Exchange experience by Laila

June 16, 2019

In my lifeline I have traveled the world more than most other people my age and have gotten to know many cultures. Well, I thought I got to know them. Till now I didn’t know how less we know about a culture until we get in close contact to the people, that live in the country. The best way to get the full-intercultural-experience, is to live with a family even if it’s only for a week.

so first: What have I learned in general?

My spanish sucks.

But for real. I was under the impression, that I knew the language well (at least for my 6 months of learning it), it wasn’t until I actually had to speak it, when I noticed that lessons in school didn’t quite prepare me for this. Of course you can’t learn a language for 6 months and expect to speak it fluently. But overcoming the fear of talking in the language, is something you can’t learn in class so you need to for example participate at an exchange. I think this speaking barrier is common for germans. We are so afraid to make a mistake, so that we don’t even try. In comparison to the majority of spanish people, who speak bad english, but are still trying fearlessly nevertheless. And this is a huge difference I noticed during my time there. It’s not only with the language, but also everything else they do. My impression was, that they didn’t need everything to be perfect. Who cares if we aren’t there on time? Who cares if we don’t eat dinner at about the same time everyday? I feel like they live more in the moment. Don’t get me wrong. I really admire this kind of living, because at least for myself I can say, that I’m a perfectionist and it really gets my goat sometimes.

Even though these are more characteristics I feel like it’s still cultural, because everybody I got to know there had them. So what also impressed me, was how open hearted they where. At the airport, when I didn’t even know them the slightest they already hugged me. Literally one of the first things my hospitable mother said to me as I entered the flat was : “ Mi casa es tu casa.” And I did feel like at home. The flat was nothing like home but the people living there made me feel welcome. They already invited me to come back and I definitely will.

Now the obvious cultural differences, that you may even notice, if your just in spain on vacation.

Everybody that has been to spain knows that in spain you stay up late, which also means, that you eat late. While eating at 10 pm in Germany is late, it’s early for the spanish people.

Have you ever been on vacation in spain walking through the streets late in the evening and wondered why there are still children running around? First of all in spain it’s common to have school till early in the evening, so they meet friends at night, when the aren’t studying. I got the feeling that at least in Vigo the streets are pretty safe an the parents don’t have to worry.

Something typical for Vigo in specific is that no one rides a bike in contrast to Hamburg where even the City center is full of cyclists. This has a plausible reason, since Hamburg is very flat and Vigo is pretty undulating. You can imagine how exhausting it is to ride up the hill. I mean I have like one bridge on my way to school and I hate having to pass it every day. So know imagine a country full of it. But therefore there are bus stations everywhere, which are necessary, since there are no trains.

Even though there are many differences between Germany and Spain for myself I can say, that both countries are beautiful in their own way and have their own charm.

the INTERCAMBIO

in VIGO

Our exchange included some graffitti work One community project…