Author: Kate Sisk

A month and eleven days ago, I had began my journey studying abroad in Spain, and here I am now. People have warned me how moments abroad fly by but I never expected my time here to be moving so fast. My routine feels so normal now and Spain is finally starting to feel like my home away from home. Although my language is still really struggling at times, each week I notice I’m drastically improving. Some days I’ll feel as if  I can’t speak the language at all, others I feel like I’m on the path to fluency. Although things are hard now to have basic conversations with some of my classmates, I know within a short amount of time I’ll break the language barrier and feel like just another Spaniard. Before I left for this cultural adventure I had an unbearable interest on what my time might be like. I would read blogs to get a feel of what it would be like to be immersed into such a diverse country and live such a different life for five months, so I’d like to inform you on some of the things that can help you prepare for your time abroad:

1. Food: Within the first week I had tried foods I would never even think about eating back home. So far, I’ve tried octopus, baby sardines, full shrimp (head and everything), lamb, chicken’s stomach, chicken’s liver,  and chicken’s heart. Although most of the exotic meats I really wouldn’t care to eat again, there were some I did happen to like. I’m glad I get to experience these things because I probably would never get the chance to any where else. Some real positives about living the European lifestyle is the bread, cheese, sweets, and ice-cream. One word – AMAZING. With every meal you get fresh bread and occasionally various cheeses and it is a dream come true. The ice cream here is the best I have ever tasted and the sweets have made me go crazy. The aromas you smell walking into a store are unimaginable.
2. School: There is only one real way to describe the average Spanish high school… education. Nothing more and nothing less but classes, lectures, and tests. The students have never been to a school dance or even heard of National Honors Society. Personally, I feel as if is both a positive and a negative for exchange students. On one hand your deprived of the events and clubs that your school has to offer that allows you to meet new friends and spend time getting to know your class but on the other hand it forces you to branch out and try new activities around your town. Though my town is small, the local soccer team is where I’ve met quite a few friends of mine. It’s also fun to see the differences in the sports or activities played her compared to where you live.
3. People: I didn’t know coming here what the people would be like to a foreigner.  I know occasionally back home, some of the people treat foreigners terribly and I was nervous to sustain that kind of reaction. But don’t worry, on the first day of school I was reassured that the Europeans are some of the nicest people in the world. The first weeks here I had strangers branch out and attempt to speak English with me if I couldn’t understand something. Luckily, I was placed with a host family with some of the most generous and hardworking people I’ve ever met.
4. The Landscape: If you would love to look out your window and see a mixture of vibrant colors from the beautiful sunset rising over a mountainous horizon every morning, Spain is the place for you. There is nothing I have loved over these past weeks then to go on runs and walks and see what views and sights the city has to offer. And so far, it hasn’t let me down.

My time here in this beautiful country has been all that I’ve wanted and more and I’m intrigued to see what the next four months holds for me. About two weeks ago  my family and I went to visit my uncle here at his house at a “plantano” which is basically an artificial lake where all the mountains excess water leads to. There are only three in Extremadura, and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting one of them. The view was incredible and I had the experience of watching one of the prettiest sunsets cast various colors over the lake and mountains surrounding it.

Casey has been studying abroad in Spain and shares her journal entries from the past few months of her program. 

9/11/13

The sun was setting as we dropped past a mountainous horizon on our way to meet our host families. Nervous was a understatement. I don’t think I had done something this hard ever in my life, but the adventure motivated me to keep going. Finally, we arrived and I stepped off the bus to meet my host family. My new house was located in the small town of Villanueva de la Serena. My family consisted of four people total, two boys and my parents. It was weird to me not having a sister in the family but I was sure that I would make girlfriends soon enough. I greeted my new family and I choked to get even the simplest words in Spanish out to make a sentence. Within minutes I was comfortable enough to begin speaking. Luckily, my family spoke a good amount of English so I wasn’t completely lost with my small vocabulary.

Later, we arrived at their house. Beautiful was an understatement. The land was beautiful and their backyard was covered with flowers and games. I felt relieved to see a few familiar things in the house like a soccer net and xbox. In the kitchen, I guess it’s part of their culture, but they have the leg of some animal I didn’t get the name of. My appetite for meat fell every time I peaked at that part of the kitchen. They surprise me with a baby kitten, “Kitty” who was named after “Hello Kitty”, and a little dog, “Luna”. I was more than happy to have pets in the house because it reminded me of the two I had left behind. As the night went on, they helped me improve my Spanish as much as they could. Although it was still difficult to speak, I learned a plethora a words throughout the small moments we conversed.

9/15/13

These first few days have been an adventure to say the least. At times, things would become really hard and I wouldn’t understand a word anyone said. This was probably the hardest thing to overcome. When the room around me laughed at a joke I completely didn’t understand, it was hard to stay positive. I remembered that we learned about “Culture Shock” and was hopeful in time I would later be comfortable here.

In the past couple of days I have gone to a wedding, helped cook a Spanish soup “Gazpacho,” and hung out with a few of my host brother’s friends. The hardest of the three was hanging out with his friends. Although some friends spoke a small amount of English to me, I had no idea what they were saying most of the time. The day after, I had helped prepare lunch with my Host Mother, Rosa. The lunch included marinated turkey, grilled peppers, and a famous Spanish soup, “Gazpacho”. It was fun actually being able to help for once around the house and I was excited to learn the home recipes. Later that night I went to a family member’s wedding in Don Benito. This was the best part of my few days here. I arrived to see many elaborate hairstyles and dresses reminding me of the part in ‘The Hunger Games’ where they portray the future of the world. The families cousin told me that sometimes the women go more than five hours before the wedding to get their hair styled. The room was filled with people and family members I knew I would later meet. After the church, we went to a party similar to the American wedding reception. We started eating small amounts of appetizers the waiters would bring out. Without knowing, I tried duck and croquettes filled with ink from some animal in the ocean. It was an adventure. Later we went inside to begin our five course dinner. The courses included a salad with a spanish ham, shrimp and snow crab, a lemon drink, the meat from the throat of a pig, sliced potatoes, ice cream, and a chocolate dessert. Again, another adventure. I ended the night by talking to a few locals for about three hours in Spanish and English. We attempted to help each other and later exchanged Skype usernames. It was refreshing to know my English wasn’t useless to people here in Extremedura. It was fun helping them and improving my own mistakes. We didn’t return home until after 6 in the morning, typical for Spanish weddings.

9/17/13

Things have been getting harder lately and I’ve decided to let things take their course. My friend from the United States, who also lives in Villanueva, reminded me to “just ride the wave” and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’ve decided being homesick takes up too much of my short time here in Spain and it’s better to have fun. I started my first day of school yesterday, oh boy. Can you just imagine going to a school in another language with complete strangers? No? Well I couldn’t either until yesterday. As one of  very few natural blondes in the whole school, you can imagine the looks I was getting in the hallway. There wasn’t a teacher that could pronounce my name and it didn’t matter. By the end of the day, my classmates and I had got used to correcting the teacher from “c-a-s-i” to “casey”. Things had gotten easier as I grew closer to my classmates. Although I didn’t have much to say in their language, I made the most out of what I had known. And even better, “Mis amigas” have been teaching me both good and bad words for future references. Most of my teachers were willing to help as much as they could and they were all understanding about my small vocabulary. At this point, I’ve decided to play soccer. I need something to do everyday after the ‘siesta’ and I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing is more Spanish then soccer.