I have been studying in León for about a month now, and it has been an amazing experience. It has allowed me to grow more independent and more confident as a person, and I am becoming more confident at speaking Spanish every day. I was warned before I came here about the culture shock and the homesickness that I would experience within the first couple weeks I was here. I was not really worried about it because I had been to Spain before and sort of knew what to expect. However, León is much different from Salamanca, where I was before. It is also much different when you are here by yourself instead of with a group of classmates and friends. I did not have a bunch of other people to rely on this time, so I was forced to talk to other people and make new friends. I am naturally a shy person, but I am becoming more outgoing because I am being put in situations where I am forced to talk to people.
I was also extremely homesick my second and third week here. When I first arrived, I made friends, and I was loving it. The first week I got here was a holiday, so we only had one day of class and then celebrated. Then, we started going to school every day, it suddenly became freezing and raining almost every day, and I began to really miss home. However, that feeling is wearing off as I am getting accustomed to my life here, making even more friends, getting used to the weather, and having lots of fun J. That being said, the distance has been pretty difficult to manage at times, but in the end, it is totally worth the experience.
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