Carnaval

This is a rather important Spanish holiday which actually is celebrated in many other places around the world, so I wanted to make a short post outlining the important stuff.

Carnaval, also known as Mardi Gras, has a religious history, taking place during the week leading up to Lent. Although it does not always imply the same connotations nowadays, it is widely celebrated with a diverse set of customs.

Here in Madrid, what is typical to celebrate is to go out with some friends maybe to a discoteca or a bar dressed up. People, if they are going out, usually dress up like during Halloween.

I, unfortunately, was not able to celebrate Carnaval with my new Spanish friends in my town of Tres Cantos. The weekend of Carnaval, which also happened to coincide with the weekend of the Super Bowl and Chinese New Year, I had an obligatory orientation in Galapagar, a little bit north of my town.

To make up for the fact that we had to miss the celebrations, they threw us a mini party and we all dressed up as hippies. Although it was sad to miss out on the fun in Tres Cantos, I got to meet some other exchange students from Greenland, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Denmark, and tons of other cool places.

The Spanish School System

Here in Spain, I spend a fair amount of my time in school, and another fair amount of the time not in school, thinking about school or doing work for school, so it is clearly a large aspect of my life. As it is meant to be; after all, it's the "student" part of "foreign exchange student".

The school system has many similarities and differences when compared with that of America and California and I'm not saying that one is better than the other but they both have positives and negatives and cater to different goals and different learning styles. Let's get started with some of my observations.

Basics
In Spain, and I think many other similar countries in Europe, school is compulsory and free from the ages 6-16, unlike in the states where it is compulsory up until eighteen years. You start your compulsory education in Primary School or Primaria, and that consists of three two-year cycles totaling six years. Then, you start secondary school, or ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) which lasts four years. I'm in the fourth year. And after that, there is two years of Bachillerato which is not required by the state but is rather necessary if you expect to go to university.

Grading System
The grading system is very different and can be confusing or frustrating for an American. Here, tests and assignments are given on a 10 point scale. Anywhere above a 5 is a passing and anywhere below is failing. For Spaniards, it is very impressive to get a grade of a 7 or higher unlike in a America, most of us are expected to get around 80-90 percent. Also, in Spain, the tests are worth a lot more of the grade and are much more difficult.

Daily School Life
The key difference in day to day school life is that students are assigned a class (in my school, we have 5 classes in ESO). You stay with the same 30 or so people for the majority of the day and you have an assigned classroom, unlike in the states when we move class to class. This usually causes a feeling of the classroom belonging to the students rather than the teacher. In addition, because of the different mealtimes, there is not long 40-minute lunch break. Instead, there are two 20-minute recreos. This also depends from school to school.

The room of my class 4oC. 

The teachers here do not actively take attendance although some do. There are less strict and set rules about tardiness, missing class and things like that. Here, a students education is more the responsibility of the student. For example, when a student arrives too late, they are sometimes punished  by not being able to enter the class for the lesson. In America, this would probably be seen more as a reward than a punishment, but here, that could seriously impact how you perform on the test, majorly affecting your final grade.

Homework
In Spain we are given a lot less homework and the teachers do not make a huge effort to go and check it. And even if they do check it, homework and classwork are like only 10 percent of your final grade. I have an average of about 30 to 40 minutes of homework a night and rarely more. Students spend the most of their time studying for the tests which have a lot to do with memorization. Once more, it is more in the hands of the students to learn the material and not with teachers assigning homework.

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I'm sure that there is a lot more but this is all I can think of at the moment. If there are any questions, feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to share more information.

Possible future posts:
chinese people in spain
love letter to spanish food
tips for learning another language
favorite spanish language music
favorite spanish you tubers
carnaval
spanish words that don’t translate

One Month In

Hey there!

I haven't posted for a little bit because I've been super busy enjoying myself and immersing into the Spanish lifestyle. I already feel my English worsening (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) but keeping up this blog would be a great way to maintain it.

So an entire month has passed since I arrived and the time is flying by so fast. To me, it feels I've been here one week at most.

Once I felt fairly settled into the lifestyle and routine, I made the following video of a day in the life. It shows what I do on a normal school day from the beginning to the end, including meals, classes, friends, and more interesting stuff. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vu7qeO6sKg

I do plan to use this blog much more and I have a few posts coming up including:
chinese people in spain
spanish school system
love letter to spanish food
tips for learning another language
favorite spanish language music
favorite spanish youtubers
carnaval
...and many more!

No guarantees but I will try to attempt a two-times-a-week posting schedule. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and subscribe your email to this blog. Thanks!

What They Don't Teach in Spanish Class (and should)

I left home thinking I was pretty good at Spanish. Although I've only taken it for a year and a half, I study a lot on the side and figure out other tenses and stuff like that on my own. But when I came, I realized that there are a LOT of words that have never been taught to me. A lot of these also only apply to Spain but here we go.


1. vale
Probably the most important thing that not enough people know is the word "vale". It is used a lot and means "OK".
 ex) "Necesitamos salir de la casa a las ocho para que no tardemos." "Vale."
meaning: "We need to leave the house at eight so that we're not late." "Okay."

2. molar
There's a verb that is also used a fair amount, molar. It means to be cool or fascinating or interesting. It can be used when one might say "me fascina" or "me encanta" or "me interesa". It also has adjective forms: "molón" and "molona"
ex) "Acabo de comprar un nuevo reloj. Qué opinas?" "Me mola mucho."
meaning: "I just bought a new watch. What do you think?" "It's really cool!"

My friend asking me to take a picture off instagram.

3. tío/a

Literally, they mean aunt and uncle. But most of the time, they are used to mean dude, bro, chick, girl, etc.

4. no hace falta
This isn't really slang but it's common to say. It means "there's no need".

