Being completely honest, by Hailey Cowell

One thing that I have noticed while studying abroad in Sevilla is how blunt and unnecessarily honest (by American standards) that Andaluces are. Americans are all about euphemisms and sugar-coating their language so it doesn’t seem as mean. One example is that Americans use terms like “big—boned” to describe someone as overweight. All of my friends have some sort of experience with blunt statements. For example, one of my friend’s host mom said they were “gordita” which would be thought to be offensive in the United States. Andaluces are also seemingly very direct and don’t really take personal space into consideration. In the past five months I have encountered so many people in Andalucia that tell me that they like my hair and just grab it without asking. Sometimes people have just touched it on the metro and say nothing. This would be extremely offensive in the United States as well.
I think the idea of being completely honest with people about their feelings is a great attribute that Andaluces possess as well as the closeness that allows them to feel as if they are welcome in your personal space. I think that perhaps if I were Sevilla longer and could grow accustomed to these cultural differences that I would like them, however at this point I suppose I am still dealing with Culture shock because people touching me without permission is just traumatizing still because of my culture and upbringing. In my family you have to ask before you even hug someone so the idea that people hug and kiss their friends was very hard for me to understand in the beginning but I have slowly become okay with it throughout the duration of my stay here.
I’ve learned from studying abroad that even though cultures are so different and we may not like every aspect of them, that we should try and understand and maybe take the things we like with us when we leave.