First Time Abroad: RAN FROM SPAIN IN TEARS
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- Now I live in Germany and before that in Prague, but here's the story of my first, not so successful trip to Spain. I was supposed to stay 3 months there, but only made it 6 weeks before running back home as fast as I could!
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When I was 16 I went to New York State for a year - I am from Germany. And though in the beginning my hostparents were super nice, after a while my host mother just started complaining about every little thing and yelling at me. She was really mean to me and accused me of horrible things that i had never even done while I lived there =(
So one night after the bus from our school trip from NYC was late, she refused to pick me up and walking to the house was no option. It probably would've taken me like 2 hours to get there. So then I was that crying exchange student in the bus because I was just so upset. I was a kid then after all =( One girl saw how upset I was and told her mom. The next day her mom came to the school and offered to take me in. We talked to the exchange agency and ever since that day I had a sister, two brothers and the best host parents I could've wished for. =) We are still in touch and I hope to visit them again soon
+TheMillydi So glad to hear your story has a happy end!!! Sorry that you had to go through a rough experience to get there though :/
+Wanted Adventure Me too =) But I think it made me stronger, so I am thankful. It's how they say: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. =) I am happy that you didn't give up on Europe ;)
+EV docmaker I am just so sad to hear how often people take in host students and then treat them badly. =( I hope that one day I can afford an extra room, because I really want to take in host students, so that they can get a chance to see my country and have an experience that they love to look back on =)
TheMillydi, wow! That's an amazing story! Sorry you had to go through the bad stuff, but it was kind of a blessing in disguise! Lol
that's so sweet
Two main plot holes I found in this story:
1.- Catalan is NOT spoken in southern Spain (Granada), but in the eastern part. In Granada NO ONE uses catalan, just spanish.
2.- EVERYONE that speaks catalan can speak also in spanish.
My guess is that if she told you that because she was liying to you.
What a horrible woman.
Well...I would not say horrible but certain aspects are exagerated for sure.
I find it strange that an elderly Catalan lady was living in Andalucia and couldn't speak Spanish, especially as an old person she would have lived most of her life under Franco when Catalan was largely banned or at best frowned upon. She would have learnt Spanish at school, indeed during Franco's time she would have been taught entirely in Spanish at school.
I think she just couldnt understand the old lady because she spoke with the andalusian accent so se uses the excuse that the lady spoke catalan.
True. She is an American so that probably explains it! She said it was her first time abroad and clearly she did not understand what was going on.
Exactly.
Or the old lady really didn't want to talk to her so she pretended like she didn't speak Spanish very well.
It's good that you're able to talk about such a traumatic experience, now, with a smile. It sounds as if the exchange program was not well-run at all. I hope you in no way blame yourself for their bad decisions in host families. You're such a positive person that it was really shocking to hear this story; clearly you were not treated well. My best friend went through a somewhat similar exchange experience in Mexico, where his "host family" did not even bother to learn his name. Anyway, thanks for sharing this story, which was obviously a little difficult to tell. Rest assured, you're not the only one who has experienced some bad exchange programs or has had bad experiences in foreign countries, and it's good that you're sharing your experiences so that others know they're not alone, either.
Oh wow, at least my Madre knew my name! That sounds terrible too. I'm sorry to hear your friend had a bad experience as well. Hopefully they have also overcome it and it hasn't stopped them from traveling or exploring in the future :)
4:10 I bet she spoke spanish. but refused to speak it.
+FlyingTurtle
Since she was an old lady it's not completely impossible that she was a Catalan monolingual but the fact that she was living in non-Catalan-speaking Granada makes it harder to believe.
+EsoEsMiNombre
Apart from the fact that living in Granada without command of castellano sounds pretty far fetched, wasn't there a harsh "Spanish only" policy in place under the Franco Regime until the mid 1970s? How feasible would it be to completely get around learning/speaking/retaining any castellano for someone who lived through the entire Franco era unless they were, say, some illiterate goat-herd in the Basque mountains or wealthy Catalan nationalist who wouldn't have to hold down a job? I mean - if you wanted to interact with society, you were pretty much forced to do so in Spanish (at least for a few decades) weren't you?
+FlyingTurtle You are completely right I am Catalan from Lleida and can guarantee that 99'9% of the Catalan people speak Spanish. And if we are talking about an old person you can bump that chance to 100%, she was in school during the Franco regime and Catalan was forbidden in school and in public. In fact we have quite a few old people that do not speak Catalan and specially can't write properly in Catalan for shit (like my grandma). Why was an old lady that spoke Catalan in Granada anyways?!? This is just bizarre as hell lol
+EsoEsMiNombre I know, right? I was about to say the same thing. They speak Spanish in Granada.
Absolutely.....maybe the old lady spoke in some hard andaluz accent......
I had a similar experience in the UK a couple of years ago! I stayed with an old lady together with two other girls. She had small food rations for each of us and pretty much always the same food. Breakfast: 1 slice of cheap toast, 1 slice of cheese. Dinner: 1 chicken leg, half a tomato. No lunch, no supper. And I am vegetarian, so for dinner I got one full tomato and had to listen to her complain about the price of vegetables and how the school is not paying for that. We were all so damn hungry, so I went and bought proper rye bread and put in on the table to share. She got very offended by that and took away our slices of toast and said that she understands that from now on we will provide our own bread. When she found a stash of apples I had hidden under my bed, she got angry again. Had to ask my school to relocate me. Still had to stay there for 2 weeks.
Oh my goodness, I hope you reported her to the agency.
Yes I did. I had to provide a reason why I want to move to a different home. The people I moved to afterwards were wonderful and their house was so much cleaner than the first one.
I wonder if there is an evaluation system for all these "happy families" up to put up students. Especially nowadays that this "evaluation" mania has turned to be a cult movement in Europe!
HIPeach Yikes! Is this common or something with study abroad programs??
One of my biggest regrets is not studying abroad in college. My school has a sister school in London and I was all ready to go. Then they told me to have $5k spending money for 3 months. I couldn't justify taking out another student loan or making my parents foot the bill. I felt so selfish so I backed out. Looking back now, what would have been another $5k in student loans. It would have been such a great experience. I thought I would never make it to Europe. 5 years later I met my husband and 3 years later we moved to Germany and I'm in love!!
+Vanessa “Vanito” Campa Hey! Congratulations on making it over here to Germany :D Wow, $5k for spending money also seems very high to me. That would have been on top of the price of the actual room, board, school, etc?!
