Experiencing Madrid

After this past semester abroad, I can say with confidence that studying abroad is something I recommend everyone does. I was able to improve my Spanish, learn about a new culture, and get to know new people from Spain as well as from other universities in the United States.

One of my favorite things about my program was the ability to live with a host family. This was something I was extremely nervous about going into my program, but ended up being one of my best experiences in Spain. Living with a Spanish family helped me grow confident in my Spanish-speaking abilities and really taught me a lot about the Spanish people.

Through the IES program I was able to learn about the history and magic of Madrid. The program offered many opportunities to be active in the community, visit the most famous sites and interact with the Spanish people. Some of my favorite memories from my trip were the IES lead trips to Granada, as well as the tour of the Prado Museum, where I got to view many of the famous Spanish paintings I had learned about previously.

I loved my time abroad and learned that in order to get the most out of my time in Spain I needed to take advantage of all the cool and interesting opportunities my program offered.