Kate Shoaf

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​Kate is originally from Florida's Forgotten Coast. After graduating from Flagler College in 2011 with a communications degree she moved to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain. Her time abroad was supposed to last six months but she fell in love with Spain (and a Spaniard), and has lived there ever since!

Q+A with Kate

Intro:
My name is Kate Shoaf, I am 28 years old and I'm originally from Florida's Forgotten Coast. After graduating from Flagler College in 2011 with a communications degree I moved to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain. My time abroad was supposed to last six months but I fell in love with Spain (and a Spaniard), and have lived here ever since! I’m currently (and permanently) based in Sanlúcar and I work from home as the Global Content Lead for a startup company based in San Francisco / London.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU OVERSEAS?
I participated in the North American Cultural and Language Assistants Program run by the Ministry of Education of Spain. The program involves assisting English teachers in Spanish public schools and sharing presentations on American culture and holidays with students. I enjoyed the experience and would recommend the program to anyone interested in moving to Spain for a few months.

DID YOU STUDY ABROAD IN THE PAST (OR PRESENT)? IF SO WHAT PROGRAM AND WHERE?
In 2009 I studied abroad in Costa Rica through Intercultura and the trip was facilitated by Flagler College. It was this experience that sparked my interest in living abroad. After graduation I planned to return to Costa Rica but ended up coming to Spain through the Culture and Language Assistants Program instead.

ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR FUTURE YOUNG AMERICANS?
I wish I had received this advice when I was studying in Costa Rica: if you ever move abroad or study abroad try your hardest to integrate with locals. Look for language exchange meetups or activities where you’ll have the chance to encounter new people. When I studied abroad I kept to my group of American friends and was too shy to practice Spanish with locals—and I've always regretted it!

However, I learned my lesson and and two years later when I moved to Spain I made an effort to get to know the locals. Without my Spanish friends (and husband) my life here would be completely different; I've had so many amazing experiences since moving to Spain and it's largerly due to the people I've met here. These relationships are what makes Sanlúcar feel like home.

WEBSITES
In my freetime I run my travel blog called Kate’s Travel Tips and share advice on global destinations, expat life in Spain, and other useful information for travelers. You can follow my blog and my life abroad through the following social accounts:

BLOG: http://www.katestraveltips.com/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/katestraveltips/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/katestraveltips
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/katestraveltips
PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/katestraveltips/

Click to visit Kate's Travel Tips