{"id":2407,"date":"2014-07-31T15:56:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T19:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/questromworld.bu.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2022-10-11T20:08:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T20:08:27","slug":"jamie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/questromworld.bu.edu\/studyabroad\/2014\/07\/31\/jamie\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Zakalik, Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Group<\/a>This past Spring (Spring 2014) I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain. \u00a0Because of my Spanish literacy (or lack thereof), I was in the Level I Madrid program. \u00a0While I did not have an internship, I did live in a Spanish household and all of my classes were in Spanish, or as they say, E<\/em>spa\u00f1ol<\/em>. \u00a0Upon my arrival, I quickly realized that I had a large task ahead of me if I was going to not only survive my classes, but function in society at all. \u00a0The first afternoon, a group of girls and I walked around the corner for lunch while we were still all staying at the Hotel Regina for orientation. \u00a0After our meal I proudly waved down the waiter and asked for “el cheque<\/em>.” \u00a0My other friends gasped and pulled my hand down. \u00a0The puzzled waiter walked over as my friends quickly apologized and asked for “la cuenta<\/em>.” \u00a0After that, I sat down with my\u00a0Spanish\u00a0books and class notes and studied my\u00a0culo\u00a0<\/em>off.<\/p>\n

Living in a society that speaks a different language than my native language and has a culture different than what I am\u00a0used to\u00a0was\u00a0the hardest, best, most rewarding, and most frustrating part of my semester.<\/p>\n

The culture shock took a little getting used to. \u00a0Three days into the semester we were thrown into Spanish speaking households. \u00a0My immediate interaction with my host mother was first, her\u00a0embracing me into her arms like we were old friends who hadn’t seen\u00a0each other\u00a0in quite some time, and then second, dragging me around the house\u00a0giving me all the house rules and\u00a0information… en\u00a0<\/em>e<\/em>spa\u00f1ol<\/em>. \u00a0Now \u00a0I don’t want to say I didn’t understand any of it, but I didn’t understand any of it. \u00a0Luckily, I was living with another Boston University student who was basically fluent and who then afterwards filled me in on all the important parts I missed. \u00a0The second culture shock was the buzz around meals. \u00a0Not only do Spaniards not eat dinner until around 10:00 at night but they also put a lot of importance on spending meals together and not leaving ANY food on your plate. Needless to say, I spent this semester eating a lot more than at school, a lot better than at school (my host mom brought in another woman to do our cooking and it was absolutely delicious), and a lot later than at school (except maybe Saturday night T Anthony’s).<\/p>\n

Not being able to always understand what others were saying or project exactly what I wanted to say was extremely frustrating. \u00a0It also led to some of my best stories. \u00a0One night, my roommate abroad and I were attending a Spanish person’s party. \u00a0One of the boys got up to open the door to let some air into the apartment. To start conversation, I asked the boy “estas caliente<\/em>?” \u00a0He began to laugh at me and I immediately started wondering what was on my face or in my teeth. \u00a0He then explained to me that what I wanted to ask was “tienes<\/em> calor?”,\u00a0<\/em>and that I had accidentally asked him if he was turned on. \u00a0Little discrepancies like this (that make a huge difference) are some of the many things that I learned in Spain that I would not have learned otherwise from studying Spanish from a textbook or speaking it twice a week in a Spanish class and then walking out the door to my English speaking world.<\/p>\n

If I had any tips for those of you planning to study in Madrid, I would say go for it and really immerse\u00a0yourself in the Spanish culture and language. \u00a0My semester abroad was my favorite semester so far; I met over fifty\u00a0new people, I learned a language other than English (contrary to my stories I can actually converse in Spanish now pretty fluently), and I learned about a culture that I didn’t even know had so much to teach me. \u00a0Most other students outside of the United States learn multiple languages and, until you do, you don’t realize that it is not only extremely rewarding but also truly opens up your world.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions about studying abroad in Madrid or in general, feel free to send me an email at jzakalik@bu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n\n\t\t