This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SPU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.<\/p>\n
Hello everyone! I have been living and studying in Barcelona, Spain, for almost three weeks now, and life here is definitely different from the United States. Besides the obvious reasons I knew of before moving to Europe, such as the lack of tipping culture, elevated clothing every day, and having dinner later than usual, there have been some new culture shocks that I\u2019ve noticed lately. I\u2019m not saying that these are necessarily bad, but they\u2019re definitely not habits I am used to. With moving to a new environment and country comes having to experience new norms or customs and deciding whether they are ones I feel comfortable incorporating into my daily life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eggs and milk are not refrigerated\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, you read that right! I was flabbergasted when I saw the eggs in the pantry aisle. At first, I was hesitant to eat them because I was scared they\u2019d be bad, but they taste normal. In the U.S, egg shells are cleaned to reduce the risk of salmonella, so they have to be refrigerated, but in Spain, the protective coating is not cleaned (and other practices are used to ensure safety from salmonella), so it is safe to eat. I have not had the milk yet, but I cannot fathom drinking warm milk\u2026<\/p>\n
Slow walkers\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was told that citizens in Spain live a slower pace of life than Americans, but I never realized how slow until now. I am a speed walker to my core, so I am having a hard time learning to rewire my body to not rush to the next spot or destination. I will say I\u2019m not fully used to it yet and don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll be, but I\u2019m hoping to change my lifestyle to take in my surroundings and stroll through my day-to-day activities like those living in Barcelona (besides when I\u2019m late to class, oops!). Because the city is super accessible by walking, it is easy to get sidetracked down little alleyways, through cute shops, and from cafe to cafe, so I understand why citizens stroll along.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No personal space\u00a0<\/p>\n
This goes alongside the one above, but I am surprised at the lack of personal space people give others here. My roommates and I have been cut off by many individuals while we\u2019re walking, and it truly throws me off every time. I bump into people constantly or notice myself waiting for others to make space for me because they will just stand in the way or run into me. I\u2019m not used to living in a highly populated city like Barcelona \u2013 trust me, this is not like Seattle \u2013 so I can tell that this lifestyle is going to take a lot of getting used to!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speak Catalan<\/p>\n
Catalan and Spanish are the main languages used here in Barcelona, but I did not expect the amount of Catalan. I thought it was the local language, so it would only be used by a handful of people in the city of Barcelona, but nearly everyone who works here knows and\/or speaks it consistently. It\u2019s plastered everywhere \u2013 on menus, buildings, signs, etc. The Catalan language is extremely different from Spanish and sounds and looks more French than anything. Although I have not had conversations in Catalan, phrases like \u201cadeu\u201d, \u201cmerci\u201d, etc., are typical to hear out and about. Luckily, Spanish is widely spoken by people, so I can practice my speaking and comprehension skills on a daily basis. Catalan is a language I don\u2019t plan on becoming fluent in, but I hope to understand a few phrases here or there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall, the transition abroad has definitely been challenging, but one I can manage. If you plan on staying abroad for some time, I want you to know that these thoughts and feelings of unease are totally normal and will reduce with time. I know the impact of these culture shocks will die down as time goes on, so I wanted to share with you my beginning thoughts and experiences before I get more comfortable in Barcelona. I hope to write to you all again while I\u2019m abroad. Thanks for reading!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SPU chapter and does not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[92,2934,2935,2932,17,2936,2933,357],"class_list":{"0":"post-4009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-chapterchapter","10":"tag-chapterspu","11":"tag-culture-shock","12":"tag-spain","13":"tag-sponsoredno","14":"tag-study-abroad","15":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}