P.S. Special thanks to Pinterest for using up my free time and for showing me these inspirational/cheesy sayings and quotes. I don’t know how to link back to the original on this blog site, but the credit belongs to whom/wherever the people who put them on pinterest in the first place found them.
Location: Madrid
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This post is devoted two of the most important things in Spanish culture- “La Comida” and “La Siesta”- food and napping.
Delicious seafood and pasta
Personally, I feel that the Europeans, and especially the Spaniards, know how to live a bit better than those of from the United States. And, I don’t want to hear anything about financial success, because neither of our economies are doing too hot right now.
The Irish and the Spanish know what they are talking about.
Their eating schedule is different here. We eat breakfast around 8:30, have our biggest meal of the day at 2:30, and then eat “dinner” around 9:30. Usually, I have a piece of fruit or two around noon during my break before “lunch”. The last meal of the day is supposed to be small, although my meal with my family has never been small. I think having dinner late is the hardest thing to adjust too, because after eating that late in the day, the last thing I am ready to do is sleep.
Each day, Spain basically closes down from 2 until 5 in the afternoon so that people can stop, take a breath, and return home so that they can enjoy a big meal and take a long nap. In the US, I usually don’t eat big meals. As a college student, it’s easier for me to eat a few small meals on the run. That is unheard of here. Although, I will admit, napping is a fairly regular occurrence in my schedule in the US, and I made sure to keep that up while I am here.
Very true.
The food here is good, but different than the typical meal in the United States. Food is very rich, and boy do they love their bread. Bread is served with EVERYTHING. I am not exaggerating. Every meal my family just places a whole loaf of bread in the middle of the table for people to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks- doesn’t matter if we are already eating carbs with our pasta, sandwiches, or potatoes. Today, mi hermano just made a potato sandwich for lunch.
Mucho pan!
Some “Spanish” foods I have had while here-. Paella, which is the typical Sunday meal here. It was delicious. Seafood and pasta– the seafood here is fresh and delicious. There is a ton of shellfish served here, especially along the cost. Arroz con leche– rice pudding-, which is one of my favorites in the US, is a little different here, but still delicious. And of course, churros con chocolate, which I had at 6 am in Madrid after a night of celebrating my birthday at the discoteques. (Everyone in Spain stays out all night- it’s crazy. I can’t keep up!) They were just as delicious as you would hope!
Churros con chocolate
Arroz con Leche
This is what every other window in Alcala looks like.
One thing I do miss- plain, fresh veggies and fruit! That is not common here, at least not with my family. Bread just doesn’t cut it …
Location: Alcala de Henares, Spain
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So I have always been close with my family in the US, both with my sisters, with my parents, and with my grandparents and other relatives. And, I am lucky to really enjoy and get along with “mi familia” here in Spain.
My real sisters and I at my sister Erin’s high school graduation
I live in a small neighborhood right outside of the city center and my school in Alcala. It’s a twenty-five minute, two kilometer walk or about a ten minute bus ride. My “Spanish Family” couldn’t be nicer. I live in a fairly nuclear family- mom, dad and two kids. When speaking about them in conversations, I tend to refer to them as mi madre, mi padre, mi hermana, and mi hermano because it feels too formal and inadequate to call them anything else, especially for people who welcome me into their home, look after me, help me with Spanish, show me around, and cook my meals.
Me, mi hermana, and mi madre on the first day we met
They have taken care of me since I have arrived. They have had six US students live with them before I moved in, so they definitely know the ropes. It’s quite the set up- much easier than living in an apartment in college. My meals are cooked for me, they do my laundry, and mi madre even cleans my room once a week! It’s making me reconsider why most kids in the US leave their homes to attend college. The Europeans do it right!
More importantly than them simply taking care of me, they really have taken the time to try to include me as part of the family. Initially our exchanges were a bit comical. Mi hermano (my brother) would laugh and call me out on nodding my head and saying “si” (yes) to everything, even if I didn’t know what was going on. (I guess some things are universal). But, living with them and talking with them everyday has really helped me improve my Spanish. And they never hesitate to repeat something or try to explain it in a different way if I don’t understand it the first time.
While I do of course miss my family in the US, it’s not much different here than being away at college for a semester. One thing I do miss though is having a dog around the house. I think I got so used to have dogs around my house in the US that I took them for granted, and it’s more difficult to notice their absence in a college dorm or apartment. But, I certainly miss having a dog or two or three to go home to here . . . and at least they wouldn’t notice if I mixed up a Spanish word or two!
A look alike of my favorite devil dog Rosalita in Madrid
Location: Alcala de Henares, Spain
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Unfortunately, my time in Spain is not all eating, shopping, sleeping, and traveling. Although it may feel like that sometimes, I still need to attend classes and complete my homework.
Four days a week, I attend school at the University of Alcala. I am part of a program that is with the Institute of Benjamin Franklin. There are about 80 students from the US taking classes with Spanish professors. While the classes are taught in Spanish, it is a bit easier because all the students are from the US and the teachers take the time to take slowly and repeat things to make sure everyone understands.
