Living in Madrid has been the largest stepping stone in my life. To move by myself to a different country where I didn’t know anybody was a huge moment in my life as it threw me right out of my comfort zone. However, it is without a single doubt I can say that it has also been the best year of my life. From studying to making friends, meeting the love of my life and travelling around the peninsula I have truly immersed myself into the ‘vida madrileña’ and Spanish culture in general.
I would like to extend an immense amount of gratitude to the John Speak Language Trust for helping fund my studies abroad, it is with their payments that I was able to allocate more of my money into things such as cultural immersion and travelling, which undoubtedly formed the amazing experience I had in Madrid.
Studying at the Complutense, I was truly immersed into the Spanish lifestyle as I was in normal Spanish cl
asses, full of local students where all classes were taught in pure Spanish. Despite being a difficult experience at the start, it massively helped me to improve my Spanish language skills, and I can say with full confidence that I have drastically improved my Spanish since I came to Madrid in September. Being surrounded by natives and constantly being forced to speak Spanish in situations has helped me immensely in improving my Spanish, as it has taught me to speak m
ore authentic and less like a textbook.
I will never forget this year in Madrid, the memories I made with some of the most amazing people I met will forever be immortal in my mind and heart. My year was full of travel and adventure, some of my favourite things was taking trips with my girlfriend to various towns close to the capital: such as Aranjuez, Segovia and Toledo, with even trips to Valencia and Lisbon included. Despite Covid restrictions, it did not permit the amount of enjoyment and enrichment I experienced in Madrid, with every weekend offering a new 
adventure for me and my friends.
In the future, I would love to return to Spain, especially Madrid and stay longer than just an academic year. It has taught me so many lessons, given me experiences and emotions I have never had before and given me gifts I never thought I would be lucky enough to receive. Therefore, I thoroughly recommend studying abroad to anyone who wishes to undertake it in the future, and in particular studying in Spain, the heart of the Mediterranean.