Language, schedules, and Community

Culture: positive shock

Valencia has been a culture shock compared to the United States, in mostly a good way! Obviously, I miss some of the “Minnesota nice” qualities that I have grown so used to, but there is so much to explore here and, in my opinion, some of the differences are for the better. The main difference is the language, but aside from that, there are many other characteristics of Valencia which are different from home. The people here are brusque. They are no-nonsense, and not afraid to show it in their words and actions. I cannot say “lo siento” here as easily as I do in the United States. An apology is for serious matters only, not something as simple as bumping into someone on the street. My host mom is a sweetheart, but she is not afraid to lay down the rules of the house in that same blunt way. Another big difference is the meal times. In my host family’s house, we eat breakfast “American style”. Our host mother offered us the choice of ‘cooked breakfast’ or ‘on the go’ breakfast and we chose on the go, hence, American style! After community service we come back and eat lunch at 2:00 pm. Then we go to class and eat again at 9:00 for dinner. These late times are perfectly normal for me in the summertime, when my family often grills, and the sun sets late, so we don’t eat until between 8:00-10:00, but in the winter we eat much earlier, so it is a big change for my January schedule. Another thing I have noticed is that their clocks run on military time here. 2:00 is 14:00, 3:00 is 15:00, and so on. When I mentioned this to Ava, my host mother, she said that was normal and was unaware we didn’t use that time form in the U.S. Lastly, the second most shocking thing to me about Valencia, besides from the language, is the huge amount of history here. I absolutely love the history of Valencia class, because I am getting to learn ancient history that I only learned a little about in my high school history classes and had no way of experiencing in the United States. It is fascinating to me how they have literal layers of history here from multiple generations of world powers, and that we can see those layers from archeological finds. I have already gained a new perspective on how new the United States is, and I can’t wait to learn more.

Language challenge

I am having a lot of trouble with my Spanish speaking ability, so I have employed many strategies to help me. My first strategy for coping with language difficulties is trying to comprehend more than the words themselves. Since my vocabulary is limited, I often understand a few words out of the sentences they are speaking and am left to fill in the holes from the words I did not comprehend. To do this, I consider the situation we are speaking in, the subject we are speaking about (if I already know it) and read the body language, facial expression, voice inflection, and gestures of the person speaking. From these multiple communication factors, I can hopefully get the gist of what the speaker is saying and ask about specific words I don’t know from there. My second strategy is to lean on my classmates for help. I ask them for help translating what was said to me when I don’t understand the words, and lean on their dialogue when listening to their conversations in Spanish. When listening to a conversation in Spanish between my classmates and a citizen of Valencia, I can clearly understand and comprehend everything my classmate is saying in Spanish, but only a few words the native Valencian is saying. The pronunciations are so different, and the people speak so quickly it is a real difficulty. One day at a café, the barista asked for my name by saying, “como se llama?” one of the first Spanish phrases I ever learned, and one I know by heart, but since he spoke so fast, I had to ask him to repeat it! That was strange to me, because I always assumed it would only be words causing the language barrier problem, not the pronunciation. My second strategy is asking the locals to talk slower and use simpler language. My vocabulary is limited, so if the speaker uses slang, or more advanced words that I wouldn’t know, it makes it more difficult to comprehend what they are saying. The unknown word becomes just another hole in the sentence for me to fill. The last, and possibly most important strategy, (as Alvaro would say, el ultimo, pero no menor) is time. Every day I feel like I know a little more, understand the Spanish accents a little more, and reply a little more correctly.

Community

The community service I have participated in includes making and handing out sandwiches and other food items to the homeless, creating a mural advocating for less plastic in the oceans, making a paper orca, and playing games with those at risk of exclusion. Based on these tasks, it may seem like the only purpose of the community service is to help the homeless and raise awareness in Valencia. However, from spending time at ActiYam and discussions with my classmates and professors, I know that the purpose of this community service goes beyond that. My job there is also be a support system for the other volunteers, not only those from Gustavus, but also those who are at risk of exclusion and need a reason to come and help the Valencia community. If we, the students from Gustavus, can be the reason for these required volunteers to come in and help the homeless with us, then we have fulfilled our purpose here.

Cruce de Carrer de Ruzafa y Gran Vía de Germanías