Rem wrote:Nerves aside I intend to make the most of my year abroad.
If you have this attitude, you don't need anything else from us
That said, I'll share my experience with you and hopefully it'll help you in some way.
I went to live in Santiago de Compostela, Spain for a year in 2013. I wasn't studying, rather I had a job placement in a school in a nearby town as an English Language assistant, so that brought its own complications when planning where to live but hey ho.
How did you prepare?Well, our university had 'preparation sessions' which didn't really prepare us that well, to be honest. They mainly told us to make the most out of the experience, which I had already planned to do. I did contact the school, however, and found out that it would be best for me to live in Santiago, rather than the small town I would be working in, because there would be more students, people my age and generally more things to do.
In terms of linguistic preparation, I will just reiterate what many here have already said. Do LOTS of listening to natural speech. Watch vloggers on youtube, comedies, anything that interests you that has 'natural' speech. You have a whole year. Even if you can't understand much now, if you watch this kind of thing consistently during the year you have, your comprehension WILL improve, I promise. In conversation, comprehension is the most important thing, in my opinion. If you're going to Tarzan-talk the answer at them anyway, you at least want to be answering the right question
Where there any particular challenges you encountered/things that took you off guard?I don't want to discourage you by pointing out the negatives but you did ask so... STORY TIME! Like many others, I was advised to wait until I got to Santiago before I looked for somewhere to live, so I booked a few nights in a hostel for when I arrived. After having arrived and struggled to talk to the guy at the hostel (I expected some fluent Spanish to flow out of my mouth and it just didn't, shock horror!
), I was terrified to enter a restaurant that evening (aside from the language thing, I didn't know how things were done in Spain and I was afraid of looking like a loner and getting swindled etc.) so I went to a take-away and asked for a 'long' coke instead of a 'large' *sigh*
The next day, let's just say I wasn't looking forward to calling strangers in order to organise flat viewings... I was actually terrified, so I avoided it and sent out a load of emails (which wasn't the best way of organising things but it worked for me). I went to one flat viewing and had the most awkward interaction with the two lovely Spaniards that were there (I didn't even know about the kissing thing and pleasantries weren't my forte, nor did I know what to ask about the flat because I had never looked for one before *sigh*). Needless to say I didn't end up living there. I found a flat with two Polish girls and a Galician woman who was subletting (but shh). I felt less overwhelmed with them, as they were in the same (or at least a similar) situation as me (plus, I loved the flat but that's not important) so I lived there and had the greatest year ever. It turned out that the two Polish girls spoke excellent Spanish and I improved loads just talking to them...
How ready did you feel before you went?I thought I felt ready. I thought I was ready to have the time of my life, and I was, but the first few days were rocky (see above). I think it was my attitude, the fact that I was determined to have a great time, no matter the cost, the embarrassment, the tears (I cried on the train, the plane, in the hostel) that meant that it ended up being the greatest year of my life. Sure, there are several things I would change if I did it all again but in my experience, life is often like that.
Any tips?Try new things (I joined a Spanish acting class which was VERY demanding but a whole load of fun too), travel, be positive, be friendly, don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. In general, just have the best time you can!