I think that before I came here I thought that my life would be completely different. I would come to Europe and be a completely different person. I would just transform over night. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but that has not been the case.
It still doesn't really feel like I'm in Spain. It is really only obvious when everyone arond me is talking in Spanish or when I talk to my mom and it is 3 pm here and 7 am over there. I find myself the same person as when I left home. I have changed from last school year, that is for sure, but not as much as I thought that I would have. I left Coe with the thought that I was going to go out into the "real world" and become more of an adult- more sophisticated, more knowledgeable, more confident in what I want to do after graduation, I would find myself and my "calling." My plan was to set out and go to Washington, D.C. first and then Spain and return to Iowa after a year with the most amazing stories of my adventures. I wanted to go out and see places and do things that I never would be able to do back home, or had never been risky enough to do at home. I wanted it to be obvious that I was a changed person, that I had done the amazing. But I don't feel any different. I do not feel more mature or sophisticated. I feel kinda awkward, especially since I stand out a bit more here and still get lost since many of the streets look the same. Yeah, I feel slightly different than I did at the end of last school year, but on the whole, I am the same person that left Coe in May.
I think that I might have expected for the changes to be right there and that I would be able to see myself changing as it happened. For me, part of the point of leaving Coe for an entire year was to grow as a person and to realize who I am and what I want to do. I am sure that when I get back I will see that I have changed, but right now I feel like I am still the same old me, just across the world, just me in a different time zone. That is not necessarily a bad thing, being the same me, but I think that I want to see what a different me looks like.Maybe I am just searching for someone that does not exist. Maybe the me that I am right now is the me that is perfect just the way that I am and Spain is not going to change that.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A bit of culture shock...
I realized during two of my classes this past week that no matter where you go in the world there is national pride. One of my classes is about the history of the Spanish language. We discussed how the modern language is continuously evolving, especially today with the influence of technology. More and more, English words are being used and replacing existing words in Spanish and thus the Spanish language is being lost. The is an older gentleman in my class (Here, once people retire they go back to the university to take classes. They do receive degrees, but they are honorary; they take classes as something to do is their spare time, as a hobby of sorts) who made a comment that kind of suprised me: "I am not opposed to English, I am just in favor of the Spanish language." His view is that the language is being lost and that it is a bad thing. Kleenex is being used instead of pañuelo, parking is being used instead of estacionamiento, etc. The loss of language, acorrding to him, is a loss of culture. Once people start using English words instead of Spanish, Spain will not be the same, it will be a less culturally rich country.
Again the next day in another one of my classes I saw something similar. The class called European Theory, where we discuss the philosophy of Europe and see whether or not the European Union is in fact united. Our discussion centered on our text in which the author makes the point that in terms of cultual customs, morals, philosophy, the United States is identical to the European Union. One girl in my class strongly disagreed, stating that the U.S. is completely different from Spain and that it is in no way like the rest of Europe. According to her, the U.S. has a different government, does not have a royal family, and in general is just on a completely different level from Spain. The professor had to point out that the author was discussing Europe and not just Spain, and that the U.S. is as similar to Spain in economy, politics, culture as Spain is to Great Britain or Germany.
These comments were just something that struck me as interesting. The first conversation led to another where we discussed how patriotism in the United States is not the same as national pride here. In Spain, we discussed, people do not have so much a national pride as they do a regional pride. They identify themselves first by which region of Spain they are from. This is especially true when it comes to people from Catalunya and the Basque region; they try to keep with their regional differences, especially when it comes to language. Spainish people in general do not feel the same pride for their country as Americans do. Their regional celebrations tend to have more of an importance than their national day does- for example, people in Castellon take a week off of work and school to celebrate a festival called Las Fiestas de La Magdalena, where they celebrate the founding of the city. People in the U.S. acknowledge where they are from, but when you ask where they are from they will say America; being American is more important than where you are from.
