I have always known that I want to live abroad and travel constantly in my life. I have an interest in other exploring places, other cultures, other foods, and so on. I knew that living and studying in Spain would be an exciting and challenging experience. But I didn’t realize how attached to the city I would become and how much I would miss the daily immersion in Spanish culture.

 

I am always open to new ideas and trying new things, but change is quite scary. When I first came to UF, I was terrified to be in such a big “city” when compared to the small islands in the Florida Keys on which I was raised. This experience was magnified significantly when I arrived in Madrid; living with strangers, speaking a different language, and not understanding my surroundings was extremely daunting at first. After the shock factor and jet lag subsided, I was overwhelmed with joy to be thrown into such a beautiful experience.

 

While taking courses in Madrid, my Spanish was reinforced and challenged as we were encouraged not to speak English while at school or on excursions. I was forced to struggle and fail multiple times with the language, which allowed me to understand my mistakes and correct them. Our instructors went beyond teaching us Spanish language, but flooded us with an understanding of Spanish culture and history, from cuisine to body language and everything in-between.

 

While living in Spain, I quickly realized how differently Madrilenos appreciate food and community. In the States, we often eat a meal as quickly as possible between meetings and quite often, the meal occurs in our car. In Spain, I never felt stressed for time during a meal; there was a major emphasis on enjoying your food and the company surrounding you rather than just eating to eat. In my apartment, we had 14 students from all over the world, and we were lucky enough that we ended up with a roommate training to be a chef at Cordon Bleu. Through her and our new friends in Madrid, we experienced exquisite tastes from all corners of the city and enjoyed the atmosphere just as much as what we were eating.

 

Outside of Spain, I had the opportunity to travel to 10 countries while in Europe, which allowed me to experience a multitude of varying cultures and locations. The challenge of not understanding a language or culture in another country is daunting, but it pushed us to respect others more holistically rather than jumping to any conclusions about where we were and who we were meeting. I was continually surprised at our ability to travel to multiple countries in one weekend and see such stark differences in personalities and tastes, as well as temperatures in differing regions.

 

My experience in Madrid solidified my aspirations to live and work abroad. I feel that we have such an incredible planet with such diversity and knowledge that I would not be living my fullest life if I did not take advantage of it. Because of my time in Spain, I will continually remind myself to be aware of the wonder that is the world around me and take any chance that I can get to continue traveling.