{"id":9728,"date":"2015-06-26T13:56:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T13:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/?p=9728"},"modified":"2024-01-30T10:11:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T15:11:05","slug":"expect-the-unexpected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/expect-the-unexpected\/","title":{"rendered":"Expect the unexpected"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You read the travel blogs, attend the meetings, poll your friends, and research on your own. You have a solid plan. Great! From my experience though, the best things happen outside those comfort zones \u2014 the parts you can\u2019t prepare for. I think it\u2019s best when you set intentions for what you want to gain from the experience of studying abroad, not your expectations.<\/p>\n<p>The first couple days you learn to adjust to new schedules, people, languages, food, and you name it. Bread and other carbs are celebrated here with every meal while vegetables and fruits are hard to come by. Americans are used to A\/C and driving everywhere but when here, we rely more on the breeze and our own 2 feet.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s interesting that a foreign city with buildings that look so much alike can be so easy to navigate and feel much safer than home. The biggest adjustment has been living with a host family. As an adult, you sort of get used to not having house rules.\u00a0Adapting to when you can shower, wash laundry, etc may take a little more effort but it\u2019s all part of the experience. Learning to embrace each day as it comes has been fun.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9729\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-2-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"expect 2\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9730\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-3-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"expect 3\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9731\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-1-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"expect 1\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You read the travel blogs, attend the meetings, poll your friends, and research on your own. You have a solid plan. Great! From my experience though, the best things happen outside those comfort zones \u2014 the parts you can\u2019t prepare for. I think it\u2019s best when you set intentions for what you want to gain &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/expect-the-unexpected\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Expect the unexpected<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[16],"coauthors":[623],"class_list":["post-9728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain","category-study-abroad","tag-spanish-language-immersion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Expect the unexpected - Center for International Programs<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/expect-the-unexpected\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expect the unexpected - Center for International Programs\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You read the travel blogs, attend the meetings, poll your friends, and research on your own. You have a solid plan. Great! From my experience though, the best things happen outside those comfort zones \u2014 the parts you can\u2019t prepare for. I think it\u2019s best when you set intentions for what you want to gain &hellip; Continue reading Expect the unexpected &rarr;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/expect-the-unexpected\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for International Programs\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-26T13:56:28+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T15:11:05+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/07\/expect-2-225x300.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marianne Kearnes\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marianne Kearnes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/expect-the-unexpected\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/expect-the-unexpected\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marianne Kearnes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5a8f6cb1ffe9929342bf90c92bd20ca4\"},\"headline\":\"Expect the unexpected\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-26T13:56:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-30T15:11:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/expect-the-unexpected\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":211,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/expect-the-unexpected\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/expect-2-225x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Spain\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Spain 2019\",\"Study Abroad\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/expect-the-unexpected\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/expect-the-unexpected\\\/\",\"name\":\"Expect the unexpected - 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