An Opportunity to Improve

Written by: Maggie Neuman

Major: Business

Location: Burgos, Spain

Well, it’s been a week since I arrived here in Spain and it simultaneously feels like it’s been just a minute and an eternity. So far, I’ve spoken more Spanish than I probably did during all of my last semester in the United States. At times my brain feels like it’s going to explode but that is okay (no me importa!). I’m just starting to get used to the whole siesta thing where people take a 2-hour break in the middle of the day to rest at home which is incredibly different than the non-stop way of life in the United States. I’ve also experienced an unreasonable amount of stress given the wonderful situation I’m in which I am currently working hard to reduce because it is all determined by the mindset that I have, not what is going on around me. Obviously, it is amazing to study abroad and I’d love to stop inhibiting myself from enjoying it as much as I should.

Although much of the stress I have experienced so far is my fault, there were also a few factors present before I left for Spain that were a pretense for these emotions. For example, the study abroad reps all warned us of the negative feelings we may experience while away. This was certainly meant to help us but for me it was a cause of stress because I worried that I would feel bad rather than be excited for this amazing trip. It is very true that you will feel some negative emotions while away (homesickness, etc.) but rather than stress about that possibility, it is much better to just acknowledge them as they happen and work towards a better state of mind.

My parents we’re also stressed about me leaving for this trip which then translated to me being stressed. They asked me many questions about how life would be in Spain many of which I didn’t have the answer to. My mom probably asked me what my class schedule was about 10 times but I didn’t receive my schedule until about a week before I left for Spain. Being constantly reminded of the unknown especially with something as important as one’s classes was a legitimate cause of stress even though there was no way for me to control when I would receive my schedule. At this point I’ve learned that it’s not worth stressing about the unknown in situations like this. Being put in new situations shouldn’t be a cause of stress. I am now trying to view them as ‘an opportunity to improve’ because having to figure out how to do new things on the spot will ultimately help you grow as a person as studying abroad should do.

Now I will regal you of some experiences that were thrown at me and I had to adapt to on the spot. First and foremost, learning to use sim cards in order to have a functioning phone with data. In case you didn’t know, you have to activate your phone to be compatible with the sim cards used in Europe before leaving the United States. Most people do know that and the head of the program told me this as well but it still went over my head and once I went to purchase a card in Spain, it didn’t function with my phone which freaked me out. What was I going to do if I got lost and didn’t have MapQuest? What if my debit card stopped working and I couldn’t contact my bank? What if I never get it working and I’m stuck like this for the whole semester? Thankfully everything worked out fine because my dad was able to contact my phone providers to resolve this (I was unable to due to the lack of international calling) and now I have a fully functioning phone. It was a very interesting experience to try and solve this problem but I wish I hadn’t been so stressed during it. I had no confidence in my abilities to be independent but I should have. I don’t need to use MapQuest to navigate my way around where I am living even though it is available to use now. Everything is okay and being stressed certainly didn’t make the situation any better.

Once I got to Spain, I also realized how different the customer service is which was something I had to adapt to. Servers don’t generally visit tables to ask what you may want, the expectation is that if you want something, you will get their attention. This may not seem like that big of an adjustment but given how overwhelmed we felt in our new surroundings and our lack of prior knowledge on the topic, it certainly felt that way. It felt rude to call over a server given how abnormal that is in the United States and we wanted to avoid doing so to avoid being the Ugly Americans in this new place. At this point I have adapted to this concept well enough and all it took was getting over my own social awkwardness (and stress) to do so once again!

Though it isn’t worth stressing about the unknown as I have, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t prepare for things. It’s worth knowing your way around where you live before going out dancing until 3 AM and having to find your way home. It’s worth having some cash available in case your card doesn’t work for certain transactions. But it isn’t worth stressing that things could go wrong. I have also found it helps to say yes to things rather than no. It’s easy to say no to things that are foreign but many times they are worth trying at least once. At this point as I approach new situations, they are an opportunity to improve, not a cause of stress. Even if things go wrong, I will improve as a person and have a great story to tell in the future.

Categories: New Adventures, Spain, Eating Out, Business Broncos