Study Abroad

Reverse Culture Shock

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At our general information meeting on studying abroad, they made a mention about “reverse culture shock”. It’s basically when you come back to the United States (or your country of origin) and feel out of place there. I never gave a second thought about it because I thought I’d be more than ready to come back home. However, this is definitely what I’m experiencing right now. I can’t even unpack my suitcase because I doing so will make me feel like my trip is definitely over.

I don’t know why I’m having such a difficult time readjusting. I can’t even sleep on a normal schedule. I’ve fallen asleep before or around 10 every night and then I sleep for 10 to 12 hours a day. Part of it is not wanting to feel like I’m so far away from Spain since there is a six hour difference. In my head I keep thinking “It’s 11 AM here so it’s 5 PM there … I wonder what they are doing right now.”

Another reason it may be hard for me to readjust is that we constantly had something to do and I was always around other people my age. When we were doing our excursions, I had almost 50 other people from JMU who were going through what I was experiencing. When I was at home, I had kids my age so I could easily relate to them. I always had friends wherever I was. Now that I’m back home, I feel so alone; I don’t talk to many people from high school anymore and the ones I do talk to aren’t here this summer.

It was easier to adjust to Spain because we are expecting something a little different, but at the same time, there are still a lot of American brands, American movies, American TV … but back in the US, I can’t get a bocadillo, walk around the city, and eat all the delicious Spanish food.

Some days are harder than others. Today is one of them because I keep thinking about how I would love to be hanging out with Pau and his friends since they are done with all their exams today. I just don’t want them to forget about me. I want to be back there in eleven months. I really enjoyed Europe and I just want to go back there. I’ve been in the US for over 20 years now and I want to have new experiences!

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Mi Último Día

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Today was my last day in Tarragona. After getting back from Salou at 6:30 and only sleeping for three hours, we had a nice little day. In the morning, I just kind of laid around a little bit. Melanie and I went to lay out by the pool since it was a pretty day outside (but a little cool when a breeze hit). We played a card game with Anna and her friend for a few minutes before just laying out there. We didn’t spend much time out there though because we went to the abuelos‘ house for lunch.

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Time is Running Out

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So yesterday after I wrote out my post, I got my paper done! I think I could have done a lot better on it (because I think there is always room for improvement), but with the little amount of time we had to do everything and all the excursions we go on, it had to do. 

After we were done with everything, we went out to the pool and laid out there for a little while. I was brave and got into the pool. It was a lot warmer than it had been when we had our awkward middle school dance moment with Pau’s friends two weeks ago, but it was still a bit nippy. 

As a group yesterday, we learned to make some traditional Spanish tapas. A lot of it was them showing us how to make them. Unfortunately, we ate just tapas for dinner and I wasn’t a big fan of them. We also had to eat them in a plaza area that didn’t have any seating, really, and whenever new food was put on the table, all the kids swarmed the food like flies. So my dinner was basically gelato. Jaja.

After the tapas dinner, we went to a flamenco show. After wandering around the city not really knowing where we were going (yes, including the professors), we arrived at this little Andalusian restaurant. Andalusia is the southern part of Spain, which includes Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada. It looked like it was going to be a dinky little show, but it was really cool to see them dance. For the Andalusians being a very free people, they dance very seriously with straight faces. I really liked their dresses. I want one!

We didn’t go out anywhere last night because this morning we had to give a presentation for a grade for our Advanced Medical Spanish class. We were supposed to arrive at 9:30, but our teacher never told us where exactly to go so we were just sitting outside the university building for like twenty minutes before our teacher yelled out of the building which classroom we were at. Then, she decided that we were going to go in order of where we were sitting in the classroom, so I had to go last. A lot of the people in my class took fifteen minutes to do their presentation, so by the time I had to go, I had to take quickly and cut out some parts. Ugh. People told me that mine was really good, but I think I could have done better, as always. I hate talking in front of people.

