Today marks 12 weeks since I have been in Europe, and all I can think about is how fast time is flying by. My time in Spain has been incredible and I absolutely love this country. The food, culture and the people are absolutely amazing! One of my main goals coming into Spain was to learn and spot the differences between the Spanish spoken in Europe and the Spanish I am use to speaking back home in the U.S. Upon my arrival I quickly noticed the “lisp” many natives have when they pronounce their “Z’s” and “C’s” which at first made it a bit difficult for me to understand. As time went on many people knew my Spanish was different. Before arriving I was scared that many would judge my Spanish or mocked the language I am use to speaking. On the contrary, many have praised my Spanish and find it endearing to listen to. Many words that come out of my mouth quickly give clues as to where I am from. Words like ahorrita, mande, and ustedes make it clear my Spanish originates from another country and generates the question “De donde eres?” Which means “Where are you from?” Later comes an even more complicated answer, “Vengo de los Estados Unidos, pero soy Mexicano”. As soon as this slips out of my mouth I always hear five words “No mames pinche pendejo guey!” Which I will not translate just because you can probably guess the meaning lol. All jokes aside everyone I have met has been very curious to learn more and find the differences so interesting. Vosotros was definitely one of the words I had trouble with the most, because it sounds so much like “Nosotros” but while one means “you” the other means “us”. Also the change in some verbs such as “vieron” would be translated to “visteis” which added another level of confusion. I was so interested in learning and spotting even more differences that I found myself trying to catch them in every conversation I had. Examples would be how they say “movil” when I would say “cellular” or “autobus” when I would say “camion”. Others include “guay” for “que padre”, “coger” for “recoger” and “piso” instead of “departamento”. My favorite would definitely be “vale” which means “okay” or “tio” which means “dude” or “guey”. Some of which have even been added into my everyday vocabulary. I can’t wait to get home and hear my friends say “oh my gosh, stop” as I speak to them with my new Spanish vocab. I remember introducing myself during orientation week and having to say I was from the U.S. Some would be like “Oh, cool!” and others would be like “Really?” I always had to explain my ethnicity just because I was different from the other students from the U.S. It was difficult at first because I didn’t want to say I was American, but I also couldn’t say I was Mexican because I wasn’t like the other students who come from Mexico. I found myself telling my story time and time again. At first I found it a bit annoying but I later learned to enjoy it because I was different and many people in Europe, including my professors had never met someone like myself. It is interesting, and I am not scared to admit that I don’t feel Mexican or from the U.S. Many people with my similar background pretend they know so much about Mexican culture and preach something that they simply aren’t. I am proud of where I come from and I know about traditional celebrations and am well informed about Mexican culture but I also know that not everything pertains to me. Many people back at home often refer to me as “white washed” because I don’t advocate the same traditions they do but my parents who both grew up in Mexico don’t even practice all the traditions these people preach. To me at times it often feels as if thoughts are being shoved into people minds making them feel guilty for not appreciating their “culture”. But anyway, back to the subject, I am glad to be able to showcase people a different side of a "typical" american. As far as school here in Spain I still have the same thoughts as before. Today we had our very first exam and for a solid 30 minutes my and another professor were arguing over who reserved the classroom. It made it so difficult to concentrate and was very frustrating that they could not come to an agreement. While the other professor tried to make us move in the middle of the exam, you could hear my professor insisting to let us focus. As you can see this school is a mess and although my peers and I say “It can’t get any worse than this” the school seems to prove us otherwise. At this point it’s funny that things can get this bad, but as my advisor says “This is Spain”. In the end I am glad I decided to take this opportunity in Spain and have had the best time of my life! I will say Universidad de Murcia did a great job at bringing all international students together because in the end we all learned to support each other through this mess we call Uni.
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AuthorRicardo Perez Archives
October 2018
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