Semester Abroad in Spain

¡Bienvenidos al Blog Auburn en Alcalá de Henares 2009! Here we will share our exciting tales, outlandish adventures, quotidian curiosities, and surprising discoveries from abroad. The blog should be updated regularly, with everyone contributing at least one entry per week. Our motto for this semester is “Vive el sueño: Live the dream.” We take inspiration from our host city, the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, whose unforgettable protagonist, Don Quixote, courageously pursued his dreams, no matter how lofty and no matter what the outcome. What matters most in the end is the journey itself. Come join 20 daring Auburn University students and one intrepid professor as we embark on this unforgettable experience.

By Jordan Roberts

My tale goes back to one of the first weeks we were here; however, similar experiences continue to occur…

I was in a cell phone store trying to purchase some sort of “plan” and attempting to understand what the lady helping me was saying, let alone understanding the strange ways of the Spanish cell phone plans; you must purchase in Euros as opposed to minutes. It was after a long, long day in Madrid, which don’t get me wrong, had been adventurous and fun, only tiring. Since it had only been about 2 weeks the communication was rusty not to mention I was emotionally and mentally exhausted from trying to work out tons of minute details in a different language. So there I was, standing in this red Vodafone store trying to understand how to activate my “euros” and how to use the phone. I was getting frustrated with myself and suddenly was becoming embarrassed at my lack of abilities to communicate. The ladies were whispering as they would pass each other, laughing and smirking, clearly making fun of my horrible attempt to carry out this simple purchase. As I glanced back at the growing line behind me, thoughts began to rush into my mind that I apparently thought subconsciously about Hispanics in the US: “Why don’t you do something for yourself and learn the language,” “Come on, I’m busy and have _____and ______ left to do, I don’t have all day,” etc, etc. I was ashamed at the idea that these people in line quite possibly were having similar thoughts, except this time about me, and knowing that these women were making fun and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

Even though my goal is to become an interpreter for the sake of helping Mexicans in the US, I hadn’t even realized I still had negative thoughts towards them. And finally, I am able to understand what it is like to move yourself from your home and culture you love so much, and to be stuck in a foreign country where all eyes are on you, but not because they want to be your friend. Finally, I am able to understand the stresses of being looked down upon, not wanted; the inner struggle when people treat you like you know nothing, despite the fact it’s all you can do to keep your head up and be positive. And while I know these things, I still have no idea what many Mexicans in the US, Romanians in Spain, and others in different countries experience because my move was by choice—not because I needed money for my family, not because I needed a job. I daily learn new things and hope to continue to be put in situations that allow me to taste the struggles many worldwide experience daily that I am so oblivious and heartless towards, often without realizing it…I hope this so I can help change people’s mentalities and make a difference in a world that doesn’t always live in other people’s shoes.

By Ashley Hungerford
This Sunday I was finally able to attend a Real Madrid. They were playing another team from the Madrid area, Getafe. The game ended in a tie and crowd favorite David Beckham left the field with a knee injury in the second half, but the atmosphere was incredible.

Now I’ve been to Auburn football games since I was little. My dad is an Auburn alumni and I grew up an Auburn tiger. But I’ve never been to an athletic event like this in my life.

First off, when you arrive at the stadium in Madrid, one of the first things you notice is the abundant supply of Riot Police. These people aren’t messing around.

Once you get inside the stadium, you are overwhelmed with the magnitude. I’m pretty sure you could fit 3 Jordan-Hare stadiums in the Real Madrid stadium.

And taking things into the game is a story in itself. You are allowed to bring basically anything into the game, some people some how managed to bring in a large drum. You can even bring in bottles of water, Coke, beer, whatever will quench your thirst as long as they’re less than 1,500 mL. But you are not allowed to bring in bottles of liquid with the tops on. The security people are more concerned with pulling the tops off your bottles than anything else. Reason for this: if and when you get angry enough at the referee, coach or player and decide to throw your bottle onto the field, by the time it reaches the field, all of the water will be out of the bottle. That is the sole purpose for taking the tops off of bottles.

And we players leave the field, they exit through a blue tunnel so that if fans decide to plummet them with bottles, they are protected. Actually recently in the news there was a story about a coach in Spain that got hit in the head with a bottle by an enraged fan. These people take soccer seriously.

I witnessed old and young yelling all sorts of obscene language, in Spanish, at all parties involved with the game. And when the referee makes a terrible call, you better plug your ears because you almost go deaf with the noise.