5. qué tal?
In Spain at least, basically no one says "cómo estás?" To ask how it's going or what's up, you almost always say "Qué tal?" A typical response is just "bien". 

6. majo
It means pleasant, likable, nice. 
ex) "Qué te parece la gente aquí?" "Muy maja."
meaning: "What do you think of the people here?" "Very nice."
And I can confirm that the people of Tres Cantos, Madrid are majísimas. 

7. word shortening
Bolígrafo becomes boli. Película becomes peli. Bicicleta becomes bici. Matemática becomes mates. Profesor(a) becomes profe. Motocicleta becomes moto. Televisión becomes tele. Cumpleaños becomes cumple. 

A "peli" that I watched with my family in Spanish

I'm sure that there are a lot more. But for now, this is all I can think of. I've been here for a week and have already learned a lot about the culture and language. There will for sure be another post like this.

After My First Day of School

Today was my first day of school at IES Jorge Manrique, which is located just 1 minute walking away from my house. I gave the school a packet from AFS that was basically about what to do with me and the proceeded and welcomed me and gave me a tour and led me to my class.

Let me explain the Spanish school system first. After 6 years of what I would call "elementary school" (ages 6-12), you go to ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria), which lasts for 4 years. I'm a Sophomore and I'm 16 so I'm in the last year of ESO, which is 4o. At my school, there are 5 classes/groups of the fourth year of ESO and I'm in group 4C. 

You stay in the same class almost all day with the same set of people. The exceptions are classes like lab science where you need to actually go somewhere. 

School Differences Observed:

1. Students are much more casual with their teachers, talking to them like friends and using "tú" form. 
2. Teachers are also called by their first name or "profe"
3. The students stay in the class and the teachers come to you. 
4. In math, decimals and numbers greater than a thousand are written differently. ex) 3.14 is 3,14 and 2,500 is 2.500 and 0.75 is 0'75
5. You can choose where you want to sit.
6. People still raise their hand if they really want to speak and get the attention of the teacher but generally, people just shout out. It's really fun actually.
7. The notebooks are taller and filled with graphing paper. And the binders have 4 rings instead of 3.
8. Guys here, contrary to the stereotypes, actually have very pretty handwriting.
9. Homework is very minimal and only a couple of the teachers give it. I'm pretty sure they rarely check it so no one really does it.

This is my schedule for school that I got. It's a little difficult to understand but people are pretty helpful. They tell me things like "Terrence, si no entiendes algo o necesitas ayuda, dime, vale?" Schools starts at 8:15 and on Mondays and Fridays ends at 2:25. The rest of the days go till 3:20. 

Everyone in the school (called un Instituto) was really friendly and nice. They welcomed me and wanted to get to know me. They ask a lot of questions about the United States and California. And probably because I look pretty different and stand out, they often approach me and try to befriend me. It's really nice. In "la clase de ampliación de biología", they all sang me happy birthday. On WhatsApp, the main social network of Spaniards, they have a group chat for the class and they added me to it and welcomed me. We talk about what we need to know/study, test dates, homework help, etc.

People here don't seem to hate school and I find myself looking forward to the next school day.

I'm excited for the next few days of school to really get settled in and I can already feel my Spanish improving. Sometimes, I go a full few minutes understanding everything that the teacher is saying.

Pretty exciting.

First Observations of Culture

I haven't made a blog post in a while because I've been super busy with applying or my visa, which ended up being a lot harder than the actual application for the AFS program. But the most exciting news is that I am now writing from the town of Tres Cantos in Madrid.

I have already posted my first vlog on Youtube. It has my last couple of days in California and my first couple of days in Spain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQJS2ljKYLw

I just wanted to make a short post about what I've observed so far about Spanish culture.

Here we go!

1. People here are very friendly and are less awkward in general about meeting new people unlike in America. 
2. You're greeted by two kisses on the cheeks. You go to the left first generally. The only situation this doesn't happen is between two guys.
3. Eating habits are pretty cool. It is a little more rare to see people eating with their hands. My host mom made me a sandwich and I picked it up with my hands and she looked at me like I was crazy. 
4. The meal times are different. There's desayuno, which is usually light, a snack, almuerzo, which is huge at about 3pm, another snack, and cena, which is super late at like 10pm at my house.
5. Most of our meals are served with a piece of bread on the side. You use the bread to push food onto your fork and any juice left over. It's actually really cool.
6. This is growing in America too, but they are pretty conscious about sorting waste and trash. And the plastic bags at the grocery store are biodegradable.
7. Jamón is a pretty big deal here. You can get huge blocks of it at the supermercado and it can be sliced up and served for dinner. We had some last night.
8. People are really casual about curse words here. With young people or old people around, you still hear people saying "joder", "hostia", etc.
9. They watch a lot of American television with Spanish dubs. It's actually really funny but it's a great way to learn Spanish.
10. There is less of an emphasis on political correctness. But people here are super nice and have good intentions almost always.
11. Everyone is on WhatsApp and uses it for texting. I had to learn how to use it but it's actually really cool and useful.
12. People generally have a two-part last name with their dad's last name first. 
13. Family here (or at least mine) is very close. People spend very little time in their own rooms and when they do, the doors a often left wide open. 
14. For siesta, my family puts on a movie and falls asleep to it together on the couch. It's really sweet.
15. None of the doors in my house lock, even the bathrooms.
16. Everyone in my family can cook and makes really good food. 
17. It is common for kids to live with their parents until they feel financially stable. Both of my host siblings that live at home are over 18. I like this system.
18. People seem to also be on their phones less. That'll probably change in a couple of years too.

Overall, I'm really enjoying myself and like it here. The cultural aspects are very fun to observe. 

Tomorrow is my first day of school and after a few days, I'll likely make another post about that.