Wow! That is the only reaction I can muster to describe the events of my first month studying abroad in Madrid. When I began my study abroad journey, I was told to have realistic expectations; but I found myself asking, what does realistic mean? Am I going to develop meaningful relationships? I mean I am only going to see these people for a couple months. Am I going to be able to enrich my study abroad experience with travel outside my city? There is a lot of money and planning involved in travel that I am not sure I can put forward. I was asking dozens of questions like these, preparing myself for what I believed was realistic; and after a month, I am ecstatic to report that my expectations were not realistic at all. Every aspect of my study abroad experience has far exceeded my expectations. During this blog post I would like to compare my expectations to the reality of studying abroad.

In the weeks leading up to my departure towards Madrid, the largest source of anxiety for me was easily the social aspects of study abroad. I had always seen photos of people studying abroad with these large groups of friends, who all seemed extremely close. For me, I have maintained a relatively small and unchanging group of friends since elementary school; many of these friends attend Mizzou as well. I was concerned with my ability to develop these meaningful relationships that I had seen online, since it had been so long since I completely surrounded myself with students I have never met. However, while it is okay to be concerned about making friends abroad, since it can drastically affect your experience, I quickly realized every other student studying abroad feels the same way.

During the first few days, I introduced myself and was introduced to more people than my whole first year at Mizzou, quickly developing a solid group of friends. I remember, three days into the program, my new group of friends and I went out to explore some of Madrid’s famous nightlife; I had a small satchel which I kept important things that I did not want to leave in my pockets such as my phone and wallet, since pickpocketing is said to be a problem in Madrid. As the night progressed, my satchel was filled with my friend’s various phones and wallets since they too were worried about having their things stolen. It was not until the next day that we realized we had only known each other for three days, yet we trusted each other enough to hold on to our most valuable items. I believe this is a testament to how quickly and easily these relationships are developed; and after a month, I can confidently say that the relationships that I have developed with these friends stretch further beyond what I could have imagined before arriving in Madrid.

Another important aspect of studying abroad is obviously traveling in and around your city/country. When I was researching places to study abroad, methods of public transportation were the least of my worries. I did not expect public transportation to have such an effect on my study abroad experience. I thought I would be okay walking, or taking Ubers or taxis if there was no public transportation. However, after spending a month in Madrid and various cities throughout Spain, I can not emphasize enough the importance of public transportation while studying abroad. Luckily, Madrid has one of the best subway systems in all of Europe, if not the world. It is during my time traveling to other cities that I became thankful for the quick, consistent and easy methods of transportation that Madrid provides. Even compared to other large cities such as Barcelona and Valencia, Madrid’s transportation was leagues ahead. While you are studying abroad, it is not likely that you will buy your own method of transportation, so you are at the liberty of whatever options your city provides. With hindsight, public transportation has been an unexpected, but welcome, surprise for my experience thus far, and a very important aspect that can make or break one’s time studying abroad.

After my first month studying abroad, I can confidently recommend this experience for anyone who is even remotely interested in experiencing another culture and challenging themselves. This month has easily been the most culturally and academically enriching time in my life. In my time in Spain thus far, I have been able to experience and appreciate the cultural differences between the U.S. and Spain, and also people from all over the U.S. I can not wait to dive even deeper during these next couple months.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: IES Abroad: Engineering, Math and Science in Madrid