These conversations got me thinking about my nationality and my place in my city, state, country and the world. It made me realize that we Americans in general, as a whole people, fail to be as globally aware as people in other countries. I know that that is a huge overstatement and generalization, but on the whole, I think that it is fair to make that statement. I think that the general thought of Americans is that our country is one of the global powerhouses and as such we are entitled to focus only on our country. Why should be be force to learn another language besides English? Why should we be interested in the politics of Serbia or Sweden. All of the people that I have met from countries in the EU are required to learn languages outside of their mother tongue. For them, Spanish is their fourth language. You´re not normal here if you only know how to speak just one language. You are required to learn in school other languages fluently and they have Erasmus here that makes it easier to travel to study in another country and prefect your abilities in another language.
I feel like that there are these little things that make me stand out here. Standing out is not a bad thing, but I feel like I am becoming more aware of how little I know and how much I have to learn this semester.
Again the next day in another one of my classes I saw something similar. The class called European Theory, where we discuss the philosophy of Europe and see whether or not the European Union is in fact united. Our discussion centered on our text in which the author makes the point that in terms of cultual customs, morals, philosophy, the United States is identical to the European Union. One girl in my class strongly disagreed, stating that the U.S. is completely different from Spain and that it is in no way like the rest of Europe. According to her, the U.S. has a different government, does not have a royal family, and in general is just on a completely different level from Spain. The professor had to point out that the author was discussing Europe and not just Spain, and that the U.S. is as similar to Spain in economy, politics, culture as Spain is to Great Britain or Germany.
These comments were just something that struck me as interesting. The first conversation led to another where we discussed how patriotism in the United States is not the same as national pride here. In Spain, we discussed, people do not have so much a national pride as they do a regional pride. They identify themselves first by which region of Spain they are from. This is especially true when it comes to people from Catalunya and the Basque region; they try to keep with their regional differences, especially when it comes to language. Spainish people in general do not feel the same pride for their country as Americans do. Their regional celebrations tend to have more of an importance than their national day does- for example, people in Castellon take a week off of work and school to celebrate a festival called Las Fiestas de La Magdalena, where they celebrate the founding of the city. People in the U.S. acknowledge where they are from, but when you ask where they are from they will say America; being American is more important than where you are from.
These conversations got me thinking about my nationality and my place in my city, state, country and the world. It made me realize that we Americans in general, as a whole people, fail to be as globally aware as people in other countries. I know that that is a huge overstatement and generalization, but on the whole, I think that it is fair to make that statement. I think that the general thought of Americans is that our country is one of the global powerhouses and as such we are entitled to focus only on our country. Why should be be force to learn another language besides English? Why should we be interested in the politics of Serbia or Sweden. All of the people that I have met from countries in the EU are required to learn languages outside of their mother tongue. For them, Spanish is their fourth language. You´re not normal here if you only know how to speak just one language. You are required to learn in school other languages fluently and they have Erasmus here that makes it easier to travel to study in another country and prefect your abilities in another language.
I feel like that there are these little things that make me stand out here. Standing out is not a bad thing, but I feel like I am becoming more aware of how little I know and how much I have to learn this semester.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Culural Experiences in Spain
This weekend I had a taste of the night life here. Thursday there was an Erasmus party at the "discoteca" so some students organized a dinner beforehand and then afterwards we went to the club. Everyone else has gone out at night before and this was my first time since I live so far from the center of town and the last bus leaves the center at 9:30, which is when the party gets started. One of the exchange students from Greece invited me to stay the night at her apartment, which made it so much easier to go out and know that I didn't have to worry about getting home. (I think that being so far from town and from the university is something that I didn't think would bother me, but now I am not sure if I want to move or not...)
