From Málaga to Fort Worth

{Conversation Partner Reflection 1}

Aitana hails from Málaga, Spain and seems to have no problem fitting in with the American culture.

If I were to be so brave as to leave my home in Texas and move across the Atlantic by myself to her home in Málaga I know with complete confidence that each local would be able to immediately label me as an American tourist at first glance.

We’ve talked a lot in class about the significance of water, how it connects people, how being on a raft on the Mississippi was the closest thing Huck had to a home, how people gather around lakes and rivers with friends or family.  But water isn’t always what brings us closer to home.  Sometimes, water is what separates us from home.  Such is the case with Aitana and so many other TCU students.  Water bonds us together, but water also breaks us apart with rivers like cracks in a broken vase.

But enough about water.  I was interested to hear what Aitana’s first impressions were of Texas and more specifically, Texas Christian University.  How did it compare and how did it contrast to the places she called home in Málaga?

For starters, her entire hometown could fit in the American Airlines Center.  Realizing just how big the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex is makes me feel more anonymous in a city I’ve lived in for as long as I can remember.  (If it even is possible to feel more anonymous.)  In response, I told her about the massive AT&T Stadium, or rather Cowboy’s Stadium, and how the tickets I bought for the seats at the top of the stadium to watch Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift live in the Red concert among 50,000 other people makes the American Airlines Center seem pretty small.  I guess everything is bigger in Texas.

When she first visited campus, she was impressed by the athleticism of the American students.  Since we mostly wear large T-shirts and athletic shorts, typical exercising gear, who wouldn’t assume that we spend the majority of our time on treadmills in our fancy Rec Center?  Personally, I have found large T-shirts and Nike shorts comfortable and much easier to nap in after classes.

It surprises me just how many students only knew about TCU at first because of nearby family members.  I always wonder how people from Indiana or Oregon or Florida hear about this small private school in Texas.  I never even knew where it was located until my senior year of high school when we realized it was a mere 14 miles from my house.  Aitana is no different with a stepsister residing in San Antonio who told her about TCU in Fort Worth.

Like many non-Americans, Aitana initially believed that cheerleaders and sororities were things of the movies.  When I visited my cousins in Australia this pass summer, they were curious about the same elements of America’s unique culture.  Were there really jocks in your high school?  Are there sororities like Kappas and Deltas in your college? Questions like these reinforce the influence of American television shows and movies around the world.  While the entertainment industry often overdramatizes the social environments of high school and college, both my cousins and Aitana knew more about the school system I grew up in than I did of theirs’.  I couldn’t tell you a single thing about Spanish or Australian schools.

Well, that is, until asking Aitana about what is like to go to school in Málaga.  Instead of the SAT or ACT, they have a different kind of standardized test that takes months to prepare for, and you only have one attempt to pass it for each year.  If you pass, you can go to school in Spain.  If not, you have to try again the next year.  I never thought I would be thankful for the SAT or ACT, but the ability to take them multiple times takes a lot of pressure off.  Even though Aitana had decided to come to TCU before taking the admission test, she still took it as a back up plan.  (She passed.)

College in Madrid is different than here in the United States.  Instead of having one university (say Texas Christian University) with many schools and colleges within it (say the College of Communications or Business School), universities in Spain are more specific.  You choose to attend a school based on your area of study, such as a specific university for medicine, or for technology.  And if you change your mind, it’s not as easy as changing your major here.  You have to wait a year to transfer colleges.

She finds it challenging to read English books.  Understandably so.  I'm often grateful that English is my first language because I couldn't imagine having to learn it.  Her ability to speak English (albeit in a strong accent) is almost impeccable.  However, she finds it hard to get through books written in English.  While she can skim the pages and get a general idea of what is happening in the text, to get a better understanding of the material, she has to look up many words in the dictionary.  Which can take seemingly forever – up to 30 minutes per page just to be able to comprehend. 

And I thought studying was a challenge.  No wonder she has only actually attempted to read two books in English.

But just the concept of not being able to simply sit down and read a book at my leisure is frightening to me.  I have no idea what I would do if I couldn’t just read.  Reading is my lifelong favorite pastime and literacy is something I suppose I take for granted.  My physical access to books and my mental access to their content make me appreciate the freedoms I have.  Between the pages of a book is a wonderful place to be.  Since the ability to read is the ability to attain knowledge, as the saying goes, knowledge is power.  

Out of curiosity, I googled worldwide literacy rates and learned that the U.S. has a literacy rate of 99% according to the CIA Factbook, meaning that 99% of citizens over the age of 15 can read and write.  The same website shows seven countries with 100% literacy, including Finland, Lichtenstein, Greenland, Andorra, and North Korea.  It would seem that literacy doesn't always mean knowledge or freedom.

We like many of the same television shows and music and we are only four months apart in age.  I’m eager to learn more about her culture and how she has adjusted to the American way of life.  Coming from Spain, she has been to many countries and cities I have yet to travel to, but hope to one day.  I’m excited to have our weekly conversations become the foundation of a friendship.