Last spring, I studied abroad in Granada, Spain. I went there with the intention of volunteering in a school or in a homeless shelter. However, when our Spanish advisers began to send out emails regarding volunteer opportunities, I was so overwhelmed with all the options that I didn’t even want to do any. I read over them briefly and some caught my eye, but I was too caught up in other Spanish adventures that I didn’t sign up. Luckily, one day after classes, I stopped by my advisers office to ask a question and I accidentally walked into a meeting for volunteering as an English teacher. The conversation sounded interested, so I asked if I could volunteer, and the next week I started teaching English to 12 adults.

This was one of my best decisions I made while I was abroad. I learned so much from the students and about myself as a teacher. (I am studying to become a teacher.) This also made me realize how many different paths I can go down with teaching. I originally thought I wanted to be an elementary classroom teacher, but now I know I want to be an ESL teacher for either adults or children. In the classroom in Spain, we had so much fun and all the students were so appreciative of us teachers. They even brought us out for tapas and gelato! Not only did I get great experience teaching, I also made Spanish friends this way and scored an internship when I got home teaching ESL to adults.

I highly recommend that while going abroad, you explore your options. You should try everything, and if you don’t like it at least you tried! Opportunities like this don’t just jump out at you like that all the time, so if they do take advantage of it!