This past week was a lot of fun! I got to go on some runs in my free time and discover new parts of the city. At my internship, I was able to tour several new properties owned by the company that I am interning for. Some were a bit more modern with a Scandinavian style interior and others were older with a very classic Spanish style and a beautiful balcony. I got to give my first tour on my own today! The building that I work in not only contains our office, but many bedrooms and shared kitchens and common areas as well. I showed it to a family from Belgium whose son has signed a lease for the fall semester while he is studying abroad in Madrid. It went very well. They were very pleased with the place and told me that they thought that they made a good a good decision by choosing this place. On Wednesday, I went to an open house for our new hotel that just opened up in the Pacífico neighborhood of Madrid. I got to meet some new people, including many people from our headquarters in Italy who flew in for this event. I also had a picnic with my friends at Parque del Oeste, which has a beautiful view of the city as well as Casa de Campo.
On Thursday after work I went straight to the airport and flew to Paris for the weekend to visit my dad! He was conveniently working there for the past few weeks, so it worked out for me to come see him as well as visit Paris for the first time. I worked remotely from the hotel on Friday. Afterwards, we walked around and explored and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up and sparkling at night. The next day we went to the top floor of the Eiffel Tower. Afterwards, we went to lunch and visited the Notre Dame where mass was being held. We looked through some little shops along the Seine before heading to the Louvre. Unfortunately, it was closed because of a music festival, so I’ll have to save that for next time. We visited another beautiful church where another mass was being held in the Montmartre neighborhood. We had dinner there as well where we got to see massive crowds of people singing and dancing in the street. There were so many events and people out an about because of the summer solstice. We were told by a Parisian girl that this is the best night in Paris. It truly was so cool to see everyone out celebrating together. There was such a positive energy to the entire night. Although I loved Paris, because I do not speak French, I was quite disoriented and found myself excited to go back to Spain where I am able to navigate more easily and participate in the culture. This made me happy because this means that although I am also a foreigner in Spain, I am becoming more comfortable conversing with people in public and am adapting to the Spanish way of life. I really have so much love for this culture and it makes me happy to be able to be involved.
In terms of cultural differences that have been difficult to adapt to, I would say that the schedule here has been quite the adjustment for me. Although I have always been a night owl, Spain operates much later than the United States. For example. My host family eats dinner at 10 pm and goes to bed immediately after. I am used to eating around 7 pm in the US and having time to let my food settle after I eat, hang out with family and friends, or whatever else I want to do to wind down before bed. Here in Spain I have had to shift my personal schedule so that I am ready to be eating dinner at 10.
In terms of the workplace, I really have had a positive experience with the office culture and I get along with everyone very well. The only thing that has been hard to adjust to is the language barrier. I can understand procedural workplace talk better than I can understand banter and local slang and jokes. I wish my Spanish was better so that I could connect more with my coworkers in this way, but that is all the more incentive to practice, and it is part of the reason that I am here, to learn about the local culture and dialect.
Hasta luego,
Julia
