Tonight I had probably the most fun in my entire stay here in Madrid (not necessarily a bad thing). I went to an intercambio with my roommate Sasha and some friends from the program. An intercambio is a huge social setting where people–mostly students–literally from all over the world come and talk in whatever language and you just get to meet people and have a few drinks and some tapas!
I enjoyed myself the whole entire night. I’ve got to say, I’ve never seen so many different people from all over the world in one room! I met people from Venezuela, Italy, France–honestly, you name it! I talked in Spanish and English and it was very nice because although sometimes there was the language barrier, I felt more relaxed to express myself and to not feel bad about not understanding or having a hard time relaying what I wanted to say.
To no surprise whatsoever, many people wanted to hear why I liked Spain a little bit better than the U.S. One individual pointed out “I mean, it’s the U.S!!” Hahaha yes, it is the U.S. and I told that individual my perception of the states and how it differs in the good and bad ways and how I am grateful to live there but also grateful to visit Spain. They wanted to know the differences between the two countries. At one point I was talking to a Spaniard about how I felt as if they had no sense of personal space and he responded: “what is personal space?” I had to laugh because that was my point exactly, no sense of personal space. This experience has really opened me up to a lot more people and more connections and more opportunities to travel more of the world around me.
Tonight gave me much more to look forward to during the rest of my stay!!
–Mo, the Adventurer
The Adventures of Mo 