Back to the real(ish) world
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2009
1
30
45
Trip End
Dec 21, 2009
Valladolid, Castile-León, Spain and Canary Islands
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The good news is that there is a film festival in town right now.
And I booked a trip to Berlin from Dec. 4-7. And a day trip to Madrid for Nov 7.
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This is an entry from my INS-251 journalism class. It may or may not be of some interest. It is in response to a prompt about overcoming difficulty and annoyance with new cultures:
"At the official halfway point of the semester, looking back I can definitely see that my primary source of frustration during my experience here has been the result of the language barrier
At the Temple Bar
. I came into this study abroad adventure with a pretty open mind, and really ready to try something completely new, so I feel like the cultural changes didn't get to me as much. There were little things here and there (trying to maneuver through crowds that move considerably slower than in the US), but nothing that got me legitimately annoyed…except the language barrier. I think the language is the most frustrating for me because it’s not something I can just fall into. With other things, all I really had to do was open up my mind and take into account the perspective of others. With language troubles, it takes a lot more than that. I’ve found that, as someone who prides themselves on a fairly large vocabulary (in English) it has been really hard to communicate with such a limited one in Spanish. I often feel like even though I’m getting the message across, my speech lacks "personality" because it’s so direct. It’s as if a whole component of self-expression has been completely removed. I’ve found that I’ve really started compensating for this problem by using excessive facial expressions and gestures. While I can’t necessarily use words that hint at how I’m feeling, I can still do it in an international language; that of body language. Sometimes it almost feels a little theatrical, because it’s not nearly as exaggerated in the US, however it does manage to get the point across better than I can do with language. The good news in all of this is that my speaking abilities do seem to be improving, so hopefully at one point I can return to normal conversation.
One situation that was brought up in Crisholm that I can really identify with now is the hypersensitivity to what I’ve come to call “tourist noise”. I do a lot of my work outside of the library in the courtyard, which just happens to be across the street from one of the more historical churches in the city. It’s almost embarrassing seeing American tourists sometimes. I remember one specific instance where I watched a group of 20-some year old American guys walk through the courtyard, yelling about how boring the church was. One of them exclaimed, “I swear to [expletive]ing God, if I have to look at another [expletive]ing church I’m going to [expletive]ing blow my brains out. Can we please just go to the god [expletive] bars?” This was outside of one of the city’s oldest and most well respected churches, in a crowded courtyard. I was appalled that someone could just yell that out without thinking that maybe what they were saying was both offensive and vulgar. Another instance I remember quite well was in the Madrid airport, where I watched an American getting off of a flight yelling at the flight attendant, “why don’t you try talking to me again when you learn how to speak decent English?!”. Again, this was in an airport IN Spain.
It’s possible that I’m only noticing the loud, obnoxious American tourist because they’re the ones I can understand best, but in any case it’s demoralizing to see. A lot of the American stereotypes (loud, arrogant, ignorant, and disrespectful) are suddenly starting to make sense, now that I can see some of our behavior over here. It’s sad.
As a whole, I think my frustrations have led me to strengthen my sense of identity. I don’t see myself as an “American in Spain”. I am here, living in this culture day to day, and becoming a part of it. Yes, I am an American but that in no way defines who I am or how I act. While I may not be able to speak the language perfectly, I know how to hold my own in a conversation, or get what I need. People can label me in whichever way is easiest for them, but that definitely does not obligate me to conform to those standards or stereotypes."
