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.

~~~~~

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!