On the bus ride to the small town of Trujillo, Spain, anxiety swirled in my stomach. I am on my way to moving into the home of a Spanish speaking family for the next three months. My Spanish was less than coherent. I had not taken a Spanish class in over a year, and I knew my bound of vocabulary was terrible.
"You barely speak their language! How are you going to talk to them??” I thought to myself.
I had no prior knowledge of the family or the dynamics of their relationship, and that made me extremely nervous.
“Do they get along well? Are they nice? Do they cook good food? Will they like me??" a million thoughts circulated my mind.
It has been roughly four weeks now since my arrival in Trujillo, Spain. I am in complete awe by the warm welcoming my host family has given me these past few weeks. They have taken me in as their own, not knowing anything about the kind of person I am, solely the few words I chose to write on my homestay application.
The comfortability is still slowly settling in.
Living with a Spanish host family is spending a lot of time on the couch together. Talking. Eating. Laughing. Watching reality shows and movies. Life is simple here.
I have good days and bad days, but the percentage of comprehension gets higher every day. I wish I could interact with them the way I normally would without a large language barrier, but I’ve learned to settle my frustration. I am here to learn. Mistakes are okay to make.
In order to better understand what they are trying to communicate, I end up paying a lot of attention to facial expressions, body gestures, and movements. Most of the time I just sit and observe, soaking in the family culture. I constantly smile and try to convey in the best words that I can how appreciative I am of their unconditional kindness.
Every day is a new adventure. A new word to learn. A new thing to discover.
This is truly the most authentic experience, and I could not imagine experiencing Spain any other way.