It was kinda weird eating Italian food in Spain (I guess it's also weird eating Italian food in the U.S. but I never really thought about it until now). We paid 10 € and got dinner and unlimited wine, beer or sangria :) Dinner was so much fun. Almost the entire restraunt was students from the university. More than half of the students there were from Spain, so it was nice to get to talk to Spanish students outside of class. They were all really nice and one of them invited a couple of us to Valencia where she lives to show us around next weekend. There were also exchange students; most of them were speaking in their native languages, but at my table we decided to speak only in Spanish so that we could all practice together. It was fun just drinking and eating and having a good time with people that share common interests.
After dinner we went to the club. So it was supposed to be a pajama party (if you wore pajamas you could get in for free). So I decided to wear mine. It was kinda awkward when only three of us showed up in our pjs, but we didn't care because we were having too much fun. We danced and had a good time. The only thing that was bad about the club was that here people can smoke in public areas so it was so hard to breathe. So since we couldn't breathe we decided to leave early. It turns out that leaving early here mean leaving at 4 in the morning. I now know that wearing heels is not the best idea for going out and having to walk back after dancing for three hours (next time I will take an extra pair of shoes with me).
I totally consider going to a club a cultural experience for me. It was interesting to see how things are both similar and different from when we go out in Iowa.
My next cultural experience was today when we took a trip to Morella. Morella is a city about an hour and a half outside of Castellon and it is considered by some to be one of the prettiest towns in Spain. The town is surrounded by a wall with six entry ways that centuries ago was used to keep out invaders. When I think of an old European town Morella is exactly what I picture. It has cute little shops and narrow streets.
We were given a tour of the town and go the see all of the touristy stuff: town hall, the church, the old convent and the church that was part of it, and finally we walked up to the top of the old castle. I consider myself a bit of a nerd and love to have tours of places and learn about old places and be the one right up from taking pictures as the tour guide tells us what everything is. Although it was a pretty town, it was so definitely cold today while we walked around, that was an experince in and of itself. It was cold but also think that it might have felt colder since it has been so warm the past couple of days and then it was cold weather all of a sudden.We were al shaking and frozen and were happy once we got to the restraunt for lunch. The food consisted of dishes typical to the town: olla de Morella (a lentel, chickpea and pork soup), stuffed pork and nata (pudding) for dessert (I knew that they ate pork in Spain, but I didn't realize how much they really do eat it here!), and of course wine (they also drink a lot of wine, which is really cheap here). During dessert people started singing songs from their countries and it was so much fun to hear all of these different songs in different languages. You could see when people sang that they had so much love for their homes and that they were proud to share that with everyone.
It was kinda weird eating Italian food in Spain (I guess it's also weird eating Italian food in the U.S. but I never really thought about it until now). We paid 10 € and got dinner and unlimited wine, beer or sangria :) Dinner was so much fun. Almost the entire restraunt was students from the university. More than half of the students there were from Spain, so it was nice to get to talk to Spanish students outside of class. They were all really nice and one of them invited a couple of us to Valencia where she lives to show us around next weekend. There were also exchange students; most of them were speaking in their native languages, but at my table we decided to speak only in Spanish so that we could all practice together. It was fun just drinking and eating and having a good time with people that share common interests.
After dinner we went to the club. So it was supposed to be a pajama party (if you wore pajamas you could get in for free). So I decided to wear mine. It was kinda awkward when only three of us showed up in our pjs, but we didn't care because we were having too much fun. We danced and had a good time. The only thing that was bad about the club was that here people can smoke in public areas so it was so hard to breathe. So since we couldn't breathe we decided to leave early. It turns out that leaving early here mean leaving at 4 in the morning. I now know that wearing heels is not the best idea for going out and having to walk back after dancing for three hours (next time I will take an extra pair of shoes with me).
I totally consider going to a club a cultural experience for me. It was interesting to see how things are both similar and different from when we go out in Iowa.
My next cultural experience was today when we took a trip to Morella. Morella is a city about an hour and a half outside of Castellon and it is considered by some to be one of the prettiest towns in Spain. The town is surrounded by a wall with six entry ways that centuries ago was used to keep out invaders. When I think of an old European town Morella is exactly what I picture. It has cute little shops and narrow streets.
