Settling into Spain

I was jet-lagged, exhausted, nervous, and expecting to find those “best friends” immediately. Instead, I slept through my alarm, couldn’t find the right building, walked into orientation an hour late, and was completely mortified. So it was a rough start. But as the day went on I got to meet more and more people from my program. Was the small talk exhausting? Yes. But once we got past that awkward phase, I started to truly meet the people I’d be living with for the next three months.

The next couple of weeks was a more steady adjustment period. I’m also not much
of a city girl, so I was really pushing the limits of my comfort zone by studying in
Barcelona. I craved a lot of the comforts of home, like a CVS or Trader Joe’s. Don’t count on your new country to have American brands; they most likely don’t.

I was expecting to start traveling immediately with those sudden best friends. But again, this was reality. Those friendships I made took a bit of time to fully form, but we also badly procrastinated planning our trips. Additionally, I had friends visit me in Barcelona for two weekends in a row before I got the chance to travel. While it was nice to play tourist, I definitely felt a little trapped. Having friends visit is awesome, but if you know you want to travel, try to plan your own adventures first.

In my bouts of homesickness, I felt immense guilt. How could I be in another country, another continent, and be feeling bad about it? I called a bunch of my friends who were also studying abroad, and they felt the same thing. While studying abroad is fantastical and easy to romanticize, remember to be kind to yourself. You just packed your life up to move to a foreign country on a different continent for three months. Be kind to yourself!

For me, I immediately felt better once I started to travel. I knew I wanted to get out of the city and be in nature, so I did just that! My friends and I went to the Scottish Highlands, we rented a car and road tripped through Norway, and I felt unbelievably better. My weekend trips also gave me something to look forward to, which definitely helped.

Traveling to other countries was an amazing experience, but it also helped me
appreciate Barcelona much more. After just my first weekend of travel, I quickly
recognized that Barcelona was now my comfort zone - my home base. In other countries, it’s easy to get a little frustrated with things like public transport, language barriers, or even how expensive other places are. For me, these helped me realize how at-home I truly felt in Barcelona. While I loved each and every one of my trips, I became more excited to get back to my little apartment with my own shower, my own food, and all of my friends.

Overall, my adjustment was a bit rough, but I made it! And just because my experience was a little rocky doesn’t mean yours will be. It sounds cliche, but really,
remember to be patient with yourself. Do sufficient research before you choose the
location of your new home for a semester, and make sure it’s somewhere you can really see yourself loving. It was definitely a growth and learning experience for me, but I don’t regret it at all, and I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to study abroad. There’s truly nothing like it!

Check out all of our programs in Barcelona here!

Blog by Rachel Batan-Seegull, University of Massachusetts Amherst