Phrases such as “Hola,” “Como estas?” and “Donde esta el bano?” were heard throughout the halls of USCHS during late October of 2012. Believe it or not, these phrases are not commonly spoken by USC students, but instead they were said by American and Spanish students participating in an exchange program between USC and the Madrid high school Santa Maria de la Hispanidad. The overall theme of the program was adaptation and learning about another country’s cultures, and the students definitely were challenged to do so.
The Santa Maria students were some of Spains most intelligent students, as they soon displayed. English is one of the most important school subjects in Spain; therefore, the Spanish students had very good skill in the English language. There were some fairly frequent miscommunications and language confusions, such as “I’m boring” instead of “I’m bored” as heard by Julia Gross. More importantly, the students of both schools were faced with the new situation of walking around the halls and hearing a foreign language. In fact, several of the Americans became so used to hearing “Hola!” and other Spanish words that they felt a “Spanish” gap in their lives when the Spanish students returned to Spain.
The Americans also had to loosen up and enjoy the simpler things during the stressful school days. Michael Seitanakis, a USCHS senior, had the chance to break out of the school monotony to see Victor Sanchez borrow the crutches of Alejandro, another Spanish student, and pretend to have a horrific fall in front of a USC teacher. The teacher, in shock, immediately inquired if Victor was okay, and Victor jumped up and replied, “Issa joke,” to quell the teacher’s panic.
Maura Boston, a USCHS senior, also had a chance to dive into Spanish culture. Before boarding the yellow school buses on the first day, Maura laughed as her Spanish student whipped out her camera and took pictures of the bus. “None of them had seen yellow school buses in their life,” Maura explained. “They had only seen them in movies. In Spain, they ride city buses only. They couldn’t get over the fact that they were actually riding these buses and they all took pictures beside the buses.”
The Spanish students were exposed to traditional American culture when they had a very fun time at USC’s 31-0 football win, despite having little understanding of the rules of the game or of the significance of the South Korean flag flying over the USC student section (which most native USC students have a hard time understanding). The Spanish students were very easy going and enthusiastic about the game, although they definitely were not converted from their love of soccer.
Fortunately, the Spanish students had the opportunity to play their favorite pastime with host students and in several recreational games. Michael outlined multiple differences including the observation that, “It was recreational soccer [so], the Americans had no skill. All we could do is run fast and hit hard. The Spaniards had great skill and could get around the players pretty well.”
Another cultural difference was seen in action by Michael during the game when one of the Spanish students sprained his ankle. Michael commented, “[In America] it is manly to keep running on a sprained ankle and keeping your mouth shut about it. In Spain it seems like it is manly to be very skilled and to valiantly go down in a serious injury.”
In addition the football and soccer games, the Spanish students had the good fortune of visiting several famous sights in Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. The Spanish students visited Pittsburgh’s Warhol Museum and were able to appreciate his work. The students also traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the various monuments and museums. For the entire D.C. trip, the Spanish students raved about “La Casa Blanca,” and they luckily had the opportunity to have their pictures taken in front of the White House.
Despite all of the differences and cultural adaptations that had to be accounted for, there was one unifying factor between the USC and Santa Maria students: Dancing. From the first after school party headed by the Spanish Club at USC to the farewell party, the Spanish students enthusiastically displayed their skills on the dance floor. The American students, most of whom stood cowering along the walls, were very impressed by the Spanish students dancing and how fun their nature was.
Michael summed up the dancing and the entire trip best when he stated, “My favorite thing to do with the Spanish students was dance. My personality grew from that trip partly because of the dancing. Before I would have considered myself a stiff and serious hard worker, but dancing with the students in a house, in a restaurant, or at the games, I learned to lighten up and enjoy the moment. I would say that is the one thing Americans could learn from the Spaniards: how to enjoy life. I mean not to say that the Spanish are not serious about work, too, but they do know how to seize the moment.”