+Wanted Adventure It was for spending money and food. School and room was covered by tuition which I was already using student loans for. The school's remedy was to just take out another student loan which seemed crazy to me then but now I'm like eh. Should have still done it. Lol
Catalans speak spanish. And you were in Granada. wtf?
Daniel Vila xD pobrecilla
thats what I was going to say, mostly noone in granada speaks catalan, and surely not an old ladyxD
Hablarían con acento andaluz cerrado y la yankee fliparía
I don't get it neither.
An old lady from Granda, who can only speak Catalan. WTF???? That is like the most unbelievely story i can imagine right now
maybe grandma actually spoke English. i mean how else was she able to call dana an unwanted whore eloquently 😒
I did a medical study abroad last summer with a group called the Atlantis Project. One word .... FANTASTIC!!!!! I was in the far northwest corner of Spain. I loved every minute of it!!! OK, so Madrid airport is nuts .... not quite as bad as Lisbon but whatever. Yea, cell phones .... never seem to work as seamlessly as you would expect. But these are minor. The worst part of the experience was the Americans I was traveling with. Pretty well perpetuating the "Ugly American" stereotype. I loved Spain, loved Portugal, loved! the Azores. Anyone who can do a study abroad .... GO!!! But please go as an honored guest, leave America at the airport check in. Open your heart and your mind and absorb it all in.
This is absolutely the best video. You can see the emotions on your face, and you know it's brutally honest. So much respect for you. You're amazing, and thank you for these videos!
+Jerry S Thanks so much, Jerry! Glad you're enjoying them :)
I love your story. I am 18 and spanish, and am so sorry you didn't enjoy spain as much as you should have. Here there are tons of great people who would love to get to know a foreign student like you were when you came, and to experience amazing adventures. I've gone with host families 3 times to other countries and I know that some families are there just to earn money, but there are some great and caring families wanting to help people and exchange their cultures together. I am so glad that you finally found your place in Europe, and that nothing has made you gave up and stop visiting this continent that you had always wanted to explore. You must be proud.
mmmm Catalanes do speak Spanish and she lived in Granada?(the old lady) that is strange.
Yes, it doesn't add up. All the catalonians can speak Spanish, even if they doesn't use it.
I'm one of them. And I can switch between languages at will.
The old "lady" was simply a mean person. Not so unusual as people may think.
***** Visca La Juve
What about Post/during-World War 2 education was that strict about learning Spanish?
Spain didn't patricipate in the 2WW. Actually we were in a dictature at that time and they ddn''t want other languages so most of them were prohibited. So basically if the old lady didn't speak spanish, it was because she didn't want...
Well..... she said the lady was old...... besides, are there absolutely 0 Catalonian immigrants in Granada?? Is that an incredibly outlandish possibility??!! Sure there may be Chinese and Muslim immigrants in Granada but Catalonians????..... Impossible!!
Hahaha *just six weeks* would have quitted way sooner xD
And this Spain-London-Prague-story is craaaazzzy! But you handeled your disappointment right by just go *fuck everything* *I am moving out* . That actually IS brave.
I'm feeling you so much right now. I am from Argentina and I came as an Au Pair to Germanz (Stuttgart), to live for a year. Germans are so freaking strict! I like the parents, even though they roughly speak English. But the kids can't speak any English so it's so hard for me to understand them. I had a breakdown on homesickness yesterday and I was ready to leave after one week lol. Love your videos and hope to see you hier in Deutschland. Tschüs!
+LouJurado Sorry to hear you're missing home right now and struggling to understand and communicate with your Au Pair family! I'm sure it's also not easy with the cold, gray weather we've been having lately. It's supposed to get sunny again soon and hopefully that will put a little shine onto your days. Wish you all the best here!
+LouJurado Hey, be brave! It gets better with time. I'm a Yanqui living in BsAs, so I can feel you. Sometimes the experience of being the foreigner can be overwhelming. I've been here two years now and it's still a bit odd at times.
Sos porteña?
+R3dp055um hey! That is awesome. Si si soy porteño. Por suerte ya estoy mejor y me comunico mejor con los nenes 😊
+LouJurado
i am from germany and i wish i could give you some comfort. i hope you can overcome that feelings and stay. it WILL get better, keep your faith!
I'm in Bolivia for three months right now and had a similar experience the first 1 1/2 months (everyone being super strict, not understanding a lot bc I barely spoke Spanish) but it's fine now, I've gotten used to it and have adjusted and absolutely don't want to leave anymore. give it some time and if you ever visit Cologne let me know and I'll show you the fun side of Germany! 😂
Oh my how bad... I'm spanish and I'm so sorry about their behaviour... Damn it must've been hard
Marta please help us foreigners understand spanish why hate us ? thanks in advance
OH my gosh! Your braveness shows just by the fact that you are so open and honest about your experiences! I feel that so many people imagine that traveling abroad is ALWAYS amazing but it's true that it can be TOUGH, haha! I had the chest pains/dizziness/getting really sick thing too, 3 months after I moved to Korea. At my 7 months I really wanted to run home but the fact that I had braces/an orthodontist in Korea kept me there for the full year. Looking back now I'm glad that I pushed through but it was haaaard at times, I feel you!!!
poor Dana😟 Thanks for sharing! love you constant merry and positiv vibe/demeanour in your videos. it's so contagious. it's hard to imaging you being sad or stricken.
Catalans speak Spanish too and they live in Cataluña. She only spoke Catalan and was living in Granada??
I know. How would a lady who lived in Granada not speak Spanish?It doesn't make any sense
I am 68 catalan I never saw in my life one catalan that don't speak spanish, I can't believe this history.specially if this woman was living in Granada.
Why would anyone be mean to Dana? She's so sweet!
what an experience! I don't know how I would have survived.
I´ve spent two months in Los Angeles as a student with an LA Family. They were very carng and nice. It was a great time, and i´ll never forget that. :-)
Catalan?? In Granada? I don't think so. You got it wrong. She was speaking with a strong Andalucian accent probably
Hey, Dana, fellow American in Munich here! Thanks for making this video! I came to Munich to study, and this parallels a lot of my experiences in my first semester here - I was essentially kicked out of 2 apartments, the university, and had a huge amount of trouble around basic things like getting the permits to live in the country just within the first few months. Fortunately for me I stuck with it, but this video brings back so much memories from that time and makes me realize I'm not alone in this, and that I probably had a lot more grit than I give myself credit for for not doing the same thing and just flying back to my home near Boston.
This is such an amazing story!
