a bit of a low point...

In our endless hours of culture preparation, we learned about culture shock and the ups and downs of study abroad. Annnnd…I for sure am hitting a down point right now. The things that I realized before and told myself “Eh, I won’t let these things get to me” are really getting to me. So I’m going to warn you that the rest of this blog update is basically complaints. Read on at your own risk.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still having a great time over all, but some things are REALLY bothering me. I said before this is basically a 4 month vacation—which is BASICALLY is—but now I’m starting to realize that I do have work to do. In fact, one of our professors just reprimanded us today for not putting any effort into the class. Furthermore, I have two ten page research papers due at the end of March and I am traveling every single weekend this month. So in the last week or so, I figured I better start getting down to business. However a series of events and realizations made that extremely hard to do.

There are three things that bother me the most and which prevent me from getting the aforementioned work done: the internet, the library system and the lack of study places.

1) Internet: As I have said numerous times, the internet here sucks. But before I only needed it for fun stuff—chatting, uploading pictures, emails, etc. So when it conked out, it wasn’t the end of the world. But now that I have papers to write, words to look up, flights to book, emails to send to professors, research to do and online sources to read, it becomes somewhat problematic. At home, the internet works so-so and in university buildings, it normally works, though I can’t connect using my laptop. But most recently, the internet has been down in the whole university. This means I can’t even sign on using my user name and password to print or do word processing. Are you kidding me? What kind of university is this that you cant sign onto the internet NOR onto the computers in general? How much am I paying for this semester again?

Additionally, the machines that are used to refill the print cards that we use have been down for the last few weeks and/or the print cards don’t work correctly. Just to be able to print off a paper, I had to go to three different buildings and talk with about 5 different people until I was able to get a new print card, fill it with money, then find a computer that would let me sign in.

Let me just say that it makes me REALLY appreciate the library system that we have in Madison. I think if I went to study in a country like Uganda or Nicaragua (a country that is considered “developing”) I might have been expecting a run around like this. But here I am in Spain, Western Europe, part of the European Union, and I spend half my time just trying to find a darn working computer or a place with internet access.

2) So speaking of libraries. I have had some issues with them. The libraries here open at 8:30 am and close at 8 pm ONLY Monday-Friday. I found this out the hard way when I was planning to work all day Saturday and Sunday on a paper that was due the next week Wednesday. I start researching sources Friday night only to find out that I couldn’t go get them until Monday when the library opens again. So I basically screwed myself over by waiting til the weekend when I THOUGHT I was going to be able to get started. Instead, I had to wait until Monday and cram for two days to get this thing done.


Library complaint #2: You can only check out three books from a library at a time. I currently have two papers with the same due date both of which require books from the same library (library of philosophy and letters) but I will have to go back and forth to get the sources.

Library complaint #3: There are no e-resources like we have at Madison. For this reason, I thank the lord/UW Board of Regents that we have remote access to UW e-resources.

Library complaint #4: On the topic of resources… I am doing a paper on relations between Spain and North Africa. The resources that I came up with for this topic had publish dates from between 1915 and 1994. Is this a joke? I understand history doesn’t really change, but do they really expect me to do a comprehensive report on this topic with those kind of sources? Again, good thing that I have UW e-resources.

3) Study places: There are none. Like I said, the libraries and other university buildings are not open after 8pm nor on the weekends. In the resedencias, there is a “Sala de Estudio” (Study Room) which is a room with three tables in it and about 15 or so chairs. There is no bathroom connected so if you gotta go, you gotta walk back home, and the heat is not so hot. This means that before going I have to remember to not drink liquids for a few hours and wear various layers of clothes. I never realized how fortunate I was in Madison to have 40 different libraries to choose from, all with internet access, all with heat, all with bathrooms connected. I really didn’t think it was a big deal, but now I realize how lucky we are to have all those resources. Both the academic resources (up-to-date materials) and also comfortable places to study.

I’ve also started questioning the quality of University of Alcalá as an academic institution. I have no complaints about my professors; they are nice, helpful, and knowledgeable. However, how great can a university really be when there’s a three book limit at the library and when there’s really no where to do serious studying? Or when my master-student roommates watch movies all Sunday afternoon? I’m a little reluctant to think that it can be too challenging?
So basically I end up studying at home. I have mentioned before that I have 7 roommates. But now, curiously, I have 8. Hopefully no one from the residence administration is reading this, because I would imagine squatting is highly illegal, but I really don’t know what the deal is. To be honest I don’t care because she’s super nice and is learning English so she understands that there’s actually a person behind my broken Spanish. All in all we get along really well and its fun to have her around. HOWEVER… I was never informed of this house guest’s arrival. Its true that she’s not staying in my room or really invading my personal privacy, but im just wondering what would happen in any one of my living situations in the US if something like this happened (an unannounced house guest for an unknown period of time). Its almost like here, we’re 8 people, so what’s one more!


So whereas I’m still very happy with my living situation, its extremely hard to live in it.

Speaking of living situation, yesterday (Sunday), I made an “American breakfast” for my roommates. I made pancakes (from scratch!), bacon, eggs with cheddar cheese, toast and a yogurt-banana-peanut butter smoothie. Everyone loved everything, but were REALLY confused by the yogurt-banana-peanut butter smoothie. (YES, I caved and bought peanut butter for 4 Euros per jar) Each person who tried it was like, “Wait, WHAT’S in here again?” and I do believe that they were pretty surprised that I could put something like that together. Its just that here in Spain, I am just getting used to brand names and different types of food to buy at the grocery store. I never thought about that before coming, but it really does make a difference in what you can and can’t cook. One of the first days I tried to make a cous-cous salad with cucumber, tomatoes and feta cheese. I didn’t have any measuring utensils so the cous cous turned out too soggy. The cucumber was really expensive, so I didn’t buy it, and the feta turned out REALLY salty so the salad was not how I usually make it. Another thing I never thought about is all the convenient kitchen appliances that I use on a daily basis in the US. Since all my roommates (including myself) are international students we have no George Forman (I miss you George!!), no toaster, no blender, food processor, sharp knives, spatulas, serving spoons, etc. Its just another thing I have to adapt to.

Another note: I never realized the variety of food that I ate until my roommates started staring at me and asking me so many questions. I also had forgotten how much I preferred eating in peace.

-What is this Maria?
-Cous-cous.
-Kooz-kooz? Is it like rice? Is it a grain?
-I don’t know.
-Is it like oatmeal?
-I don’t know, read the dang box!
-And felafel? Is that also a grain?
-no. Its made from garbanzos.
-Oh! And you’re going to fry it with hardly any oil in that pan?

NO, DON’T KNOW WHAT COUS COUS IS, AND YES IM GOING TO FRY MY FELAFEL WITH JUST A LITTLE OIL IN THE PAN.

Anyhoo…after making the breakfast, it made me realize that we do have a culture in the United States. Funny what how a small act can change my attitude so much, but when I saw my roommates pile their plates high with eggs, bacon and pancakes and then pour way too much syrup on it, it made me think of Paul Bunyan’s up north! I made a comment like “Aww it makes me so happy to see you guys eating that stuff because it reminds me of my country!” And then I laughed because that’s the kind of thing I would say in a George Bush accent normally, but it was true that it made me happy to share “my culture” with my roommates. The thing about the United States that everyone can share American culture, but in each case it will be different. To me, American culture is Paul Bunyan’s buffet food and the John Legend and Jack Johnson music that I put on while eating, but to the next American I can imagine it would something totally different.


Ah… thanks for listening. Hope you’ll still tune next time in after this rant.