As my study abroad experience comes to an end, I feel like I have a lot of advice for future students, especially ones who will be living in Trujillo, Spain! My biggest advice is to really put yourself out there. It may feel uncomfortable enough, just coming on this trip, but make sure you do everything you can and meet everyone. You are only abroad for a short period of time, and you want to make sure you leave feeling like you have done everything possible. This means traveling on the weekends when you can, staying in your home city when you can, making new friends, going on field trips, taking trips with your host family, etc. I would also tell future students to just try to speak the language of the country you’re in as much as possible. It is going to feel weird and uncomfortable, but the only way to learn is to try.

As friends or  family for help when learning this language, and just try to speak it as much as you can. You are going to mess up and say things wrong, but it’s ok. I would also advise students to meet as many new people as possible. I have truly made some of my best friends on this trip, and you just have to go into it with the right mindspace. A lot of people going abroad also want to make friends, so you just need to find the right people. The group of people you go abroad with will have seen you through your best and your worst. You are the only people who will actually understand what you went through, and so you need to create a good community with them. Nobody else is going to understand the city you’re in like the people you’re living there with. It also makes your time abroad feel much less lonely and much more fun when you have other people to enjoy it with you.