Wow...ich hätte das ganze bereits am ersten Tag abgebrochen. Aber ich muss sagen, dass das eine sehr inspirierende Geschichte ist. Egal wie viele Probleme es gab, du hast es nun glücklich nach Europa geschafft. Ich wünschte ich hätte den Mut meine Ziele genau so zu verfolgen.
omg Dana, I would have never been able to stay 6 weeks in Spain under these circumstances. So I did an internship in England for 2 weeks. I worked in retail and I lived with a host family. My host family didn't really care that much either. The houses in England are very small and so I had to sleep in the daughter's room and she was staying with her boyfriend for 2 weeks. I really loved my work but the working hours were too little. I worked from 10 to 4, so I had plenty of free time. But I didn't really know what to do. My host parents were at work and they were not interested in me the first place and usually all the shops closed around 4 to 5. So I usually went back to my host family's house there and let time pass. I cooked dinner and went for a walk sometimes and that's it. I felt very lonely. Also the house of my host family wasn't very tidy, I felt really really uncomfortable. The toilet flush didn't really work either, so I prefered using the public restroom near the train station. I always thought to myself "it's only 2 weeks" so it went by really fast but in the end I didn't enjoy it that much. Though I am glad I worked in retail because I loved it and it was a great experience.
+Val Glad you got a good experience out of the retail part of it, but really too bad about the rest of the abroad experience :/ Yeah, it's really disappointing and lonely when you're hoping to be a part of the host family's life and then you realize you're actually just renting a room... Also definitely not cool about the place being untidy.
With such a bad first experience it makes your final decision to try again even more remarkable.
So what I always wanted to ask people who did make such a leap in selling everything and then going abroad:
Did you already have a job offer when you settled for Prague or did you go in cold? And if so, how did you find a job?
Great story! Yes, you are brave. You faced your fears and overcame them. You are an inspiration. All the best to you and your husband!
Braweness is not to be fearless, but to beat the fear ;)
+Robert Pfalzgraf I'll have to keep that in mind, Robert. Thanks :)
I'm so glad you brought up the whole "brave" thing. People tell me that as well and then paint me as some sort of "free spirit" who just decided to move to Germany on a whim. A "free spirit" is definitely not how I would describe my Type A personality. ;)
hi Dana !! till now i believed u r a lovely, a very sunny person, who narrates with vivid visuals. But after this story I feel u truly r brave n a very humble person as well. It takes a lot to have this self realisation n d will to rectify one's own failures or bad experiences.
I live in India n did a two weeks bag packing to Germany last year since I was nominated at d Stuttgart Film festival. also I had learnt German for three years in my early school years. d trip was amazing! but I did have few bad experiences especially in Berlin where dis stone eyed man held my neck n screamed at me n no one around came to help. But this October m moving to Köln to study Kunst Masters.
dis is d reason y I started watching ur channel n I thank you for sharing such wonderful stories n experiences! bis dann! auf wiedersehen!
My first time in poland was pretty scary. Or I should rather say: my way back from poland was scary. I was going out with a polish girl back then and she wanted to show me her home country. That was fine with me, so we had two very nice weeks in poland. First we went to her mother, then we took a trip over half the country and ended up in a nice tinseltown called ustka. After having a nice vacation there, I was supposed to go back home all by myself, since I had to get back to work while she stayed there for another couple of days. Only problem was: I did not speak much polish. A few words here and there, but not enough to guarantee a safe trip home, change trains, get food and so on. This was something I was never used to. See, I don't speak french or italian, but those roman languages have a lot of similarities, so I understand more than I can actually speak, when I try to take roman or spanish for a blue print. But polish, being a slavic language, was totally foreign to me. Heck, I was glad I could read and pronounce, but making sense of that? No way! The eight+ hour trip back to Berlin all by myself scared the f*ck out of me. I did not eat, I did not sleep, and cells were not capable of more than calling s.o. else back then, so I just stared out of the window, waiting for it to be over soon... And then I had to change trains... OMG, I never felt soooo lost and in solitude! I was so happy when I found that single person who knew just enough english to put me on the right track....
haha you make it sound so dramatic. it was just a 8hour trip. next time you will feel much safer
should of pulled out your google translate lol thats what I do
back in the days there was no google translator. That was 2001 or so...
wow
8 hours on a horror trip, pathetic looser. Your soldiers put the whole world in a constant horrortrip.
You can be so proud of yourself and I do believe that now all of your prior expiriences in Europe are not to be seen as a failure, but just as something which has gone a bit off the way, but you got back on it and as you said, here you are. That was so inspirational and motivating.Thanks Dana and good luck :)
+aleathtuthranduriel Thanks so much for your kind words! Really happy to hear you enjoyed the video so much :)
wow im a spanish girl and i would have run out of there in the first week. what a pity your experience wasnt good. i loved your video and how openly you speak about the feeling of failure, nobody likes to addmit it, but who didnt feel like that at a certain moment of his life? and i overall love that you came bacl to europe so many times, yeah girl you know how to face fears!!!now you just have to come back to spain and get a better impression of us , las croquetas te estaran esperando!
I'm Spanish and I'm so sorry for your experience here...Usually people here are not such as mad like those people...Really sorry! I hope you come back to Spain and see us in different way
Wow. Other People would have hated Europe but you still have seen positive things and tried it again and again. Impressive!
P.S.: Stay in Germany. You are awesome!
A country without Comedy? Germany :D
Wow! Great story, Dana, very inspiring! I personally never had such a bad experience abroad, but I recently moved to Germany as well (from France so not such a big deal but) I also got this same reaction from my friends and family... "Are you crazy?" or "You're so brave!!" cause I went there with no plan, leaving everything behind but in the end I think the adventure is always worth it, even the bad experiences are sometimes rewarding... So good on you! I feel happy for you, and I hope it goes all right for me too!
Dear Dana, I think I would not even have lasted two weeks... Good thing, that you have overcome your fears and that you now found the place for you ;o) PS: I still think you are very brave!!!
+Maike von maikreations Thanks so much, Maike! :)
The weird clock collection is such a cool background for a travel vlog!
If only the clocks worked :-(
+domemvs That's because it would look weird after cutting.
+The New Travel Blog :D thanks! And yeah, +Robin koch is right -- I tried filming a video with them on once at the very beginning of the series, and when I cut the final thing it looks so weird and jumpy! Just didn't work.
