During my year abroad, I spent the first semester studying in Alicante and the second semester doing an internship in Salamanca. Both of these experiences were incredible and allowed me to immerse myself in the Spanish lifestyle and meet a lot of different people while improving my knowledge of the language. It was also a very new experience for me, that was out of my comfort zone, but I got used to it and it was a great time.
One thing I particularly enjoyed about my year abroad was the opportunities I had to explore different cities within Spain. As I spent my time in two different cities that were quite far from each other, this also allowed me to visit a wider variety of places and regions.
Having this scholarship from John Speak helped me a lot throughout these months as it allowed me to make the most of every opportunity available to me and meant that I had less to worry about and more time to enjoy every aspect of life in Spain.
I visited places such as Avila, Sevilla, Murcia, Segovia, Toledo, Barcelona and more. It was a great experience and I hope to return in the future in order to continue immersing myself in the culture and language and meet more people.
My time abroad was important in encouraging me to grow personally as well as academically. This was the first time I had left the country alone, especially for such a long period of time and while it took some getting used to, it was definitely worth it. I found that the mix of studying and doing an internship was incredibly helpful as I had the chance to study along with other exchange students as well as Spanish students while I attended the University of Alicante, and I also had the chance to meet a lot of different students while I interned at a company that helped to facilitate the year abroad for many students. In the internship, I was able to speak to a lot more people daily and this helped immensely to improve my level of Spanish which was great. I found this time in Spain to be an enlightening experience and I would recommend a year abroad to anyone thinking about it as it had a very positive impact on me in many ways. It was especially important for me in enabling me to be more aware of the endless opportunities available to me, especially those abroad and it was fulfilling in many different ways. I cannot wait to return to Spain soon and continue to participate in the lifestyle and learn more about the culture.
View from Castell Montjuic