spain.

¡bienvenidos!

welcome to my little story about my time in spain. :)

during my sophomore & senior year in college–it wasn’t my junior year because i graduated in 3 years, so i guess we could whittle it down and call it my junior summer–i spent 5 weeks living and learning about the life, language and culture of spain.

now, before i move on, i know you are dying to know.

how’d i do it in three years, you ask?

well let’s see. along with a full load each semester of 18-20 hours, add:

24 dual credits from high school

1 winter interim course

and wonderful 6 hours earned during the summer i studied abroad. :)

yes, i realized i have been labeled as “that person” aka an overachiever. it wasn’t my original intentions, but it was a blessing that it happened the way that it did. :)

so yes. it is possible.

and yes, i even managed to have a life outside of school.

….now, back to the real reason for this story…..

upon our arrival to madrid, our teachers decided the best way to get us acclimated was to jump right in to the life that madrid had to offer.

but before we dove into the school work, we spent a week living in a madrid hotel,

sight-seeing,

tapas-eating,

discoteca-dancing,

flamenco-watching/listening,

toledo-visiting,

cathedral-touring,

museum-walking,

bull-fighting,

etc.

all of which were extremely fabulous :)

but before i continue, let me expound on the bull fighting for a minute.

it. was. amazing.

being from texas, i’m not into hunting all that much (even though my family & my man are). and i can understand the agendas of animal rights activists, but after attending a bull fight, i can see the deep tradition, true athleticism, and statley honor that makes spain unique to the rest of the world.

i was nervous about the gore of the whole thing, but if done correctly, the fight was honestly like a beautiful dance.

the toreros would wear gorgeous suits dressed in gold stitching, waving their capes, and bending their bodies as the bull charged closely beside them.

the fight i attended had 3 toreros, each killing 3 bulls, and then the judges would determine a winner. the crowd was so enthusiastic and engaged in every moment. you’d hear singing and chanting to booing and hissing. there was a small band in the stands as well, playing charges and pieces during transitions.

the neat thing i learned from my teacher was that the bullfighter would take the meat home and have a feast with all their family and friends that night, and then donate the rest to the local soup kitchens in the city.

not too terrible, eh?

as our first week overseas came to a close, our time to hit the books became more evident. after a short airplane ride, we made our way west to the lovely santiago de compostela on a mercedes tour bus that looked like a big green caterpillar.

our nerves were eating at us the whole way there. we were to live in individual homes with families for 4 weeks during our time learning at the local university. as we pulled up to the bus stop on campus, i remembered trying to cram in a few more conversation starters to have ready for mi familia española, all the while looking out the window, watching my friends being paired up with their families as their name became vocalized from reading it off the roll sheet.

some paired with abuelitas, and some with families with little niños.

and then my turn came.

a lovely young lady came up to greet me. i immediately thought, she looks my age!

and indeed she was. only a few years older, candi told me she attended the local university to study business, while her younger brother, prudi, was off to a nearby town called vigo to study engineering.

as we walked a few short blocks and then up a winding stairwell to the fourth floor of a building; the place i’d know to be my new home for the next four weeks.

and home-y it was. after getting settled in and taking a long nap, i woke up to find mi madre española, sarah, eagerly ready and waiting to show me around my new town. we grabbed some coffee, walked through the winding cobblestone-like roads between buildings literally older than texas, visited with her friends, and meandered on home for dinner.

and let me remind you that a spaniard’s daily life schedule is NOT like the american’s 9 to 5.

exhibit A:

8:30am–wake up/get dressed/have breakfast

9:30am–class (or work)

2-3pm–lunch/siesta

4-7pm–class excursions (or more work)

7-9pm–tapas/rest

10pm–dinner

12am–go out/hang out/stay up late/bedtime

NOTE: this was my general schedule in santiago de compostela. places in madrid wouldn’t serve dinner until midnight!

after coming home, a lot of people were curious about how my experience was while living with a foreign family.

let’s just say i was extremely blessed.

they. were. awesome.

the father of the clan, prudencio, was a fun loving man, happy to help me with my homework each night, perfecting my conjugation skills and clarifying the correct uses for all of the perfect tenses.

he was so curious about life in texas, the oil industry & even our government. i told him how i grew up learning spanish words and phrases as a young child from my grandmother, and then we’d compare the different vocabulary words used in spain spanish and mexico spanish.

every so often he’d have a friend over and they’d sit in the kitchen, smoke a cigurillo and drink an adult beverage called agua loco. yes. crazy water. because it was so strong, and you’d even light it on fire before drinking it. they’d talk and laugh about everyday things, all the while, allowing me to take it all in. i even remember a conversation that came up about universities in the states, and they asked me if i knew of what they pronounced,“ah-bard”.  if you are familiar with the spanish language, in most cases, the “h” becomes silent, and the “v” is pronounced like a “b”. ah-bard. harvard. HARVARD. hahaha.  i’ll never forget that. :-)

before i came to spain, i promised myself that i’d taste everything at least once. well, most things. every night, my family would make dinner and ask, “¿te gusta?” and in response i’d always seem to say, “yes, i like it very much.” and i truly did enjoy everything, from tortilla española to paella. they were surprised at how open i was to tasting everything, until one day, they offered sardines. ick. they found humor in finally seeing something i didn’t like. haha.

everyday i’d offer to help mi madre española in the kitchen, whether it be cooking or cleaning up, and she’d always kindly decline. until one day, for dessert, she asked me to wash and cut up some fresas to go with some yogurt. now every time i wash and cut strawberries, i think of her. oh, and the time we watched pretty woman dubbed in spanish and she sang along to the theme song. :-) love it.

just below my family’s dwelling was a bar that i’d frequent to take advantage of the free wifi. after several visits, the bar owner decided to chat me up, and she discovered that i was the student living with her friend, sarah. i guess you could say i became a regular there, enjoying an estrella or tw0, eating a spanish hamburger (it comes with a fried egg on top. healthy!), and even silently celebrating USA’s win against spain in fútbol with some of my friends. :-)

santiago de compostela is very unique. being at the northwest corner of the country, you experience a climate (as well as a culture) that has several celtic influences.

the weather was very rainy most days.

we ate a lot of potatoes.

and

you’d hear a gaita being played in the square around the cathedral almost everyday.

one of the neat cultural things i learned about santiago de compostela is that it holds the ending point for one of the most traveled christian pilgrimages in the world. 2nd to rome &  jerusalem, the el camino brings in thousands of people from all over the world to the cathedral traditionally known to be st. james’ burial ground.

on certain days of the week, they’d hold a pilgrim’s mass, honoring the travelers and their completion of the pilgrimage. i attended one to see what it was like, and i was blown away by the various languages and cultures represented. english, german, dutch, french, norwegian, spanish, italian, among many others. the service would be in several of the main languages represented in the congregation, as people would get up and share their experience on the trail.

you take the pilgrimage by either foot, bicycle or even horseback. there are several trails to pick from, with beginning points all over europe, each marked by the famous concha shell. as a class we hiked the last stint of pilgrimage, starting just outside of santiago de compostela at a place called monte de gozo, we made our way toward the city on foot, with our ending point, santiago’s beautiful cathedral, in sight.

i could go on and on about every single detail during my time in spain, but i think i’ll stop here.

if you want to know more about my experience, feel free to contact me.

otherwise, i encourage you to add “visiting santiago de compostela” on to your bucket lists.

it’s a beautiful town filled with beautiful people.

 

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