Spain Cross Cultural - General Reflection

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6/11/19

Individual reflection

Before we left for Spain, I was very excited to try new foods. I knew that I may not like some food, so I prepared myself for this. What I did not expect was that the food I have not liked on this trip has not been Spanish food but rather foods we commonly eat in America. These foods are salads and ice cream. Since I expected more seafoods or unfamiliar foods, having these common but undesirable foods took me by surprise. This has allowed me to use my CQ action so I could adapt my reactions and behaviors towards these foods. For example, I can either politely decline salad or ice cream if it is optional or still eat it but now with the expectation to see these foods more often. (Livermore, 2015).

Cultural Relations

At first, communicating in Spanish was rough, and I realized that I knew much less Spanish than I thought. Now that we are in the third week, I feel that I am able to navigate through various interactions using Spanish enough that there is much less confusion involved than there was the first part of this trip. I attribute much of this growth to one to one interactions in shops as well as the home-stay during the second week when I got to communicate solely in Spanish with my host parent. However, I still have a long way to go before there is little to no confusion. In order to continue improving, I plan to implement CQ strategy by interacting with more people in Spanish (Livermore, 2015).

Social Issue

A social issue I have noticed in Spain’s history has been the conflict between Christians and Muslims. Throughout their history, the Muslims and Christians in Spain have fought over territory, politics, and even the holy sites/buildings. This has been apparent during several tours of Spanish cathedrals when the tour guides described the changes that took place in many of them from the roman era to the increase in Islam and, finally, the implantation of Catholicism under the Catholic monarchs. This tension between the two religions has caused a lot of violence in the past, and tension between Muslims and Christians is still apparent today despite there being much less violence due to this tension in Spain and other developed nations.




Words: 383

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