My Study Abroad Roommates

Coming into my study abroad experience one of the major things that caused me anxiety was who I would be sharing my homestay experience with.  I knew that I would be having roommates (4 to be exact!) however I did not know who they were before I got to Spain.  I was hoping for the best but anticipating the worst (why do we play mind games with ourselves???)

When I landed in Madrid I was the 2nd of 5 to arrive to our apartment.  I quickly met the first girl (Chang!) and found out that the rest of the girls would be arriving shortly.  I also discovered that they all went to the same university and knew each other and had picked to live together.  Cue the worry! The rest of the afternoon I holed myself up in my room, unpacking and thinking the worst.  Pretty much my thoughts consisted of the fact that they all knew each other and therefore probably wouldn’t include me, they probably had all of their trips planed, so who would I travel with then?  What if I didn’t get along with them? etc. etc.

The rest of the girls arrived and were all super happy to see each other.  I went out to great them but after the awkward first hello everyone went to their rooms to unpack.  To make things even worse my room was located at the opposite end of the apartment and hearing all the giggles and laughter from down the hallway I could not have felt more isolated.  However, I told myself I had to put myself out there and be my open and friendly self.  Believe me it was awkward at first, but when I did that my new roommates were super nice and went out of their way to include me in things.  They included me in their first weekend adventure to Switzerland and lets just say the rest is history!

We all became super close and have made so many memories together.  (Living in a small flat in a city and having to share two small bathrooms will do that to a group of girls! ha)  The majority of my roommates live in Chicago and I have discussed coming to visit them next summer and them taking a road trip to possibly visit me in this fall at Fairfield U in Connecticut!

It is crazy how close you can become with someone in such a short period of time.  My study abroad experience would not have been the same without these chicas and I am so lucky that I was randomly assigned to live with them.  I know that we will be lifelong friends!

Emily, Meg, Emily and Izzy… Thank you for taking me in to your group, accepting me for me and all of my weirdness and making some of the best memories that will last a lifetime! I wouldn’t have wanted to travel the world with anyone else! I will cherish not only our great adventures across Europe but also all the little moments and laughs we shared together.  I am going to miss spending basically every waking second together, but its not a goodbye, its an hasta luego!! I can’t wait for all of our future get togethers visiting one another and for our Spain reunion tour in 10 years haha.  I am so lucky to have amigas to visit now!

Also shout out to these girls for helping me keep my blog and instagram going while abroad! Without them I would not have had half of the amazing photos from my travels.  They have been the best photographers and put up with my constant need for photos ops haha. Love you chicas!  Thanks for one epic semester of a lifetime!

Our first (really terrible quality, super awkward, selfie) photo together! Dios Mio! haha

xoxo,
H