My Homestay Spain Experience!

My name is Casia, and I had the opportunity to travel to Madrid in the summer of 2024 on the Greenheart Travel Homestay Spain program.

My experience was amazing and I am beyond grateful that I had the chance to travel to Spain and meet so many amazing and beautiful people. My host family was by far the highlight of my trip, and I really felt like an important member of not only their nuclear family, but also their extended family. They were kind and caring, and helped me to adapt to the city and find my way around countless museums, train stations, and everywhere throughout Madrid! 

Everyday Life in Madrid

Not only is the city and its people beautiful, the food is also delicious and the culture is rich! I made it a point of going to as many museums, galleries, and parks as possible because they are so accessible, with certain days being free to the public for a set amount of time. I was able to travel around with my host family and they educated me on the cultural and historical importance of certain places, which was amazing to hear from the local perspective. Not only did I grow closer to my host family by spending the time with them, but I also became closer to the culture by seeing  its meaning and how locals lived it. 

Initially, I found the social customs to be quite different from those in the United States. Formal pleasantries, such as greetings and saying excuse me, are valued in the US and I found that was not the case in Spain. Initially I mistook it for rudeness, however the more I learned about the culture, the more I understood that the people simply have their own ways of communicating that differ from those in the United States. Once you get to know someone they can be incredibly loving however, initial interactions might be different from what you’re used to. 

Cultural Differences

Another aspect of my trip that I had been worried about was that I had heard that Spain could be unwelcoming to foreigners, more specifically, that there could be a lot of discrimination against people of color. As a woman of color, I was not sure what to expect, however I did not face malicious discrimination or racism the entire 5 weeks I was there. I did realize that perhaps the discrimination and racism that exists in Spain/European countries is not as active and intentional as if it is/can be in the US. The US has discrimination as a prominent and visible part of its history, but many European countries do not, so the idea of discrimination and racism isn’t so prominent and inherently fought against. Due to that, I found there to be more cultural ignorance/insensitivity but not blatant and malicious racism in the way that it is thought about in the US. 

As someone who has dealt with ignorance, I found myself better equipped to speak with people and educate them on why what they were saying was either offensive or problematic. The people who I spoke with in this way were all respectful and kind, and we were able to converse and understand one another in a compassionate way. This isn’t to suggest that racism and uncompassionate people don’t exist in Spain, they certainly do, however, I found that the idea that the Spanish people are racist isn’t quite true in the same way it is interpreted to those living in the United States. 

Improvement in Communication Skills

On a different note, I felt that my non-verbal communication skills improved immensely during my 5 weeks in Spain. While I was able to understand Spanish before traveling there, there were some conversations I would enter without the necessary context, or certain terms specific to Spain that I didn’t know beforehand, and I had to learn how to still communicate, travel, and sometimes assist others without understanding every word of a conversation and by letting non-verbal cues lead me. I believe that this skill is incredibly important, especially in a world in which more and more people speak different languages and need to interact with one another. I became more and more able to understand those around me without really comprehending every word they spoke.

Overall, the Homestay Spain program was a lovely experience that I will be forever grateful for. I could not have been luckier to be placed with such a beautiful and loving host family, with such a lovely home and space for me! I think if people have the opportunity to push themselves and travel to another country, they undoubtedly should. You learn so much about yourself and the culture around you, which is an invaluable experience that I have grown immensely from! 

Learn more about Greenheart’s Teach English in a Homestay Spain Program!