The culture in Spain is definitely very different than the American and Ghanaian cultures that I'm used to. One thing that I noticed almost immediately is that Spaniards are very family-oriented people. My host sister was 40 years old and still lived at home with her parents. Some people in the U.S. would see that as weird or unusual, however, it is super common for people to live at home with their parents for as long as possible. For lunch, my host mom's other daughter and her kids would all come over and we would eat together as one. It was great!
Spaniards are also very friendly people. When you see someone that you know, you greet them with a kiss on both left and right cheeks, rather than a handshake. This is also done if it is your first time meeting this person! When walking on the street, people greet each other with an "Hola" ("Hello") or "Que tal?" ("How are you?") instead of just walking past and ignoring one another.
I met a girl during a linguistic conversation hour and she invited me out with her and her boyfriend. They had me over one night for dinner and her boyfriend invited some of his friends as well. We also watched a Kobe Bryant documentary in English with Spanish subtitles. They were all so warm and kind to me and were so patient with my Spanish.
