I am officially into my second week living with my host family and taking Spanish classes in Barcelona. My biggest revelation this week has been that American schools teach how to conjugate verbs and how to memorize Spanish vocabulary, not how to speak Spanish. This is very different in the classes I am taking here. In these classes, only Spanish is spoken and we communicate with each other throughout the entire class. Even if our sentences are not completely grammatically correct, we try to communicate our ideas to the best of our abilities. For example, if someone does not know a word in Spanish, instead of the teacher giving the English translation, another student who knows the word will explain the word in Spanish by either defining it or giving an example. It shows that a lot can be communicated without knowing words upon words of vocabulary. It also creates a bigger sense of accomplishment when you successfully explain something to another student or when you understand a new word without the English translation. Not only does this allow for a better understanding of the language, but it allows everyone to be included because people in the classes are from all over the world, so not everyone speaks English. However, it is very common for students from other countries to speak other languages, which shows how little English students are taught other languages.

My host family continues to be very welcoming. They definitely encompass the traditional gender roles and I think this is emphasized by the fact that the mother/wife does not speak English and the father and son do. The father is the one who works in the family, he dominates most of the conversation during dinner, and he rarely helps with chores. The mother, on the other hand, shops for and cooks all the meals, cleans, and does laundry; she takes care of the family. I asked her if she likes to cook, and she said yes but not every day. If this were me, I would then ask my husband to cook some of the other times. I am unsure if this is due to culture or just individual differences. Either way, it is quite different from my family and it is interesting to see the differences.

This past week has been about getting into a routine, so there are fewer things to report, but I will continue to try and update this about once a week!

Adiós!

Well, as my cheesy title indicates, my two weeks of living out of a suitcase has come to an end. Today, I moved into a Spanish family’s home with another American, where we will be living for six weeks while we take Spanish lessons.

The past week has included exploring Paris and Barcelona. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to visit Paris. I have no idea why, and after spending a few days there I was a little bit underwhelmed. After being shocked with the hospitality and cleanliness of London, Paris was a bit of a let down. In America, Parisians and French people in general have a reputation of being snobby and mean. One of the tour guides shared his hypothesis of why this reputation exists. As a tourist, a majority of the locals we encounter are waiters. In America, waiters work for tips while in Paris, tips are not customary. Therefore, Parisian waiters are more to the point, check in with the customer less and are overall less friendly because they are not being paid to be friendly. I think that is sad. Why is it that humans need to be paid to be friendly to one another? Maybe they have a different brand of friendly. In the spring, I will be spending six weeks in Paris and I hope to better understand the culture and the people. Living with a family during that time will help grant me insight.

In Barcelona, my body decided it was done traveling and so I have been taken it easy due to a cold. However, I have been able to explore a little bit and the parts that I have seen are quaint and lively. Before coming to Barcelona, I heard many warnings about pickpockets in the city and of course my mind decided to stereotype everyone in Barcelona based off of these concerns. However, as I have gotten to witness the people here more, I have seen they are actually quite kind. Yesterday, I was in Starbucks, and an employee noticed I had not eaten much of my salad. They offered to give me my money back, without my request. I do not think that has ever happened to me in the United States. Therefore, these last few days have taught me a lesson about making universal judgements.

Earlier today I moved into the home I will be staying in. The family consists of a mother, father, son, and daughter (who is away at school). I am rooming with someone else from my trip. During our first meal, the father talked to us about politics in Barcelona as well as in America and the environment and climate change. This conversation exemplified that although different cultures have their differences, we are all humans that deal with similar situations, and in terms of the environment, we are all dealing with the same situation.

Tomorrow I start my Spanish classes. The school also has excursions that will show the culture and geography of this city.

Adios!

Well, week 1 is officially over. So far, my travels have brought me to London and Amsterdam. My biggest three takeaways from London were the kindness people showcased, the cleanliness, and the city’s dedication to sustainability. Every request was answered with an “of course” or “no problem”. Every train station did not have one piece of trash. And every disposable utensil was make of wood. My hypothesis is that these three things are connected and they are due to the respect and pride the locals feel for the city and the respect that the city has for their locals. Of course with Brexit taking over the news, this seems to be contradictory, but I think that as a whole, the English (apparently they do not call themselves British) hold themselves and their city in high regard, as every city should.

Amsterdam is a little different. I have never seen so many bikes or so much smoke (both from marijuana and cigarettes) in my life. It seems conflicting that people that bike everywhere would be filling their lungs with smoke, but to each their own I suppose. My favorite activity of this trip so far was taking a bike tour through the city and one of their biggest parks, Vondelpark (which is shown in the above picture). The sheer amount of dogs made me never want to leave. Obviously, one large part of this liberal city is the fact that prostitution is legal. On my way to dinner last night, my group was walking through the red light district and walked past many windows that were “showcasing” the women. My tour guide went a little into the culture and life of these sex workers. She talked about how these women have a much better relationship with the police than in other countries. However, she did say that this does not mean that the occupation is not taboo. Apparently, the families of these women do not know what they do and they do not make known what they do to others. I was brought back to debates I had on the topic of prostitution in one of my classes and I do not know if my thoughts have changed on the subject. On one hand, I believe that the safety of these workers is of the upmost importance. On the other hand, having women displayed in windows like objects seems to reinforce the idea that women are for a man’s pleasure and not much else. The tour guide stated that there are many unfortunate circumstances that lead women to this line of work, which begs the question of if this is really the women’s choice. Just because she is able to report an abusive man to the police, does that really mean she is consenting if society is FORCING her into that room? Can society rape women? Is this kind of force more or less detrimental to a women that a man forcing himself? Obviously I am not going to come up with the answer in this post, but these were some of my thoughts walking through this city.

One thing that surprised me about both cities was the food. I was preparing myself for bland food from London and questionable food from Amsterdam. However, my experience is a lesson on stereotypes and on assuming that cities and people are just one thing. I did not know that curry was invented in London by an Indian immigrant or that Amsterdam had a Chinatown that was created in revolt because the Chinese were being paid a fraction of their Western counterparts. Both cities had every kind of restaurant imaginable. I know that we call America the melting pot, but I guess I forgot that due to the ease of travel, other countries were melding ethnicities and cultures as well. However, just because this is true, does not mean that people are culturally well-versed either. I have two light-skinned black friends and they have talked about the stares they are receiving by people everywhere in these two cities. When I inquired about it, they stated that it was because they were light-skinned. Most people that are black in Europe are dark skinned because they came directly from Africa. So, maybe colorism is the right term for what they are experiencing. Either way, their skin color is making their experience less than mine due to something out of their control, which shows that our world still has ways to go.

Overall, this week has been a worldwind, with a lot of packing and unpacking. Although I love exploring new cities, I am excited to be settled in one place for a few weeks starting next Sunday with my host family (that has a dog!!). The next week will include exploring Paris and Barcelona before I settle into Barcelona for 6 weeks to immerse myself in the Spanish language.