This semester I am taking five classes: a Spanish Language Seminar, Contemporary Spain, History of Spanish Art, Spanish Cinema- Exploring the Society through Film, and Spanish Media.
My classes are all pretty interesting. Contemporary Spain, Spanish Cinema, and Spanish media have all given me a better understanding of the history of Spain and its culture. Which I must admit, I did not know much about before I arrived here. History of Spanish Art is the first art history class I have ever taken, and let me phrase it this way- I am happy I decided not to major in art history in college. My Grammar class is like Spanish 100 at Penn State except on steroids, and the teacher really means it when she says she’ll only talk in Spanish haha or jaja as they type in Spain.
I’m enjoying my classes. I can’t say they are too difficult right now, but I will say they will be a lot easier once my Spanish improves and I can understand what they are saying with less difficult.
Also, why do we have classes on Friday in the US? I’m so much more productive with a three day weekend, I swear. And – we get to take awesome field trips on Fridays. It really is the way to go ….
Location: Alcala de Henares, Spain
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In Spain, there is an emphasis on appearance and looking pulled together. In Europe, showing up to class at college in your pajamas or sweats in unheard of. At Penn State, I have seen people show up to classes in their robes, I’m not kidding. (He claimed it was laundry day, and of course it was a he.)
Men, women, kids, babies, teenagers- Everyone appears pulled together. Their clothes are less trendy, and more classic. Dark jeans, scarfs, blazers, boots, a nice coat and bag. I have come to appreciate their sense of style. For them, it seems to be less about the amount of clothes or choices you have, but rather having a solid wardrobe that you can mix and match and make the most of. It’s been a welcome change to look nice each day (rather than just throwing on my fitness clothes that I would wear to teach at the gym later like I did at PSU) to go to school, although it does require me to wake up an extra ten minutes earlier to pull myself together.
These signs are tempting me at every store!
One thing I have a love-hate relationship here concerning clothes are the “rebajas” or sales. Everything in Spanish stores is on a huge sale right now, and has been since I arrived. Twice a year all the stores in Spain have a huge sale- once in January for the winter clothes, and once in June for the spring clothes. Everything is on a huge sale. And, their stores are amazing. It’s taken a lot of self control not to blow my entire semester’s budget on one shopping trip!
Location: Alcala de Henares, Spain
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Hola Amigos!
Lo siento! I am sorry for not writing sooner, not that I believe many people are checking this blog for updates anyway 🙂 . Its hard for me to believe that I have been in Spain for nearly a month already. Time flies …
To make up for lost time I am going to post a few blog entries at once, and hopefully stay on track from now on. Although, I have become a huge procrastinator in college so we shall see if this plan works out or if I end up posting a bunch at once again.
This post will cover an overview of Spain and my experiences/feelings so far concerning learning a new language. So much has happened since I arrived in Spain on Monday, January 9th.
Writing down all that has happened so far (and I could have continued with a lot more) has only reminded me of how lucky I am to be living abroad for these few months. Although, I will honestly admit- it has not been a bowl of cherries all the time.
I think the “honeymoon” stage of living in Spain wore off this past Monday when I returned from Amsterdam. I was tired and not in the best of moods. I knew adjusting to being immersed in a new culture and language would be a bit difficult, but I did not know how mentally tough it would be to actively try to speak a new language each day. It’s different than in the US when you have a challenging class in college, and you need to concentrate for fifty minutes, and then you can leave and not think about it for a little while, or not at all.
Here, the students in my program and I talk about how we are so tired and our brains hurt all the time from communicating in Spanish. Here, you can’t be thinking about something else while you are in class or in a conversation with someone. You need to completely concentrate and focus all your efforts on listening and understanding …. (although, maybe this a good reminder for me of how I should have conversations with everyone all the time- they should have my full attention).
According to our program coordinator, right now its tough for most of us (not all- some people are fairly fluent- lucky ducks!) because we are:
hearing things in Spanish- translating it to English in our heads- thinking of a response in English- then translating it to Spanish- and then finally responding and speaking in Spanish. Once we eliminate those middle three steps, she claims, we will be fine. I can’t help but think -in English 🙂 – “Well of course, then we’d be fluent.”
All good things take time, and I know learning a new language will be worth it in the end, which is why I signed up for this program. But, it certainly has been a humbling experience. And, it has greatly increased my respect for immigrants, and anyone who has ever moved to a new place and needed to learn a new language.
“Cada d�a, cada d�a” or “each day, each day” as mi madre in Spain would say. Each day, it becomes a little easier to speak, and a little easier for me to understand. Once I got over my need to attempt to speak perfectly (I have this annoying desire to make everything I do perfect, which I know, I know is IMPOSSIBLE), it became easier to communicate. As usual, I was thinking too much. Once I stopped thinking and just starting speaking- things became a little easier, or at least a lot less stressful.
An appropriate reminder for here, and for anytime I try something new.