Oh Dana I'm so sorry for your experience in Spain, but I'm happy that now you feel at home in Europe and that you found your place ♥
Wow! I think this video is my favourite up to now! The stories you told are very deep and frightening but you managed to get through all of these things and to tell us in a way we could feel with you. I personally planned to do an Au Pair year abroad in England but cancelled it as I lost someone I loved so I thought that I couldn't just go over there and don't know what happens at home in Germany. That's why I won't go there and when I hear your story I'm kind of glad to have done this decision because I was so scared of such experiences you had to go through. But I think the fact that you decided to move to Prague one day IS brave.! Not in an undaunted way, but rather that you had a goal - namely to go to Europe - and non of these experiences in Spain or England could stop this. I really think that's very (!) brave. And now you can see how great it was that you had all these fears but nevertheless went to Prague. After all these years you have a well established life in Munich with Mr. Germanman by your side :) I'm happy all that worked out for you! Even if you thought of your first journey as a "failure"
Referring to today's question I think the Spanish-Catalán-thing you mentioned really is a problem for me, too. I mean I just spent some of my holidays there and haven't needed to go to hospital. But still it was very difficult for me to communicate in shops or ok the street as I just learn Castellano but cannot speak or understand Catalán that good. Besides of that there were so many times I actually wanted to buy something but had a question and they just couldn't answer it because they didn't speak English at all. Even when I spend a few days in Barcelone where it actually makes sense to speak English. Of course some people did, but I had a lot of problems.
+Ariana Semnani Thanks so much, Ariana!! Thanks for your nice words and for sharing your experiences as well. I guess the point I wanted to get across with the brave thing is that what I did might have been brave, but I didn't do it simply because I was born brave. I don't just walk through life brave like a superhero lol There are times when I am scared and nervous and even quit halfway through something. So doing brave things is something I chose. Even though they scared me! lol So I want people to see that they can be brave too! It was a choice not something I was born with...if that makes sense!?
+Wanted Adventure yes, I get that :) I thought so too, I just wanted to point out that you're still brave :)
There are always going to be quirky things studying abroad but this sounds like a nightmare. Just FYI none of us in Seville were allowed by the senoras to go in the kitchen (but they weren't locked!) and rarely could you use the phone. And this was in 1988 pre-cell phone.(or Internet!!!). Talk about being disconnected. In a way I'm glad I had that experience.
My host was good and fed me a lot!! In fact she'd brag about how much weight I was gaining. There were some challenging things like she didn't want to give me a key to the house, but eventually did.
It was really scary and challenging and I'm glad I did it. If I went through what you did I would have come home too!
Hi there, youtube surfaced your video to me as a recommendation and I really enjoyed this video even though it's 2 years old. I like how you didn't let negative experiences phase you from doing what makes you happy. Keep up the great work! subscribed! :)
WOW that spain-story sounds horrible! That agency seems to not care about their "customers" at all. They don't even seem to check the host families who apply for taking students. But I guess negative experience somehow makes one stronger... or like an american saying I once heard: Good judgement comes from experience - experience comes from bad judgement. ;) It's great, that you never gave up Europe, so welcome! :D
+Chercht hahaa nice saying :D I'll keep that in mind.
At Munich Airport there is a special pass allowing you to guide your children, parents, ... to their gate.
I would have cried a lot, but then I would have called the study abroad organisers again and again, because they are there to help and change the situation. They are payed for that. Ich would have been super angry.
+Speireata4 Yeah, that is what one should have done. During the stay at the first old lady and then at the second as well! You are paying for the trip, so you can expect to receive something - like a decent environment and enough food. Thing is, that there are organisations and people, that are just trying to make money of young and unexperienced students. During my time abroad (1 year USA visiting High School, great family! They really became my family) the organisation was checking up on us on a regular basis, to see if we were fine and so on. The families that we exchange students lived with were also not paid for having us. Maybe that did a lot towards the families really wanting to accept that student as part of the family. And, that did not just happen in the US. My family took on an exchange student as well while I was abroad and that student became part of the family as well. But she thought that my family didn't show her enough of Germany so she requested to go to a different family. The organisation allowed that, but told her she could not go back or switch again, as in their eyes, my family did a lot (visiting Dresden, Harz mountains, Düsseldorf, taking part in family events like round birthdays and so on, whch belong to being a part of a family). End of the story was, that she wanted to go back to my family, as the new one was far more strick on the use of the PC, being home and so on.As to the first old lady's daughter: There are people that just talk loud.The neighbours that eventually moved into the house next to ours while I was still at school were yelling at each other all the time. We were wondering, how they could live together while constantly fighting - until we realized, that that was the normal volumne of them talking! So, maybe that daughter was just a load talker (and those often seem like being angry, because of loudness and stress on the voice) and wasn't trying to be mean. But, she didn't seem to be too kind either as well.Well, you've found you're place in Europe now. :)
+Speireata4 Yeah, but this was well before she finished high school. That's not so easy to do when you're basically still just a kid.
I'm spanish. If I was in your skin I would flee to. Probably sooner.
On the bright side you can always sell the rights to a movie.
I'll tell story (short version) about my experiences in Spain. Im from Finland (North-Europe) so the continent is pretty familiar to me, and I've travelled some countries with my parents and sister when I was a kid. When I was in my mid 20s, I went to as an exchange student to Spain, more accurately to Galicia, to small city of Pontevedra. That was great time, I learned a lot of Spanish and had great time, for the most part. Studying with internship combined spent 13 months there. Then several years later Im in Finland and my wife suggests me to continue art studies in Spain, so we return to Pontevedra together. Me, my wife and our dog. Not enormous, but quite big, 36 kg of pure love! And I think nothing could go wrong because the last time I had such a great time. How wrong I was! When we arrive we find out that dogs larger then 10 kg are NOT ALLOWED AT ALL in any trains, busses or taxis. Right. We didn't have a car, because we didn't think we need one, especially because public transportation is pretty good in Europe. But because of this awful regulation in Spain we were unable to travel anywhere. We didn't knew anyone who could take care for our dog, and that is difficult to find because he is adopted, previously abandoned stray dog from Estonia, so we don't want it to experience such things over and over again. This inability to take any trips (longer than a half day) to the country wasn't enough though. During the time we lived in 3 diffent apartments, and we got evicted from one (never experienced that before in my life) because our (mean) neighbours complained about "smell of our dog". Which was absurd, because we were the only ones living in the top floor of the building! Next neighbours were one floor below us! Dogs were allowed in the building, and some other neighbors who owned dogs told us that one particular person hates dogs and does anything she can to cause problems to their owners. So she did. Also managed to convince our landlady to evict us, how based the decision on the fact our dog is "big and scary", even though its very kind and does no harm to anyone. The landlady (which we never met, only communicated via inmobilaria) had imagined our dog to be small, but once she found out its not she agreed with the neighbors. We were shocked by the fact that there was no any investigation about the claimed "smell", where it is coming and what we could do about. We were also good tenant - we knew the previous tenant left bills unpaid. Even clerk at the inmobilaria agreed with us and tried to convince the landlady to keep us, because he also thought we are good tenants who pay their bills, and we are willing to sort this all out. With no avail.