After have a good-bye luncheon (again, tapas) from the university and a toast of champagne, I spent the rest of the day at home and at the playa. I talked a little with Pau and I asked him if a lot of people in Catalonia don’t like Americans because his friend Pol told me he hates the US. He said the people here just see Americans as thinking they are the center of the universe and everyone depends on them for everything, etc. He asked me if Americans thought like that. I mean, I guess they do, but what he said next really just surprised me. He said that one of his friends went to the US and when she said she was from Spain, the first thing they asked was “Do you have cars there?” … what? People are so stupid. I like to think I have a more global outlook on the world. I hope so!

A few of us girls in the trip went to the beach today for the last time (most likely, because it’s supposed to rain tomorrow). It was really hot earlier today, but by the time we got down there, it was a little chillier and it started to get cloudy, so I’m not going to be much tanner.

So right now, I’m just sitting up in the living room with my host parents watcher Ferrer play Tsonga in the French Open semifinals. They are leaving to go to Paris tomorrow morning and they actually get to see the finals! Nadal is already in there, so hopefully it will be an all Spanish final! Later tonight, we’re going to go out with them for a dinner. I’m probably going to cry tonight, and then tomorrow when I have to say goodbye to the kids! Awww … it’s ok. I’m determined to come back next summer!

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Wine and Dancing

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I dread writing this blog now because every day that I’m writing about is a day gone from my time here. I can’t believe I only have two and a half more days here. I feel so stupid for not going through with the two week extension! There is so much I haven’t done and I want to hang out with my familia here more. They are so hilarious.

Anyway, we’ll start with Tuesday. On Tuesday for class, we went to another campus of the URV (the university we are studying through). That campus deals more with the sciences and has some laboratories that we used. Lab work is not my favorite. We learned the names of some basic lab materials (some of which I didn’t even know what they were in English), and then we started to put some sample of things on a Petri dish. Boring. We also tested our blood types; however, I already know mine, so it wasn’t very exciting for me. The test was a little hard, too. We had to put our blood on a slide and mix it in with the necessary liquids. Oh well … I’m still O positive!

For our excursion that day, we went to Bodega Torres, which is a winery about 45 minutes away from Tarragona. It was very nice and fancy there. We watched a video about the history of the winery and then we took a tour on a little tram thing around the winery. It was very pretty and there were some cool parts where the tram took us through the buildings. At the end of the tour, we got to sample some wine. We tried Viña Esmeralda, a sweet white wine. It tasted pretty good for wine! I ended up buying some in the store … hopefully it will make it through customs. If not, at least I only paid 7.50 euros for it. One girl spent 140 euros there …. :O

That night was pretty uneventful. I just sat around and worked on the project that we didn’t know we had until Sunday night. Typical. Melanie went shopping, Anna was playing tennis, and Pau went to the castells, leaving me by myself. 🙁 

Yesterday, we had more lab work to do. I’m not even going to bore you with the details. Just know it was boring and pointless and I’m not cut out for lab work. After that, we ate lunch and had an hour and a half to kill before having our group adventure. I only bought one thing, but it was a good thing. Haha. I still have to buy more things for people though!

Our group adventure yesterday was going back to the place where we had team building and we made a music video. It was funny, but I could have honestly done without it. We did the video to the song Danza Kuduro, but surprise(!) only part of the song is in Spanish … the other half of it is in Portuguese. I liked this song before, but I listened to it too many times yesterday. We got divided into groups and we had to make up choreography to a certain part of the song. We got the ending section and one of the girls suggested I do a round-off backhandspring at the end of it. I ended up doing that almost 10 times because the guy making the video wanted to get different shots of it.

Last night was another pretty uneventful night. Dinner was funny, though, as usual. They talked about Russian mafia people who are rich and come to Spain, they were trying to throw cherries into each others’ mouths, and Anna was being dramatic about her cold. Pobrecita … she’s home from school today.

So today so far I just went to a pointless class where I pretty much relearned everything I’ve learned from health sciences at JMU but in Spanish. Now I’m in the middle of working on this final paper for my class. Hopefully I will be done soon so I can go to the beach or do something somewhat fun before our excursion tonight. Sigh … I’m not ready to go home.

