Goals for study abroad

 For as long as I can remember I have wanted to study abroad. Growing up I went to Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy where I not only learned the language but all about the many Spanish speaking countries and their traditions. My favorite Spanish speaking country is Spain. In middle school I had a teacher, Mr. Riddle, who was from Spain. He would tell us all of these amazing stories about his time there and I wanted to go and create my own stories. In high school I decided that I wanted to study aboard in Spain when I got to college so my senior year I took college classes so that I could be ahead. I wanted to ensure that I would have enough space in my schedule to go. So now I am a junior and this semester I got my acceptance letter to the Universistat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona Spain ! I am beyond excited and I cant wait to go. A lot of people as me if I'm nervous to go by myself to another country for a whole semester and honestly I'm not. I know that it will be very different than anything I've ever known, but that's the fun part! I get to go experience another culture in another part of the world. See the way people interact with each other. Try new foods, meet new friends.

Before I go to Spain I want to learn more of their slang. I have been speaking Spanish since I was young but I was taught more than one way. I learned vosotros in school, but the way I speak is more Mexican Spanish. While I’m there I would like to become completely fluent in Spanish. I’m nervous that it will take me a long time to adjust to all of the differences or that I will be really homesick. Im also nervous that when I come back to America I will feel like I didn’t accomplish enough. I don’t want this to be my only trip abroad. I have never left the country but there is so much of this world to explore and I want to experience as much of it as I can. I am so anxious (in a good way) to go to Spain. I want to create lifelong friendships and do things that will change the way I see the world. My goal is to grow in more ways than one.