We found another apartment, but that had another problems. Stairway was cleaned with horridly toxic substances every week, probably to cover smell of the mold in the building. Mold itself didn't bother us, but fumes coming from detergent on the stairway was horrible, because it oozed right into our home through door. At that point we were very exhausted, largely because we were unable to travel anywhere, have any kind of rest and vacation to recover. All the stress accumulated and at this point we decided better to leave, before our health will deteriorate even further. I managed to arrange my studies so that I could do rest of them in Finland. It was pretty weird, as I was going to go to enroll to Finnish university as an exchange student. I wonder not many Finns have been exchange student in their own country! But to me it was the way to finish up my studies and get away from Spain where living conditions had been just too bad for us.
As strange as it may be, now when some years have passed, we plan to return to Spain, Galicia, some day in the future. But we won't make the same mistake twice. Next time we will move there with a car. We will not accept to be imprisoned in any place there any more, and if buying a car is the only way to avoid it, that is what we will do. Despite all the problems, Galicia is also wonderful, magical place in many ways, with its celtic influence and history. People tend to complain weather, but that never really was our concern. Its the insane regulations and insane people. When you told about the old lady with huge amount of locks on door, it sounded very familiar to me. In Finland many people are deppressed and suicides are problem, but I think Spain is in many ways the opposite. People who have mental problems have all kinds of mania, paranoia and even plain aggressivenes. Perhaps thats another side of otherwise pretty beautiful coin.
Few years ago I went to Spain on a student exchange and loved it. I decided it was the dream place for me to live. So 1 year and a half ago I decided to go back there for 6 months on an internship and decided I would have enough time in 6 months to find a job to sustain myself after that and although the internship went great and I got my certificate with no problems, as a whole, in other respects the dream turned to utter nightmare after about 4 months and 6 months started to seem long. So many things turned to catastrophe and I didn’t feel safe at all . I slowed it down with the travelling after graduating and decided to work close to family where I feel safe. The good things that came out of it were the internship that proved to be great immersion experience for my CV and some few but true friends that I probably will be soon visiting.
I am studying in the US right now. I'm original from Germany and I am here since 8 months now and have about 2 left. I had a great experience which is mostly because of my host family. They really care about me and we have such a good time together and I don't want to think about that i will have to go back to Germany in a few months and i won't know when I will see them again.
The only time i really have been homesick was around christmas and i really missed my family and the german christmas traditions but i guess the best thing I could do was distracting myself and do as much as possible with my second family and my friends.
I am really happy that I didn't gave up and went back because I think the homesick and everything else just made me more confident and I learned so much since I came here.
I hope people who are planning to study or work in Spain do not get discouraged by this video. Don't go abroad and expect to be coddled like she did. It's a big deal so be prepared mentally. If you experience bad things, then try to do something about it and don't be afraid to ask for help. For people who just moved in Spain like me, let's make the most of it!
Thank you for telling your story. I was very happy to be back in Germany. I didn't cry, but I was counting the days. Ten years later I would love to pack my bags, leave the rest behind and move to the US again and just stay there and enjoy all the things and communities, that are way ahead.
What an emotional roller coaster ride! You've got heart!!! I love that determination and not quitting worked in your favor! Inspiring :) Thanks for sharing!
+sunnydayz Thanks so much!! Really happy to hear you enjoyed the video and thank you for your kind words :)
Wow. I can imagine how you must have felt. Glad you made it through.
Thats not just a bad experience, thats a criminal exchange program O.o
It's again, and again stunning, how mean, and self-centred some people can be.
I had a similar experience in Madrid when I was a sophomore in high school. Not as bad as yours, but I totally relate to a lot of the feelings you mentioned- the desire to be close with your loved ones, because life is short and precious, and the feeling that I was a failure if I came home early. That was 3 years ago but it feels amazing for someone to finally reflect my feelings rather than the usual rosy study abroad stories. I dream of one day being adventurous enough to sell my stuff and buy a one way ticket. Loving your videos from D.C.!💕
Hi Dana,
this has been a very touching video of your ways leading to now. But it looks as if it's just like in that proverb "all good things come in threes". I allways understood it in the sense of needing several approaches to finally succeed somehow...
Besides I'd just like to mention that I discovered your channel just a few days ago and had a real pleasure in following your comments and experiences about Germany. Provided several new views for me on my country and definitely new ones on yours.
Keep on doing so - it's such fun enjoying your posts about almost anything!
P.S. Maybe we'll see sometime Mr German Man without a bag on his head but with a Kölsch in his hands...
You lived in Granada? I'm starting to believe it must be the city. I was there for a work & travel kind of thing for 5 months, but I went home after 3 months.
I was a trainee at the restaurant of a hotel and I also lived in that hotel. Because it was winter it rained a lot and it was dripping in my room eventhough there was another florr above my room. It was dripping in the whole building and in another trainee's room it was so wet the wooden floor was wavy.
We weren't allowed to drink at work - not even water- which is not that easy during an 8 hour shift even if you're not running and lifting and carrying stuff all the time.
Usually we got food from the hotel. However if we had to start at 8 pm we wouldn't get dinner unless we ate before work.
After a while they started to fire a lot of employees and get more and more trainees because we were a lot cheaper.
They wouldn't let the trainees keep the tip even if the guests gave the money directly to us. Which is why I started to hide my tip in my underwear because they'd check our aprons after work and also there were cameras everywhere.
Then I got into fights with another trainee. It was big drama. Our boss always sided with her and never cared for my point of view. That was probably because when he flirted with me (and he flirted with all female trainees) I wasn't too thrilled and didn't flirt back. At least that's when he started to get mean.
After a few months I told the agency that placed me there. A few days later I got sick and my boss alled me to the restaurant and said he wasn't satisfied with "my work", so they let me go. The agency offered to get me into another hotel, but I refused because I just wanted to go home.
+Anna Darko NEVER ever work in service in Spain. They do not treat Spaniards well so you can imagine how will they treat people they might perceive as easy to trick, specially in the south. Sad experience, Spain has got so much to offer
+Anna Darko: My God...! Wow, That WAS a f**ked-up experience that You had, for Certain!! Hopefully, the "hotel (hell)"...where you were one of the slaves...has been disassociated from that exchange programme?! Actually, charges should be filed against them...!
