Spanish students' concerns:
This list was generated by Matthew Richards at Lancaster University on the basis of Spanish second year students’ coursework essays in spring 2000, and was used as the basis for further discussions during preparation activities for the year abroad.

•	Language! Will I cope?  They speak so fast!  Will I ever learn Spanish?
•	What to wear.  Is clothing that is normal here too revealing over there?  What do young Spanish people wear?
•	Food.  Is it difficult to stay vegetarian in Spain?
•	If I am working as an English language assistant, will they understand my accent?
•	Fear of loneliness.  Will I make friends?  To do with language skills as well.  Seems that those who have poorer language ability (at the moment) are more concerned about this.
•	Also to do with will I make friends? ‘I thought Spanish people were much more open and friendly.’
•	Temperature concerns - weather.
•	Religion.  Spain is a very Catholic country.  Will I be required to be religious?
Advice
•	Politeness.  Spanish generally have better manners than the British, though they don’t say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ so much.
•	Slang, register.  Be careful!  Also, there is not much blasphemy in the Spanish language.
•	Fiestas.  All the shops are suddenly closed.  Why?
•	Siesta, especially in the south.  Shops closed from 2-5.30 (approx).
•	Cinema - mostly subtitled, so no problems there.