My Time In Madrid Spain

 Reflection On My Study Abroad Experience- Getting to Madrid Tips / Spanish Phrases to know

Going into this experience I knew it would be challenging for me as I have never travelled outside the country before and can often get very confused when it comes to directions and new systems.

Traveling to Spain in particular is a struggle if you do not know Spanish. There were many times where people tried to talk to me and I could not understand a word of what they were saying. This made me feel embarrassed and like I did not deserve to be there. I would say study, study, study spanish before you come to Spain. You can get by without, but the experience is a whole lot more enjoyable if you are able to actually communicate with those around you. Over time I realized that I need to be less hard on myself and allow myself to learn slowly without feeling ashamed. This experience motivated me more than ever to actually dedicate time to learning Spanish each day, and since being back in the states I have more time to dedicate to learning Spanish and it makes me feel so good! Learning more of the language continues to remind me of my experiences and brings me back into the culture.

Specific phrases and areas of study to begin to learn before coming.

As soon as you get to your gate for your flight to Spain everyone around you will be speaking in Spanish, at least thats how it was for me. So it is great to go ahead and learn all airport vocabulary and basic phrases to speak to others on the plane if you need to get by, ask a question, or get to your seat. It can be intimidating being surrounded by those all speaking a different language than you, just focus on listening to nearby conversations and trying to pick up on words you understand. Slowly you will grasp more and more words and then begin to understand the general idea of what is being said. When you arrive in Spain you have to go through customs. It if often very hectic and a long line. They will ask in Spanish if you have an EU passport to go in one line, and all others continue walking to another line. Then an official will view your passport and ask you some questions about your stay. It would be great to already have these answers prepared in Spanish so you are not as flustered as I was. Some questions they asked were…

Why are you entering Spain? How long will you be staying? Where will you be staying? 

The Madrid Barajas Airport is quite huge, once you are let through you will go pick up your bags. Since the customs process took so long my bags had been put to the side when I got to the baggage claim so just keep looking around everywhere if your bags are no where to be found because thats how I found mine! I then got an Uber to my address I was staying. I had to travel up to the Uber pickup spot, the signs in the airport often point two different ways so it can be hard to tell which way to go. Take your time and follow the arrows and if they lead you wrong just back track and try the other way. Pay attention to your surroundings, learn phrases you might need to ask for help, other workers will offer to help you if you look confused, and other travelers will help as well. 

Spanish Apps I recommend

I love a good language learning app so here are some great resources I have used to learn Spanish.

1. Memrise: This app is really great, it uses videos with native speakers, ai toolbots to chat with you, and really easy interactive ways to learn words and phrases and it is free!

2. Ella Verbs: This app/website is awesome, it takes you through all the gramatical bases in Spanish and tests you. A really great educational tool, almost like a Spanish class. This is also free for 3 months, then after you can write an email requesting further free access and they will grant it. 

3. Duolingo: This app is great at keeping you practicing every day. It teaches good gramatical concepts and helps you to form sentences. However the ads do get very annoying so to get the full benefits try to convince your parents to sign up for the family plan so you don't have to pay. 

4. Youtube: I love looking up spanish- english translated music videos and singing them and following along trying to understand the lyrics. 

5. Lipdub: This app is great because it can give you an understanding of what your Spanish voice is supposed to sound like. It’s a really cool software that translates your voice and speech into whatever language you want. This helps you understand how you'll sound once you get more fluent and is another good motivator. 

6. Conjugato: This app is also free and has all the spanish verbs and conjugations. It has flashcards to tell you the correct form and tense to use. 

7. Netflix: Any show you watch you can change the audio to spanish and turn on english subtitles. I recommend specific Spanish shows set in madrid such as Elite, and Valeria. 

Try your best to dedicate time to learn spanish to get the most out of your study abroad experience, if I could go back I would start practicing a lot sooner.