My First Month in Spain with LIU GlobalBy Melissa Vargas I have been living in Alcalá de
My First Month in Spain with LIU GlobalBy Melissa Vargas I have been living in Alcalá de Henares, Spain for about a month now. While we are housed in dorms at the Lope de Vega residency and attend classes at the University of Alcalá Franklin Institute, our campus is in no way defined to these two locations; the city of Alcalá de Henares serves as our campus. There is always something going on in this city, whether it be medieval festivals, farmers markets, art exhibits, or religious processions. Brimming with culture and history, the city provides so many awesome opportunities for immersion and learning and my goal this semester is to take full advantage of it. As with most experiences living abroad, moving to Spain has involved a bit of culture shock and adjustment. The biggest adjustment for me has been the transition from living with a host family in Costa Rica last year to living in a dorm with 400 other international students. While the newly built residency’s facilities are incredible and living in a dorm allows for much more independence, having a host family gave me so much unique insight into the local culture in a very intimate way.Because the residency provides all of our meals and has pristine quality study areas and recreational facilities, it’s easy to fall in the habit of spending more time in the dorm than in the city itself. Living in a residency doesn’t eliminate immersion opportunities, but rather just requires a bit more of a proactive effort to engage with local people. I’ve been trying to spend more time in the city by doing small things such as doing homework in a local cafe, eating ice cream in the park, or going for a run to get a better sense of all that lies outside of the residency. Some other things that I’m still getting accustomed to are the type of Spanish spoken here and meal times. Castilian Spanish varies from the Latin American Spanish that I am used to, particularly the use of vosotros and the pronunciation of c and z as a th sound. As for meals, Spaniards eat much later in the day– the residency begins serving dinner at 8pm on weekdays and 9pm on the weekends. I sometimes find myself counting down the minutes until dinner with a growling stomach, but I’m slowly getting used to eating a later dinner. In regards to language immersion, two of my classes are taught in Spanish. This has helped my Spanish comprehension more than my speaking ability, as these classes don’t always require a large amount of verbal participation. I’ve found that just like exploring Alcalá, practicing speaking regularly also requires a concerted effort. I hope to practice more Spanish by participating in a language exchange organized by our host university and at my internship this semester. Our school trips so far include visiting Santiago de Compostela in Galicia to walk El Camino and day trips to the capital city of Madrid. While these trips have given me insight into other parts of Spain, I still have a lot to learn about Alcalá and look forward to the rest of this semester. -- source link
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