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Another Day in Paradise

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Today was our final Monday here. It’s getting pretty sad. I just keep thinking about how in a week I’ll just be laying on my couch with nothing to do. 🙁

We are no longer doing any work in the hospital for my class, but today we went on a visit to a school with disabilities. There are also some adults that have been deemed not productive who live there all the time. At first, it was kind of sad because it wasn’t a very pretty place and I felt a little bad for them. But after spending a few hours there, all the people seem very happy. Two of the older people even claim to be novios, or boyfriend and girlfriend. It was cute. At the end, we had to say a little statement about what we thought of the place and after my statement, my teacher told me that I don’t talk a lot but when I do, I’m one of the best speakers and I have a great accent! 🙂

After going to the school and eating lunch at the university, we went to Playa Arrabassada, which is only a few minutes away by walking from our house here in Tarragona. It’s the nicest beach in my opinion and all the students who don’t live near it come to it. I spent about two hours on the beach … gotta get my tan on for when I come back to the US (boo). 

Today’s activity, well it happened at night, was going to a place to make paella. Paella is a traditional dish from Valencia that includes rice, vegetables, chicken, and seafood. It was cool how all of us chipped in within our groups to make the paella. Our group had some good discussions, too, which was good because we were placed with people that we normally don’t hang around much. The paella was tasty, thank god, because that was our dinner for the night. I ate the gambas, which are just giant shrimp, and chicken, but I definitely avoided that calamari. 

I just got back a few minutes ago from that. It’s been a pretty chill day. The family I’m with still hasn’t eaten their dinner, but I will still probably sit down with them because I love talking with them and just hearing them talk. Hopefully we won’t be talking about our departure at all!

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Another Week Gone

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Hey everybody! Sorry for another week without posting anything. They really pack our schedules tight here, so by the time the night time comes around, I’m just ready to watch TV and go to sleep.

So last Monday, we went to a beach city a few minutes away from here called Cambrils. Our excursion for the day was riding bikes from there to another beach city called Salou. I don’t know the exact distance we rode, but it felt like I was in the Tour de France. Some people told me it was five miles, others seven miles, seven kilometers, and eighteen kilometers, so who really knows? My bike was kind of small and it wasn’t in the correct gear, so it was so difficult to ride my bike. It was supposed to be a relaxing bike ride along the coast but it was definitely tiring. After that, we had some free time to walk around and buy stuff if we want. I got some gelato (of course), and some souvenirs, including a Fernando Torres Spain jersey for me. J By the time we got back to our house, it was after nine o’clock and we were pretty exhausted.

On Tuesday, we had a free day. Some people went to the mall, but I decided to go back to the house and catch up on some much needed sleep. Tuesday was no disappointment though. Melanie, Elizabeth, and I went with Pau to see the castells, or human towers. It’s pretty much like cheerleading pyramids, but even crazier. There is a base of people, who are supported by a big group of other people, while having about five to six different layers of people climbing on top of them. The craziest part is that the people at the top are children probably under the age of 5.

I didn’t get to take part in that, but I did get to climb on top of someone. Unfortunately, I’m not the best with getting my own body weight up, so I had to step on Pau to help me get up … but I was up there! We might go back this Tuesday. It was just so awesome! Ironically, there were people on our trip who went to see the castells on Tuesday, too, but they went to the rival one. Too bad Pau’s group is better and we got to participate a bit! At the end, we even got to press against people to form the base!

Wednesday’s adventure was a little boring. We went to the port area of Tarragona. After nearly getting lost to get there, we first saw a fish auction. People of the area come to this place and bet on different batches of freshly caught seafood. The price starts high and goes lower and the first person to press in for the fish gets it. Then we went to boat museum, which was honestly very boring. All of us were trying to prevent ourselves from falling asleep. At the end of it though, this guy who was reenacting someone from around the 18th century gave us a shot of this really gross alcohol called Chartreuse. It wasn’t very much, but it definitely cleared my sinuses.

We then had a bit of free time (during which I got a newspaper with Gareth Bale on the front), before heading to the boat. We went on a boat around the port and into the sea a little. The sights were pretty, although some of my friends made a comment that part of the journey looked like Newport News. We ate a little bit on the boat, but it wasn’t my favorite. Unfortunately, too, it’s been pretty cold and windy, but luckily we ate under a roof.

