Making strong connections with the culture and people
April 3, 2014
Firstly, I’m going to comment on the friends I have made here during my year abroad and my intention to stay in contact with them following the programme. Before arriving the thing that most scared me was the idea that I would not settle in because I wouldn’t have any friends around me. This now, …
I went in guns blazing and got socialising from the word go
April 2, 2014
Post written by Sophie Gorvett. Having chosen to do three shorter placements over the span of 14 months, one of the most daunting things for me prior to this whole experience was the idea of having to make new friends, not once, not twice but three times during this whole period. It wasn’t that I …
Linguistic, cultural immersion
April 1, 2014
Madrid is a very busy place, every one’s going somewhere. Everyone has direction, aims, a certain focus. It reminds me of London in many ways. That being said, a warmer, sunnier London. I now feel like a madrileño, much more than I felt like a lisboeta in Lisbon. I am connecting with people all the …
Getting used to the Spanish rhythm of life
February 18, 2014
Extremadura was a region about which I knew very little. This was one of the main reasons I chose to come here. Being taught Spanish language and experiencing the country first-hand are obviously very different, but until arriving here I did not realise just how much. Firstly, there is the rhythm of life, especially in …
I thought the preconceptions were just stereotypes…I was mistaken
February 5, 2014
Before living in Spain, I presumed that all the preconceptions I had about life here were just stereotypes. I was mistaken. Even though Spain is a county frequented by many Britons, there is a stark cultural difference and most of the typical things associated with Spain are actually quite accurate, especially here in Seville and …
Even the dogs have siestas!
Post written by Faith Locken. When choosing where to go for the first half of my year abroad, I purposefully picked Spain because I wanted somewhere that wouldn’t have so much of a cultural difference from England, especially as my second half would be in China. However as the last six months have proved, there …
I learnt how to accept these cultural challenges as just another part of Spanish life
Post written by Matthew Walters. Whilst you are abroad there are many cultural differences you must become accustomed to. Even though Spain is in the European Union and is just a two-hour flight away, there are still major differences in all aspects such as politeness and customer service, behaviour, punctuality, and even little things like …
Adapting to traditional Spanish meal times
February 4, 2014
Soon after I arrived in Granada, Spain I slowly found myself being struck with some of the differences between my life back home in England to this new Spanish lifestyle I was about to experience. Before I came here I knew about the more obvious differences such as with the meal times and that the …
Why is everyone asleep when I want to go shopping?!
Post written by Georgia Brookes. It is February 2014 and I am one week away from leaving Cádiz in Southern Spain forever; the setting of the first half of my Year Abroad. Although at first I found the Andalucían accent next to impossible to understand, and the people rather rude and candid, as time progressed …
The four phases of cultural shock
Post written by Jack Revell. I spent a considerable amount of my childhood outside the UK and as such realised at an early age that the absence of readily-available Cadbury’s chocolate and Marmite in the shops doesn’t really constitute a ‘cultural challenge’. But that’s not to say that there haven’t been any such challenges. According …
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