Leading up to my time studying abroad, all I could think about was being in a foreign country where everything and everyone would be unfamiliar. I was worried that, since I don’t speak any Spanish, I would feel disconnected from the community and maybe even from the people in my class who do.
I also thought being so far away from home for this long would make me extremely homesick.
Although many things are different in Spain than in the United States, I learned it’s not a different planet; it’s simply a different country. Through my interactions with locals, I’ve realized that humans are not as different from one another as we often think. At the end of the day, we all share similar DNA.
As a society, we tend to quickly categorize people by race, gender, nationality, and more. This mindset shifts our focus to our differences, creating divisiveness and polarized thinking. I believe that if more people traveled, these differences would seem less important, and cultural differences would feel less intimidating, just as they have for me.
When my friend and I ate at an Italian restaurant in Seville, the waiter asked if I was from America. I said yes and told him that I was from Texas. He said he loved American accents and asked if we actually say “y’all.”
I told him yes and taught him how to use it in a sentence. While I learned about language and culture from him, he also learned from my friend and me. This experience helped me understand why studying abroad is so beneficial. It gives people the opportunity to break cultural stereotypes through exposure to new situations and to learn from one another.
Before coming to Spain, I carried unconscious assumptions about how Spanish citizens would look and act. I expected their lifestyles and mannerisms to differ completely from those of Americans. However, the more people I meet and talk to, the more I recognize the dangers of those broad assumptions. I’ve noticed that many of the locals here care about the same things I care about, at the end of the day.
One of the program coordinators from Barcelona, who has helped our study abroad group, told me about his family and explained that his daughter is not much older than I am. He shared that when she was younger, people often told him she was an angel, and he would respond, “If only you could see her at home,” implying that she showed her true personality there.
I told him that my parents used to say the same thing about me. After that, we continued sharing stories about our families. This conversation made me realize that no matter where people come from, humans tend to care about many of the same things, such as family, friends, success, and relationships.
Overall, I’m so grateful for everything I have learned on this trip, and I can’t wait to learn even more before it’s over! Hook ’em!
This blog was contributed by Rachel Crandall, Global Ambassador for May 2026. Rachel is a School of Nursing freshman participating in the faculty-led program “Latinx Identities Across España” in Barcelona, Madrid, and Granada, Spain.
