Chelsea and her friends in Salamanca
Last year I spent the most wonderful nine months of my life in Spain. I lived in the fifth largest city in Spain, Zaragoza. However, I spent most of my weekends outside of Zaz (our nickname for Zaragoza) travelling to various places. I went to Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Valencia, San Sebastian and many more cities. I even went to Italy during Spring break to visit my good friend Josephine Eve, the twin sister of Henry Eve ’10. Travelling on the weekend was normal for me and the other 66 students at my school. Independent travel was encouraged by the school and the faculty there too. At first they helped me with making travelling plans but after the first few trips I became great at making plans on my own. I grew to be independent, booking hotels and hostels and buying bus and train tickets.
About her family: Aside from travelling to many new cities, I made new friends and family members. It’s a strange thing to say; “making new family members,” but I truly did. My host family consisted of a spunky hairdressing mother and my hilarious hip hop loving little brother. My host mom, Julia, had short blonde hair that every other weekend she re-bleached. She was a stylish woman whose favorite article of clothing happened to be a pair of over the knee, velvet black boots. Needless to say, we were a perfect match. We went shopping in the centro and always read Vogue together. My host brother, Lorenzo, always blasted Eminem and was excited to prove to me that he knew the English lyrics so well. He didn’t, but it was cute to watch him mutter words that sounded so much like English. Leaving them was hard and I still keep in touch with them today.
About the SYA small community and friends: I always thought that Hill was such a small community but the SYA School in Spain was tiny. There were only 67 American students there. With such a small community of juniors and seniors from schools all over America and one student from Brazil, we all got very close. Although everyone had their close group of friends, we were all friends and I found myself travelling with many different people. My closest friends were from Texas, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Next summer we all plan to travel to Mexico or some other Spanish speaking country together.
About her teachers and classes: The teachers in Spain were amazing too. All my classes except for English and Pre Calc were taught in Spanish by native Spanish teachers. I took history of cinema, theater (I was in a play, in SPANISH!), Mediterranean art and Spanish AP. To be completely honest, the first couple of weeks were very difficult. I wondered why I would make such a decision. Then, like magic, I started understanding and participating in all my classes. It really was weird and almost instant, when I felt like I could truly communicate my ideas and understand exactly what my teachers were saying to me.
My theater and history of cinema teacher also happened to be my advisor. He was a small, older man from Barcelona, my favorite city. He had the coolest mustache. His name was Oriol (we called our teachers by first names) and I grew very close to him. When I left to come back to America, saying goodbye to him was the hardest. When I was too shy to get up on stage during our first play, he pushed me and actually gave me a bigger part. I was mad at first, but then realized it was only because he believed in my talents more than I believed in them myself.
About Spain's food: If you like ham you will love Spain. Every store you go to has ham legs hanging from the ceiling. There are many different types too. Jamón ibérico is the best. I didn’t like eating ham at all, but even I, an avid ham hater, grew to love the smell of it.
Culture: In Spain I saw the stereotypical Spanish things. I went to a bullfight, saw flamenco dancers, ate paella and arroz con leche, but there are so many other things to Spanish culture.
9 months!: Going to Spain for three months or a semester does not compare to going there for nine months. All SYA students can agree that coming back to America is very difficult. At the end of nine months, you feel like Spain is really your home and with all the new friends and family members you really get used to living there. I would always wish I could bring everyone I cared about and loved to Spain with me, and we could just all live there together. Nine months may seem long, but it is the perfect amount of time to really become proficient in a language as well as understanding, and appreciating a different culture. The nine months was like being in the womb and by the end, my metamorphosis into a worldlier person was complete.
There is so much more to write about Spain; I could fill ten whole pages up with information. Of course, this would only destroy the fun of discovering things in Spain. For those of you thinking of going next year or the year after, just go! You already know what you’re going to miss during your junior year at Hill. Do you know what’s in store for you in Spain?