I hope I get the opportunity to make it to another game before I leave. It was so much fun. And like many of the other girls, I was quickly snapping pictures of David Beckham and Iker Casillas, Real Madrid’s goalie.

But as a former soccer player myself, I was also yelling at the referee and cheering on Real Madrid as the moved the ball down the field.

Coming into this trip, the one thing that I was primarily worried about was what my living situation would be like. I received a letter prior to my departure from my soon to be Señora and I was glad to hear that we had several things in common. She liked to keep a clean house, she liked to travel, and she liked having students living with her. All sounded positive to me! I responded to her letter, letting her know some things about my life and even sent a picture of me, so she would not feel like I was a complete stranger when I arrived.

Upon arrival, we met the group of host families on a dark street, and I was nervous wondering which one she was going to be. She recognized me from the photograph I had sent and immediately she was warm and welcoming. She helped us get our luggage back to the house and settle in from our long journey.

She lives in an apartment, which is very common for most families here in Spain. I had my own room and all the things that any student would need. I even had a few extra things, which were a great delight to me. Not only did I have a more than ample space in my room, I had a television, stereo, alarm clock, and a previous student had even set up wireless internet here in the house, so I was a very fortunate girl to have access to my computer anytime I wished.

She has been continuously helpful in teaching me new words, but she mainly responds to my curiosity. I find that most people you meet here are that way. They only help you as much as you want to be helped.

Another thing that concerned me about what my living situation would be like was what types of foods we would be eating. The style of food here is very much different from home and I was worried that I would have fish and dried ham everyday, but again to my surprise, my Señora has been very accommodating to the likes and wishes of me and my roommate. She took us shopping our first week here and got an idea of what types of foods we liked.

For breakfast everyday we have cereals and fruits, and for lunch we typically have a meat, salad and soup. I can honestly say I have not disliked anything that she has prepared for me thus far. I have been very happy with my home stay and feel very fortunate to have been placed in the house I am in.

By Merideth Henderson

By Lydia Atkins

On a cold, but unusually sunny Thursday morning, I got out of class early and decided to walk around the plaza next to our school.

Plaza Cervantes, named after the Spanish author and poet, is more or less bustling with people throughout the day. I found a bench in the sun to sit and waste away a good thirty minutes. The majority of people I saw at this time of day, 10 a.m., were elderly men, some alone, some with a friend, and others in small groups just strolling around visiting with one another. The men all wore about the same type of attire, dark slacks with cardigan sweater under a warm jacket and nice hat. Some were smoking cigarettes or holding a newspaper as if they were planning on reading it all morning, but I presume they just use them as conversation starters.

An elderly woman sat down alone on the opposite end of my bench. She had a plaid scarf wrapped around the majority of her face below her eyes and pulled a plastic grocery bag out of her hand purse to sit on and protect her nice wool coat. She sat there for a good 20 minutes simply watching people. She, like I, was watching several mothers pushing baby carriages around in circles or watching their toddlers run around and chase pigeons.

I glanced to my left and saw two grandfatherly like men sit down on a bench and rock a little girl back and forth in a carriage … then I saw her disappear down into the bottom of the carriage. The carriages here are much like tiny sleeping bags attached to strollers so the babies stay plenty warm in the cold weather. One of the men quickly jumped up to pull her up from the bottom of the bag and when she was finally upright again, she just couldn’t stop laughing…it was quite cute.

I watched the occasional visitor wander around the square and take pictures next to Cervantes’s statue. A bus full of elderly people drove by peering from behind the glass windows as a tour guide presumably told them about the history of Plaza Cervantes. People in business attire crossed the plaza to run errands, while others did a bit of window shopping in the stores encompassing the plaza. A group of young children ran behind me and gathered into a straight line as their teacher counted their heads.

In the plaza, I have seen one great difference between the people here in Spain and the people in the States . . . On a gray, cold, and even windy day, there will be people, especially those in their elder years in the mornings, out and about in the plaza or in the streets; whereas on this type of day in the States, most people will do all they can to stay indoors.

The life in Spain greatly differs from the every day life in the states including the siestas, food, and clothes. In my opinion, the culture is much better here in many aspects and much more family oriented; however, Spain defiantly has downfalls. The siestas or naps are important aspects of the Spanish way of life. From 2 to 5 pm, the town completely shuts down and everyone leaves work or school to go home and have lunch, lunch is the main meal, and Spaniards eat a lot of food. However, this is not a problem for many considering they don’t have cars and walk several miles a day.

