluently got along easily with native Spaniards, finding many similarities once they got past the language barrier. I saw family interactions that reminded me of my own and friends chatting and gossiping in parallel to me and my own group.
Surprisingly, I also got exposure to different backgrounds from building relationships within our own group that traveled together. Our group came from all over Texas and largely did not know each other before coming to Barcelona. The students were involved in a variety of organizations at school and represented almost every major within Mays. At first glance it seemed that many of us had nothing in common. One of the most unique things about studying abroad, though, is that the group you go with stays together almost all the time. This means that people who would otherwise never become friends or maybe even meet are able to get to know each other quickly. I formed friendships with people I might discount as too different from me if I had just met them in passing at A&M. Of course we were still so different, but we shared humor and interests I wouldn’t have expected.
I would absolutely recommend studying abroad to anyone considering it. Not only did I see the beautiful sights of Spain, I got to know amazing people I might not have otherwise. All it took was a flight across an ocean and a little conversation.
