My name is Ailyn Ayala and the during the fall semester of my junior year at Roosevelt I had the opportunity to study abroad in Seville Spain and it was the most unforgettable experience of my life! It was a long process for sure, but it was absolutely worth all the work/preparation that goes into it. I studied in Spain through Athena Study Abroad which is partnered with Roosevelt. In order to study abroad I had to work with advisors in the program and they were super helpful and resourceful throughout my whole experience before and once I was actually there. It took me a whole semester + the summer to get everything I needed ready before I left. If you are considering studying abroad, I recommend that you make sure that you give yourself enough time to get everything done especially because you must obtain a student visa, buy your flight, and submit the long list of required documents to both Athena and Roosevelt. The process was so long that when it was actually time for me to leave for Spain reality sunk in and it was so surreal that I was actually leaving.
I chose Spain because I am already fluent in Spanish and I wanted to make sure that language wouldn’t be a barrier for me to get the best educational experience out of studying abroad. Accordingly, it definitely helped me once I was there because it enabled me to enroll in more advanced courses and I definitely learned so much more because I knew the language. Spain is also not as expensive as the U.K or Germany to study abroad which was also a plus. Another piece of advice that I would give to students before they leave abroad is to make sure you have a bank that is travel friendly because those interest fees are a killer! I also suggest that you pack light because once you’re there you will want to purchase so many things and then not have enough room to bring them back home. I fell in love with the fashion trends in Spain and it was disappointing to be so limited in luggage space. On the other hand, one of the things that made Spain so unique to me was that every city that I visited felt like it was a whole different country. It was the craziest thing to note how much history and diversity is in each individual city. In Seville my apartment was a 5-minute walk from Christopher Columbus’ tomb! Being in Seville specifically also made my experience abroad less overwhelming because it’s not as crowded and intense as Madrid or Barcelona. Every weekend I would travel to either a different city within Spain or to a different country and because of that I was able to connect what I learned in class with actually visiting the places I was learning about.
The food in Spain took a long time for me to get used to. I am not a big fan of seafood which is something that Spaniards incorporate into most of their dishes. When I first got to Spain, although I speak Spanish, I literally could not understand their menu because everything is labeled so differently. I was lost for months before I actually started knowing what things were. Spaniards also compliment every dish with patatas aka fries. As you can see in the picture above, I would even have fries for breakfast with my eggs! The most common thing to eat in Spain are small appetizers called tapas. I really enjoyed ordering multiple tapas to share with my friends and it ended up being an economical way of eating out.
I cannot stress how much you benefit from studying abroad. Besides what you learn and the places you get to travel to, the friendships you build will always be a part of you. I went to Spain not knowing anybody and I made so many friends from all over the world. Someone that was once a stranger to me became the friend I was riding a camel with in Morocco!
I enjoyed and made the most out of my experience studying abroad. It was definitely hard to be away from my family for almost 5 months, but it was worth the sacrifice. Every day that I was abroad was a new learning experience for me. Getting used to the way of living and customs in Spain was a challenge but it definitely made me become more open minded and exposed to a broader range of issues going on in the world. If you are interested in studying abroad, I suggest you research, read blogs, and ask every question you can think of to your advisors before choosing where you want to go. And, of course, here is helpful information provided by Roosevelt.
On Tue. Oct. 22 you can attend an information session at Roosevelt about a study abroad trip in spring, 2020 to Europe!