Studying abroad was the best decision I’ve ever made. Having the opportunity to live in a new country with new friends, a new culture, and a new language was such a huge growing experience for me. I studied Spanish in Alicante, Spain with USAC. Alicante is a medium-sized city on the southeastern coast of Spain overlooking the Mediterranean. This beautiful city truly has a special place in my heart now, and I can’t wait to go back some day. I decided to go to Spain so that I could be closer to all the European countries that I wanted to visit. I chose to go with USAC because they had the cheapest program options in Spain. After deciding that, I just did some research on the coastal cities that USAC offers programs in, and I ultimately chose Alicante because it was the cheapest option. I don’t think you can go wrong with choosing a study abroad program. You’ll have fun no matter what, it just comes down to what location you want and what kind of cultural experience you’re looking for. That being said, Alicante was the perfect place for me and I would highly recommend it.





I’m so grateful that I got to experience Spanish culture and the Spanish way of life. In Spain, life is slower. Spaniards like to say that they work to live, not live to work. Their culture centers around family and passion and doing the things that make you happy. If you ask a Spaniard what they do, they’ll begin to list off all their favorite hobbies and what they fill their free time with, not with what they study or where they work. On average, Spaniards have 30 days of paid leave a year, which is a vast improvement from America’s average of 11. Not to mention the daily fiesta hours that give everyone a chance to go home and eat or rest before returning to work. It was such a relief to be immersed in a culture in which life moves slowly and you’re meant to cherish the time that you have. I grew a fierce appreciation for this mindset and way of living during my time in Alicante. The value that the Spanish people place on the family was also a cultural difference that I came to appreciate. Because work is less of a cultural focus in Spain, kids have less pressure on them to become financially independent and move out. Most kids will live in their family home until they get married and move in with their spouse. This is encouraged by the parents instead of looked down upon. It gives the kids more time to live their own life without having to worry about financial stability. I feel like growing up with this as a common practice would really alleviate the pressure of figuring out what you’re going to do with your life.





My other favorite part about studying abroad was how easy it was to travel! In full transparency, I worked two jobs the summer prior to my study abroad semester and saved up $8,000 to take with me. $2,000 of this was spent on rent and water/electricity, but the rest was mine for eating, night life, and travelling for three and a half months. Food in Spain is very cheap compared to American food, and so is travelling. You have to be smart about how you travel, but I was able to travel most weekends and didn’t run out of money. In Spain I visited many neighboring cities by train, along with Valencia, Mallorca, Ibiza, and multiple trips to Barcelona by plane. Outside of Spain I visited Rome and Lake Como in Italy, as well as Lucarno, Switzerland. My favorite place that I visited was by far Lake Como, Italy, seconded by Mallorca. My best travel advice for studying abroad is to look at your program calendar at the beginning of the semester and mark all your three day weekends in your iphone calendar so you know when the best weekends to travel are. We had a ton of three day weekends because of national holidays and program breaks. Once you know when to travel, go on the skyscanner website and put in the dates with the destination set to “anywhere”. This will list all the cheapest flights for that weekend. That was how I chose all my trips, just the cheapest tickets those weekends. This also takes the pressure off of feeling like you need to plan trips early.
That pretty much sums up my experience! I hope that this essay can be helpful for anyone planning to study abroad. I would highly, highly recommend studying in Alicante with USAC! Once
again, you can’t go wrong with any location. And don’t be scared to go with a program in a place where you don’t know anyone. You’ll make tons of friends. Be ready for adventure, new experiences, new people, and beautiful sights!
Camille Graves (BA Art) spent Fall 2024 studying abroad in Alicante, Spain through USAC. Camille had the following to say about studying abroad, “Studying abroad is an incredible experience and a time that you’ll never forget! Don’t be scared to put yourself out there and explore new environments. To know other cultures first-hand is to be a citizen of the world!”
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