How’s Spain?

That’s the question I’ve been asked the most in the last 2 months. Yes, been here for almost 2 months. To answer that question, please read...

I would say, so far so good. Love the sun, love the city and love Phoenix (haha, who knows will know). To start, I’m a unique case (maybe) among all of the exchange students here. Indeed, I’m “double” abroad... Therefore, I’m comparing three different cultures here. It’s really got the point where I’m confused what CULTURE I represent to be honest. Spain feels like home when I’m back using Celsius and Kilometer instead of Fahrenheit and Mile. Spain feels like home when grades turn into number instead of letter. Spain feels a little bit like home when I see a lot of people who aren’t students, daily (although Sevilla is nothing compare to Hanoi, Vietnam in term of population). However, like any other exchanges, culture shock kicked in when people having lunch at 2pm as known as 14h and dinner always after 8pm as known as 20h. And yeah, “viva la siesta” is a huge deal here when almost “tiendas” is closed between 14h and 16h.

Language, oh my..., I give myself a big credit of being able switching 3 languages daily. Although my Spanish isn’t good enough to understand everything my host mom say but come on guys, give me a break. I’m trying my best!! I believe I should have been more serious about Spanish to be honest. I also admit my Vietnamese is a little bit broken since the begin of living in Spain (according to my mom, she’s been complaining about my Vietnamese usage). I can tell because my writing skill when typing texts definitely has a little issue. Sorry mom... I’m not planning to crazily learn Spanish fluently but I will do my best to take advantage of this semester abroad in Spain in order to improve my Spanish. Anyway, English is still my main driver daily.

Lastly, I want to say thank you for reading this and hopefully at least this note answers partly of the main question. I’m doing great in Spain and I’m grateful for this opportunity which gives me chances to experiences a whole new culture in a whole new continent as a student. As usual, I have a quote to share: "Wherever you go, go with all your heart”. I really hope you can have a chance like me to travel the world and when you do, please be open to new thing and I promise you, IT IS GREAT!