The first or second day of classes in Madrid we went around and introduced ourselves to the class, per usual.

I paid no mind to it really, I had no plans to make friends– again, I had museums to memorize and a city to get lost in.

That plan was quickly scraped on the second day when Oda, the cool Norwegian, and I were paired together for an exercise.
Then, sometime soon after that, a jest was made about French, and a boy in the back rivered out a response in the language.
Tri-lingual? I wanted to meet that young man.
That’s how Oda and I met Marc, a student from Rochester, and his friend from class Alex, a skateboarder from Chicago.

This little group of kids from classes dined together occasionally, and it was warmly referred to as, “family dinner.” We were the people we regularly hung out with, in and out of school. We celebrated a couple birthdays together, invited each other to bars we’d found, and I gave one very promising tour of the Reina Sofia.

These are the people I discovered Naturbier with.
These are the people I texted in a drunken flurry after I went out with an Olympic-hopeful sailor in Mallorca.
The group who I stayed in one night on a weekend excursion to Salamanca just to text them all night, laughing like a loon.
The group my second Real Madrid game was planned with, who I watched the Champions League games with.
Once, we even watched a Cavaliers game at a beloved Cuban bar– La Fontana del Oro.

This is the greatest gift studying abroad gave me: friends so fierce I can’t believe it really happened.
I think it was something about none of us knowing ANYONE else going into our program, and then just finding these little slivers of commonality that ended up being wide rivers of shared interests. It’s like summer camp best friends, but instead of a week together, you spent five months together. Instead of weaving keychains, you had to synergize to communicate with the ticket taker at a sporting event, or deliberate on what train line will get you somewhere faster.
The group shared restaurant recommendations and discovered a city together. We were close because it was a human necessity to build relationships quickly. We were surviving and thriving together in a foreign, magical place.

Looking back on my decision going into study abroad (that I wouldn’t make friends, so I could focus on exploring the city and improving my Spanish), I was so stupid.

Realistically, I am wildly social and extroverted. People tractor-beam to me naturally, whether any of us mean it intentionally or not. Me going five months without developing new friendships was a ridiculous idea. Whether people came to me, or I to them– I was going to meet people and we’d like each other.
ALSO when studying abroad, you have something in common with this small group of people that you share with no one else in your life. You have a few months in paradise, an experience so wonderful you will have a hard time putting it to words when you return home, and really, no one back home understands. Even other people who studied abroad didn’t study abroad with you.
This group of people did.
So for that reason alone, you should put effort forth to bond with them and love them.

 

 

I’m glad I found my little familia in Madrid.