Going into UMass as a freshman, I saw myself taking a semester abroad at some point; hopefully in Central or South America. I saw myself doing a lot of things actually… then Covid. My Sophomore year was remote, and the summer before going back to campus as a junior was when I finally had the chance to study abroad. I chose to go to Salamanca because the program was brief and I wouldn’t miss an entire semester at UMass. This would be my first time traveling since the lockdown began. 

Although my time there was limited, Salamanca taught me a lot about living independently and being a visitor in a foreign country, and I think the added context of the global pandemic amplified these teachings in important ways. It had been less than a week and I was living in a Spanish family’s apartment with five other international students including my roommate from the UMass program, and all of us were learning Spanish. It was a great challenge at the dining table to communicate with a group of people from all different backgrounds at different levels of Spanish communication, yet it allowed me to pay great attention to everyone’s faces, tones of voice and mannerisms: it turned out to be excellent practice in listening, a skill I think I can take for granted. I was just beginning to settle into our busy home when there came the news that one of the students in our place had tested positive for Covid. And after spending a few days isolated in my tiny bedroom watching reality TV, I had to pack up my things and move into an apartment across town, and learn the ways of an entirely new home and family. 

Just as we are presented with challenges in our own communities, I was presented with challenges abroad. The culture was conservative, and our teachers at the university were more so than what I was used to at UMass. This was another opportunity for me to practice listening, as well as communicating respectfully so that others would listen and understand. We experienced these challenges in other settings as well, one example being medical services. My friends and I had an unpleasant experience with a medical professional who came off as very misogynistic and unkind and while I’m far from grateful for the experience it did serve as an important reminder that we will be presented with different challenges depending on where we are in the world and how we are viewed by authorities. And this will require communication skills that may be more difficult than we are used to, especially in a world where political climate more and more seems to play a role in socio-cultural exchange.

The knowledge and experience I gained abroad for just one month I’ve found will help me as I continue to transition into adulthood because I feel it mostly applies to adult life and living in new places in general, not just in Europe or a foreign country. The challenges I experienced are not the last of their sort as I do plan on venturing out into the world again someday soon, and I will value what I learned greatly especially the importance of finding, and sticking with good caring friends.