We were given a tour of the town and go the see all of the touristy stuff: town hall, the church, the old convent and the church that was part of it, and finally we walked up to the top of the old castle. I consider myself a bit of a nerd and love to have tours of places and learn about old places and be the one right up from taking pictures as the tour guide tells us what everything is. Although it was a pretty town, it was so definitely cold today while we walked around, that was an experince in and of itself. It was cold but also think that it might have felt colder since it has been so warm the past couple of days and then it was cold weather all of a sudden.We were al shaking and frozen and were happy once we got to the restraunt for lunch. The food consisted of dishes typical to the town: olla de Morella (a lentel, chickpea and pork soup), stuffed pork and nata (pudding) for dessert (I knew that they ate pork in Spain, but I didn't realize how much they really do eat it here!), and of course wine (they also drink a lot of wine, which is really cheap here). During dessert people started singing songs from their countries and it was so much fun to hear all of these different songs in different languages. You could see when people sang that they had so much love for their homes and that they were proud to share that with everyone.I have learned more about Spain during the past two weeks, especially the past couple of days, than I have learned in years of studying about it. It makes such a difference to study about a country when you are actually there and can see first hand what things are and what the customs of a people are. Even though my encounters have been brief in comparisson to what they willl be, I have taken so much from them. And I love that I am experiencing them with people that are going through the same things that I'm going through. Everyday is a mini adventure and I love waking up ready to see what the day will present.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I finally found time to write another post!
I have been keeping a personal journal, but really need to start posting on here more often :) Quite a bit has happened since the last time that I posted (over a week ago!). I registered for classes- I am taking five classes: The Contemporary History of Spain, The History of Spanish Language, The History of Eupoean Economic Intitutions, Spanish Art and Culture: Analysis for Tourism, and European Theory. Monday was my first day of class. My first class was my art class, which is an upper level class for people majoring in Tourism. The professor walks in and asks everyone if they had taken the art appreciation class to should be taken before this class, and of course they had, and I'm just sitting there with no idea what to expect since I only signed up for this class because the title sounded interesting (as an exchange student, I can sign up for any class in any field of study). The professor was talking about the topics that will be covered this semester and everyone is taking notes, while I'm sitting there terrified that I had made a bad decision. But my second day (yesterday) in the class went much better and I think that as long as I take notes I should be fine.
In most of the classes here, the majority, if not all, of your grade is based on the final. Some people like it because it means that you don't have to go to class or do assignments; as long as you do well on the final, you're good. That terrifies me because what if I don't do well on the final. I'll feel like I spent an entire semester in a class and don't have anything to show for it.
My other classes went well. It was the usual "This is what we'll be learning this semester" that is typical on any first day of class. One thing that has surprised me is that two of my classes have already been canceled. The professor just leaves a note on the door saying that there won't be class today. It was odd at first, but I wasn't complaining.
Last Friday we went on a tour of the city (parts of it). We got to see the old Casino, which used to be the casino in town centuries ago but is now sort of (from what I understood) a country club type place. We also got to see the old theater, which has a painted curtain that is beautiful and is one of a handful in the country. Then we walked to the bell tower and were able to climb to the top, which was dizzying and exhausting. Once we got to the top, the view was totally worth it. It was such a beautiful day and you could see the entire city and the mountains (too bad I forgot my camera that day). We then walked through the market and were able to see two of the main squares in town.
