Author Archives: Lidia Rosa Hernandez

Week 2 & 3 Zamora

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I have been so busy that I forget I need to post every week. My second week in my program we spend  doing a workshop with local people who perform traditional dances. I learned about the culture and what parts of Spain each dance comes from. We learned to play a few of the instruments and some of my classmates even tried on the traditional clothes. The dances were fun to learn and it gave me a taste of how people celebrate certain events with dance.

My classmates and I also took a trip up to Gijon, Spain for the weekend. We went to enjoy the beach and to visit another part of Spain. I fell in love with this area. I was beautiful and had a lot of history. The weather was a nice change too.

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The third week we had two excursions to Pereruela and Toro. In Pereruela we visited a pottery workshop. I got to see from the mixing of the material to making different types of pots, pans, and ovens. I also got a chance to try and make my own dish, which turned to to look more like a donut. In Toro we visited a old convent and a winery.

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My Spanish has been improving. I can now communicate my basic needs and am able to get by. I love that I am force to put my Spanish vocabulary to use. I am great at ordering un café con leche, and whatever needs I need at the store. I still have the feeling that I am not here in Spain. Maybe it will hit me once I return back home. I feel comfortable here and know my surrounding really well. I have made some great friends and they help me feel at home here. My one goal is to hope that I will continue to speak Spanish back in the states.

Week 1 Zamora

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The first week in Spain was not as stressful as I thought it would be. I have a great host family, who make me feel comfortable and I already feel like I am one of the family members. During the first week I found out that I have to walk 45 minutes just to get to class. The first day was horrible! I am use to running at least two to three times a week and now I am using all the walking I have to do here as my exercise. Besides the lots of walking, the heat is crazy. It feels like the sun is just shining all its heat right on you. When people walk here you can see them all just wanting to walk in the sombra (shade). The language barrier is still there. I try to communicate as best I can and most everyone understands what I am still learning and are very patient. I feel like I am a 2 year old trying to speak! The food here is very different then back home and compared to the Mexican food that my family makes. I was having trouble getting used to the food. I was not eating to much. At the time I was hoping that it would change and get better.

We had our first excursion to Braganza, Portugal. It was a very beautiful town with a lot of great history. We saw a old castle, churches, went to a museum about masks used during festivals, and drank wine with locals! That was my favorite part. People seem to like people from America and want to know more about you and where you come from.

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I also got to see bull fighting, which I will never do again. I went to see it just for the experience. It was very sad to know and then see that the bulls are killed at the end. I could not handle it that I had to leave half way though it. I will admit thatI cried like a baby when I saw the finally blow to the bull that killed it. It is so sad to see a animal die in that way and then with the crowd cheering just made it worse. I believe in keeping traditions, but I will never be apart of this one.

I was missing my family and friends a lot. It did not seem like I was in Spain. I wanted the program to go by faster. I am enjoying my time and keeping myself busy.

(A few weeks late for this post)

Zamora – Intro, Pre-departure, arrival!

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I am late on writing about my intro, pre-departure and arrival. I have already been in Spain for a week and a half. I started my program a week ago. I have already been super busy, but enjoying my time.

INTRO

Hello Everyone!! My name is Lidia and I am studying in Zamora, Spain for 6 weeks. Ill be completing my whole second year of Spanish. That is why I chose this program. I need my second year and I have always wanted to go to Spain. I am completing to things at once. It is also a great way to get to know a different culture and a different style of Spanish that people speak here.

Pre-departure

I knew barely anything about Spain and its culture. I only knew that they speak Spanish and leave a different life style then the US does. I was very nervous to leave my home where I am comfortable at and know how to speak the language. I was worried that I would not be able to communicate well with my host family or other is the community. I wondered how it would all work out or if this town would have a good amount of English language people. I also did not like how bad the time difference was going to be. Its a 9 hour difference back home. I knew it would make it hard to every have time to communicate with my family and friends back home.

I did some research on the life style of people in Spain, what the young people like to do in their spare time and what the fashion was here! I did not want to stick out as a tourist, even though I would. I was told this town would be small, so I pictured it having old building, maybe a few places to shop, far from everywhere, and other things like that. I was hoping I would be wrong. This is what I say when I looked it up Zamroa!

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Arrival!

I was nervous to arrival in Spain. My Spanish is not the best and I am somewhere that is foreign to me. Me and another classmate came a few days early before our program to explore Madrid. This was the best decision ever. Not only did I get to see other parts of Spain, but it gave me time to adjust to the time change, language and culture shock before meeting my host family and where I would be staying for 6 weeks.

When I arrived in Zamora I was greeted by my host dad and professor, along with my classmates family. It became real that I was about to depart from my English companion and be on my own. It was hard to communicate with my host family, but my host family is so understand and just awesome that I felt right at home right away. They let me know that I was free to make the house my house and just enjoy my time here.

My first outing to the town was that day I arrived. My host family took me to met their friends and my Spanish had to kick in them. They were all so nice. I did not expect that. I also got to explore the rest of the town with my classmates that evening and found out that there was a night life for people my age. The day I arrived, the town was having a huge festival so many people where there.

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