3 Learned Lessons From Studying Abroad In Spain

By choosing to study abroad in Spain, I agreed to be open-minded about the people and the place where I would be living. Yet, when I landed in Spain this past May, I was mentally unprepared for the many differences between American and Spanish culture.

Having grown up in the South, I am familiar with fried green tomatoes, wide open spaces, pick-up trucks, and a slow-talking drawl. Seemingly, everything I could have imagined was different in Spain.

Language was of course the most profound difference between America and Spain. One must understand that Spanish is not uniform from one Spanish-speaking country to another, and often times, Spanish, or language in general, can be spoken with multiple distinct accents within a country’s borders. At times, I would be corrected for using a word that was popular in South American Spanish, but not popular in European Spanish, and many times my American way of pronouncing words became a roadblock for comprehension.

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