Week 1 by Gabrielle Bachis

It is easy to lose yourself in the wonder of a new place. It first hits you hard, then it backs off so you can take it all in. This was the first week in Cáceres. There is a whole new country, language, and daily life that completely shift from what I have known. It was a difficult first impact, and although the transition of my wonderful host family made it easier, I had sensory overload. The language barrier is the most difficult, as it hinders deeper bonding with my host family and the locals. Language aside, this town now feels comfortable and very home-like. I could immediately understand their values, such as having job and school schedules shifted so that families could have every meal together. It’s eating around the table together that brings people closer, even with language differences. My host family and I get to be creative in the ways we talk and explain things to each other so that we can each understand. It makes for a fun way to get to know their personalities. 

As a nursing student, I am familiar with how nursing school and the healthcare system are in the Unites States. I, along with another classmate, had the opportunity to present to a group of Spanish nursing students about nursing in the U.S. In turn, they had a presentation for us about healthcare and nursing school in Spain. Sometimes we think that another country is a different planet; they don’t speak the same language, their values are a bit different, their culture and social norms seem opposite… Honestly, yes, some of this is true. It is completely different in many ways. There is a huge connecting factor, though. It’s one that many people tend to forget about. We are all human (cliché to a point, but valid). Each of us has emotions, interests, and things about our personality that make us unique, wonderful, and interesting. The way nursing is in Spain is different in the sense of the way we do things, but why we do them is the same. We are in healthcare because we want to help others and find the human biology fascinating. My class and I had the opportunity of attending a simulation of car accidents at the nursing school here. The firefighters and nurses had set up stations with scenarios of different types of car accidents. At each station they explained what to do in case of an emergency, how to get that person out of the car, and how to care for them until other emergency vehicles could arrive. And you know what? In America we would do the same or similar actions, all which give the car accident victim the best chances to recover. Yes there are crazy cultural shifts, but really… We’re not all that different.