CEA Study Abroad Student Blog
Paloma, Juan, and Yoki the dog, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness and the impact you had (and still have) on my life. There is not a day that goes by when I do not think about you and the effect you had on me. If you’re considering a host family for your study abroad experience or have had a host family of your own, you will appreciate the following letter. Thank you for introducing me to wonderful Spanish food. I still dream about tortilla Española,…
In a couple weeks I leave Prague and head back home to California. It is crazy to think I have been here for four months. The time flew by, as I was told it would. It is hard to put in words what this experience has meant to me. I’ve tried to find the right adjective to place before the word, ‘experience,’ but each time I write one down, it doesn’t fully encompass my feelings. Perhaps this is because there is no single adjective to describe what studying…
When I first told people that I would be studying abroad in Spain I received many comments along the lines of “you’re vegetarian,” as if I had forgotten. I had read up about Spain and the fact did indeed keep popping up that the Spanish were a people who took pride in their Iberian ham and Mediterranean seafood, especially in the more traditional city of Seville. As a vegetarian, this was a bit unnerving. After months of reading blogs and hearing comments from friends, I had pretty much…
Connecting with your study abroad city is a really important step into making an unfamiliar city feel like home. Getting to your city is an exhilarating experience, and something you’ll probably never get to do again, but what I wanted to do what make it my home away from home. Back in the United States, there were things I would do on a regular basis, my routine. I wanted to bring that to Barcelona with me because I would be here for 4 months. I started to realize that no matter where you…
The days leading up to Prague were filled with anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty. I really had no idea what to expect or how the first couple weeks would be. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to live in a foreign country and to be honest, the whole leaving the country thing did not sink in until finally landing in Prague. However, after being here for a little over a week, I can confidently say I have adjusted and learned a few VERY important things….
When my CEA coordinator asked if I would be interested in surfing in Ireland, I immediately responded with a, “YES!” I had no clue that there was surfing in Ireland and as a guy who fell in love with surfing the last time I went, there was no stopping me from trying it out in the beautiful country. My trip started with me missing the bus from DCU to east side of Dublin. So I called the surfing company and informed them I was going to be a…
Throughout the study abroad experience, I sometimes find myself feeling a little lonely. I came here completely by myself and moved in with a complete stranger I didn’t know, my house mom Helena (pronounced Elena). We only speak to eachother in Spanish, which has been the best immersion process for me. My Spanish has improved immensely, and I speak with confidence from practicing with her 24/7. Although Helena has helped me linguistically, I wasn’t expecting this woman to make such a positive impact on me. She makes me all…
One of the reasons I chose to study abroad with CEA is because of all the excursions they include. We do long weekend trips to incredible places such as Barcelona and Sevilla, but also do day trips as well. Last month we took a trip to a small city about an hour from Madrid called Toledo. A bunch of CEA students packed in a large bus and headed out to see the city. Before arriving, I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t heard anything about Toledo previously….
Last Saturday I arrived in Madrid, Spain for my spring semester and so far it has been incredible. I speak spanish 24/7, my host mom is kind, and I have already made some good friends at school. Before I came, I knew I would experience a type of “culture shock” with customs that are very different from mine in the US. Although Spain is an amazing place, there have been some strange things I’ve had to adjust to for these past few weeks. The first and most important…
You can’t forget that you aren’t just abroad you are STUDYING abroad. This may have slipped my mind a few times when I started to plan weekend trips to different countries before classes even started, but trust me, there is an academic side of things. A lot of people, myself included, assume that the work here is really easy and there’s never homework and that you don’t actually have to attend class. This is not the case. CEA has an attendance policy, so you can miss some classes,…