Respond to one of the following short essay prompts: My greatest challenge has been...

My greatest challenge has been immersing myself in a foreign country as a junior in college. I chose to study abroad in Spain because I wanted an educational immersion experience. Before my year abroad began, I remember my excitement about living abroad and studying at a new university. But once I arrived in Spain, I realized I had not accounted for two challenges. I knew living abroad would be an adaptive experience; however, I had never felt so far out of my comfort zone with my living situation and studying at a Spanish university.

First, my host family only spoke Spanish and they spoke in a different dialect than what I had studied, initially making it difficult to communicate and assimilate to their home. Nevertheless, I did all I could to improve my Spanish and find comfort in my new home by speaking to my host family as much as possible and traveling with them to other Spanish cities. Similarly, my university courses were initially challenging. I was enrolled in a philosophy course and an international economics course aside 200 local students where the professors primarily lectured to the class, when I was prepared for discussion-based classes. But I did not shy away from these classes and I did all I could to succeed. For instance, I met weekly with my economics professor to discuss news in global markets. Through practicing the language as much as possible with my professors and host family, I gained Spanish fluency faster than my peers in the program.

While immersing myself abroad is my greatest challenge, it also strengthened my interpersonal skills. Today, I attribute my career success to my Spanish language skills that secured me my position on the Latin America team at Global Boutique Bank, where I speak Spanish daily.