Embracing New Cultures and Experiences Through Study Abroad in Spain
Karie and Katie Taylor, agricultural economics juniors from Rossville, IN, spent the Fall 2024 semester studying at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). They arrived in Spain on August 18th to spend a little time traveling before orientation started on September 6th and will wrap up with finals on December 20th!
Although their classes were on the Getafa campus, the Taylors decided to live in an apartment in the neighborhood of La Latina. It was about a 40-minute commute to campus, but they “loved living in the city center with constant activity.”
The academics at UC3M were quite different from their courses at Purdue. Classes were 90 minutes long, and the Taylors were in classes until 9:00 p.m. at night. They shared that homework and quizzes were basically non-existent, so their mid-term and final exam grades had much more weight than their exams at Purdue. Class sizes were also much smaller, with a student population nearly half the size of Purdue.
Some of their biggest culture shocks included mealtimes, public transportation and European fluency. Spaniards typically eat lunch between 2-3 p.m. and dinner around 9-11 p.m.; quite an adjustment from their U.S. meal times. They found the public transportation in Madrid to be very convenient, using the train, metro, and bus frequently. This was quite a change from the daily use of their cars in the U.S. A majority of their European friends were bilingual or trilingual.
Inexpensive transportation has also allowed the Taylors to visit so many different places this semester. They have visited Italy (Florence, Rome, Naples, Pisa, Venice, Milan and Lake Como), England (London and Brighton), France (Paris and Nice), Monaco, Morocco and Switzerland. Before they head home, they have trips planned to Austria, Hungary, and Ireland.
When they think back about their favorite experiences or sights, Karie shared, “seeing the Colosseum in Rome, attending a Madrid football (soccer) match, walking on the F1 racetrack in Monaco and seeing the Mona Lisa and Eiffel Tower in Paris.”
Katie added, “One of my favorites was Marrakech, Morocco, where I was able to do a hot air balloon ride and camel ride in the Agafay Desert. I also really enjoyed traveling to Venice, Italy! Venice is unlike any other city in the world as its streets are water, and you travel by boat rather than car. Both of these cities were very unique and different from any other place I traveled to while here. A few of my other favorites were going to Buckingham Palace in London, England and doing a boat tour of the island of Capri in Italy.”
Their advice to students studying abroad included, “It can be hard to leave Purdue for a semester, but you’ll never have the opportunity for an experience like this again. While abroad, immerse yourself as much as you can into your host country’s culture. Some of our favorite experiences were weekends exploring Madrid. We would also recommend pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and making friends with people from different cultures than your own. We joined the Erasmus club at our university, which is a club for European exchange students, and we were able to make friends with people from all over the world through that!”
The Taylors summarized their experience: “Studying abroad is one of the best decisions we have ever made. This experience has given us lifelong friendships with people from all over the world, the ability to travel to new countries and cities and a glimpse into several different cultural lifestyles. We know we will always look back on this time with gratitude for everything we experienced and the people we got to experience it with. We will miss our friends here, the Spanish lifestyle and the food! We will also miss our favorite places in Madrid: El Retiro Park, Cafe Del Arte and the Royal Palace Gardens!”