Student Exchange

[Trig]

Hey guys!

 

So right now I'm on a 3-month student exchange in Spain. I figured this would be a great place to talk to you guys, share ups and downs, etc. I thought some of you might be really interested in this, and I have a blog documenting my daily adventures (complete with pictures!)

 

www.ofanestudiantedeintercambio.tumblr.com

 

I will also answer any questions you guys have here :) (Similar to reddit's AMA I suppose)

 

This is what the experience is, in brief:

I sent in an application and was matched up with a student in Spain (she's a year younger than I am). She came to live with me from the middle of August until November 7th and then returned home. Then, on February 9th I left my city to come to Spain and I will be here until May 3rd. The length of time is just shorter than 90 days so that a student visa is NOT required. I've been here for just over 2 weeks now. The temperature isn't what most people would think of when they think of Spain- when I arrived it was quite cold- probably got to 0* or possibly even slightly below some days. Since about Wednesday or Thursday it has started warming up a bit- right now I would say it's probably 15* outside (All of these are in Celcius by the way) and I'm really enjoying the temperature- I hope it stays like this and doesn't get too much hotter because we aren't allowed to wear shorts to school! I think that student exchanges are fantastic, but they don't come without their struggles. I was pretty homesick this past week, and I think just today I am finally starting to settle in a little bit. There's a pretty large language barrier- since I came over knowing very little Spanish (I had taken one class 3 years ago) but I'm learning quite quickly (that's what my family says anyways). In my case, my exchange partner and I definitely aren't best friends- but she is much better in her home environment than she was in MY home environment. I'm not a very social or outgoing person- and would rather be on the computer than go out- so I have to overcome some of these fears in order to truly enjoy myself here. I think I'm going to mature (although I'm already pretty mature for my age) and hopefully be less afraid of people because of this exchange. And obviously, the whole goal of this exchange for me is to learn Spanish (I've always liked the language).

 

So yeah...I guess that's it in short? If there are any other questions feel free to ask- and I figured I'd just share this in case you guys were interested :3 Also- if anyone speaks Spanish or knows of any great websites to help me learn- please let me know! Either through PM, responding here, or even neomail :) Thanks!

[Angeló]

where in Spain are you ???

 

this country runs in my blood I would love to live there for the rest of my life .. and you definitely will start to go out more .. Spaniards party 5 days in the week hehe

[lilshadowdweller]

Wow. It's very difficult to adjust to a new culture. Be weary of "culture shock", which happens to many, but also remember that you are not there forever, and you have your family and friends waiting back home for you. :) You'll learn a lot of Spanish, I'm sure, but it takes a lot of time and patience. Thankfully, Spanish is so far from English in many cases, so I hope reading things is a bit easier for you. Also, you don't have to best friends with your exchange partner. My friend who had done the exact same thing as you wasn't best friends with her partner from France.

 

I hope she's making the transition easier on you recalling how it had felt for her when she was in your home. :-) Also, how is the food? What's it like compared to the Americanized Mexican food of here? :D

[Trig]

where in Spain are you ???

 

this country runs in my blood I would love to live there for the rest of my life .. and you definitely will start to go out more .. Spaniards party 5 days in the week hehe

Haha. Yeah. I'm not much of a partier, but I'm getting a little bit more into actually asking people to hang out, it's difficult. I'm in the South of Spain in a province called Jaen. Do you actually live in Spain Angelo?

 

Wow. It's very difficult to adjust to a new culture. Be weary of "culture shock", which happens to many, but also remember that you are not there forever, and you have your family and friends waiting back home for you. :) You'll learn a lot of Spanish, I'm sure, but it takes a lot of time and patience. Thankfully, Spanish is so far from English in many cases, so I hope reading things is a bit easier for you. Also, you don't have to best friends with your exchange partner. My friend who had done the exact same thing as you wasn't best friends with her partner from France.

 

I hope she's making the transition easier on you recalling how it had felt for her when she was in your home. :-) Also, how is the food? What's it like compared to the Americanized Mexican food of here? :D

 

It is quite difficult, and I think I had some pretty major culture shock which represented itself as homesickness for the past week. I'm doing quite a bit better now though, and I'm a bit more settled in. I've traveled a decent amount, so I never really thought of culture shock being an issue- but I think it definitely happened to me. I personally find Spanish vocabulary to be somewhat similar to English in some cases. A lot of it is really different, but a lot of it is similar. I have to make an active effort to study some Spanish though, so that I can learn more. It's hard to not always hang around your partner when you rely on them because of the language barrier- but I'm starting to make some steps out of my little box (I'm not going to lie- I'm really shy and pretty socially awkward when I don't know people).

 

The food is pretty decent; the main difference I find is that when you have your main meal of the day (which here is lunch- around 2 or 3pm) you usually have a main dish and some bread, and nothing else. I think in many other parts of the world you have your main dish, and then 2-3 side dishes like salad or vegetables. Here, if there happens to be vegetables in your main dish- well there there is- if not, well too bad. For example, today we had chicken and potatoes for lunch- no veggies! This is actually what disappoints me most about the food because I love veggies. Other than that it's not too different from Canada- my host parents cook pretty multiculturally though, but I can't say there have been many things where I'm like "OH I WANT THE RECIPE!" (Actually- there have been 2 things). I think too, it's a common assumption that Mexican food and Spanish food are the same- when in reality I'm definitely not finding that! I haven't had any tacos while I've been here- nor have I really seen any adds for them!