“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
Greetings from Spain’s beautiful capital city!
I arrived in Madrid at 10:00am on Thursday, September 3 after approximately sixteen hours of travel between flights and layovers. I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours, I hadn’t spoken Spanish in four months, and I had never in my life traveled so far on my own. The days leading up to my departure were filled with frantic packing, endless last-minute trips to Target, many tears, and even some regret. I questioned everything about my decision. Why did I choose to leave my GW friends for an entire semester? Was I doing this for the right reasons? Will I even enjoy myself while I’m there, or will I just be miserable and homesick?
I quickly learned since arriving here and talking with my new friends about their pre-departure nerves that these feelings are very normal. But no one prepares you for the challenges of coping with them. I remembered the terrifying experience of first coming to GW freshman year, but I felt like this was a completely different kind of fear. I was going to a country where my native language isn’t primarily spoken, I didn’t know anyone, and I didn’t have any kind of emotional safety net whatsoever. It took an immense amount of courage to get on the plane that day. For those of you who are thinking about going abroad or have already made plans to go, this is not meant to scare you – this is meant to show you that whatever you are feeling, whether it’s excitement, nerves, or even pure indifference, you are allowed to feel that way, and however you may feel pre-departure is normal.
For the first three days of the program, my group of nineteen students stayed in a hotel in the city and had orientation dinners, went on excursions, and became very close friends. Today, we split up to go live with our host families, which was yet another difficult milestone in this whirlwind of a week. I quickly discovered that my host mom is absolutely wonderful and treats me like I’m her own daughter. She is patient and kind and an AMAZING cook. I’ve already had almost all of the traditional Spanish dishes in one day – paella, gazpacho, chorizo, and tortillas patatas, just to name a few. I may return to the states in four months with a little extra padding, but hey, when in Spain, right?
In all, these last few days have been exhausting, long, and emotionally and physically taxing, but incredibly rewarding. I get more and more comfortable with my Spanish each day. I have learned that I am already capable of much more than I thought. As the GW madrileños start classes this week, we will enter the university with the usual nerves but also a sense of newfound confidence that we never anticipated. We’ve conquered the streets of Madrid at 3am, we’ve blundered our way through ordering new foods at restaurants, and we’ve thrown ourselves headfirst into a brand new culture with unique customs and quirks. From the first night, when we struggled to peel an orange with a fork and knife, to now, when we have had multiple full meals with our host families, it seems that adjustment to life in Madrid is 100% possible.
Hasta luego – read next week for more updates!