I have really tried to immerse myself in the culture to try and detract myself from missing things from home. Mainly, I miss my family, but it is easy to communicate by internet using email or Skpye.com, which is great for calling all over the world for fewer than 2 cents a minute.

One of the bad aspects of Spain is the obvious controversy with Americans. Spaniards think every single person from America is rich, which becomes extremely annoying, but this happens all over Europe not just in Spain. I regularly have people tell me, “But you are American! You are rich! You can afford it!” Who can blame them for having this opinion? All Spaniards see American programs which do a horrible job portraying the life of Americans. MTV is extremely popular, so of course, everyone must think we are rich after watching “My Sweet 16” or “The OC.”

It does become apparent that Americans may be a bit too spoiled. We all have cars and most people live in houses, which is extremely abnormal here. Many would laugh if they came to an American high school to see 16 year olds driving new Hondas and BMWs. Most people live in apartments that are small but practical, and they only have the necessities.

Once over the culture shock, Spain is a great place to live. After awhile, it becomes apparent we don’t need all the things we missed in the beginning. We now enjoy walking the mile to class and laugh at ourselves for driving half a mile to C-zone instead of walking. Hopefully, we will all take the positive attributes of this country back home and make a powerful influence to all Europeans about the true life of Americans.

Brooke McCommon

By Mary Howard Ade

Spain is full of many places to visit. You can go up north to the Pyrenees Mountains and ski for a weekend. You can visit the east towards Barcelona and Valencia, which are two cities with plenty to do. You can visit the south where the weather is nice. And, of course, there’s Madrid in the heart of the country, which has endless opportunities. It’s always nice to plan things out since it makes a trip smoother.

However, if you’re feeling a little spontaneous, it’s also fun to go the train station and hop the cheapest route to an unknown destination. Last weekend, a group of us went to the train station, picked the cheapest ticket, and ended up in a small town on the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful and tranquil town that I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It was fun not knowing exactly where we were going. (I suggest having some form of travel book, though.) I have other trips planned that I am looking forward to, and there are a few cities in Spain that I don’t want to miss. But I got to see a side of Spain that was less touristy and demonstrated more of the ¨real life¨ in Spain.

My Top Tens

1. What I miss the most from home:
My dogs and my bed

2. Things that bug me about Spain:
Siesta time is fun, but it’s inconvenient if you want to go buy something.

3. Practical Advice for Moving About:
Buy a travel book for Spain and Western Europe. Make sure you are aware of where your passport and wallet are at all times when you are walking on the streets or traveling.

4. Useful Expressions:
Vale = Okay.
No pasa nada = Don’t worry about it.
Perdone = Excuse me.

5. Jerga – slang:
Está bueno/a = He or she is hot.

6. Communication Gaps (homestay):
Everyone lisps here, so it is hard to understand him or her; but stick with it.

7. Curiosities:
Why does everyone like mullets here?

8. Crazy Happenings:
The guys here are really pushy. The other night, a girl in our group had to tell a guy 50 times that she would not go home with him. He then asked permission from one of the guys in our group to take her home, as if that would change the situation. Be prepared to stand your ground.

9. War Eagle Moments: I have gotten to know people from Auburn that I didn’t know before. You will definitely come back to Auburn with new friends, and I look forward to seeing them when we get back.

Breakfast: In my opinion breakfast is the most different of all the meals compared to what I would eat in the United States. Every morning I have a big bowl of coffee (it is never in a cup) and some type of sweet pastry. The pastries are like donuts, muffins, churros or some other type of sugary bread. They are all good it is just weird to eat that much sugar every morning. Some people get breakfast to go as they are walking out the door, but my señora wanted me to sit at the table and eat every morning with her. So give yourself enough time to get ready and eat with your family before school.

Lunch: This is the biggest meal of the day. Sometimes I do not think I am going to make it through all of the courses and for me there are always three courses to every lunch I have eaten. Most of the food is not that different from what I would eat in the United States. It looks different and maybe a combination of things that are not normally combined in the U.S., but the taste of things does not seem strange to me. They serve lots of vegetables, some type of meat and tons of bread. I was served bread at every meal. Also after you have absolutely eaten all you can eat you then get to eat dessert. The dessert for me has been yogurt, flan or some type of fruit. Some of my meals for lunch have been salmon, mashed potatoes, lots of soup (some that taste like chicken noodle soup and some with beans and other meat in them), fried rice and pasta for example. Beware carbs are served for every meal of every day. I almost only eat foods from the bread group on the food pyramid.

