I'm Trying to Find the Words to Describe...

Being an arrogant American, I guess I expected most people in Spain to speak English at least at a basic level (by virtue of the fact that Spain is in Europe), but that isn’t true at all. Some can make out a few words, but their accent is so difficult to understand that I would rather they just speak Spanish to me. For example, the taxi driver who drove me from the hotel to my homestay asked where I was from, and when I said, “Los estados unidos,” he said something incomprehensible. I figured it was just something in Spanish that I needed to hear more slowly, but after asking him to repeat himself at least three times, I realized he was trying to say, “First time in Spain?” in English! He then proceeded to laugh about how I don’t know English.

It definitely makes me wonder what people here, like my senora, think of me. In the U.S., I can read dense literature and listen to important speeches and understand idioms and jokes in daily conversation. Then, to indicate my comprehension and demonstrate my own capacity for intelligent thought, I can speak intelligibly. Here, so many words and phrases go over my head on a daily basis. And even when I know every word being said, the accent and speed with which people talk leaves me bewildered. And when I speak, I stick to the three most basic verb tenses. I think my pronunciation is decent, but then again, the taxi driver who tried to speak English probably did too. All of a sudden, it doesn’t matter what I scored on my SATs or the AP Spanish Exam or that I'm starting medical school in a few months. To her, I’m just a stupid, bumbling American.

It has been a very humbling experience already. Like one of my friends here said, if anyone thinks they're smart, they should go to a country where they speak a foreign language.

On that note, I will take this moment to brag about my greatest achievement of the day: carrying on a legitimate conversation with my senora (for about five minutes) about something other than food, what's on TV, or my plans for the day. (If you were wondering, we talked about Spaniards' dissatisfaction with the Spanish government/president because they are employing more foreigners and unemployment is high amongst native Spaniards.)