I have started to see more and more the attitude that Spaniards have toward their family and friends. They view their friends as family and their families mean everything to them. My host mom was telling me that she lived at home until she moved in with her husband before they got married, which is typical here. So people here don't move away from home until they are around thirty, which is something that you rarely find in the U.S. Dori explained to me that yes ocassionally people move out during college to live in the dorms or in an apartment with friends, but then they move back home afterwards. It is frowned upon to leave home at a young age, especially if you're a woman and are moving out to live alone. I tried to explain to her that the U.S. once you leave home for college it is frowned upon to return back home; moving back home is harder in the U.S. because there is this stigma that is associated with moving back home. People very moving back home as something bad, like you had to go back home because you were unable to make it on your own. There is such are such different views that Americans take on the personal self and family. You have your family, but in the end you are trying to achieve personal sucess. In Spain the view is that you achieve personal sucess because of your family; your sucesses are those of your family and family is more important than the self.
Over the past week I have gotten to know Antonio's family (his parents, sister & her family, and brother and his wife) and many of thier friends. Everyone has been super nice to me, which has been so nice because I find myself a more shy here than I have felt before. They have accepted me into their circle of friends and it came as a bit of a surprise, actually. I thought that they would be friendly for the sake of being nice to their friends' exchange student, but they are genuinely nice to me. One of their friends, Rosa, invited me to the movies and another friend, Marilin, took me shopping with her. Even though most of their friends are older than me (in the earlier and mid 30s), I still feel comfortable with them and they feel fine with me.
So in addition to keeping a journal and a blog, I am also keeping a food diary. My main reason for that is so that I don't forget what I ate and which new foods I tasted. Also to remember what I did and did not like for future reference. So far I have tasted and not like bacalao, octopus and the eggs that my host mom made for breakfast. Other than that, the food that I have tried has been pretty good. It doesn't have as much spice as I'm used to, but it's not bad.
I fell like things are coming more natural for me after having been here for two weeks. I know my way around, sort of, and have been figuring things out for myself. I have made friends, both Spanish and Erasmus, and I think that the next four and a half months will fly by.
In most of the classes here, the majority, if not all, of your grade is based on the final. Some people like it because it means that you don't have to go to class or do assignments; as long as you do well on the final, you're good. That terrifies me because what if I don't do well on the final. I'll feel like I spent an entire semester in a class and don't have anything to show for it.
My other classes went well. It was the usual "This is what we'll be learning this semester" that is typical on any first day of class. One thing that has surprised me is that two of my classes have already been canceled. The professor just leaves a note on the door saying that there won't be class today. It was odd at first, but I wasn't complaining.
Last Friday we went on a tour of the city (parts of it). We got to see the old Casino, which used to be the casino in town centuries ago but is now sort of (from what I understood) a country club type place. We also got to see the old theater, which has a painted curtain that is beautiful and is one of a handful in the country. Then we walked to the bell tower and were able to climb to the top, which was dizzying and exhausting. Once we got to the top, the view was totally worth it. It was such a beautiful day and you could see the entire city and the mountains (too bad I forgot my camera that day). We then walked through the market and were able to see two of the main squares in town.
I have started to see more and more the attitude that Spaniards have toward their family and friends. They view their friends as family and their families mean everything to them. My host mom was telling me that she lived at home until she moved in with her husband before they got married, which is typical here. So people here don't move away from home until they are around thirty, which is something that you rarely find in the U.S. Dori explained to me that yes ocassionally people move out during college to live in the dorms or in an apartment with friends, but then they move back home afterwards. It is frowned upon to leave home at a young age, especially if you're a woman and are moving out to live alone. I tried to explain to her that the U.S. once you leave home for college it is frowned upon to return back home; moving back home is harder in the U.S. because there is this stigma that is associated with moving back home. People very moving back home as something bad, like you had to go back home because you were unable to make it on your own. There is such are such different views that Americans take on the personal self and family. You have your family, but in the end you are trying to achieve personal sucess. In Spain the view is that you achieve personal sucess because of your family; your sucesses are those of your family and family is more important than the self.
