Myth Buster: My Biggest Study Abroad Fear, Proven Wrong

At Northwestern University, located just north of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois, everyone studies abroad in Madrid. It gets passed down through Greek life big-littles and student orgs like a rule: if you want to really study abroad, Madrid is the place. Madrid is perfect. You haaaaave to go to Madrid.

So naturally, I refused.

I was determined to not fall into the dreaded Northwestern bubble: where study abroad is just a new backdrop for the same group of friends. I didn't want to cross an ocean and feel as if I was walking down a Northwestern sidewalk, or sit in a new cafe and have it feel like a dining hall with names and places I already knew floating through the air. 

However, as a Spanish minor craving immersion, and a chronic busybody who needs city life, I found myself filling out the Madrid Fall 2026 study abroad application like everybody else. 

And I cannot be happier that I did.

From the second I touched down in Madrid, I operated like it was freshman year orientation week. I spoke to everyone and said yes to everything, whether it was IES Abroad Madrid Welcome Tapas or a simple invite to try a new gelato place.

I can now proudly say, at the halfway point of the program, that I have met the most amazing people here, from universities I’ve never heard of and states I've never been to. But my favorite people are the ones who walked the same campus as me for two years, and I never knew it. 

It is incredible the number of times I meet someone new from a class or an IES Abroad activity, and discover we have lived parallel lives. Freshman-year terror stories from next-door dorms, the same treacherous first-year major requirements, all recounted over a cafe con leche in our favorite Madrid neighborhood.

I was worried discovering these parallels would make Madrid feel smaller, but instead those friendships feel bigger. All of our conversations get to end with “I’ll show you when we get back” or “I can’t wait for you to meet them,” because we know we’ll be part of each other’s lives come January despite our roots always being here in Madrid. Our first hangout will always be a walk through Retiro Park, our first heart-to-heart on a balcony overlooking the closest Metro station, and all our favorite stories set in places only we will ever know. 

The group of people I have surrounded myself with here probably would've never crossed paths, finishing our four years in our parallel lines, passing in the halls without ever learning each other's names. But because of Madrid, Evanston can feel a little bit more like home.

Studying abroad has been such a gift. It has shown me sights I would never have seen and created memories that could only have been possible under Spain's yellow streetlights. But the biggest gift, the best souvenir, is the people I get to take home with me.