A Semester Abroad in Spain Brings New Perspectives and Adventures

Neil Slotnick, an agricultural economics junior from Andover, Massachusetts, spent the Spring 2025 semester studying abroad in Spain. He started his semester with the CIEE-Barcelona program on January 2nd and will finish with finals on April 12th. Before heading home to start his internship with Pfizer in Boston, he plans to see more of Spain and visit a few other countries on his “bucket list,” including Italy and Portugal.

While abroad, he lived in Barcelona in an apartment-style single at Kley Student Residence. Classes met four days each week and only included students studying abroad, giving these students ample time to travel! So far, Neil has visited France, Italy, Germany, England, Andorra and Monaco. His favorite destinations have included the National Art Museum in Madrid; the Louvre, Versailles, and Eiffel Tower in France; Big Ben in London and attending a soccer “football” game in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium.

Neil shared the following about his culture learning, “Time is much more relative in Spain. People travel more slowly, and punctuality is not as much of an issue in most non-professional settings. I was also surprised at the number of subcultures within Spain and how much pride there is in these cultural differences. There are even different dialects within Spain; for example, in Barcelona, they primarily speak the language of Catalan, a mixture of French and Spanish and its own cultural characteristics. However, most everyone also knows Spanish.”

His advice to other students considering a trip abroad – “you may have trouble adjusting in the first two weeks, but after that, you will meet wonderful people and have great experiences you could never have if you just stayed in places where you’re comfortable.”

Neil summarized his semester, “Studying abroad has been a wonderful experience that has allowed me to experience other cultures and forced me to mature in many ways. I feel much more independent after studying abroad, and I also feel more willing to have experiences that are out of my comfort zone and share experiences with people who may differ from me in some ways.”