Gaudi
Gaudi
17/6-30/6
Study 2 weeks in Barcelona VS Sevilla
18/6
In level A2, Spanish was the only language allowed in class even when explaining a word. In Barcelona, there were more international students from like France, Germany, Czech Republic and Brazil in my class. The Europeans seemed to have more Spanish vocabularies than I did because of the similarities in their mother language and Spanish. Therefore, even though we were in the same class, they had a higher understanding and gave response quickly. I like that we helped each other when we had difficulties in learning new words.
The Language Opportunity
19/6
When I first came here, I was frustrated that I couldn't read the menu and couldn't understand the words on the street signs. Later, I found out that the language on the menu was Catalan. Barcelona is a bilingual city where people could speak both Catalan and Spanish. It is a touristic city so the locals could speak English as well. Compared to Sevilla,I had less exposure in Spanish since not many people could speak English in Sevilla so I was 'forced' to speak Spanish every day.
An unforgettable accident
22/6
I believe this was the most unforgettable day I had in Spain. My friend Jade had an accident at the apartment. Jade was moving that heavy huge mirror from the dining room, it fell off on her left foot and her third toe was badly injured. We were both scared but managed to call 112 and took the ambulance to the hospital for the very first time in our lives. In the ER, the staff couldn't speak English very well, so I tried my best effort to speak Spangish with her. My voice was obviously shaking and my Spanish was broken as always and I had to keep checking the dictionary so I could communicate with her. I still couldn't understand her speedy Spanish with a heavy accent very well but fortunately, the school sent us an interpreter. At that moment of life and almost death, I realized that how important and how useful Spanish is. Eventually, Jade received her treatment and everything was fine. But the only problem left was how could we explain everything in Spanish to the teachers tomorrow?
22/6
Sometimes I took photos of the signs or advertisements on the street so I could learn Spanish in the public but not only in the classroom.
26/6
In the second week, everything was more difficult in level A2. Sometimes I couldn’t keep up with the teachers’ or understand what the class was doing, so I tried to figure it out by guessing or pretended that I understood. However, the teachers found out my problems eventually. I learned that it was essential to raise questions when I didn’t understand.I learned more complex grammars such as subject pronoun so I needed to study them after class.
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30/6 Last Day
In the last week of my Spain trip, my Spanish has improved a lot in verbal and written communication. I am now more confident to speak the language. At least I could say I can survive in Hispanic countries and start a basic conversation with the local people. For the past 30 days, immersing in the Spanish environment, I was so proud of myself that Spaniard could understand my broken Spanish and I could ask for directions or order food at the restaurant successfully. This may seem something small to an advanced learner, but something big to me. I hope I can chitchat with people here when I come back here next time. I remembered on the last day, a random women thought that I was a Spaniard and asked me for direction!