I studied abroad the summer of my freshman year of college. It was a great experience as I was already very familiar with the language (French) and had already been to France once before, and therefore was able to immerse myself in the culture with less difficulty than others. Similar to ghostoffuffle, I spent a lot of time by myself, although in mine case it was by design. I was so enamored by the place I was living in and studying that sometimes all I wanted to do was wander around, find a nice cafe and sit around and drink and take it all in, occasionally talk with whoever else might be around. If it's something you're going to do I would strongly encourage an effort to be made to become part of the culture and spend a lot of time immersing yourself with locals and whoever else might be interested in conversing with a foreigner. People, in my experiences, are incredibly kind if you are making an effort at their language and way of life and are more than happy to help.