Oh my god...just finished watching.... you poor thing! 😯
I live in Germany as well and follow your posts regularly. I love them! Including this one, but it made me cry! I am from India and studied in the UK for a year, followed by a 3 month research placement in Vienna. My experience in Vienna was exactly like yours here - bad housemates (first 2 months) and then an alcoholic old lady who lived with tons of cats! I once put out a cake for my housemates to break the ice. They ate it all without so much as a thank you. The old lady I lived with next got drunk often, and if she saw me then, she wouldn't remember who I was and start screaming at me for being in her house. There was no organization responsible for me, and although my research guide from UK had made a colleague responsible (in case of emergencies), I was pretty much on my own. People were mean and I was once told they do not want to get to know me because its "too much effort for 3 months". But other than that...Germany, UK, and Europe in general have been really nice experiences! In fact, even in Vienna I met some lovely people from culture studies and a very close friend who was studying Indology at that point. So we actually had a cultural exchange. She made sure I experienced the good side of Austria and told her everything about India! :)
I would love to hear more stories like this I loved hearing about the tough part about moving it was Very helpful ❤
I was in Málaga for 4 Weeks Last Summer and my host mother-living-situation was similar to yours but all in all I had a great time, I love spain! :)
Sometimes the older you get the tougher it can be to share the same flat or house with others. I don't understand why some of those bitter people are willing to rent rooms with foreigners if they can get along with anybody. It's like they expect them to follow their rules.
I am so sorry your trip was so rough...I stayed in Caceres and had an amazing time. But two of our group had to be re-homed because of bad host parents. That sucks about the food situation too. I would return "home" from excursion trips sometimes in the middle of the night and my host abuela would have food waiting for me on my nightstand. She would also usually wake up and try and feed me more than that. I never wanted to leave! I love your videos, keep up the great work!
Love these stories!! It defeated your point about not being “brave” though, it absolutely took courage to suddenly move there AFTER two bad experiences! :)
Dear Dana,
I have done a lot of travelling and love it, but I also would not have lasted in Spain with all the circumstances you had to deal with. The worst thing that ever happened to me while traveling is that I got mugged (we're talking strong-arm robbery) in Valparaiso Chile after almost 3 months of traveling in Argentina and Chile. This was a week before I was scheduled to go home anyway, and for the first time I was anxious to do just that. But I was also determined that this wouldn't make me forever scared of traveling. But I did learn a few things from the experience: 1. Heed to warnings about bad neighborhoods (my friend and I had been warned); 2. if an area seems deserted or creepy, pay attention to your gut and don't go there; 3. if walking alone, leave your camera and valuables back in the room. So since than I have safely traveled to Portugal, Spain and Morrocco, and more recently to Peru, and now I need to start planning my next trip abroad!
I understand how you felt in Spain. I'm from the Netherlands and went on a school trip to London when I was 16. We could go to many different places but I chose London because it was the only place where we could stay with a host family. I was so excited to learn about the culture and meet the people. But when I got there I quickly realized that the people who host students aren't the nice and cozy families, it are people who are struggling and need the money. We did stay in a family but we weren't allowed to talk to the kids much, we had to eat in our room and I don't think I saw any fruits and vegetables that week. My friend who stayed at another place had a gigantic hole in the bathroom door, and his roommate had to stand infront of it when he wanted to take a shower. At first we were all terrified, it was dirty, everything was broken, the food wasn't much and it wasn't good. But then we finally got to meet the kids and talk to them a little more. We realized how it was for them. They misted their aunts wedding, because guest were staying over, they had to wait with eating breakfast because the guest had to eat first. That made us feel horrible, and we were finally able to convince their mom to let us eat with the kids, we went on walks together and on the last night we watched their favourite movie on the little tv the boy had to carry to our room the first night we got there. They saw I had designer glasses and thought it was the coolest thing and loved trying them on, I always appreciated what I had, but never saw myself as rich untill I met those little boys. They told us they never had so much fun with guest before. I still wonder sometimes how they are doing. They should be 14 and 17 by now. What seemed to be a disaster turned out to be the most eyeopening experience I ever had.
This has made me so frightened to move to Spain. I got a job there and now I'm kinda freaking out
Don't freak out. Just use this information to your advantage while you are in Spain.
The woman in the video was just unlucky, people from Spain are among the friendliest in the world.
I'm curious to know what part of Spain are you going, since there is a lot of differences among regions.
What a horror story! :/
Such stories only increase my fear of travelling by myself.
Btw, l didnt mind the length of the video :)
dont worry to much! if you travle by yourself you wont have a host family and no boyfriend to fight with so everythings good. and trust me it is worth it.
+Legendäres Item aus Pandora oh no!! That was not my hope with this video! Traveling is a wonderful thing. My biggest regret after leaving was NOT that I had gone in the first place! I never regretted going to Spain. I was always happy I went. My biggest regret and why I felt like a failure was because the way I saw it, I hadn't been strong or tough enough to figure out a way to deal with the situation and stay the whole time, because I loved seeing new things and exploring new places so much!
Wanted Adventure Danke für die Antwort :)
I bet travelling can be priceless experiences, but they can also go wrong, so l really think the woman that called you brave was right. It takes quite a bit of courage to travel alone, and thats one reason why l subbed your channel. Your stories are just very inspiring, thank you for that, Dana!
I'm hoping for more of these longer videos about your journeys. :)
I dont belive it. EVERYONE in spain speaks spanish even more the old people , they lived the dictature and they where only allowed to speak spanish.
Everywhere you go you will usually have some bad experiences, it's part of traveling. That's part of what makes it interesting. And you have a cool story afterwards
wow... I'm so sorry that you had to go through that in Spain, I never thought there could be such weird people around the world. I'm Spanish and I´ve had foreign people at my house and let me tell you... my mum never lets them be hungry 😂 let alone have a bad time. I'm actually sorry that they made you feel like that :(
I spent one year in Australia as an exchange student. But my first host family really didn't treat me well. I was only sixteen, and they were really just in it for the money. I went to my school, crying and homesick. Within a week, my advisor put me with a new family. They were so sweet and nice to me. That was 2002/2003 and I made friends that I still have now, over a decade later.
Wouldn't miss the experience for the world.
