In this post, I’m going to provide some tips for studying
abroad that will improve your experience and make things easier in the long
run. Some of these tips are things that I learned by not doing myself, and
wishing I had done, or by doing myself and realizing that they made a big
difference. Please note that these aren’t one-size-fits-all recommendations;
know yourself and your goals for studying abroad when deciding whether to heed
my advice. Let’s get going.
1. 1. Know the ins-and-outs of your city before
arriving
When you are deciding where to
study, it’s a great idea to create a list of prioritized criteria. For example,
if a nearby airport is a must for you, make sure the cities you’re considering
have one. I was fortunate, because I came to realize many of the things that
made Madrid a perfect study abroad spot for me after the fact. To provide
examples, I’m going to discuss some of the things that I really came to
appreciate about my host city, but remember that these are things that were
great for me. You need to do some
soul-searching yourself and think about what’s going to allow you yourself to
have an awesome experience.
First of
all, Madrid has a prime location in Spain. Situated in the center of the
country, it’s manageable to travel to any Spanish city without needing to fly
or take a high-speed train. For people living in the far south of the country,
traveling to Barcelona or somewhere else in the north is quite a long trip, and
vice versa. Be aware of other cities or sites you’d like to see in relation to
the location of your city of choice when deciding.
The ease of transportation in
Madrid was incredible. This goes for all levels: within the city, to other
cities in Spain, and to other countries in Europe. With the national airport
just a half hour metro ride from my apartment, I never had to fly out of
anywhere else. I can’t stress how convenient this is, especially if you are
someone who is going to be traveling most weekends.
Next, the Spaniards in Madrid spoke
a very neutral Spanish, and were always willing to speak it. This is something
I was well aware of before arriving, yet it was still a great feature of the
city. If you’re hoping to learn the language, be aware of the accent or even
dialect spoken in your city of choice. This isn’t to say that certain accents
or dialects are better than others, but it could be the difference between you
understanding the language and not understanding a thing. It also depends how
you want to speak, and how you want to sound when you speak. Language is
extremely dynamic, and can change even from city to city, so do some research
on how the people of your desired city talk. For example, in Barcelona, the
official language is Catalan, which has similarities with Spanish, but is
really a different language altogether. This region of Spain also has a strong
independence movement; so many people aren’t exactly keen to speak Spanish, and
even prefer speaking English to Spanish-speaking visitors. Therefore, it can be
difficult to practice the language. So if language learning is something you’re
interested in, keep this in mind.
Finally, there were seemingly
endless things to do in Madrid, which kept me busy (and also made
procrastination easy) all semester. There are tons of cool cafes and bars to
check out, a great theater and musical scene, plenty of green space and
beautiful parks, world-class museums, awesome shopping, nearby cities when you
want to get away, and much more. I don’t need to explain the value of having a
fun and interesting city to live in, and most popular study abroad cities have
plenty to offer, but consider your unique interests when researching. For
example, as someone who loves to be outside and stay active, having Retiro Park
and plenty of other green space in the middle of an otherwise urban jungle
proved to be priceless.
These are just a few ideas of
criteria to consider when choosing a city, presented along with my personal
examples in Madrid. I didn’t apply them to Madrid so you could look for a
similar city, but so you could see how this worked out for me. Spending some
time thinking about these things on the front end will make your trip far
better in the long run.
2. 2. If you’re looking to learn the language, and
learn it well, do a homestay or stay in a residence hall/apartment with natives
This is something I learned by not
doing, and while I wouldn’t say I regret not living with Spanish-speakers, it
definitely would have helped with learning the language. There are of course
plenty of opportunities to practice outside of home, but the real value of
living with native-speakers is not just that it facilitates speaking the
language, but that it discourages, even prevents, you from speaking English.
Half of the battle of learning a language is learning the language itself—the
grammar, vocab, expressions, etc.—and applying them in conversation. But the
other half is getting in the frame of mind of speaking a language, which
requires using that language exclusively as much as possible. Living with
native-speakers is great for this. It’s also a fantastic way to learn more
about the culture and the natives, which is arguably the best part of studying
abroad.
Now, I
would be remiss to leave out some of the potential downsides of doing a
homestay, which is living with a native family. First, you’re on the family’s
schedule, which means you are expected to be present at meals unless you notify
them. Obviously, this also means your meals are prepared for you, which can be
great or a sense of anxiety, depending on your specific needs and dietary
choices. There’s a good chance that your homestay is located further from the
center of the city—families tend to live in quieter neighborhoods away from the
hustle and bustle. I talked with people who didn’t mind this at all, and to
others who really disliked having to take a long metro ride all of the time. I
had yet other friends who got a great location for their homestay and loved it.
This shouldn’t impede you from doing one, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Finally, don’t think that you’ll be tied down in your host city every weekend,
unable to travel, because of choosing a homestay. Everyone I knew in Madrid who
lived with a family was able to travel as much as they wanted.
The
residence hall or apartment with natives or native-speakers is a great middle
ground option. You have complete independence, but will likely still be
speaking the language very well. An added benefit of this is that you’re
exposed to the modern usage of the language. By talking with people your age,
you’ll learn how to speak more naturally and informally.
3. 3. Create a budget and prioritize the big things
Establishing a budget before you
leave is very important for two reasons: (1) you want to be able to do
everything you want to do and (2) you don’t want to go completely broke trying
to do it. There are plenty of methods for budgeting, so I won’t get into that
here, but I would highly recommend setting aside money for big-ticket items,
like travel, first. Begin looking up transportation and lodging prices for the
places you want to visit and make financial space fir these costs. Towards the
end of my trip, I began running low on money and didn’t travel as much as I
could have in the last couple months, which could have been avoided with
smarter budgeting (although being “trapped” in Madrid wasn’t too bad either).
This also lets you know what kind of lifestyle you can live while you’re in
your host city. If you know you want to travel a lot and it’s taking up a good
portion of your budget, then you can cut back on the routine costs like eating
out and buying clothes.
4. 4. Journal as often as possible
As we all know, from losing our
phones daily to forgetting someone’s name ten seconds after you meet them, our
minds and memories are quite fallible. Additionally, research shows that when
we recall memories, we inevitably reconstruct them, changing little details
each time until they’re almost unrecognizable from the original. So don’t trust
your noggin to store all of the memories and thoughts you have while you’re traveling.
I highly recommend frequent journaling to record all of these things. I would
aim to write daily, even if it’s just a few sentences about something you did
that day, but a couple times a week or at least a weekly journal will do the
job, too. Besides acting as an external hard drive, journaling also encourages
an awareness of what you’re experiencing on your trip. Living in a new country
is a blur and it’s hard to digest things on the fly, but writing about them
helps as it’s akin to thinking out loud. After a journal session, you may come
to realize that you’re getting a little too comfortable in your routine and that
you need to do some more exploring and shake things up. Or it may just help you
realize how much you’re learning and growing along the way. Regardless,
journaling is a great idea for your trip.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these four tips! If you have any questions
about something I didn’t cover here, please comment or reach out to me at
jsauter244@gmail.com.
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