Everybody always talks about how amazing Erasmus is ( which it is!!!!) but I rarely hear people talking about the challenges they faced while trying to integrate themselves into a new culture. Our module coordinator in Ireland made us write a piece on what we found hard coming over to Valencia, focusing especially on one event, and this is what I wrote:
The thought of Erasmus
year in Spain was really exciting and appealing when I chose my course in UCD.
The closer it got to leaving, the more excited and nervous I got. While I knew
it might be a bit difficult coming over, I have never estimated just how difficult.
The first two weeks in
Valencia were probably the hardest two weeks of my life. Trying to solve
everything in time, organise the apartment, college and all the other things
proved to be much harder and energy consuming than me or any of my friends
expected. We managed to sort the apartment in time but the hardest part was
probably getting internet, or more exactly, open a bank account from which we
could pay for the internet. It took us nearly two weeks to get everything
sorted out, with trips to the bank, police, internet provider, police again and
so on. Eventually we managed to open the bank account but the whole process
took, in my opinion, much longer than it was necessary. This came as a shock
for me and Anthea, who I live with, because things are not the same in Ireland.
In my experience, in Ireland things are solved much faster and in a more
effective and organised manner. This was definitely one of the first cultural
shock I experienced in Valencia, and as I was going to hear later on from a
Spanish friend, Spanish people do not like to work much. For me, it was a shock
to see things unfold the way they did but more so than that, I was outraged and
even angry. This was something that was supposed to be much easier to solve, at
least in my opinion. If it weren’t for the very nice internet provider who gave
us his bank account to pay for the internet, we would not have internet for the
first two weeks. To be honest, I was not angry due to the lack of internet but
because it took so long to solve an easy problem. They seem to make it more complicated than it needs to be
and being used to the organised and relatively fast system in Ireland did not
help. Spanish people are used to this and for them it is not too important that
it takes so long but for someone who comes from outside and it used to a
different pace, it can be very time and energy consuming. I believe this is down
to the culture of each country; Spain is used to a much more relaxed atmosphere
and that shows in the way they organise things while Ireland is more effective
therefore it does things faster and more organised.
Personally, I learned
a lot from this experience. Firstly, I learnt that before we do something or
try and solve some problems, we need to inform ourselves much better and make
sure we have enough information to proceed. I believe that the more informed
and prepared one is, the faster they can solve problems. Secondly, I also learned
that planning things in advance would also speed up the process. From now on, I
will make sure that I do things in advance even if I need them for later on. However, most important lesson I learnt was about me. I considered myself a
very relaxed and open minded person, who adapts easily, no matter the culture.
This experience however showed me that that is not exactly the case. While this
opinion about myself is still partially true, it is not as radical as before.
When this whole situation was going on I noticed that I am not as flexible as I
thought I was because I was not able to look past the frustration created. The
only thing I could think about was that it took so long to open a bank account,
but I never thought that this is the Spanish system, that I am no longer in
Ireland and that things are not done the same as at home. In my head, I was
still in Dublin and I expected things to be done exactly the same.
In a way I am really
glad that things worked out the way they did because it made me realise that I
need to change. Maybe not me as a person, but the way I approach things and the
way I react to them. Since the whole situation I tried to let go and be more
relaxed, and when something happened here I was able to realise that I am in a
different country, in a different culture, despite the two not being extremely
different. Yes, the system I was used to seemed much more appealing to me and
sometimes I even miss it, but I learnt to love the differences and accept them
the way they are and make the most out of what is offered to me at this
particular time. I learned that I need to live in the future, not the past.
