International Marketing in Barcelona, Spain for January Term with CIEE

During my experience traveling on the CIEE program: International Marketing in Barcelona, Spain, I felt like it was one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, experiences abroad. When leaving for my trip, my flight was canceled many times which caused me to feel anxious about future problems that might occur once getting to Spain. I do not speak any Spanish, but was relieved when arriving to Spain, because there were many people, who spoke some English, willing to help me find where I needed to go. I was living in a homestay, which I was excited to learn about the different aspects of the culture in Spain, as well as sharing my personal experiences back at home. Once I finally arrived to Spain, I felt a wave of happiness come across my body when I was driving in the taxi on the way to meet my host mother. The views were beautiful, and as someone who loves to travel, I was ready to begin my journey. This trip was a unique learning experience for me because I met many different types of people, learned the importance of understanding different cultures, and became extremely close with my roommate and host mother, which is never something I would have experienced without taking the opportunity to study abroad with CIEE. My unique experiences included: touring Sagrada Familia, which is the largest unfinished Roman Catholic Church, becoming friendly with, and getting to know the workers in the cafe where I would get my morning coffee, and the weekend trips to places in Spain, such as Menorca, provided by CIEE. I was able to come away from my abroad experience with a new set of life skills, an understanding of cultures that differ from my own, and create close connections to different people, which I still stay in contact with today.