Over the past week I have gotten to know Antonio's family (his parents, sister & her family, and brother and his wife) and many of thier friends. Everyone has been super nice to me, which has been so nice because I find myself a more shy here than I have felt before. They have accepted me into their circle of friends and it came as a bit of a surprise, actually. I thought that they would be friendly for the sake of being nice to their friends' exchange student, but they are genuinely nice to me. One of their friends, Rosa, invited me to the movies and another friend, Marilin, took me shopping with her. Even though most of their friends are older than me (in the earlier and mid 30s), I still feel comfortable with them and they feel fine with me.
So in addition to keeping a journal and a blog, I am also keeping a food diary. My main reason for that is so that I don't forget what I ate and which new foods I tasted. Also to remember what I did and did not like for future reference. So far I have tasted and not like bacalao, octopus and the eggs that my host mom made for breakfast. Other than that, the food that I have tried has been pretty good. It doesn't have as much spice as I'm used to, but it's not bad.
I fell like things are coming more natural for me after having been here for two weeks. I know my way around, sort of, and have been figuring things out for myself. I have made friends, both Spanish and Erasmus, and I think that the next four and a half months will fly by.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Erasmus Orientation
Yesterday and today were my first days of orientation at the University. Of course, meetings all day, both days, but they have helped me better understand the university here and the differences that I'm going to see while here (although today things did start to get repetative). There are three directors from the Erasmus office that put together the presentations: Teresa, Marga and Maria Jose. Teresa is in charge of all of the American students. Marga is much more animated and helpful than Teresa seems to be; Teresa is very monotone and quite and doesn't really seem to have much of a personality, while Marga is talkative, moves her hands all the time when she talks and remembers all of the Erasmus students' names.
Yesterday the first meeting I had was a meeting for all of the exchange students from the U.S. There are 11 of us. Most of the students (six) are from the University of Oklahoma, three are from Murray State University (for two of them this was their first time on an airplane), one student from Florida Atlantic University and myself. Of the 11, only four are girls, which really surprised me since I had read that most students that do exchange programs are females. After the meeting with just the students from the U.S. there was a meeting for all of the exchange students about Spanish customs and culture. Although I did know quite a bit from the few days that I've been here and from my previous courses, it was nice to hear it again. We learned about the food that is typical to the region that most people know about (paella, tortilla, fish, cured ham) and the food that most people would not know that is popular in the region (rabbit, snails, and pretty much any part of the pig). We learned about cultural norms that might be different in other parts of the world (for example, they told us that until about 5 years ago people smoked pretty much anywhere, even inside of university buildings; most drivers take traffic signs as suggestions; and you don't have an obligation to tip at restaurants unless its fancy because tip is included in their salary). We learned about the festivals that are big here in Castellon (Festival de la Magdalena and Holy week).
Afterwards, some of the American students and myself walked around the city and got to see the different parts of down town. The down town is bigger than I expected it would be. If you don't know where you are going, it is easy to get lost because there are so many round-abouts and many of the building look similar at first glance. We stopped inside of a small restaurant to have "almuerzo." I was a bit frustrated with the other students because the waitress asked them what they wanted and they were getting confused and you could tell that she was getting frustrated and it wasn't really a good situation. But lunch turned out to be good and the waitress (who happened to also be the owner) gave us her business card and told us to return again. Since I had not anticipated walking around the city all day, I had decided to wear heels and was super glad when we got back to campus and I was ablt to sit down and rest a bit.
Yesterday was the first time that I caught the bus here, also. I was a bit nervous about catching the bus since I sort of knew where I was going, but not really and since the street signs here aren't as visible. I asked the driver to tell me when we got to my stop and where I had to go to catch the bus that would take me to where I needed to go (The university is in Castellon and I live in El Grao, which is outside of the downtown). I'm glad to say that the drivers on both buses were helpful in telling me where to go and how to get around on the buses.
