My name is Emelie Beckman, and I am an international student from Sweden who studies here at SBCC. I moved to the US in August of 2021, but this is not my first time attending school in a different country. During the spring semester of 2019, I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain. I was enrolled in high school in Sweden at the time and was presented with the opportunity to join our school’s study abroad program, where my fellow classmates and I could move to Madrid together and attend Colegio Escandinavo for six months.
At the time, I was seventeen years old and had never lived alone, much less alone in another country that did not speak my language or share my culture. Needless to say, I was excited but also very nervous. However, studying abroad would turn out to be the best thing that had ever happened to me.
During my time abroad, I experienced completely new things, and I fell in love with Madrid and my time there. I saw parts of the world that were completely new to me, learned so much about a new culture, ate fantastic food, and met friends for life. Today I look back at my experiences studying abroad, and I am so grateful that I decided to do it.
Still, there were challenges along the way since Sweden and Spain are pretty different places. But I had support from my school to help me solve any problems that came along the way. I learned that I could manage anything by keeping an open mind and understanding cultural differences. In the end, I could get out of my comfort zone and grow as a person, and to this day, I still cherish the memories I made while abroad.
From my time in Spain, I learned many amazing things about the culture, language, food, and, most importantly, myself. I became an expert problem solver, a more outgoing person, and an enthusiastic traveler. After returning to Sweden, I continued traveling back as often as possible and soon realized that there were even more beautiful places to explore. That was one of the main reasons behind my decision to attend college in the US, as I knew how incredible the study abroad experience could be. Now I have been at SBCC for almost one and a half years, and I have absolutely fallen in love with Santa Barbara. Every day I become more and more confident that coming here was the best decision I have ever made.
Studying abroad taught me more things than I could have ever imagined and completely changed my life. Right now, I could have been attending university in my hometown in Sweden, not knowing how many incredible places there are out there for me to explore. Finally, I want to leave you with this, if you have the chance to study abroad, do not hesitate to seize that opportunity. It was the best thing that has ever happened to me.
