Being an Outsider Term Paper

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Foreign Experience

When I was in the 9th grade, I spent the school year in Barcelona, Spain, because my father was a Fulbright lecturer for one year at the University of Barcelona. Our whole family moved there. At first, I was excited to go, but once we got there and I enrolled in school, I felt miserable for about four months. Obviously, I didn't know anyone, and everyone wore uniforms, even though it wasn't a religious school. I had thought I knew Spanish pretty well, growing up in California, but the Spanish of Spain is a lot different from the Spanish of Mexico or Latin America. A lot of the Spanish words I used didn't make any sense to people in Barcelona, which only made me feel more confused. It was much different than I had expected it to be. My family was there, my mother, father, younger, brother and me, but the main thing was adjusting to the atmosphere and culture of Barcelona.

Describe how the others treated you: Were they aware that you felt different? What did they do to make you feel more (or less) comfortable?

My classmates at my new school were rather stand-offish at first. I'm sure they probably felt the same way about me. I never really asked anyone if they were aware of how different I felt from them, at least at first, but I'm sure they noticed that I was very shy and ill at ease the first few months I was there.

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Some of my classmates tried to help me feel more comfortable, first just through little things like smiling at me or inviting me to sit with them at lunch. Gradually, we advanced to visiting each other's homes, and to going to places like museums, movies, and shopping together. They were also curious about me though, and about America and Americans, so gradually I made friends with them. Since we were only ninth graders, a lot of the girls were interested in my clothes, American styles, magazines, movie stars, etc.

3. Describe your feelings and behavior: Were you eager to leave? Could you leave when you wanted to? How did you try to communicate with the others there? In what ways did you alter your own behavior?

I felt timid at first, and very out of place, inarticulate, and awkward around my peers. I'm sure my outward behavior reflected all of that. At first, I communicated by not communicating, just giving a friendly person here or there an occasional smile or nod. I was very uncomfortable, though, most of the time at first and wanted to just hop on a plane and go back home. I couldn't though-our whole family was here and we had rented our house out for a year to perfect strangers. So I….....

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