Today I had more meetings. We had a session about the culture, again, but it there were also things that had not been said before. We had an activity where we split up into groups and discussed the differences between the culutural norms and values that we are accustomed to and the ones that are often seen here. Each group was given a different value; my group's was the value of time. We had to say where on the spectrum we fell when it came to how we see time. On one end was polychronic time: time is unlimited, people should take the amount of time necessary to do what they need to do, life does not follow a clock, it's ok to meet a friend 15 or 30 minutes after the time that you had set, etc. On the other end was monochromatic time: time is precious and should not be wasted, activities must be organized, you plan your day to make sure that you arrive on time to all of your meetings and classes, it is unthinkable to waste someone else's time, time is money, etc. Of course anyone that knows me knows where I fall. I of course fell exactly at the monocronic end; I am always busy, I have to plan everything, I like to be in charge, I am always on time or early, if I'm going to be late I let the person know and still feel guilty that I'm late. I've already seen since being here that that is not the way they view time here. Yesterday, for example, I was early for the first meeting and Teresa looked at me like I was crazy (I had only shown up 10 minutes early), and once she was ready to it was 10 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start. I guess that that is something that I am going to have to get used to dealing with while I am here and will just have to learn to relax more.
Afterwards, we got a tour of campus. When I first got to the uniersity I thought that I would have a hard time finding where I'm supposed to be. Although the buildings are big, there are three buildings for classes, a library, sports center and the amgora (which is like a plaza- there are stores, a bank, a pharmacy, a cafeteria). I know that I will probably get lost at first, but at least know I know where to go to ask for help so that someone can guide me to where I need to be. And since most of my classes (for now) are in the history department, I won't have to change buildings when I go to class.
All of the Erasmus students that are staying with families had a meeting following the tour. I was surprised that out of 50 plus students that only 12 of us are staying with families; I thought that more people would want to do a home stay since it is popular in other parts of Europe. It was nice to know that there are other students that are not living close to the city or that have experienced the culture shock that I have experienced living with a family (I think that there is more opportunity to experience the Spanish culture when you live with a family, eat their typical meals with them, meet their family and friends).
So today on my bus ride home I learned how to bus a bus pass. It was really easy- I just asked the driver for one and it was nothing. I remembered where to get off the bus at, which I think is a huge achievement for me. The only thing that did go kind of off was actually getting to the house. There are like six buildings around here that look the same so I thought that I had walked down far enough. I got to the number 26 (which is my house number) and was trying for like 5 minutes to get the gate open, but my key wouldn't go in. Finally, I realized that maybe this isn't my house and it turns out that my house was still three buildings down. When I got there my key worked but I couldn't figure out how to open the gate. After trying for a few minutes, my host mom opened the gate and that is when I realized that I had to push, not pull (We have only used the garage door in the past, so I had never had to open the gate before).
All in all, things have been going well. I feel like every day things are getting better and better and I am adjusting more to life here. I'm meeting new people and practicing (hopefully bettering) my Spanish.
Yesterday the first meeting I had was a meeting for all of the exchange students from the U.S. There are 11 of us. Most of the students (six) are from the University of Oklahoma, three are from Murray State University (for two of them this was their first time on an airplane), one student from Florida Atlantic University and myself. Of the 11, only four are girls, which really surprised me since I had read that most students that do exchange programs are females. After the meeting with just the students from the U.S. there was a meeting for all of the exchange students about Spanish customs and culture. Although I did know quite a bit from the few days that I've been here and from my previous courses, it was nice to hear it again. We learned about the food that is typical to the region that most people know about (paella, tortilla, fish, cured ham) and the food that most people would not know that is popular in the region (rabbit, snails, and pretty much any part of the pig). We learned about cultural norms that might be different in other parts of the world (for example, they told us that until about 5 years ago people smoked pretty much anywhere, even inside of university buildings; most drivers take traffic signs as suggestions; and you don't have an obligation to tip at restaurants unless its fancy because tip is included in their salary). We learned about the festivals that are big here in Castellon (Festival de la Magdalena and Holy week).
