I arrived in Barcelona, Spain on September 30, 2019. I am 22 years old and decided it was time to do an internship teaching students abroad. I decided to say “yes” to a dream of mine that’s been on my heart for four years or more. My dream about having a season in Spain to learn Spanish and travel around learning other cultures has been born. I traveled to Madrid first and stayed with a family friend there. I had an amazing experience there. Madrid prepared me for Barcelona because it eased my fears and discomforts of traveling around Spain. I didn’t know the customs of every day life in Spain or how to use the metro or other transportation systems here in Spain. My friend Beatriz, is from Madrid and I thank God for her. She was extremely helpful to me since she was able to explain the daily routine Spanish people live here in Spain, help me set up my phone and teach me the mass transit systems. I am very thankful for my time in Madrid and all of my late night adventures with her.
It is now the end of my third week in Barcelona and it has been a wild, fun, challenging and an adventurous one discovering new things. I enjoy and love Barcelona. I honestly don’t know where to even start but I’ll start by explaining my journey with my host family from the beginning till now.
On my first day in Barcelona I was very excited to meet my host family but I arrived with a cold and that made me feel miserable. When I arrived at my host family’s house I was hit with a language barrier between my host mom and me. I arrived knowing very little Spanish although I knew some of the basics like ‘que tal’ or ‘como estas’ which means how are you? I knew how to say hello, where, bathroom, thank you, etc. My host mom didn’t know a lot of English and she explained where everything was in the house in Spanish. She used enough English words and hand motions that I was able to understand her. Immediately I could tell she was very nice and understanding. When I sat down on the couch with my host mom to start getting to know each other, I realized Google translator will be our tool for communication. My Spanish level was very low and her English level is very low so the journey of learning how to communicate began. I met Mark, my little host brother, that night and he doesn’t know any English either.
I felt very overwhelm by not knowing much Spanish. So, I started putting the pressure on myself to learn as much Spanish as I can, as fast as I can. Every part of me wanted to try to speak Spanish but there was so much I didn’t know. I wanted to ask my host mom and my host brother many questions such as “what did you do today,” “what do you like to do?” I was longing to have a conversation that all of us would understand and be able to talk smoothly without a struggle. I started setting high expectations on myself every day to learn Spanish and I wanted to learn a large amount every day. Since my goals were not realistic and were way too high, I found myself being overwhelmed by my expectations. I completely shut down but still found myself longing to know more Spanish. By the end of my first week, I realized that learning Spanish would be a process and journey. I realized where I needed to adjust my goals for steady progress.
My host brother Mark and I have found ways to bond even though there is a language barrier. Of course he taught me the Spanish words for ‘play’ (jugar) and ‘do you want’ (queires). In the first week, he found out that we could communicate through Google translator. When this realization happened, he started talking into the voice translator and made up a story, that was really funny. All we did was laugh that night. He started bringing his ipad to me to show me what music he likes and one night, we had a pillow flight. We had a lot of fun bonding and laughing.
Dinner time is when I have had the most bonding time with my host mom and Mark here. Mark likes to bring his book to dinner to read to us. Since it is in Spanish, I have no idea what he is saying. I still enjoyed listening to Mark though. My host mom, tries to translate but struggles to explain. Mark found out one night that he could take a picture of the words on google translator and it will translate it from Spanish to English. He started using that app to tell the story. When the app wasn’t working appropriately with taking a picture of the text, Mark started typing the words from his book into his ipad so I would know what it says. This was so sweet of him to try to go out of his way to read to translate his book and communicate. I appreciated his effort. We have played his Nintendo together, kicked a ball back and forth, and we have even played a card game.
Last night, we carved pumpkins together. It was my host family’s first time carving a pumpkin. We had a great time together. Mark didn’t like the orange stuff in the pumpkin and didn’t want to get his hands dirty. I personally think that is the best part getting my hands dirty and getting all of the seeds out of the pumpkin. So I was surprised. Mark also lost interest in the middle of it, and he started creating something else with card board and string. My host mom and I ended up, carving the pumpkins together. I told her that in the U.S. some families cook the pumpkin seeds to eat. I told her I have the recipe to do that. She was intrigued by that and was open to trying it. After we cleaned up our mess, we ate pizza for dinner, and my host mom and I ended up watching the movie “Mama Mia” together. She has never seen it and it’s one of my favorite movies. I enjoyed watching my favorite movie with her in Spanish but I had subtitles in English. Mark did not join us, he wanted to watch another movie on his iPad. It was a great night of bonding and it was fun and relaxing evening.
I am super blessed to be placed with this host family. I am looking forward to spending more time with them and getting to know them better.
Traveling Adventure's 