+knevelchen So great to hear that you were switched into a better host family. Sorry that you had a rough start, but wonderful that in the end you had an overall positive experience! Much better that way :)
I can totally understand you, because I´ve been living abroad too. In my case not so far away, I´m from Spain and I´ve been living in France and Germany, but anyway for me was really hard a times. I felt really alone, I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks. It had no specific reason, it just turned out to be that I was not so prepared as I thought for this experience. Anyway I stayed there for almost five years, but I always knew I wanted to come back to Spain at some point.I´m sorry about your experience here, I think you just were not very lucky with your host family. Nevertheless, are you sure the lady spoke catalan? Granada is very far away from Catalonia. Maybe she was speaking spanish with a strong southern accent. Some times they are hard to understand even for us. :P
wait wait wait... You arrived in Granada (south of Spain), and your host lady spoke catalan (?), wich is a language from Catalunya, that is a region from the north ? Please give the details sincerely
Oh my goodness. Your story sounds exactly like mine! I thought I was the only one to go through such torture. I studied abroad in Mexico as part of my degree program, and it was a crazy experience. I first was with someone who only fed us toast and beans morning, noon and night, and she even stole my computer speakers saying her daughter needed them. I asked to be moved and they moved me into a rich family's home (by comparison), where we had ample to eat and really lovely Mexican meals. The family also had several maids and a cook. However, they also locked their kitchen so if you didn't eat by 8p, which is early in Mexico, then you didn't get to eat. They pulled up all their phone lines when I arrived so I wasn't allowed to use their phone (even with a calling card), and I was completely cut off from the Internet. They also were having domestic chaos while I was living there and the mother divulged to me how her husband had constantly cheated on her but she was forced to continue to live with him because she said women in Mexico had no rights. Nights were spent with her crying and him locked into his own room like a separate apartment. It was the weirdest experience! I lasted the whole time only because of the other students in the program, the external travel experiences, my teachers, and our university classes. Sadly, I did not get the wonderful host family experience either, but I surely got an experience to be remembered!
I can relate to the part about the muffins under the bed sheet because I used to deal with my homesickness by eating! It's a good thing that i was in Italy, so food is the main part of the cultural experience.
But you are courageous because even after all your terrible experiences, you went back again! Amazing!
Cultural shock always comes in waves. Just when you think that it no longer affects you, then once again it hits you hard. I'm glad that you worked through your first 2 attempts and finally found something stable in moving abroad.
I am soo sorry that happened to you! I'm spanish and I have never heard of anyone having such a terrible experience! No wonder you went back home! I just hope Spain wasn't ruined for you...
Never suffered homesickness, but then I can sort of see how one can. You have a tremendous amount of conviction despite all you went through with the home stay experience. Fortunately those types of people don't represent the attitude of everyone in spain.
Wow! It definitely wasn’t your fault for that experience in Spain (proof by you making it abroad later on). Everything that went wrong seemed to link back to that study abroad program! They really didn’t have it together. I’m glad that didn’t stop you from trying again...and again! :) Great story! Thank you for sharing.
I spent six months in Washington state on a sofa bed, no heating, just a tiny blanket. I feel you.
Well, so what happened in Prague? How was Prague different? What made you not leave? Were the people nicer?
wow, you're an inspiration and you are brave.. thanks for sharing your story :) enjoyed it and sorry your first experiences were bad, that wasn't a reflection of you, but a reflection of them. God Bless
i went to london for a week back when i was 16. it was a school-exchange program or something. but it was pretty obvious that the mother didn't want to have anything to do with me and my friend. she probably was in it for the money as well. she didn't feed us enough also and didn't talk to us. remembering how bad i felt and how horrible that time was for me even if it was only a week, i can only imagine how awful this must have been for you. going abroad no matter for how long should be a wonderful experience and i'm glad you finally found what you were looking for :) greetings from NRW to Bavaria :)
Your the type of person I could talk to for hours - great video love it
Going back the third time still seems very brave to me.
I've been following your channel for a few weeks and can't believe I didn't watch this video until now!
I studied abroad in Spain from the States too. It wasn't my first time living abroad (studying in the States was already abroad for me) but I was still scared because my Spanish wasn't good at the time (while my English was already almost fluent by the time I came to the States). I can relate to a lot of your experience: the part about expecting a host "family" and ending up with an "old lady who had a tiny spare bedroom" hit home so hard, haha.
I also had some problems with the host mom. First morning I was there, she gave me a lecture on how I wasted too much water showering "the American way" (having the water running the whole time), haha. As an introvert, I needed a fair amount of time on my own, and that upset her. Then later on I started dating someone, and she would complain whenever I spent the night at his place. The "host mom" wasn't my favorite part of the study-abroad experience (we're still on good terms though) but everything else was awesome. And this year I'm actually coming back to Spain to do a masters at the same university :).
Girl, you crack me up. I loved your story! You ARE brave You kept trying until it worked. And YES croquetas! How is it they have them all over the world and in the States, where we love fried foods as much as anybody, they are virtually unknown.
I was 17 when I had my first flight and was on my own. Going from Europe to America I had one connecting flight. I was surprisingly calm. I think I would be more stressed now, ten years later.
You are a very strong person, Dana!
As a child I visit a lot of countries in Europe, with my parents or with the children's choir of my town. In one year we visited for two weeks Czechoslovakia. We were accommodated one week in Prague with guest families. The family spoke no German, but, nevertheless, I felt very well there. Except with our first common dinner. At the time the people hadn't a lot of money in Czechoslovakia. The dinner existed of half a chicken with fries - for me. The children sat with me at the table, and had two slices of bread before themselves on the plate. This has ashamed me very much, so I shared the chicken with them. Over the years I was in many different guest families, always with good experiences. At that time it has already struck to me that children get on always anyhow, even if they do not speak the same language.
Years later, I moved with my husband (who is spanish) and my three children to Spain, to the hometown of my husband. No, it was not a town at all, it was a little village in the deep south of Spain. I was there two times before, for holiday. At the beginning I spoke almost no Spanish. But luckily I had four years of Latin at school, I understood at least the sense of many sentences. In the first week I had a lot to do. I needed a bank account, and thought that employees in a bank can speak at least a little bit in English. I was wrong. Or when I had to announce my family and me by the registration office. The same there. Nobody spoke English. At least I had to announce the whole family at the local medical centre. In this centre you can't choose a doctor, you are assigned to one of them. My doctor was a nice lady, not much older than me. And guess what.. yeah.. she didn't speak a word in English. General in Andalusia the people even don't talk in spanish, the talk in andaluz! ;) And when I worked in the restaurant of a hotel for one season, a workmate said to me, when I ask him why he don't learn at least a bit English: 'Why should I? They came to my land to make holiday, so they have to learn spanish!' I was the only one in the restaurant who could talk in German, English and Spanish. German and english tourists reports me that they were very surprised when they visited Sevilla. Even the young employees in the sport shops couldn't speak english. I don't know how it works now, because I'm back in Germany for nearly 9 years now, but my son told me that it didn't change much.