Thursday wasn’t a big joy either. Like I said, it’s been pretty cold for the month of May, like 60s and 70s. The water is still freezing, too. The director of our program has been going to Tarragona since the mid 1980s and said the water is the coldest he’s ever experienced in the entire time he’s been here. Well, after our beach day was cancelled the previous week, it was rescheduled for Thursday. We went to la Playa Larga and we did some water sports. Actually, the only thing I did was ride on a banana boat. It was fun, but it was exhausting. It would have been a lot better if the water didn’t feel like an ice bath.

After that, I decided I didn’t want to go back in the water. I just laid on the beach for a little bit, drying off my swimsuit, but quickly putting on my shorts and my hoodie. It was so cold and it was only 4:30! We stayed there until 10:15. I was pretty miserable the entire time. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been windy, too. We had a barbecue, too, but the food wasn’t spectacular. I was just really happy to get going by 10:15.

On Friday morning, we left for France at 9 AM. It shouldn’t have taken us more than three hours or so, but it ended up taking us almost six! Unfortunately for me, I didn’t stop at the rest stop because I was sleeping and my bladder almost exploded. We stopped in Coullioure, France. It’s a small city just over the border in France, but still in the Catalan region. The area was really pretty. We went around this castle, which had been around since the 13th century and had some stuff to do with Spain and their kings. It was so windy there, though, that a few of us found a room to go into where we ate our lunch and talked.

After that, we went on a mini-train ride up the mountain to see this fort. The train ride was really pretty, too. We drove through a bunch of vineyards. At the top, we stopped to get out and take pictures, but we almost blew off the top of the mountain because it was so windy. I’m pretty sure I got a facelift up there. After the train ride, we had some free time to go around the city because we went to our hotel. We were split up into three different hotels because we are a very large group and everything there was small. I was a little salty because my room didn’t have wi-fi, so I didn’t spend a lot of time in there.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of France. I think another part of it may have been better, but no one spoke English or Spanish, it was very small and claustrophobic, and everything closed there before nine. Unlike in Spain where things aren’t even popping by nine, everything was closed. We had a hard time trying to find a crepe place! After that, a few of us just went to another girl’s room and played card games before going in for a pretty early night.

On Saturday morning, we left France to go back to Spain. We went to Port Llegat, which is where Dalí lived. We could only go into his house in small groups because there wasn’t a lot of space in there, so we spent a lot of time in that pueblo. The house was pretty strange, which is what one would expect with Dalí. We also learned that his wife cheated on him a lot with many different guys and he knew and was ok with it. After this weekend, I don’t think there was something right in his head.

After Dalí’s house, we went to another little beach town called Cadaques. It was pretty there, but there wasn’t a lot to do, especially since it was siesta time. We visited a few tourist shops, but nothing really called out my name. We spent the night in Roses, Spain. The hotel was nice, but once again, the wi-fi only worked in one part of the hotel and there were a lot of older people there. I felt bad for the people who were going there for a vacation and had to deal with almost 50 college-aged students.

Today we went to a Dalí museum. That place was just weird. I don’t really know what inspired Dalí to do all of that artwork. Some of the things were cool, while others things were just plain weird. I tried to take as many pictures as I possibly could, so stayed tuned to Facebook for that. After the museum we ate a really intense lunch. We ate at an Argentine restaurant. We probably had at least five or six courses in our meal. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was really good! We also had a bit of free time there, so I bought some souvenirs!

Now I am back home in Tarragona. I keep getting a little anxiety and a little sad because I now have less than a week here. I’m not ready to leave my family or this city. I absolutely love it here and I want to come back and spend more time here very very soon!

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Sorry for the Lack of Posts …

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There hasn’t been much to have gone on this past week/I never got around to just sitting down and writing about stuff. So here is my catch-up post. 🙂

Monday we went to this place where we learned to make food like the Romans did 2,000 years ago. Let me tell you, that stuff was disgusting! The only thing I liked somewhat was the chicken. We drank this really gross rose wine … which was also served HOT, making it even more disgusting. Let’s just say for dinner that night I pretty much had gelato and some Magnum ice cream (Pau forced me).

Tuesday was pretty boring. The class I’m in didn’t have any activities to do that afternoon, so we just slept for a while. That night a few of us went to a mojito bar and I got a watermelon mojito! Yum! After that we went to this Irish pub that has different nights every night and that night it was salsa night. I didn’t dance at all but it was really interesting to see the people who know how to do it really well. Melanie and I didn’t stay for long though because we started our first week at the hospital and we had to wake up super early the next morning.

