“Wow! Your Spanish is so good! How long have you been studying it?” You may hear this type of compliment during your time studying abroad, but it takes some commitment before and during study abroad for up and coming language learners.

As humans, we can plan ideas in our heads and create justifications without exploring the emotion before these reasons. For example,  sometimes we create excuses to avoid facing difficult truths without exploring our options.  

If you have dreamed about stepping outside of your hometown, or college town, then there’s no better time to explore your options. Can you fully appreciate your life at college without having stepped off campus to try a new experience somewhere else? Do you think that you’d regret not going abroad once you find that stable job and career after you graduate?

If there was one thing that I am more than grateful for within the past years, it would be studying abroad. Studying abroad has enriched my life with a love for languages, new foods, and travel.

Often, we hear of students studying abroad, but how might teachers and faculty go about experiencing new cultures that can add value to their classrooms back home? We spoke with Greg Semplice, an avid traveler and high school teacher, and discussed his self-led program EdOdyssey had designed for him while exploring Spain this past July.

The feeling of panic was palpable in the room. None of us were accustomed to language classes that placed an emphasis on speaking. Although I learned so much about vocabulary and grammar in my high school and college Spanish courses, they didn’t do much to improve my speaking skills.