At the end a little funny story to tell you, Dana, because you said that the daughter of your 'madre' always yells on you:
When I got to know my later parents-in-law who lived at that time still in Germany, I was invited to the dinner. The parents of my friend, his sister and her friend were present. Six people. The parents didn't speak well German, the friend of the sister not a single word. So the conversation was primarily in Spanish. The volume became more and more louder, it felt as they were at the top of their voices and I felt more and more uncomfortable. I sat there and looked at my plate. When the conversation calmed down, I asked my friend what they have argued then about. There he looked at me, and started laughing. The others asked of course what is wrong, and he said to them in Spanish what I have asked him. They also started laughing. This was no quarrel, this was the normal volume in a conversation. It is just her Spanish temperament they said, their way of talking. ;)
I once did a summer language course in Salamanca, Spain that supposedly had a host "family" for the students. I think all students, me included, were staying with single old ladies. I've not heard of anyone staying with actual families, or couples. Just old ladies. But always advertised as host families. Maybe that's the norm for exchange programs. Or maybe the really don't realise. I also don't think anyone got the same host that was assigned to them according to the acceptance letter prior to arriving.
My host luckily was the sweetest ever. She even made me a packed lunch once when I went to Madrid for the weekend (to be fair, lunch was included in the price, but since I wasn't going to be there I did not expect it). But I also had plenty of friends whose host old ladies were more like the daughter and the other host described in the video. My course only took 2 weeks, so even if I'd had a bad time, it would've been a lot easier to pull thgough.
Those who organize that kind of things should manage better the whole situation. They should take a look thouroughly at the families.
I can imagine very well how you must have felt in your hard time in Spain and then back home with the feeling of failure... And the more happy i am about the lucky ending of your story and that you have finally made it to Europe successfully 😀
That's a great story about fighting for your dreams if you really, really want something and never give up even if it doesn't work immediately.... It really motivates me, thanks for sharing 😀👍🍀
+sarah k Thanks so much for your nice comment, Sarah!! I'm happy to hear that my story meant so much to you. Wish you all the best following your dreams! :)
Wow. I thought my semester abroad sucked, but this sounds even worse.
In my fifth semester of university it was mandatory to go abroad. I went to France and had a horrible time there. A girl from my German university and I moved in with a family at first. Our rooms where in the basement and we had to share the bathroom and the kitchen with the family. So far so good. We went abroad in autumn and therefore it got real cold during the night. The whole house had central heating, but the landlord wouldn't allow us to use the heating. Then a married couple turned up out of nowhere one night and told us that they had come to had a look at our rooms because they wanted to rent them. We talked to the landlord about it and he said that our rental agreement was ending soon which wasn't true at all, but he still made us move.
Our new apartment was ours alone and hadn't bars in front of the windows like our basement rooms had, but our new landlord was that nice either. The shower wasn't working right (the hot water didn't work) and we told him about it several times. He always promised to fix it, but he never did. It was winter by now and we had to take cold showers every day because he wasn't fixing it. Also, one night someone broke into the apartment next to ours. That wasn't fun either.
Then my roommate started acting like a psycho and blamed me for everything that went wrong. She went through my stuff all the time and would yell at me for random things (I caught a cold and she would yell at me for coughing in the night). When my laptop broke and I didn't had the money to replace it, I was a crying mess. I should have stayed in Paris for four months, but went home after three months because it was too much for me. Oh and we never got the deposit back from our landlords even though we didn't broke a thing.
I swore never to go back to Paris, but maybe I'll go there again next year. A friend of mine wants to go to Paris for a week or so and asked me to come with her. I think it's time to give that city a second chance. All those things happened back in 2011 and I think that I'm brave enough to go back now. Paris, do you hear my? I won't let you mess with me again!
+Fred2303 Oh no!! Sorry to hear about your bad study abroad experience too :( That sounds like a lot to handle for any college student, let along while abroad! Hopefully you can give Paris another chance though :)
My first time abroad all by myself was in a 4-week trip to China organized through my school. I was supposed to call my host family's father as soon as I had landed in Beijing, but my cellphone didn't work. So I stood there in the middle of that ginormous airport, they ushered me towards the security checking, I only spoke a fews bits of Mandarin, the airport personnel only spoke a rather broken English - probably the scariest moment of my life. But it got better from there as soon as I got someone from the airport staff to call my host father for me. The following four weeks were among the best of my whole life.
Hi Dana: I spent three weeks in Madrid in October of 2015. I was planning to stay there at least three months but I left early because the woman I moved in with, who was supposed to be my girlfriend, treated me so badly that I left long before I originally planned to. When I tried to leave she wouldn't let me so I had to call the police to help me leave. Despite my negative experience, I loved Madrid and I'm not about to judge all Spaniards because of the behavior of my former girlfriend. I hope to return to Europe in the near future with enough money saved so I don't have to depend on anybody else to help provide me with food and shelter. By the way, I live in the Miami area.
Omg I can't believe how unlucky you were in Spain. I say this because Granada and Andalucía are known for being places with very warm, funny and friendly people. I'm so so sad that you had to live that experience. I feel really frustrated, it's like "seriously come back again and I will show you the real Granada" hahahaha Good luck wherever you're now :)
I was for 4 month in Ireland and the first day when I met my hostfamily was not really horrible but it was like I imagined. I had lots of other hostsistres/brothers from other countries, and it felt more like a hotel in the first moment. But after one month I started to really enjoy my time. Even it was like a little hotel my hostfamily was so kind and I found some really good friends.
And now im back in germany and i miss all of them soooooo much.
If something happend like what happend to you in spain, I would have went back home after 2 weeks.
+blueberry Yeah, I can imagine that that would be a little overwhelming at the beginning, but really great to hear that you ended up having such a terrific experience!
I loved your video! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us. My Spanish teacher in high school was from the Basque Country, in the North, and she was extremely wonderful and nice. Based off of other unpleasant stories about Spain I've heard, I would guess that people are more likely to have bad experiences in southern Spain as opposed to central or northern Spain. Every other bad tale I've heard has taken place in the south also; I don't think you're alone! I've never been to any part of the country, but I will definitely leave the south until after I've experienced the other regions, haha!