Barcelona was never my dream city. I added it to a list of potential places after watching an episode of House Hunters International and realizing how fun it could be to live near the beach for a semester. When I realized that IAU was the best program my school offered for completing my major requirements, Barcelona was promoted to my number-two spot.
The only thing holding me back from putting it at the very top was how different it looked from the experiences my friends were planning. They were applying to competitive exchange programs at top universities, stressing over essays and deadlines. My application to IAU took less than ten minutes. When I chose to prioritize finishing the classes I needed to graduate from GW instead of prestige or name recognition, I worried that I wasn’t taking full advantage of the study abroad opportunity, convincing myself that my friends thought I was doing it all “wrong.” All summer, I stressed over whether or not I had made a huge mistake by choosing IAU.
When I arrived in Barcelona in September, those worries dissipated. Within a week, I couldn’t imagine choosing anywhere else. From sunsets spent playing volleyball at the beach to sunrises on my balcony, just getting home from a night out, Barcelona quickly brought out a new side of me, building my confidence with each day. But in October, I traveled to meet my friends studying in other parts of Europe, and suddenly I felt self-conscious again. Their experiences seemed so different from mine.
They were surprised that most of the friends I’d made were other Americans, since they hadn’t met any in their programs. They complained about intense workloads, all-nighters, and demanding professors. They looked at me in shock when I admitted that my own all-nighters came from exploring Barcelona’s nightlife in the middle of the week before heading straight to class.
I came back from that trip questioning my choices. I hadn’t formed close friendships with many Europeans, and my classes weren’t as rigorous as theirs. I felt like my friends didn’t think I was having a “real” or rewarding study abroad experience compared to a direct exchange. But as I reflected on my semester so far, I remembered why I came abroad in the first place.
My biggest goal was to travel. Seeing the world has been my main ambition for as long as I can remember, and every future I imagined involved exploring as much of it as possible. Since middle school, I’ve kept a file in my Notes app listing countries and cities to visit, along with itineraries for everything I want to experience in each place. Any time someone asked what I wanted to do for a career, my answer was always the same: anything that would let me travel, or at least pay me enough to do it on my own time. Part of why I chose GW as my home university was its strong emphasis on and resources for study abroad, and I wanted to use this semester to not only live in Spain, but to visit countries I could never access as easily from the United States.
Studying at IAU in Barcelona was the best possible choice for that goal. I was able to craft an academic schedule that left my weekends available, and Barcelona's airport, the base of Vueling, made flights accessible and affordable, so it was easy to see the cities I’d dreamed of visiting. The student culture at IAU also made travel a shared priority. Nearly everyone had the same ambition of travel as I did, so finding travel partners was effortless, and I never felt FOMO leaving Barcelona for the weekend because I was never leaving my friends behind.
I also know I wouldn’t have been able to travel so extensively if I’d had the same workload as friends in more intense exchange programs. My professors at IAU took their courses seriously while still recognizing that students had as much to learn from experiences outside the classroom. Not only did they create opportunities for us to learn about and explore Barcelona as part of our courses, but their flexibility and understanding of their students’ goals added so much to my semester.
From the start of the application process through my first weeks abroad, I struggled with the idea that a “provider program” wasn’t the right path. It took a few months of living in Barcelona to understand how my program challenged me in different yet equally valuable ways. Choosing a provider program allowed me to meet GW students who I’d never crossed paths with before and form close friendships as we explored Barcelona and traveled together. It also let me connect with students from other American universities with vastly different cultures than what I’m used to at GW, pushing me far out of my social comfort zone and into some of the closest connections I’ve made with people who I’d never have expected to get along with. And even though my classes were with other Americans, simply living in Spain created countless opportunities to meet locals and European expats, opportunities which my friends assumed I’d missed by attending an American program.
Studying abroad is a challenge, no matter which program you choose. By understanding my own goals and pushing past my own bias toward attending a university with prestigious name recognition, I ended up exactly where I needed to be. As I wrap up my time in Barcelona, I’m so grateful I trusted myself to understand which program type was right. I cannot imagine a better fit for me than IAU Barcelona.
Katie Robey
Fall 2025
IAU - Barcelona, Spain
Columbian College of Arts and Science
Political Communication & Marketing Double Major