Spanish Exchange Review

This is kinda a letter to any future exchange students but also to myself reflecting on my experience.

Okay here it goes,

My exchange was the best, worst, hardest and most amazing experience of my life. I am going to be completely honest here and just know that I loved everyone I met in Spain but here I have to be real and honest about the whole experience.

Friends - So the friends in Spain that I made I hope they will be my friends forever but the 12 hour time difference makes it hard to be in contact frequently but I am gonna make an effort to try and keep as many friends as possible. Special thank you to Lucia, Teresa, Lola and Lola for being the best friends I could have asked for you guys made break at school the best thing about some of my days (despite my endless talking and my obsession with Jetas) I'm going to mention the exchange students friends later but they are top-notch people. Martas best friend Lucia was the sweetest girl I have ever met and she always made sure I was included and I love her very much because of it. Spanish people were so friendly so I feel like I made so many friends and I was so lucky to have the best class (4B woo!)

Host Family - So my host family were the sweetest people ever and I love them very dearly. The parents were extremely nice and welcoming to me and I hope one day to go back and visit them. My host sisters were the best sisters I could have asked for and they will forever be my sisters. Marta was the best I could have asked for she was my translator, my sister and my friend all in one. Irene was such a joy to have as a younger sister with her loud bubbly personality and her just being a ball of joy. Elena was the cutest and she was so helpful and always came to check up on me even when I was trying to work. The one restrictions I found with having these amazing people as my host family is that as an exchange student I expected to be independent but I was just treated like another one of their children which was a blessing and a curse because it meant I was treated with such kindness and love but also I wasn't trusted to go out alone or hang out with friends without one of them with me except to the mall when the girls had swimming and I really value my independence and freedom my real parents give me and I didn't really feel i was treated as an adult but I love them all the same.

Other exchange students - Man where do I start. These were the best people I have ever met. Every single one of them was outgoing and really willing to be friends with anyone and everyone. I made some amazing friends who were either other exchange students in Spain or other exchange students from NZ going on exchanges at the same time as me. I love you all very much and I wanna see you all again. Special shoutout to the Madrid crew that was the absolute highlight of my entire exchange and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people.

Home Sickness - I really didn't feel homesick. The first few days when I was sick and scared I missed home and at the end of my exchange when I was just ready to be home were the only two times I felt homesick.

School - School over there was great. I met so many amazing people but getting towards the end of my exchange I just got increasingly bored of doing the work that I really only spent school time doing work from back home so that I wouldn't have to do to much catch up when I got back.

Langauge - So Spanish isn't my first language and I had only learnt Spanish for 3 years prior and its school Spanish so it didn't exactly give me what I needed to thrive in Spain. My host parents didn't speak English but my host sisters did so they spent two months speaking to me in English and only one month speaking Spanish to me and it made the exchange easy but it meant my Spanish didn't improve as much as I wanted it do while is as there. The biggest surprise was after I go back from Spain it all clicked and my Spanish just got so much better and I guess it just took a while for it all to click but I am happy with the level of Spanish I gained from going to Spain but if I did it again I would pressure people to speak to me more in Spanish than they did.

Travel - Doing the small amount of travelling that I experienced while in Spain was a highlight and it really made me want to explore more of the world. The journey between Spain and NZ was way too long and it left me shattered after it all and I would personally have done it in chunks maybe stopping through the USA or taking a day once I arrived in Spain before meeting my host family because I was a bit of a mess after all that travel.

Summary - Overall it was an amazing experience and I am thankful my parents supported my decision to do despite the cost and in that, I am very lucky. It pushed me way out of my comfort zone and I am glad I pushed myself to do it. The people I met and the experiences I have had made it absolutely worth it despite the downsides I experienced. I would recommend it for anyone who wanted to push themselves out of their comfort zone and if you want to meet new people.

Thank you for anyone who read any of my posts and I hope you all enjoyed being apart of this experience with me.

If you are a prospecting exchange student feel free to flick me an email ( isabelljbradley@gmail.com ) as I would be happy to chat and I normally reply quite quick so you should be able to contact me and talk or ask about whatever you want. Have a good day!

This is my Class and I miss you all and I hope we will be friends forever. I hope to return once I finish school and if you are ever in NZ or Australia send me a message and we can hang out.

This is me and my host sisters in Valencia. If any of you are reading this I love you and I will return and you should come to visit me in NZ you are welcome anytime.