Student Journals: AIFS in Salamanca, Spain

Rachael Richardson
St Michael's College
University of Salamanca, Spain

'Homesickness is just another way to be proud and thankful of where you came from.' I hope my sister doesn't mind me borrowing her words, but they are the most helpful piece of advice I've received since arriving in Salamanca, Spain.

Five years older than me, my sister Carolyn has literally traveled the world. She's packed up her life into two rather large suitcases and gone to Alaska, Ireland, France, Egypt and just about every other city or country you can think of. To deny her influence over my choice to study abroad, especially in Europe, would be futile. After hearing her stories and seeing so many amazing pictures, how could I not want to see what it was all about?

After a three-day stopover in London to help ease the group into our study abroad experience, we landed in Madrid. After a two-hour bus ride, we arrived in Salamanca: home for the next three and a half months.

Even though I felt comfortable almost immediately with my roommate, my señora (host mother) and the city in general, I still found myself missing the comforts of home.

After talking with my sister and hearing what she had to say, I realized that what I was feeling was completely normal. It also made me realize another crucial fact: home would always be there waiting for me. If I wasn't careful, these next three months would fly by, and after returning to the U.S. I would wonder where all the time had gone.

It was at that moment that I committed myself 100 percent to embracing the "tranquilo" Spanish lifestyle.

Since then, I've gone to a bull fight, seen a flamenco show, chatted with elderly men in the Plaza Mayor, haggled in Spanish at "los mercados" (supermarkets), eaten paella and tortilla española and taken about a million pictures.

I know that December will be here before I know it, and when I get back to New Hampshire, I'll find myself missing my new friends, my room with its bright green walls, daily siestas and the country I'm now lucky enough to call home. When that happens, all I'll have to do is look back at my sister's words and remember that Spain will always be here for me to come back to.