Senior Ronin Umali stood in the L’illa shopping mall in Barcelona, Spain during his spring break. This was his first time outside of the country, and while it was an entirely new experience for him, what struck him first was the familiarity of stores like Zara.

“[The mall] wasn’t really different from here, and I guess that was the cool part — obviously, it’s a whole different country, but there are a lot of similarities,” Umali said.

Umali, along with 13 other Prospect students, went to Spain from Wednesday, March 19 through Friday, March 28 with the Prospect Spanish exchange program. This program partners Prospect students with students from Colegio Padre Manyanet Les Corts in Barcelona.

Umali was not only able to find similarities between the establishments in the United States and Spain. He also found many between the Spanish students and himself, which helped him to forge connections with them.

“The exchange students themselves were such interesting people, and it was cool to see how even though they’re from across the ocean, we still bonded over a lot of things,” Umali said. “We’d talk about the gym, or Tik Toks that we’d see, and there were things that were different, but they were also very easy to get along with.”

Specifically, Umali grew very close with his exchange partner, Alex Camí. Even though the exchange program is now over, they still talk virtually, and Umali is hoping to visit him in the future.

“I thought that we were a perfect match,” Umali said. “I ended up with the best person for me.”

Other students on the exchange ended up fostering relationships outside of just those with the other students. Senior Norah Knight spent time with her exchange partner’s six-year-old sister, who would draw her pictures and write her little notes.

“She wrote this one that was like, ‘I love you, you’re the most beautiful of them all,’ and I got to take it home,” Knight said. “It was very sweet.”

Beyond just being a fun trip, the Spanish exchange helped students to reinforce and expand their knowledge of the Spanish language.

“I’ve never learned so much related to something academic in such a short period of time,” Knight said.

Spanish teacher Mike Bosco, who served as a chaperone on the trip, noted that high school students learning enough Spanish to feel comfortable living with a Spanish-speaking family for a week is an impressive feat that should be celebrated.

“It’s such a perfect, capstone experience for students,” Bosco said. “I think it truly is a nice reward for the students who have put in the time and the effort … to get to a point where they are able to be conversational [in Spanish].”

Umali feels as though this is an experience that he will always remember.

“It was life-changing,” Umali said. “Spanish is more than just a class, because it is one of the classes that goes beyond the classroom, and it’s more enjoyable when you appreciate the culture and have something else outside of class to enjoy.”