¡Hola de España!
I have officially been in Spain for one week, and it has already been an extremely exciting and incredible experience. My initial excitement upon arriving slowly transformed into nervousness, as I realized my Spanish was much worse than I had been expecting. However, over the short course of one week, I’ve become more and more confident and less worried about making mistakes. While reading signs, menus, and understanding what is being said to me comes easily, actually conversing and speaking out loud still remains somewhat difficult, yet the more opportunities I have to interact with native speakers the better I am becoming.
Although I had initially signed up to live with a host family, there was an unexpected issue with the family I was assigned, and I have been placed in an apartment with six other girls. We are all from different countries, and it has been interesting to engage with peers who have completely different perspectives and experiences than I do. Despite the unexpected, last minute change, this has given me a group of friends to hang out with.
Each morning I attend classes for four hours, which focus on grammar, conversation, writing, and culture. My professors are extremely passionate and personable. This provides a foundation of information I am then able to take with me as I explore the city. During the first week I have gone out for tapas, spent time at the Plaza Mayor, watched the World Cup, tried various forms of jamón ibérico, visited the cathedral, and drank an inordinate amount of cafe con leche.
I also went to an arena and saw traditional bull fighting, which was an entirely new experience for me. For some reason I did not think they would actually kill the bull (I’m not sure why), so it was quite shocking when not only was the bull killed, but it was then brought all around the arena for everyone to look at. I am grateful I was able to attend something so far out of my normal sphere of activities, and learn more about a culture and its history in a different way than I normally could. I’m excited for what the next weeks will hold, and am intending to continue to experience all that I can while I’m here!
