My experience in Spain
is the exact opposite of that in Chile.
School
Through IFSA-Butler, I
had two amazing professors in Chile. I
learned so much in my Chilean literature class and my Written and Oral Spanish
class. However, my other classes
were not very good. Professors were
late all the time, failed to create class structure, and generally were not
good at teaching. But, on the plus side, I had very
little work.
All of my classes in
Spain are good. I learned an
enormous amount in my two-week intensive class on the Cultural History of Spain. As I am finishing up my classes in the
next month, I can definitely say that I understand a great deal more about
Spanish cinematography and gastronomy, and medical terms in Spanish.
Due to the student
manifestations in Chile, I was not able to study with Chileans in
university. Fortunately, I had a
second opportunity in Spain. I
currently take a cognitive psychology class at the University of Seville. The professor speaks incredibly fast,
so I struggle to understand everything, but the other professors for my labs
are much easier to comprehend. In
general, I am happy with my decision to take a direct University class,
especially because I get to stay in Spain for another month for free since my
program pays for my housing.
Spanish
I am very thankful for
many reasons that I went to Chile first, before Spain. One main reason is that after Chile, all
other types of Spanish seem a lot easier.
I was amazed when I arrived in Spain that I could actually understand everyone. To be honest, I was nervous about the Sevilla accent since I have heard so many times that
Sevilla Spanish is one of the most difficult to understand in Spain. Many say that Sevillianos speak rapidly
and cut off the end of words.
People obviously have not been to Chile. For me, the Spanish here is one of the more difficult ones, but
nothing in comparison to Chile or Argentina.
Host Family
I finally have the
host family I have always wanted (as seen in an earlier blog). I live in Spain with a Señor and a
Señora, in a decently sized apartment in Los Remedios of Sevilla. We watch TV and eat together. We even take siestas together. My
host parents take me to the doctor.
They help me plan out trips.
Spending a great deal of time with my host family, I learn an enormous
amount of Spanish with them.
In contrast to Spain,
my host family in Chile was very different. My host parents were younger, and had two teenage sons. Working all the time, my host dad wasn’t
home very much. But when he was home,
we would spend hours talking. He
was a world-traveler, and had so much to share with me. I loved talking with him.
At first, my Chilean
host mom was extremely nice and helpful.
Some where along the journey we began to not like each-other. While she was very strict and
perfectionistic, I was very free-spirited and loose. Just two different types of people.
Besides eating and
talking, I didn’t do much with my host family. They would watch movies every weekend together, and not once
did they invite me to join. My
host brothers were pretty indifferent about my life. We had our jokes and cooked together twice, but overall, we
just lived in two different worlds and could not create strong ties.
I left Chile
disappointed that I did not switch host families. I just hoped that my situation in Spain would be better, and
it is.
Physical Exercise
In Chile, I spent a decent
amount of time at the gym and playing soccer. I joined the gym for physical exercise, but also for the
great showers. My host mom told me
on the first day to take 4 minute showers, hence the luxury of unlimited shower
time at the gym. I loved my soccer
team. We practiced once a week,
and played one game every Sunday.
However, in Spain, I
don’t have a gym or a soccer team.
I walk or bike at least 1 hour everyday, usually around 2 hours. But, I miss the structure of going to
the gym and I miss having a group of girls to laugh and have fun with twice a
week.
Time
I was generally much
more busy in Chile. I had
structure. I was active at the
gym, soccer, school, traveling, and with friends. Since I had terrible Internet in my apartment, I rarely was
able to watch movies or TV shows online.
Therefore, I spent a lot of time outside, doing things.
I have way too much
free time in Spain. Similar to
Chile, I sleep massive amounts.
But, since my Chilean family ate an early 7’ocklock dinner (weird for
Chileans), I tended to go to bed early and wake up early with ease. Here, I eat dinner around 10 pm and go
to sleep around 1 or 2 am and wake up semi-early for class. Therefore, siestas are necessary. My host parents always laugh at how I
take 2-3 hour siestas.
Friends
Before going abroad in
Spain, I planned on focusing on making Spaniard friends, and not American
friends. Instead of going out with
groups of Americans, I decided that I would pick one or two friends and go out
with them in order to increase the likelihood of meeting Spaniards. A good idea, in theory.
When I was in Chile, I
had a small group of friends who I really liked and spent all of my time
with. I was rarely just with one
American. But, I was also with
many more Chileans. I was very
fortunate to be introduced to a group of Chileans in my first week of living in
Viña del Mar. A girl in my
IFSA-Butler program had studied in the city the past semester and was also
staying for the fall semester.
This girl, fluent in Chilean Spanish, had a very welcoming and eager
group of Chilean friends.
Therefore, it was easy to talk to Chileans.
Leaving Chile, I was determined to make a close friend in Spain, someone who I can visit if I come back to Sevilla in the future. However, I have had a
much harder time making Spaniard friends. I have one friend in my psychology class and one friend who is my intercambio (a partner to speak in spanish and english with). Sometimes, I wonder if Spaniards are just so used to American students
that they have no interest in befriending us. Similar to Chilean girls, Spanish girls seem very cliquish
and unwelcoming to American girls.
A perfect example of
Spanish girl behavior occurred last week in my psychology class, which is
probably 90% female. My professor
told everyone to get into groups of 3-5 people and asked everyone to be
welcoming to the “American student” (aka me). He even said that it would be advantageous to have me in
their group because I can find articles in English. Yet, no one reached out to me. There was even a group of 6 girls, more than the maximum of
5 people per group, who refused to send someone from their group to join
me. Eventually my professor just
assigned me to another group, but I was shocked that these college aged
students couldn’t leave their comfort zone and reach out to a foreigner.
In my pursuit of Spanish
friends, I haven’t created a main friendship group for myself. Throughout all of my life, I have
continuously had small groups of very close friends. It’s my style.
Here I am, a floater, for the first time in my life. I have friends who belong to different
groups. Hence, I float between
groups.
So, in general, I
think I miss my social life in Chile.
Health
My stomach problems began in Chile. One night I ended up in the hospital from stomach pains, not ever knowing with certainty the cause. All I knew was that I wanted to be cared for and babied, but I was mostly on my own. Fortunately, the pains weren't daily. Over time however, my stomach has just gotten worse.
In Spain, my stomach pain is daily struggle. But my host family is
very kind and helpful about my sickness.
I know that if I was in Chile with the intensities of these pains that I
would have gone home.
Over all, I am lucky to have opposite experiences in two different countries. How boring would it be if Spain was a repetition of Chile! I learn so much more from having diverse experiences!
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