At the hospital, our day starts at 8:30 and ends at 1. It’s a pretty long day, having to walk around the hospital all over the place and trying to comprehend everything the doctor is doing and saying. Sometimes you get patients that prefer talking in Catalan better, so I have no idea what they are saying. It’s definitely not something I enjoy and I’m not liking this in-patient type of physical therapy, but I only have one more week left to go.

Continuing on our adventures, Wednesday’s previous event was cancelled. We were supposed to go do water sports at La Playa Larga, but the weather in the earlier portion of the week was chilly and we didn’t want to have some bad weather while at the beach. Ironically, it turned out to be a nice day, but I was glad they postponed it so the water can warm up more. Instead, we went to the see The Great Gatsby, or El Gran Gatsby, here. I could follow the movie, which helped by the fact that I read the book, but I really want to see it in English, especially to hear Leonardo Di Caprio and Tobey Macguire’s voices. And the “old sport” by Gatsby was just “compañero” in Spanish … but at least I have seen the movie!

Thursday night we took a dance class with two people who are on the Spanish version of Dancing with the Stars. We learned bachata, salsa, and meringue. Bachata was definitely the easiest and I liked shaking it. Salsa was definitely the most difficult. I don’t see myself dancing salsa at Highland’s anytime soon! It was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. After that, myself and two of my friends met up with our host brother and went to a discoteca in Tarragona. It didn’t match up to the one in Barcelona, but let’s just say that night was verrrrrrrry interesting!

Friday we left for La Mora. It’s a beach kind of in Tarragona. It’s about 20 minutes or so from our house here in Spain. Unfortunately, it was pretty windy, so we didn’t go out on the beach at all this weekend. The good thing though was that there was a really nice pool area that we hung out at all day both days. I am now more burned than I have every been before. My back, my chest,  my stomach, and my face hurt so bad right now! 🙁 At least I’m going to be very tan! We stayed there until today so now we are back in Tarragona. 

Tonight we’re going to eat dinner with another family in the neighborhood who also have kids from JMU staying with them. It’s really nice outside so we should have a good time. We’ve already hit the halfway mark in our time here, and I’m very sad about it! We have some really great adventures coming up this week, so hopefully I’ll blog more frequently about everything! ¡Hasta luego!

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Barcelona!

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What a weekend. We were only in Barcelona for two days but we did so much. My feet still hurt from walking around so much and I’m glad to be back in Tarragona, but it was a fun little weekend.

Our trip started off great … not. We missed the bus we were supposed to take to get down to the meeting spot because we were on the wrong side of the road. We were running down the street with all of our things to make sure we were there on time. Lucky for us, we  made it on time, but there were two boys who woke up late and had to find their own way to Barcelona.

Our first stop in Barcelona was the Camp Nou (pronounced Camp No), which is where Barcelona CF plays. As a Real Madrid fan (una madridista!), it was a bit hard having to look at the trophies they have and all the history. Going out onto the pitch was pretty cool though, especially knowing all the Real Madrid legends who have played there. I also liked admiring the pictures of Piqué, although he has since shaved his head and he isn’t as good looking anymore!

After the Camp Nou, we went to a little park just outside the Barcelona Zoo, which was a nice place to eat our lunch. We spent about an hour and a half just eating and soaking up the sun since it was such a pretty day. One of the girls on our trip fell victim to some gypsies that stole 90 euros from her in the park. You have to be very careful in Barcelona because they pick pocket like crazy!

Then we went to La Sagrada Familia. It is a basilica that started construction sometime in the latter part of the 19th century and still isn’t complete. Gaudí, the designer of the basilica, died before he could finish it. It is scheduled to be completed in 2026, one hundred years after Gaudí died. 

Words can’t express how amazing this building it. There is so much detail to it. There are three main sides to it: one representing the nativity scene, one representing the passion of the Christ, and the Glory scene. This scene is going to be the grand entrance to the basilica, to showcase the importance of the Catholic Church in Spain. From the outside it is absolutely beautiful, but the inside is just breathtaking. The stained glass is perfectly made with all different colors which casts in light and makes pretty colors all around the inside. I can’t put into words how amazing this sight is.

