LivIing Abroad: Irish Erasmus Students Experiences' of Integration in Spain

Living and studying in another country requires students to pursue a process of integration into a number of areas of life, among them university itself, as well as social and cultural events and day-today activities, all of which require the building of relationships. As English has become the lingua franca in many countries, English-speaking students nowadays face increased challenges to using Spanish as a means of communication to fully integrate into the host country. This paper identifies the strategies employed by a cohort of students from an Irish university during their year abroad in Spain with the aim of explaining their process of integration into the host country. The data used for this study were an integral part of a module completed by the students during their study abroad, where students wrote two reflective assignments in Spanish to analyse their experiences during study abroad. Results show that students who made efforts to move out of their comfort zone had a positive experience of integration. The experiences of students who did not integrate so successfully are discussed and recommendations that may be relevant for students and institutions in their preparation for study abroad are provided.