Afterwards, some of the American students and myself walked around the city and got to see the different parts of down town. The down town is bigger than I expected it would be. If you don't know where you are going, it is easy to get lost because there are so many round-abouts and many of the building look similar at first glance. We stopped inside of a small restaurant to have "almuerzo." I was a bit frustrated with the other students because the waitress asked them what they wanted and they were getting confused and you could tell that she was getting frustrated and it wasn't really a good situation. But lunch turned out to be good and the waitress (who happened to also be the owner) gave us her business card and told us to return again. Since I had not anticipated walking around the city all day, I had decided to wear heels and was super glad when we got back to campus and I was ablt to sit down and rest a bit.
Yesterday was the first time that I caught the bus here, also. I was a bit nervous about catching the bus since I sort of knew where I was going, but not really and since the street signs here aren't as visible. I asked the driver to tell me when we got to my stop and where I had to go to catch the bus that would take me to where I needed to go (The university is in Castellon and I live in El Grao, which is outside of the downtown). I'm glad to say that the drivers on both buses were helpful in telling me where to go and how to get around on the buses.
Today I had more meetings. We had a session about the culture, again, but it there were also things that had not been said before. We had an activity where we split up into groups and discussed the differences between the culutural norms and values that we are accustomed to and the ones that are often seen here. Each group was given a different value; my group's was the value of time. We had to say where on the spectrum we fell when it came to how we see time. On one end was polychronic time: time is unlimited, people should take the amount of time necessary to do what they need to do, life does not follow a clock, it's ok to meet a friend 15 or 30 minutes after the time that you had set, etc. On the other end was monochromatic time: time is precious and should not be wasted, activities must be organized, you plan your day to make sure that you arrive on time to all of your meetings and classes, it is unthinkable to waste someone else's time, time is money, etc. Of course anyone that knows me knows where I fall. I of course fell exactly at the monocronic end; I am always busy, I have to plan everything, I like to be in charge, I am always on time or early, if I'm going to be late I let the person know and still feel guilty that I'm late. I've already seen since being here that that is not the way they view time here. Yesterday, for example, I was early for the first meeting and Teresa looked at me like I was crazy (I had only shown up 10 minutes early), and once she was ready to it was 10 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start. I guess that that is something that I am going to have to get used to dealing with while I am here and will just have to learn to relax more.
Afterwards, we got a tour of campus. When I first got to the uniersity I thought that I would have a hard time finding where I'm supposed to be. Although the buildings are big, there are three buildings for classes, a library, sports center and the amgora (which is like a plaza- there are stores, a bank, a pharmacy, a cafeteria). I know that I will probably get lost at first, but at least know I know where to go to ask for help so that someone can guide me to where I need to be. And since most of my classes (for now) are in the history department, I won't have to change buildings when I go to class.
All of the Erasmus students that are staying with families had a meeting following the tour. I was surprised that out of 50 plus students that only 12 of us are staying with families; I thought that more people would want to do a home stay since it is popular in other parts of Europe. It was nice to know that there are other students that are not living close to the city or that have experienced the culture shock that I have experienced living with a family (I think that there is more opportunity to experience the Spanish culture when you live with a family, eat their typical meals with them, meet their family and friends).
So today on my bus ride home I learned how to bus a bus pass. It was really easy- I just asked the driver for one and it was nothing. I remembered where to get off the bus at, which I think is a huge achievement for me. The only thing that did go kind of off was actually getting to the house. There are like six buildings around here that look the same so I thought that I had walked down far enough. I got to the number 26 (which is my house number) and was trying for like 5 minutes to get the gate open, but my key wouldn't go in. Finally, I realized that maybe this isn't my house and it turns out that my house was still three buildings down. When I got there my key worked but I couldn't figure out how to open the gate. After trying for a few minutes, my host mom opened the gate and that is when I realized that I had to push, not pull (We have only used the garage door in the past, so I had never had to open the gate before).
All in all, things have been going well. I feel like every day things are getting better and better and I am adjusting more to life here. I'm meeting new people and practicing (hopefully bettering) my Spanish.
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