Dinner: There is a lot of time between lunch and dinner and you will probably be hungry way before it is time for dinner. Luckily, around five all of the bars start serving free tapas (a small appetizer) when you order a beer and the more you drink the more tapas you get. Dinner is served anywhere from 8:30 until 11 o´clock at night. It is a smaller meal than lunch. I typically have a sandwich and then a salad for dinner. The salad dressing is always really good and the vegetables in the salad taste much fresher than they do in the States. Some type of fruit is also usually served after dinner and maybe even coffee or tea.

The food that my señora has been making me is not too different from what I would eat in the United States. It is mainly the same foods cooked differently from what I am used to. All together the food has been really good. I have been served a lot of seafood so if you do not like seafood I would mention that in the housing packet that you will fill out before you leave.

By Kim Kilgore

        Coming from a small town, meaning a population of less than 500 people, I grew up feeling very safe with my surroundings. At home, I never have to worry about locking doors or safeguarding my means of money. While having this comfort with society is sometimes a blessing, at other times it is a major downfall. However, only recently have I experienced this downfall, and I must admit that it makes me very sad to be “responsible” now. To me, being responsible means being paranoid, yet that is what I am now!!!! Curious as to why? Well, read and learn my friends!
        Picture it, Saturday afternoon, Madrid. Leslie, Hillary and I planned an adventurous shopping excursion to the big city. I was very excited because I actually LOVE big cities. As usual, I feel very comfortable and safe any and everywhere. My grandmother always tells me, “Maegan, you have no fear, and one day it is going to get you in trouble!” Blah blah blah, right? Well, maybe we should all listen to our wise elders more closely.
        By the end of the night, after being exhausted from walking and shopping all day, after having many refreshment mishaps and after taking the wrong train in the exact wrong direction, I realize that I am a cell phone, credit card, 50 Euros and a ten-trip metro pass lighter. Who did it, and when did it happen you ask? Yeah, I wish I knew? All I can say with complete confidence is that I was robbed, and these pick-pocketers over here are VERY sneaky and sly!
        In hindsight, make sure you know where your most prized possessions are at ALL times! Even if at one moment you have them, it doesn’t mean that even one second later they are guaranteed to be there. This I know. But, if for some tragic reason you do find yourself in a strange country and your belongings do get stolen, I sorely hope that you have frantic, over-cautious parents at home; Oh, and a Western Union is rather helpful!
 

Five of us went to Sevilla this weekend. But, when we left, we totally intended on going to Cordoba! Yes, you’re thinking the right thing. Cordoba is not Sevilla. Well, things started out looking down, but if we had actually made our bus time for Cordoba we would have completely missed out on one of the most authentic Spanish experiences we’ve had yet.

On Saturday, we started out our day just randomly looking for interesting finds around Sevilla, and then decided to begin our search for the Cathedral. On our way we not only found the cutest shops ever, but we found a perfectly quaint Flamenco dress shop. Of course I was drawn to the shop because of the dresses in the windows, and I am one of those “easily distracted by shiny things” people. However, it is family owned and operated and it is absolutely fabulous! The walls were covered with the most beautiful Flamenco dresses I’ve ever seen. We just looked around and walked back out onward towards the cathedral that we couldn’t find! So just a few steps out the door, I decided to suggest a group picture of all of us in the dresses. Right when we walked back in the door, they knew what we were back for. So, Ashley and I got to try on the dresses! Mine was red and covered in white polka dots. It fell to the floor with yards and yards of ruffles. The charming woman in the store was totally into helping me get all dressed up. I had the dress, the shoes, and she even did my hair and added a shawl and jewelry! I instantly felt somewhat “Spanish”.

After Ashley and I took a million photos and got back into our American-ness, we stayed in the shop and spoke to the family for almost an hour. They told us different places to eat and drink. But our favorite place was this local Flamenco bar called Casa Almensa. Talk about authentic! But before we left we had directions to different places, food suggestions, festivals to come back to and places to stay. We were all speaking in Spanish and we all understood; that was the best part! But they want us to all come back to visit soon and we certainly intend to do so. Maybe after our Flamenco lessons here, we can go back and participate! So, never fear; if you miss your bus, you will probably still end up having one of the best times ever!

By Leslie Hunt