Getting Involved and Living Like a Local

My goals for studying abroad are to enhance my proficiency in Spanish and to immerse myself into the culture. Therefore, living like a local is very important to me in order to attain my goals. I believe that there are several factors to living like a local. However, the main idea is to figure out about the culture there and how people living in the area live their life. Like we discussed it is important to figure out about their customs, beliefs, attitudes, traditions, foods, language, etc. In order to gain this knowledge it is necessary to interact with people or observe people in the area. Therefore, it is important to not just sit back and expect that you are going to understand the culture without putting forth any effort. I will make an effort to get out and meet people and go to local events. Additionally, for me I believe a big key will be to try and speak the language as much as possible. I know that I will make mistakes and struggle at first but this is the only way to learn. Another positive that I can use to my advantage is that I love playing soccer. Spain is known for being a great soccer country so I will try and find opportunities to play whether it is at the university or in the local community. This should help me to not only do something I love but meet local people which will allow me to better understand how locals live and immerse myself. Also, luckily for me I am good friends with a local student at the University so I will already have that connection which will help me immensely with being able to know anything I need to about the area or culture. All in all, I want to accomplish my goals of better learning the language and culture which will help me also in the future if I teach Spanish. I know that there will be difficulties and differences but I am pretty good at adapting to change.