Pre-departure preparation, tossing the books aside, and diving head-first into Valencia
Studying abroad was something that I knew I had the desire (and the privilege) to do since I came to college, and yet I was freaking out the night before my flight to Valencia. Some of my fears: The upcoming day-long traveling (25.5 hours to be exact), not having spoken Spanish since high school two years ago, and not knowing anyone who was going to be on the trip. Pretty valid, I think.
To prepare for the trip, I mainly used Duolingo to refresh my extremely rusty Spanish and watched videos to prime myself for the culture in Spain (these two turned out to be very accurate and helpful: one and two). I definitely recommend doing at least those two things and maybe going beyond my intense three-hour panic study session of my old Spanish notes on the train, but it was the reality of the situation.
A car trip to the train station, a train ride to Penn Station, two metro rides to the airport, a flight to Madrid, and then another flight later, I finally got off the bus (which was organized by my university-lead group trip) into the arms of my host mom. From the videos I watched before I knew that it was left cheek and then right cheek for the greeting kisses, but later I heard that others weren’t as lucky. My nervous, broken Spanish got me far enough to tell her a bit about myself and talk about the weather on the taxi ride to her beautiful apartment (more on that in my week 2 post). I then fell asleep for six hours in said-beautiful apartment.
But enough about the traveling. My first week in Valencia was wonderful, confusing, and educating all at once. Many things were surprising to me, but the biggest thing for me were meal times. I had read prior to the trip that small breakfasts, large 2pm lunches, afternoon siestas (yes they are a real thing!), and 9pm dinners were standard in Spain, but let me tell you that there is a difference between knowing and doing. I want to say that it only took my that first week to adjust, but my stomach probably caught up by the second or third week.
The initial panic of loneliness also sunk in my first day when I woke up from my post-travel (and pre-realizing that I had to turn on cellular data in order for the cellular data that my SIM card that I got for the trip came with to work) nap. It also came after I called my little sister at the end of the first week. And trust me, being sad in Spain sucks. No one wants to feel the overwhelming wave of what-have-I-gotten-myself-into in a foreign country and no one working jobs and internships at home wants to hear how you’re feeling lonely in Europe of all places.
But it did get better quickly. I turned on my cellular data. I made friends on the first day of class and we stuck together for the next five weeks through weekly exams, post-class drinks, and trips to Madrid and Barcelona (later on that). I had nightly family dinners with my host family (an old couple with eight grandchildren that would often come over in groups of 2-3 to keep things interesting) and my roommate (who was luckily much better at speaking Spanish than I am and carried most of the conversations) which is where I learned most of what I know about Spanish/Valencian culture.
On that first day as well, my host dad talked with me for three hours (which for me was understanding basically everything he said but replying with mostly Spanish 1 structured sentences, laughing a lot, and staring off quietly). He also took me on a walk on the Río, which is basically a huge park/garden that used to be a river and it is absolutely stunning. In the Río is the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) where there all the buildings are extremely modern and consist of a theater, science museum, and discotecas (clubs right next to all the museums believe it or not).
Cultural TL;DR: Educate yourself on the place you go before you leave. Allow yourself to be nervous, lonely, and culture-shook. And then, take it all in and appreciate the small quotidian things throughout your day.
An American in Valencia 