In the winter of 2018, I made a wonderful decision to study abroad in Valencia, Spain. It was my freshman year and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. It wasn’t until I actually got to my host parents’ home that I realized what a life changing event I would be going through. I chose this particular place because one of my majors is Spanish and I had never traveled to Europe before.
I took two classes, SPAN 302 (Conversation and Hispanic Culture) and HIST 348 (History of Spain). However, a lot of the assignments were mixed together, especially those that asked us as students and as people immersed in a new culture to expand our knowledge and be open minded. I’ll admit though, that at the time it was a little annoying to write so much when all I wanted to do was eat and sight see! Looking back, I’m kind of glad we had these assignments. Reading over them reminds me of my experiences.
One of them was called la pregunta del día, or question of the day. For these assignments, we had to ask someone in Valencia, a complete stranger, what they knew of the topic. The topics ranged from what they knew about El Cid, a legendary knight made famous with poems and movies, to what they knew about a particular Valencian phrase and where it came from. We would later have to detail the interaction in Spanish, describing who they were, where they were when we asked, and their answer to the question. Sometimes we’d have to ask more than one person. For me, this assignment helped me practice my speaking skills, something I’d been embarrassed and shy to do with my own Spanish speaking family. It also helped me with my confidence as well; usually I’m not the kind of person to randomly ask someone a trivia question as I’m buying lunch. It was oddly fun!
Two other assignments we did often were actividades culturales (cultural activities) and diarios (diary entries). For actividades culturales, we could choose from different museums or historical churches to walk around and learn about, and would write about what we learned once we got back. In our diarios, we were able to write about cultural differences we saw in Spain compared to those we were used to in the states. I often wrote about the ways people interacted with each other. To me, people were a little more friendly and open to conversation than they were in the states. I also noticed that parents were often more relaxed around their children in parks. They seem to be more trusting and have less conflicts, which I thought was interesting.
In my Spanish class, we often talked about food and the famous tortilla española (not like the Mexican kind though! Its made from eggs, potatoes, and onions…which is highly debated in Spain). In my history class, we were able to connect the things we learned about with some of our trips we took around the country. We talked a lot about art, which was something I loved. For our final essay in this class, we analyzed the movie El Cid (1961), which we had to watch before leaving the states and compared it with the poem written around the beginning of the 13th century.
As an individual, I felt that I had grown a lot during this trip. My confidence in my Spanish speaking abilities and knowledge, as well as my confidence in general, grew immensely (part of me wonders if this is due to the fact that a lot of people thought I was from the area, which gave me an interesting point of view!). Even if I messed up, I didn’t feel embarrassed and laughed it off. I was able to help my classmates understand what some of our interviewees had said during our pregunta del dia interrogations, did a lot of math in my head to account for conversion rates of dollars to euros, but I still never learned how to use a map. Fortunately, I never got lost! I learned that I am capable and I can rely on myself, which is something I used to struggle with. I learned a lot about working together with others and improved my communication skills.
I always enjoyed spending time with my peers on our trips out of the town, and I enjoyed the company of my host family very much. They were such kind people, and I think of them often. My host mom made amazing food (better than the restaurants!), my host dad made me laugh with his affinity for Will Smith, and their daughter was always fun to talk to. I immersed myself in the culture by watching the news, Spanish game shows and movies with them, and partaking in the midday nap, which is something I think we should adopt here in America. My roommate and I enjoyed ourselves by walking around the local parks, shopping, and hanging out with the group at a funny little bar a few streets over.
Leaving was the hardest part. I definitely shed a few tears, but I remember these times with a smile. I learned and grew so much, academically and culturally, and I’m so glad I got to do it 🙂
P.S.: pictures will be uploaded at a later date!