I went to Asturias, Spain for my junior year of school in 2023/2024. There are very few negative things that I can think to say about my trip. I loved my host parents (Marioli and Jose) and my host sisters (Ana and Kurumi). Everyone from my family to the students in my institution were supportive, helpful, kind, and extremely patient and understanding when it came to learning Spanish. Some of my favorite memories of Spain are buying pounds upon pounds of strawberries with Kurumi, who I now consider my very best friend, and eating them at the beach. Another favorite is coming home from school every day and eating lunch and talking for hours on end with my host mother and host sister. Every single experience that I had there I cherished, even when school was hard or when I struggled with the language. My support system was large, and no matter what I was having a hard time with, my host parents, teachers, and the Nacel staff were always more than happy to help me right away. I cannot say enough good things about this program and Spain, and I recommend it to anyone considering going abroad.

Being forced to use Spanish to communicate with everyone was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. This program didn't group me together with other study-abroad student so I was the only native english speaker in my school/home. I wouldn't have been able to speak in English even if I wanted to, and I think that this is the reason I was able to learn so much. My host family was amazing, the food was incredible, and the friends I made/fiestas I went to were unforgettable. If you want to learn Spanish or are considering this program my advice would be to just do it because you won't regret it.

When I turned 15, I applied to spend a year among the rich Spanish culture of Asturias through the program of NACEL International. Once accepted, I knew I would be spending the next 10 months studying all core curriculum in Spanish, living with a non-English speaking family and experiencing all parts of another culture firsthand. What I never could have suspected was all the love and support I would receive from both my host family and my coordinators at NACEL, who held my hand in times of need, and were always there to help. Once this life changing experience came to a close, I returned to my country a more well rounded person, a person educated in another language and a person who learned from themselves by counting on others. I now have a heart that is split between two oceans, and because of the people and experiences I came in contact with during my year abroad, I can guarantee success, progress and prosperity in my future.

First of all the family was super nice and the food just amazing! So thank to my my host family for making my experience so amazing. And thank you to Nacel for connecting us. I had been waiting a long time for this and it was perfect. My first class went well as I could understand everything which was encouraging from the start. I am now 100% fluent in Spanish but I have to admit it was not always easy... Be prepared to make some integration and cross culture efforts. But appart from that everything was perfect. I feel really happy to have taken this experience abroad. Do it if you can !