So lets get real about living in a foreign country

This is my fantastic host mom, Fini. She has taken me in with such open arms and has completely spoiled me. Not only does she treat me as her daughter, but we have become great friends. With Fini I have a different relationship that is a bit different that any of the other students, for several reasons. I think the biggest is that we talk about my wedding a lot. She enjoys watching say yes to the dress and telling me what kind of dress she thinks would look good on me. She also gives me tips about taking care of a house and cooking, which I enjoy because she is an amazing cook. We don't just talk about my wedding, we talk about everything; family, friends, classes as well as philosophy and theology. She sees the world differently than I do and that has challenged me a lot. Having grown up in a completely different culture it is such a privilege to be able to have the relationship I have with her so that she will be honest with me about how she views things. We have not always agreed, but it has made me really think about why I think the way I do. 

With that in mind it has been really hard for me to reconcile some of the cultural differences that I see on a regular basis, but at the same time think about why my culture is the way it is. I think the best example is how wound up people from the United States get about working. Our culture focuses so much on making money and always moving in to the next best thing that we don't stop and just relax and enjoy where we are. I stress about college because of how much it costs, and so I don't want to waste my time so I stress about doing my best. Students here do not worry about that, prices in the University have recently gone up but they are still paying less than $3,000 a year for classes. I have a professor that fails about 60% of his class every semester here. Students here don't have to worry about that they just take the class over and the time does not matter. I have a hard time understanding this because I don't want to be in college longer than necessary, and at times it has been frustrating to me. I view my ability to go to college as a privilege and so failing a class is a big deal. I don't think either way is right, I think Americans loose something very important by stressing out so much about work, there is more to life than the next pay check and maybe as prices go up here students will realize how lucky they are to attend. 

There is also the issue of the language barrier, that sometimes can be a huge problem, especially with people who don't know how to have patience for someone who is learning the language. I have only really had one bad experience with this, but it is hard to remember that interacting with someone who is learning Spanish is a challenge for both parties. I tried to explain something to my host father, and instead of telling me he did not understand he just laughed at my mistake, and that hurt. 

Understanding that these things are bound to happen is good to remember when deciding to study abroad, because it is hard not to take it personally. I have had the most difficulty with my host father, his speech mannerisms and accent, which are influenced by a Valencian accent make it hard to understand him at times, and his sense of humor can be really harsh, as well as him making a joke about everything. If that was the only thing I dwelt on though I would miss out on a lot. 

I finally brought up him walking with me to the bus stop every morning, because I really did not understand why. It turns out it is because previously the girl that lived with them was uncomfortable walking to the bus stop because of some of the people who were present in the area that would try and talk to her, he would go with her and just decided to do the same with me in case I was uncomfortable as well. Now that I know the reason I think it is really sweet and considerate that they thought of this, but is also is why communication is important because had I not said something I would have just continued to be confused by why he did this. 

There are a lot more things I could talk about, but I will possibly write more about this later, for now I want to talk about Alicante, the city. 

I live about a 30 minute walk away from everything in the city, in a barrio, which is like a neighborhoods. It don't mind that it is so far away although it does leave me less inclined to go out at night because I don't particularly enjoy walking home really late at night, but from what I have experienced it is a really safe neighborhood and have never felt unsafe walking home even late at night. I spend a lot of time on the explanada and walking around the Rambla. The explanada is a long plaza that has shops and restaurants, and the Rambla has the same. Both are very touristy so they have a lot to offer. I love this ice cream shop that also sells crepes that are filled with nutella. The restaurant Miami is also nice, a bit on the pricier side but they have really good pizza if you don't want to eat typical Spanish food, it is the only place I have had anything truly spicy as well. 

I also enjoy the walk ways that are built around these beautiful old trees, that are like nothing I have ever seen before. This below is one of those trees. It is a picture looking up into the leaves, they look blue because of the light in the surrounding area. 

 Well I am going to end this blog before it gets too long. I will update next week after my trip to Madrid. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my trip so far. I know this blog got a bit honest about some of the difficulties that I have dealt with, but I am truly having a wondeful time and learning a lot. I love learning more about the culture and trying all of the new things. Every experience has its positive and its negative parts and I think it is necessary to take the negativity in stride and attempt to understand where it might becoming from.

Saludos!