Dustin - Final Reflection, Spain

My favorite moment of my study abroad experience is definitely trying the different kinds of Spanish food. Although the food offered in the school was not the best it was still amazing to be able to try authentic Spanish food. I was able to try what regular students eat on a daily basis at the school we went to. But I tried the best plates when we went on our excursions. I tried a lot of different tapas. Tapas are smaller portions of a dish, similar to a snack. This allowed me more variability. I think I tried around 15 different tapas, from paella, to tortilla to rabbit meat and even bull’s tail. I enjoyed every single one of them except the anchovy tapa. 

Excursions to anywhere were what I looked forward to everyday. We were stuck in school, a child’s nightmare. It got boring and any outings satisfied my desire to explore. We went to the Centro and various shopping malls in the city. We also went to the beach daily and the supermarket. On weekends we visited cities in Andalucía. This was amazing because we got to sightsee and explore the city on our own. 

Overall this experience was awesome. But I personally prefer a program with a host family more. On my past two trips my host families were awesome and I really connected with them as if they were my real family. On dorming programs such like Spain, you really interact with other kids from various countries more. Do not get me wrong but having international friends is awesome. I learned a lot from all of them that I do not believe I could have learned from a host family, but personally I prefer a host family.