Two weeks ago, I returned home after my semester abroad in Valencia, Spain. Although I love being home and seeing family and friends again, I’ve learned that reverse culture shock is real. The first time I looked on Google Maps and saw that all the restaurants near me closed at 9 pm, or went for a run and realized the street I wanted to go on had no sidewalk, I felt a visceral sense of horror. It was tough for the first week, but only because I fell in love with the Spanish way of life.
If you told me in late January that I would like my program so much by June, however, I wouldn’t have believed you. I struggled those first few weeks. Even though I did a lot of research on my program beforehand, it still wasn’t what I thought it would be. I lacked the “complete” Spanish immersion I wanted because the majority of my provider’s programs weren’t Spanish-focused like mine and they had to cater to those students. Additionally, two of the students in my already small program spoke fluent Spanish, so we didn’t use Spanish outside of our classes–something that helped me learn a lot during the other UA faculty-led program I did. I didn’t meet many Spaniards because I didn’t have as many opportunities to meet them as I thought I would, especially because the Spanish university schedule is different from UA’s. As I learned these things, I catastrophised. I thought I’d made a huge mistake. I wouldn’t get better at Spanish. I ruined the study abroad experience I dreamed about for eight years.
So, what changed? The answer is simple: time went on. After the first month, I didn’t see the students from the English-speaking programs as much, so I was able to curate my time around speaking Spanish more. Even though I still didn’t speak Spanish with my classmates, I spoke Spanish exclusively with my roommate and host family, who I spent more time with anyway. I met Spanish students through online language-learning forums at my university and did weekly language exchanges with a few. Once the Spanish semester started, I also met European students on exchange and made a few great friends who were also learning Spanish. I still improved my Spanish, made many friends, and learned a lot about Spain’s history and cultural traditions.
My program wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, but that doesn’t mean that it was bad or a waste of my time. I had a great experience and more importantly, learned to be flexible and patient. That’s my biggest piece of advice for you, too. Once you’ve chosen your program, prepare to be both those things. Even if you know every microscopic detail of your program, I’m almost certain that you’ll find that something isn’t what you expected. If you can’t adapt to the situation you find yourself in and find a way to enjoy it, you’ll ruin your experience for yourself. I know how hard it is to face that situation, but you’re not powerless. You can overcome those setbacks and make the most of your experience, just like I did. The things you’ll learn while studying abroad are worth every second of uncertainty–don’t let fear stop you!