What People Don’t Share About Studying Abroad

From August to December 2024, I lived in Barcelona, Spain, as part of my study abroad program. Without it sounding like a cliché, I can honestly say it changed my life in many different ways. It taught me more about relationships, myself, and my perspective on navigating a new place.

I feel as if people, myself included, primarily focus on the positive aspects of studying abroad. So much so that it can create a false sense of what the harder realities are really like. There is not enough light shed on the feelings of loneliness and homesickness that most, if not all, individuals experience. I remember the first day my parents left—I was overcome with anxiety. As excited as I was, a sense of fear sank in: I was in a completely different country with an entirely different culture. Even though some of my best friends were there with me, you can’t help but feel lonely when you realize you’re navigating something so new on your own for the next four months.

However, I quickly became caught up in the thrill of living in a dream city of mine—surrounded by an amazing group of people, chasing new adventures, vacationing in different countries on the weekends, trying every restaurant you could imagine, and filling my days with bucket-list experiences. Over those four months, I unlocked a sense of independence I had never known I possessed. I was someone so used to doing things with others—not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. I didn’t enjoy being alone, but Barcelona completely changed that. I grew to love spending time with myself and being able to enjoy it. Whether that meant wandering different streets of the city or visiting museums on my own, I learned the art of being alone—and of enjoying it.

This isn’t to say that during this new sense of independence and growth I didn’t still face periods of loneliness. When Thanksgiving came around, I missed home more than anything. Before August, I never thought I would feel homesick, but I was wrong. What I learned by November was to embrace the feelings of homesickness and occasional loneliness. I realized it wasn’t because I wasn’t enjoying my abroad experience, or because I wasn’t fully embracing it—it was bound to happen regardless. When you start a new chapter of life in an entirely new place, you are going to feel those things. More importantly, those feelings we often label as negative or unappealing are actually an essential part of the study abroad experience. That harsher reality is what helped me grow. It helped me handle my anxiety and sadness. Now when I look back, I don’t feel sorrow; instead, I see those moments as part of the experience—moments that shaped me.