Study Abroad and Domestic Study Away

Now that I have been in Madrid a bit longer, I feel as though my culture shock has not been that dramatic, but I have experienced a couple of things that surprised me. Since Madrid is big and there’s many people living here, I assumed it would be more of people doing their own thing and constantly being fast paced and it is, but people are so considerate of others as well. For example, where I’m living there is 9 floors, a left, center, and right part but any time you run into someone you always say “buenas”, “buen dia” “hola” and if you have a class with twenty people all twenty will say hello as they walk in. Also adding to this the fact that for me of the biggest difference has been taking the metro to get around so in the beginning I was constantly unsure if I was in the correct line or heading the right way and I would always pull out my phone and ask someone if I was in the right place, every single person I have asked for help here was so nice and would even strike up a conversation. The people are so welcoming and nice which was something I was not expecting since it is a big and busy city.

The last thing and the one that surprised me the most is that students and professors are on a first name basis, the first time I realized that I was very shocked. I think being both Mexican and American the culture and norms are different, so you’re used to changes occurring depending on who you’re talking with and where you’re at. Maybe in the US it might be a bit more likely to call a professor by their first name (but very rare in my experience) and in Mexican culture it is not at all, so I honestly feel like the student professor name basis was the oddest thing I have experienced so far.

I wanted to give a big thank you to my donors G. Dale Smith and Ruth Peterson and the Forester Day Donors for the scholarships I was given!