How I picked my study abroad destination out of necessity and learned to love it
Two years ago I had almost no interest in going to Spain.
I fell in love with the idea of France while sitting in Madame Petrasko’s high school French class; but once I got to college I knew if I was going to spend my time learning a language it needed to be something more practical. And the far southern tip of the west coast isn’t the most Francophone-friendly place.
I’m not sure when it hit, but slowly over time I started to get excited about Spain.
It began to feel like a good idea after I hosted a girl from Barcelona last July. We became friends and instead of feeling like I was going off to a country selected because I wanted to be practical, it felt like I was going to the beautiful place that my wonderful friend calls home.
That coupled with friends who spent the summer and the fall in Salamanca and Barcelona and a French ex-pat for a boss that is passionate about Madrid, my feelings about Spain began to grow.
It’s all about building a connection with your destination.
Because honestly I think I could be happy in Croatia or Kansas if I had enough of a reason to be there.
Travel is about throwing yourself in a new location and soaking up what it means to be in that little patch of universe at that moment in time.
This can be done anywhere with the right mindset.