Really, the only hard thing here has been the language barrier, and even with that- I still love my friends, host family, classes, and city, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity. Aside from having the most fun semester of my college years (and I am only a month in), I have met wonderful people and gotten to see some amazing places- and I still have three months left !
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Location: Alcala de Henares, Spain
So only a few hours to go … in about 8 hours I will be driving to the Philadelphia airport to take a flight to Chicago where I will hang out in the airport for another three hours and then take a nice eight hour flight to Madrid. I’ll arrive in Madrid at 8am local time on Monday morning.
It’s hard to believe it’s actually here. About a week ago I was pretty nervous- worried that I chose the wrong program, worried I wouldn’t like the city, worried I didn’t know spanish, worried I’d fail all my classes, worried I’d run out of money . . . but then a few days ago when I realized it was too late to do anything or change anything about it anyway I started to get excited again!
As could be expected- packing light didnt go as planned.
Two checked bags and two carry-on bags
My luggage weighs more than me!
(not sure where I will fit anything I buy other there …. o well- guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!)
Oops!
Adios Amigos ! Wish me luck or “suerte” as the locals say
Location: Scranton, PA
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Hola Amigos! Mi nombre es Kelcey Grogan. I am from Scranton, PA. Currently, I am a junior in the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State majoring in Community, Environment, and Development with minors in Spanish and International Agriculture. During the spring semester of 2012, I will be studying abroad in Alcala de Henares, Spain. It is a smallish town about a half hour outside of Madrid.
It looks like a beautiful place, and a picturesque town . . .
I chose to study here because I thought I would get the best of both worlds, a small town with a community feel where I could feel at home and learn and practice my Spanish AND I would only be a thirty minute bus ride from the major city of Madrid with its museums, fashion, history, tourist sites, and nightlife.
While this semester abroad will be the longest time I have spent outside of the United States, it certainly will not be my first time traveling. I certainly have been blessed in my young life to have seen much of the world and traveled to five different continents. I LOVE traveling. I adore everything about it- the airports, the adventures, the new food, the different cultures, the various styles. I relish the chance to meet new people, to try to learn new phrases, to see different world views, to experience different political systems, to feel a little out of my comfort zone, to challenge myself to try to experience it all.
My family planted the travel bug in me early. Rather than spending every summer vacation lying on a beach and burning our pale Irish skin, my parents and two sisters and I traveled across the United States to various national parks, historical landmarks, and major cities, we even made it to a new continent when we traveled to Australia! We spent the different weeks hiking, exploring, eating new food, and meeting new people. (My sisters and I also spent a lot of time asking “are we there yet”, getting on each others nerves after long ten hour car rides, ordering grilled cheese and fries rather than the local cuisine, getting really lost with “faulty GPS directions” (Sure Dad), and complaining about smiling for another family photo). However, those latter memories fade with time, but the feeling of wonder at the natural beauty of the world around you and the realization that the world is a bigger place than your hometown have not.
I’ll upload some embarrassing family travel photos later.
So far I have traveled to California, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Internationally, I have travelled to Australia with my family. Many of explorations internationally were not on family vacations. I have been to Greece and London with friends and classmates, and I travelled to Haiti twice to work, learn, and volunteer with a non profit organization. I spent three weeks in Jordan with an embedded class from Penn State after my freshmen year of college. After my sophomore year, I spent three weeks in Kenya with another embedded course . Phew! Quite the passport . . . and I’m not done yet 🙂
Of course, I will miss my family, friends, and the comforts and familiarity of home while abroad. I even will miss my commitments, classes, and professors here in Happy Valley. While at Penn State, I have served as the president of the Community, Environment, and Development club, and I recruit students to join the Schreyer Honors College as a member of the Scholar Advancement Team. I also work as a Fitness Instructor and am an undergraduate research assistant here with a professor. I am passionate about fixing the education system here in the United States, and have worked as a Campus Campaign Coordinator and Operations Coordinator with Teach For America. In my free time, I love to run, drink coffee, and attend Penn State football games! . . . . I certainly do like to keep busy and make the most of every opportunity!
So to make the most of this upcoming opportunity to travel abroad in Spain I thought I’d write down a few goals:
1. Pack Efficiently (If you know me, you know how much of a challenge this will be! I love clothes, but I don’t want to be bogged down by a suitcase during my travels. And, I can always buy things while there 🙂 ! )
2. Speak Spanish (Since all my classes are in Spanish, I guess this isn’t really an option! I probably should practice a bit over these next few weeks though!)
3. Take Pictures (I have never been good at remembering to take pictures. I am usually too caught up in the moment and I let other people worry about it! I want to have plenty of pictures from this time abroad though.)
4. Enjoy! (Sometimes I can get so caught up in the planning process, I forget to enjoy the moment. I want to enjoy every new experience while abroad, the food, the people, the language, the culture, the places, the challenges, and the successes! I know these four months will fly by. )
5. Have adventures
Well I think this enough information for now! (I have a tendency to talk a lot.) Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to actually be blogging from Europe . . . . Hasta Luego!
Location: State College, Alcala de Henares, Alcala,