As if it didn’t seem like we did enough on the first day, we finished the day off by going to Montjuïc, a mountain in Barcelona. We went up in these cable car things; like little pods that took you up into the air and up to the top of the mountain. Once up there, there was a little castle. The dictator, France, killed the president of Catalonia there, but it was still very beautiful. At the top, you’re able to look over all of Barcelona there. I have decided that I want to get married up there. 🙂 😉

We stayed the night in a hostel. It was actually pretty nice and very modern, but it was very small. There was a mishap with the reservations because we were supposed to stay in another hostel, but they cancelled all but two rooms because they are doing renovations. Safe to say, I didn’t spend much time in the hostel.

The next morning, we went to see another one of Gaudí’s works: La Casa Mila (also known as La Pedrera). It was very extravagant. The lines he created with his art were crazy. The house looks wavy and at the top, it has a bunch of crazy structures. It kind of reminded me of Across the Universe when they do drugs and see things. 😛 

After this attraction, we were free to do whatever we wanted. This girl Katie and I went shopping. Unfortunately most of the shops were super expensive; Tiffany’s, etc. The only thing I bought that day was a dress from H&M and some souvenirs. 

Katie and I decided we wanted to go to Park Güell, but we had to take the metro to get there. We didn’t know where exactly to go, but we ran into some girls from Wisconsin who were going there, too, and they said they knew the way. Guess what. They didn’t. They had us get off at the wrong stop which was very far way and we had to pay another 2 euros to get back to the right stop. After climbing a hill that was almost 90 degrees, we arrived in a park and were trying to find our way to the cool Gaudí stuff. By the time we got there, Katie and I were so hungry we didn’t appreciate the park enough.

That night, we ate a paella place, which was pretty good, but my host mother (Cruzma) makes it better. 🙂 Melanie, myself, and a few other girls went to a discoteca that night. Let’s just say we saw the sun coming up on our way back. Yesterday was our day of rest and today we were back at school-y stuff. Boo. Overall, Barcelona was a fun experience, but Tarragona just feels so much more comfortable. 

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Reus

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Today felt very long but also very uneventful. Our day started off with a three hour advanced medical Spanish class. We learned the names of different tools commonly used in medical practices. We also learned CPR in Spanish. In case you were wondering, I understand almost everything. 🙂

This afternoon, we went to Reus, a city about 15 minutes away from Tarragona. This is the city where Gaudí was born; he was a famous architect and has a lot work in Barcelona. We went to the Gaudí Center today, which showcased some pictures and replicas of his art. I think it could have been a lot more interesting, but we forced to do a “worksheet” with over 80 questions on it. After walking around there or an hour and struggling with the questions, Belkys told us we didn’t have to do all of it, so we all did a mass exodus out of the museum.

After the museum, we walked around Reus a little. There were some cute shops there, but I didn’t buy anything … I’m saving my money for Barcelona. We were back in Tarragona by 8:30, but then it took forever to get back to our house because they dropped us off in a different place than where we were picked up. It was a disaster trying to navigate the city … When we were walking through the Old City, the way we normally go was blocked off due to construction. It was like a maze trying to get through the city.

It’s weird here because even at 9 PM it’s still sunny! We didn’t eat dinner until after 10:30, but Melanie and I talked to Pau a little, so that was good. It’s cool to have someone around our age to talk with. Pau kept asking if we wanted to eat earlier because he didn’t know when his parents would get home, but we honestly love eating dinner with the entire family because it’s so fun!

We learned today that Big Bang Theory in Spain is called “Los Freakys” (freakys means geek here). I really want to watch it here to see how the jokes transfer over. They talked about “Knock knock Penny!” and the episode where Kripke gets Siri and she can’t understand him because of his speech impediment. It’s so interesting how similar people are here to us in the US.

Tomorrow morning, we head off to Barcelona. We are going to do so much there! I won’t be bringing my laptop along so it doesn’t get stolen and I don’t know if I’ll have wi-fi (called wee-fee here), so expect a lot on Sunday! ¡Buenas noches!

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