·        Defining Culture and Expectations. What is culture? What do you know already about Spain and Spanish culture? What do you hope to learn and gain from the upcoming experience of living in Spain for four weeks?

Culture includes the totality of a society’s beliefs, practices, art, history, government, achievement, and moral standards of daily life. That is to say culture is the content of a society that shapes its constituents’ ideas, beliefs, and practices.

Currently, I am familiar with popular artists from Spain. I have seen several works of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali who are both Spanish painters. I am also somewhat familiar with the government and Spain and know that the prime minister is currently Pedro Sanchez. In terms of moral standards and religion, Spain is predominantly Catholic with the majority of citizens identifying as Roman Catholic.

I am eager and ready to depart for Spain and hope to learn and gain new perspectives and values from my time in Granada. While living with a host family, I hope to experience the honest “normal” day in Spanish society. I am excited to see the habits, practices, and customs that Spanish citizens engage in on a daily basis. I truly look forward to seeing how my host parent lives, works, and enjoys her time while analyzing what similarities and differences we have. I hope to gain a new and unique lens through which I can view the world. Further, I hope my trip to Spain will allow me to broaden my understanding of the way people live so that I may enact some of the practices I experience during my study abroad experience. I believe that my time studying at the University of Granada will expose me to a new system of learning, studying, and interacting with classmates and professors, as my professor will speak solely Spanish and my classmates and I will be communicating primarily in a second language. Next, I hope to learn more about the history of Spain and how it influences the current operation of Spain. I look forward to gaining an insight into Spanish politics from a citizen’s “insider” perspective. Finally, I hope to adapt to a Spanish lifestyle in terms of diet, exercise, work, sleep, and recreation, in the hopes that I can incorporate many of the positive aspects of this lifestyle upon my return to the United States.