Adapting

I knew before I came and am now living it, that in order to survive studying abroad, you need to be able to adapt. You need a "go with the flow/roll with the punches" attitude. When choosing Spain, I expected a slight language barrier. I added "SpanishDict.com" to my taskbar, brushed up on my verb endings, and made a Spanish music playlist. But adapting is more than having a playlist or an instant dictionary- it's eating cornflakes out of a cup because there aren't bowls and haven't a slightly off haircut (its still cute though!) because "inches" is a useless word here.

Usually, I have a pretty good "go with the flow" attitude. I try to blend in with my surroundings- changing my fashion a little, my hair, dressing up for class when I would usually wear a T-shirt. I'm playing pretend Spaniard for 4 months which means changing, adapting parts of myself.

In the U.S. I'm a fairly healthy eater. I eat green vegetables at dinner (the ones I like at least), buy only whole wheat pasta and bread, skim milk, and organic fruits. That doesn't exist here. The health food kick is completely over-run by the Spanish belief that food fixes everything. I have yet to see whole wheat anything and I have no idea what the Spanish word for organic is.

So to compensate for my lack of normal foods, I decided that I should...run. I ran. It was a weird feeling- me deciding that I should run and not being totally disgusted at the idea. I hate running. After playing soccer then field hockey for 15 years, it was hard not to run after something... I had a goal to accomplish, I had someone to beat. Going for a run is more mental for me than physically. It's all about self-motivation. So I'm adapting.

I failed miserably on Thursday night at adapting. In the US, I drink skim milk for every meal, which has enough water in it that I don't get dehydrated. However, skim milk doesn't exist in my house (it's a kind of thick, vanilla-y milk that drinks like cream). So I drank coffee in the morning and nothing else all day, maybe a small glass of water at night at dinner. So I got really dehydrated. REALLY dehydrated. I've been drinking bottles and bottles of water to compensate but in short, Thursday night was interesting.

I think that my "what happens, happens" attitude has helped to overcome any culture shock. The studying abroad program tells us about "Honeymoon, Hostility, Humor, Home" but I truly think I've gotten past the Hostility phase with no Hostility. Things are the way they are and I can't change a culture to suit my needs, so I move on. Eating cornflakes out of a cup was funny. I think having the hairdresser explain back to me what I wanted was funny (no one wants a bad haircut).

It's all about adapting.

Love,

Lizzy