At the age of 16, I spent my junior year of high school in Málaga, Spain, studying abroad with Rotary Exchange Program. During my time in Spain, every accomplishment seemed monumental. Estranged not only from my foundation of support, love and familiarity, but also from the ability to attain my typical standards of achievement in school, each personal struggle created an avenue to self-discovery.

Ultimately, my success in school was the most rewarding outcome of my experience, not because of successes in particular classes or grades but because it was a reflection of my adaption to another culture and language. Stripped of the support and established surroundings I had flourished in, I found it exceedingly difficult to express myself through language and interpersonal interactions. At first, school was overwhelming and deflating, and I felt completely incompetent in my capability to perform on assignments, let alone understand my teachers.

My level of Spanish was far less than what was needed to comprehend the majority of the material being taught, and what I understood solely came from former knowledge. I did well in math, science, English and economics due to prior proficiency and universal thinking. However, the classes that interested me and challenged me most were history, philosophy and Spanish language. I valued the idea that not only was some of the material distinct, but the perspective and form of expression was also different.

I created individual relationships with teachers to utilize their knowledge and support to the best of my ability, given my unusual circumstances and obstacles. My history teacher allowed me two hours to take exams as opposed to one, and most of my teachers permitted me to use a Spanish-English dictionary whenever I needed it. In economics and history, often times I would be asked questions specific to the U.S. in relation to what we were studying, and the classes would discuss my representation of the American perspective in comparison to their own.

Equally invaluable, the teachers would explain information specifically to me, knowledge that was inherent to the rest of the students due to their common nationality and culture. My language teacher instructed me personally on Spanish grammar lessons and I tried to explain the convoluted motives for U.S. involvement in Latin America, the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and Black Friday. It was a progression of interactive learning; it was intercultural learning and understanding.

Socially, I connected to my classmates as the year progressed, and I shared countless laughs in each relationship, from misconceptions on both ends and explanations of concepts considered unfathomable by others’ perspectives. The more I grew in the classroom, the more I excelled in other facets of my Spanish life. I developed my language study through books, movies and friends, started art classes with my host dad, a highly acclaimed illustrator, auditioned and got in to a fantastic youth choir, played on a local water polo team, took Latin dance classes and volunteered as an English teacher. I spent more time with my host family, learning their family and cultural traditions, as well as discovering how I could be a better daughter in their household.

I passed all of my classes, getting the third best grade in my history class and a letter from the principal acclaiming my efforts and presence in the school. The real achievement, however, was the feeling of cultural comprehension and dual-perspective. Establishing my place in a different country strengthened my desire to find ethnocultural empathy through first-hand international experience and knowledge. Through the understanding and acceptance of my surroundings, I found joy, confidence and self-expression, as well as a whole new perception of my role as a world citizen.