Study Abroad

Study Abroad Essay

Brendan Green

Many students like to believe that studying abroad is just an excuse to have a break from school, travel, and enjoy life. While that is possible, it has a much deeper connotation. Studying abroad allows you to assimilate into the culture, language, and lifestyle of another group of people in a different part of the world. The benefits of adapting into a new culture and language permit one to have a broader worldview, better communication abilities, and the realization that although everyone is different, we are all very similar in the same sense. 

As a major in Modern Languages with an emphasis in Spanish, I have learned a lot in my courses at Clemson University about the history, literature, filmography, and culture of many different Spanish speaking countries and notable historical figures. Or I at least thought I did. Being a well spoken Spanish speaker before coming to Galicia, Spain, I was pretty confident that I would have great success in my classes and even improve more than ever. All this turned out to be true except for one aspect, I did not realize how prominent the Galician language was instead of Spanish. All of the street signs, businesses, warning signs, the university etc. were covered in this similar yet distant language that I would compare to a mix of Spanish and Portuguese. It was not too complicated in which I was not able to understand the majority, however I was taken for surprise. I was a little bit nervous that my classmates and I would be taking extensive courses in the Galician language due to other foreign students I met on my arrival being in lectures that were purely Galician taught. My fears came to an end on the first day of class when I was settled into a three hour grammar intensive class and a cultural workshop exclusively taught in Spanish.

As I progressed through the first through weeks in the beautiful World Heritage Site of Santiago de Compostela, I was easily able to adjust to the new environment. I rapidly made new friends that consisted of foreign exchange students, locals, and other Spaniards from different cities. This factor was the most important in the advancement of my language and cultural knowledge as I was not just learning more Spanish, but meeting and learning about Italians, Norwegians, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, and many other nationalities from around the world. This experience broadened my cultural knowledge from just Galician and Spanish culture to culture from the other side of the world. It was absolutely incredible and the best thing for improving my communication abilities in Spanish as the majority of the friends I made were not able to speak my maternal language, making me more dependent and confident in my abilities to speak Spanish.

The classwork I have received here not only targeted improving my target language abilities but my understanding of cultural differences among the Spanish autonomous communities. I learned of the celtic ancestry and history of the Galicians and how the general stereotypes of Spanish culture, such as the mediterranean diet, the guitar, flamenco dancing, and bullfighting are not very common in Galicia or northern Spain. The culture of Galicia is more related to the Celtic culture found in Ireland and Scotland, especially in music and dance. The bagpipe is the historical instrument of this region, the Atlantic diet that consists of seafood, potatoes, olive oil, and lots of pork are also much more common and similar to that of the other two European countries than to that of the rest of Spain. The pre roman settlements that I have visited on the Camino of Santiago, called Castro's, showed the antiquity of the Celtic culture of this region and the important role it played in the development of what is now Galicia.

      Celtic history plays a major role in the differences between the northern Spaniards and their southern brothers. Galicians have a firm and direct way of speaking and are less sociable the first times meeting someone. They live in a colder climate that are mountainous and rainy and because of this, they had less of a roman influence. This allowed them to create holidays such as la noche de San Juan, which comes from Celtic pagan traditions and has since been converted into a religious holiday for their patron saint. Music and dance are similar to that of what you think of as being in an Irish tavern or celebration because the emphasis on the bagpipe is much greater than that of the guitar, which is nonexistent in Galician culture. Their Celtic roots allowed them to establish their own Galician traditions while still being Spaniards as well. The diversity of each region astonishes me, as every region has different traditions, holidays, and ways of life.

The Atlantic diet is one of the healthiest diets in the world and is similar to the Mediterranean diet.  It is prominent in northern Spain and practices similar teachings to its counterpart. The difference is the emphasis on what northern Spaniards consume and the amount of protein consumed. In Galicia, seafood is the most nutritious and popular type of food. Fish, shellfish, octopus, and even types of barnacles, called percebes, are consumed and promoted in every restaurant. The milk consumption is also much higher and the intake of food is greater than the Mediterranean diet. Potatoes are consumed with nearly every meal and olive oil is an essential in everyday cooking use. Paella and other well known dishes of Spain aren´t consumed often in the Galician region as they had decided to branch off and create their own culinary culture. Living with a host family, I got to consume many different Galician style plates and enjoyed the entire gastronomical experience while living in Santiago de Compostela.

As my studying continued, I was getting worried as I felt that I had reached a wall in my learning and wasn't able to improve certain aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and oral speech for a few weeks. After being humbled by this obstacle, I began to get back on track and suddenly went had a quick advancement in many different topics such as the subjunctive tenses and when to use them. I began to approach the level of speech that native speakers have and my confidence had risen once again. This was due to the acceptance of my previous grammatical mistakes and working to correct the weaknesses that I have with the language. As I have yearned to be on the level of native speakers, I did not lose faith in myself and continued to push to be the best student I could be and participate as much as possible to hear the necessary feedback that my professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela would point out. I wanted to be a positive influence in the class and accept my mistakes in order to fix them so that I could lead and encourage others in my class to do the same, knowing it could help not only me but others obtain their goals of improving in their language skills.

Towards the end of my time in Spain, I’ve learned a lot about not just the Galician culture but also its language and its similarities with Portuguese and other romance languages. It has helped me in my travels in Portugal to communicate the services and products that I want or need without having to revert to English. I was quite astonished with the amount I was able to read and speak, without being formally taught how to speak or translate Portuguese or Galician. Not only has the study abroad allowed me to improve my target language, but it also helped me obtain abilities in other romance languages as I can point out similarities in many words and even understand a high percentage of other languages without having the background of learning those languages.

In conclusion, the world abroad has allowed me to open up to realize differences and similarities between cultures, languages, and traditions. It has allowed me to explore outside of my previous comfort zone by assimilating into a new way of life that the Spanish and Galicians have created. I was able to experience in person the Cathedral of Santiago, el Camino, Madrid, and much of Portugal and the Iberian peninsula which has allowed me to connect the dots from other cultures, customs, and languages that I have previously read or heard about before my time abroad. Overall, the experience was incredible even to the point in which I have made it my goal to obtain a job here and eventually live here as well.