Moving to Madrid, Spain was a huge leap of faith for me. I knew it was going to be very different from my life in Omaha, Nebraska, but I wasn't quite sure what those differences would be. I also didn't expect as many similarities either. I was born in Omaha and had grown up there. I also went to school at Creighton university, which was located in downtown Omaha. I completed my student teaching experience at a dual language school and loved the students, the teachers and the community. I planned to stay in Omaha and teach there after graduating college. Omaha was comfortable and familiar to me, which is why I wanted to stay. Even though that was my original plan, I am so glad I was able to get the experience of moving abroad because of the cultural knowledge that I have gained this year. I have loved my year-abroad so far and continue to learn more about Spain and the Spanish people every day I'm here.
Growing up in Omaha, I was used to the “midwest nice” manners. Meaning that usually everyone is very friendly to one another and goes out of their way to make strangers or people they just meet feel comfortable and happy. Something that I noticed in Spain is that people are very direct with how they talk, that could often be observed as being “mean”.
