Seven years ago my love for travel started when I left my little town in the mountains to go live in Madrid with strangers for three weeks. I knew I would be going to school in Spain, conversing only in Spanish, and living with a host family with three other host sisters. Everyone always asked me “aren’t you scared to live with strangers?” and I said no, “I’m more scared about traveling to Europe for the first time, and only being able to speak in Spanish”. The exchange in Spain ended up being the most important core memories of my life. While in Spain I got to truly experience the typical Spanish lifestyle, food, school, Spanish mass, and having “siblings”. The group of students and I who traveled to Spain together with also were fortunate enough to meet the king of Spain, regardless to say, it was an experience of the lifetime, and from then on I knew I wanted to take every opportunity to study in another country, for as long as I could.
Over the years I maintained some contact with my host family, but it had been a while since we talked. But I reached out before going to Barcelona, and it was like no time had passed at all. I told them I would be studying in Barcelona and would love to visit them again, they were completely enthusiastic and couldn’t wait for me to come visit them again. The culture in Europe, especially in Spain is so very hospitable, they take you in and expect nothing in return (except to eat all of your food they give you, and wear slippers some things that are very important in their culture).
So, I made slightly last minute plans to visit my host family this past weekend, because all of my host sisters would be there. The main host sister, closest to my age, is the one I went to school with. She is now attending a University in Spain, and doing erasmus in Germany for the year. So I was so happy to visit them while they were all there. At first they were not sure if it was a good weekend for me to come visit because “we wouldn’t be able to do much touristic sightseeing, and it would be a lot of time with family” which is honestly exactly what I wanted. Ideal weekend, sitting back, having someone cook meals for you, and relaxing walking around at a slow, leisurely European pace. I am a planner, I have always been a planner, and the group ‘leader’ navigating the maps and finding restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, I still love this, and this is still me. But after many travels of being go-go-go and trying to see as much as I can in a weekend, endlessly planning, mapping travels, and being depended on to make most of the plans, I got pretty worn out from this. For example, during my October break in Italy, I visited a friend at University of Edinburgh. It was so nice to be with a big group, and just sit around talking and relaxing, and I dreaded finishing the rest of my trip, which was solo traveling. Advice that I didn’t really take my first time abroad, that I wish I had, is to have a balance between budget travels, and nice travels, or solo travels and travels with friends. It really is key to enjoying everything to the fullest, and not getting worn out of traveling. So as I fondly remembered my time in Edinburgh, not doing anything in particular, I looked forward to my weekend in Madrid with my host family.
When I was in Spain in 8th grade, I was deeply immersed in a completely different family lifestyle and culture. One of connectedness and spending lots of quality family time together. I feel like most countries, except for the United States, are like this as well. Families are very close, and live together or nearby. I used to be the kind of person always wanting to fill my days, constantly be doing and seeing something (especially while traveling). I always felt guilty about just letting myself relax, do nothing, and not do anything particularly productive. But after being abroad for 5 months now, it has truly changed me and shown me the importance of balance, and relaxation time. As well as the positive impact of truly just going with the flow, and spending time with family. Don’t get me wrong I have always valued quality time spent with others, especially having long walks or discussions. But I had never truly learned how to relax and just do nothing. I never allowed myself to, and I was always wanting to go out and see people or fill my days. This has created burnout; and while studying abroad, travel burnout, and I started to dread getting on another train or bus. But now I have started to embrace and love weekends or moments simply spent with people, sitting around not doing anything in particular.
I feel like people are always asking if study abroad changed my life, or stating that study abroad changed their lives. But you shouldn’t feel pressured to make sure that everything is going to be a life changing experience. The truth is, studying abroad will be life changing no matter what, but it doesn’t always need to be through big monumental changes, or career focused. It can be small things like learning how to live a more balanced lifestyle, or finding moments of peace doing your own thing throughout the day. Or especially, learning lessons from the culture you are living in. Learning how to live in a new culture and interact with locals in a meaningful way is one of the most important parts of studying abroad, and feeling comfortable in a foreign place.
Being abroad for an extended period of time is truly such an amazing opportunity because you can have the time to turn off your map, turn off your phone, and just see where the next turn takes you. This is one of the best ways of experiencing something unexpected, or interacting with locals in a different, meaningful way. Truly just being present and not worried about the next location to see is the most relaxing, fun adventurous opportunity. That was exactly what I was able to do this weekend with my host family. We went walking around a park, and then looking for a restaurant to eat. After lunch, we went to get a coffee and look at some shops, we had been walking around at a nice slow pace all day, yet everyone was already so tired. It was funny and also insightful seeing how easy Spaniards really take it on the weekend. Despite being relaxed pretty much all the time, when they’re at home, even if its just for a little bit between events, it’s on with the slippers and robe. So thank you Spain, and my host family, for teaching me how to take a break, relax, and embrace it.
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