I can’t believe that I am writing
my last post for my blog about Spain. Time has gone so fast. I had an incredible
last month and I feel that I really grew as a person mentally, physically, and
socially as the month progressed. Mentally there were times when the trip was
exhausting for my brain when I had to try and understand people speaking
Spanish and then having to respond back in Spanish. Physically the trip was
taxing because the main form of transportation is walking and we did a lot of
walking going to and from school and when going out at night but in the end I
didn’t mind because that is part of the culture in Spain. Socially is where I
feel that I grew most this month because being able to converse with someone is
a difficult thing no matter what language you speak but to able to hold a
conversation for a little bit with someone who speaks a different language than
you do is an amazing thing. When I say this I think that I speak for our whole
group because we all had our times when we would just spark conversation with
anyone around us and it was always interesting to see how it would go. I think
this is one of the main reasons that people in Spain knew about the Loyola
group of 2015 because everyone was eager just to meet people from different
parts of the world and even different parts of the United States. Having good
social skills is very important in everything you do in life and that was on
full display this month in Spain. One of the biggest things I will take away
from this trip is the importance of friendship and conversation. This trip
would not be as great as it was if we didn’t have the group that we did. When
we were together it was always a funny, laid back atmosphere that was fun to be
a part of and the bonds that we formed were unbreakable.
To be a
“Global Citizen” means to be a person who spends time in a country and
contributes to its growth. Living in Spain had shown me many new experiences
and culture differences. Living in Spain made me appreciate all that America
has to offer but it had also shown me a lifestyle that is able to function and
be productive in a different way than America. Spain’s lifestyle is much
simpler than in the United States. For example, everything is cheap in Spain,
which became a problem because I wanted to take advantage of all of the great
prices on everything that I didn’t realize how much I was spending. Another
example is that you walk everywhere and this makes for less crowded streets and
less craziness on the roads with cars. I liked the relaxed lifestyle in Spain
while it lasted and it made me realize how life outside of the hustle and
bustle of the American lifestyle is.
The most
important lesson I learned on this trip was the importance of social skills.
Even if you didn’t speak the same language as the person you were talking with
having confidence and the willingness to try and understand what the person is
saying is very valuable. I enjoyed the challenge in trying to communicate with
the people speaking different languages than I do and it helped me to improve
both my Spanish speaking skills and my acting skills too!
This past
month in Spain was an awesome experience with an awesome group I can’t wait to
see everyone again at school.
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