This past week, my friend Sarah and I had our first Spanish “intercambio,” which essentially entails meeting up with several Spaniards assigned by the university to chat for an hour and a half. While both of us were less than thrilled to sit through what we anticipated would be an awkward hour filled with lulls in conversation, the experience substantially surprised and impressed both of us.
We met our two Spanish students, Patricia and Antziñe, for sangria, beer, and tapas at a local pub near the Plaza. Neither of us knew what to expect, and we had no idea whether we should speak in English or Spanish. The girls immediately began speaking in their native tongue, so Sarah and I followed suit—we eventually switched to English, but the girls admitted they preferred Spanish because our foreign language skills were sharper (thank you, Spanish 319 à la Wake).
The conversation started out a little bit slow, but the longer we sat in the isolated pub chatting, the more comfortable we all grew with each other. Neither of the girls was originally from Salamanca—Patricia moved from Madrid and Antizñe hails from Pais Vasco. It was really interesting hearing from them about living in Salamanca, compared to other cities in Spain.
I spent most of my time talking with Patricia about topics that ranged from literature and music to our studies and what we want to do with our lives. Later, the four of us talked about the merits of multilingualism, international travel, cultural immersion, and education (which by the way, I must note education for them at one of the most renowned universities in Spain costs a mere 600 Euro a semester!).
It was awesome to just actually sit down with young women from Spain, a country so different from ours, and learn that we have the same viewpoints on so many important issues. The experience was just so worthwhile because, although we go out each weekend and meet Spanish students at bars, our conversations lack intellectual substance and the people we meet we rarely revisit. I am happy to say that all of us were so pleased with our encounter we decided to make it a habit to rendezvous to chat and grab some drinks and tapas.