Week 1 by Lindsey Balamut

            Upon arriving to Caceres, Spain, I knew there was going to be a language barrier and cultural differences. The first couple of days were definitely the hardest because I had a very hard time understanding and having conversations with the family. Before coming, I was somewhat confident that I would be able to have small conversations with the family and get by with what I have learned in class, but that was not the case at first. Than the second day came and I was able to communicate with the family a lot more and have small talk. As the week went on, I was able to communicate more with the family and understand what they were saying. Having lunch with them and talking to them helped me a lot because they would correct me when I spoke.

           

            Throughout my first week in Caceres, I realized there were many cultural differences. One of the main cultural differences was there food and food schedule. There food here in Spain is a lot different than what I am used to in the United States. Breakfast is whenever you wake up and you usually eat toast with butter or jam. Than you go on with your day and have a snack. At 2:30pm you usually eat lunch with the whole family. Lunch is the most important meal of the day, like dinner is ours. Everybody eats together and it is a big meal consisting of three courses such as a beginner entrée, main dish, and dessert. For dessert we eat fruit such as oranges, pears, bananas, and strawberries with whip cream. Than dinner is not until 9:00pm, in which it is a smaller portion of food and you do not have to eat with the family. They also eat bread with every single meal of the day. Another major difference in the culture is that they have siesta time from 2-5pm, which is down time for everyone. All the stores close down, people get off work to go home and eat with their family, have an alcohol drink with a friend at a bar for social time, or take a nap before returning to work and other activities. This is different from the life we live because we are use to going all day long and rushing. Here you can go and sit to have coffee, but in the United States you make coffee to have on the go.