What I Learned during My Stay in Spain

Spain was an interesting experience for me. As cliché as that sounds, I’ve never actually been abroad for more than a couple of weeks, and that’s always with friends or family. This time I went with one fellow student I didn’t know very well, with no idea where I would stay yet when I’m there, and with limited funds. So yeah, you could say that my previous statement is a gross understatement.

The city where I stayed was called Castellon de la Plana, a small city located near the beach. It’s a beautiful city, but with a lot of empty or unkempt houses. Because of this, I was afraid that we wouldn’t be able to find a place to stay. Luckily, we did get to stay with our seniors for the first few days, and our seniors and the nice people in the International Relations Office of our university helped us find a good apartment to live while we’re there.

The price of the apartment wasn't cheap (120 euro/month, before gas/water/internet), but it was worth it. It’s located right next to a cheap department store, and it’s within walking distance to the bus station and bicycle station (more on that later). We stayed in the apartment with three other people. They all speak English and two of them aren’t natives, so there’s no language barrier.

                

Before we started studying in Universidad Jaume I (UJI for short), our seniors showed us around the city and told us the important places, from the local monuments to stores that sell cheap necessities. We also sorted essential stuff such as a bank account and a card for the bicycle station. The way to the campus is uphill, but they say it should be cheaper if we go by bicycle than bus, so we made a card for the two of us.

Our first week in UJI was spent for orientation; enlisting for classes, finding out where all the buildings are, navigating from our apartment to campus, etc. the International body in the University helped us with the enlistment since most of the instructions are in Spanish. The classes I enrolled in was in English, but there’s another problem: my final score in UJI cannot be converted into my cumulative score back home, and most of the courses offered is more or less the same with the ones I’ve already done in UMY. So, instead of enrolling the same courses twice, I decided to make the most of the situation.

  

I enrolled in two separate courses: one for English Studies, and one for English Pronunciation. The English Studies course was designed for students who are already proficient in the language and wanted to study the language further, while the pronunciation class was meant for exchange students who came to Spain without a strong grasp in English. I thought if I could see how the lecturers in Spain taught two demographics with different levels of English, I could take some pointers and integrate them in my future courses.

                

The first thing that I’ve learned about the English learners in Spain is that they have little to no interest in the English language. According to my classmates, most Spaniards think that because Spain is the second-most used language in the world (I checked, it is), they don’t feel like they need to learn English. This fact is shared by the people I’ve met in my city. They speak little to no English at all. When I asked some of them, their answer was because I’m in Spain, I should speak Spanish. Although this was a valid point, it would severely hurt their tourism potential. In Indonesia, even peddlers can speak a degree of English. In Spain, not having abundant English speakers means less interest in tourism, because not a lot of tourists would bother learning a language for a short-term stay.

To make matters worse, the Spaniards have an unorthodox view when it comes to breaks. Their “Siesta” tradition require most family-owned businesses to take an afternoon break for three to five hours in weekdays, and completely close their businesses all day on Sundays. Don’t get me wrong, I love how the people in Castellon value their culture so highly (The way their Magdalena festival turn the sleepy town into a party central is magical), but if the culture is downright harmful to the people itself, it should probably be phased out.

               

All in all, I’ve learned a lot with my one semester in Spain, although maybe not in the traditional academic sense. The place has a lot of potential for tourism, the people I’ve met were very friendly, and it can respect and adhere to culture and not lose contact with the modern world. But if they don’t want to change and keep updating their mindset with the rest of the world, it’s no wonder that they’re one of the poorest countries in Europe.