First week of year abroad

[From my blog at madridmemories.wordpress.com].

Hi!

It’s been a while since I last posted, and that’s because I’ve been busy moving to Spain! I’m here in Madrid to study for 9 months, at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Culture shock

Having been to Spain in the past, and it being so close to the United Kingdom, I wasn’t really expecting much culture shock to be honest. In a sense, most things are quite similar to how they are at home – there’s an underground train system, there are many branches of H&M… however, I have noticed some things that I would like to share.

First of all, I never had myself down as a stiff-upper-lip London type, but sometimes, just sometimes, I  want to get on the Metro without being stared at. I don’t know what’s giving me away as a foreigner – the shorts (the locals are wearing jeans but I think it’s still shorts weather!), the rucksack, the English speech?! (Still get looked at when I’m on my own and not talking to anyone in any language, though). Part of me longs to be on a train where I look around the carriage and no one looks up, but I imagine that when I get back to the UK, I’ll feel a certain longing for the social interaction that I am currently shunning. Maybe I should start embracing. I mean embrace the way of life, not the other commuters. That might be too much social interaction, even for the Spaniards. Moving on.

Secondly, I’m not encountering as many tourists as I had expected. Visiting the centre of Madrid, I have not heard anywhere near as much English as I thought I would, perhaps because the summer holidays have finished, and so immersing myself in the Spanish language has been easier than expected. There is, however, a lot of street entertainment available for the tourists who are here. For example, people dressed as statues, people dressed as Disney characters, an energetic Spiderman, a magician, a person under a pile of tinsel-like stuff, snapping the mouth of a goat’s head open and closed (just Google “tinsel goat”) and asking for una moneda (a coin), scaring passersby. There’s even a Mariachi band, which, to me, says something about the ignorance (or expected ignorance) of tourists in general. If, for example, I had come to Madrid without having studied Spanish and the Spanish-speaking world, I may well have thought that Mariachis were a traditional Spanish band. In fact, they’re Mexican, and hearing a cry of ¡Viva España! instead of ¡Viva México! didn’t feel quite right.

Thirdly … the graffiti here is very political, and a lot of it anarchy-based.

(Translation: “Against all authority”)

(Translation: “America already existed
Genocide 1492″
Context: 1492 was the year in which Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas)

Finally, friendliness: I think that many people see the Spanish as a friendly and open people, and in some ways, I agree. Walking around H&M for 15 minutes involved receiving an hola (“hello”) from each and every staff member that we passed. However, at other times, e.g. when eye contact occurs so I give an old man a smile, expecting him to return it then avert his gaze, he just keeps staring with an unimpressed face, and I question this “friendliness” stereotype.

Challenges

Year abroad so far hasn’t been all about negotiating eye contact with strangers. There has been a lot of admin (and a lot still remains to be done), including opening a Spanish bank account, finding a place to live (don’t worry, finding somewhere once you’re here is the done thing in Spain), getting a residence card, getting an Erasmus card, getting a travel card, and actually enrolling at the university. All this combined has resulted in a rather stressful week! However, I have spoken to a lot of people and discovered that, basically, the first few weeks are hard. If I were to give any advice to younger people for their years abroad, it would be this: if you’re not feeling great for the first few weeks, talk about it. Chances are, many others are feeling the same, but, for whatever reason, not everyone will openly talk about it until someone else mentions it. (This is also valid advice for Freshers at university – you’re not the only one who misses home, and there’s no need to be ashamed of it!) I also found a huge amount of support from my coursemates, many of whom have been similarly stressed and understand how I feel. Talking about it goes a long way to feeling less alone!

I would also say to future year abroaders that I have no idea why we were told at university that the year abroad comes with a “honeymoon period” – for me, a better comparison for the first few weeks would be the “stress of trying to organise the wedding in the first place then getting cold feet but realising that you have no choice and that what you’ve committed to will be good for you in the end – and doing all this in a foreign land period”. That’s not to put anyone off, though – there may well be people who arrive and get settled in straight away, but if not, it just takes time!

Also, having said what I’ve said about accommodation, the way you go about choosing it in Spain depends on the kind of person you are. If you are likely to get stressed at the thought of being homeless then you might find it easier to find a place online before you go (look for 1-month contracts). However, if you are happy to stay in a hostel for a few days and would rather see the place first, then by all means, do it that way round! Neither method is wrong!

Beware dodgy translations

Having imparted these pearls of wisdom from my week of experience, I leave you with this image taken at the airport, which serves as a warning to all users of Google Translate that it may be a useful tool for some things, but also might give you the word “previously” where the phrase”before taking a trolley” would read much better.

Until next time!