A Month Studying Abroad
by Jacinta Smith
went to Spain I was 21 and on a month long study abroad program
for my college. There were twenty of us in the group; two of us were
black. It was my first time leaving the country. Everything was new
and exciting. I had been waiting all my life for an opportunity like this.
The program took place in a town called Cordoba in southern Spain.
We first arrived in Madrid to stay for one night (the next morning we
would travel by bus to Cordoba). I was overwhelmed by my first
views of this cosmopolitan city. Our hotel, the Paris hotel, was
located in the Puerto Del Sol, a large plaza right in the very center of
Madrid.
Throughout the next month I spent most of my time in Cordoba but
also visited Seville, Granada, Madrid, and San Lorenzo. On my own
and with the group I walked the downtown streets of Cordoba,
explored the Jewish quarter, ate in the cafes, drank in the bars, and
shopped in the stores. A very sweet Abuela who lived alone and
spoke no English provided a roof over my head and meals to eat.
flamenco show that night and afterwards went to a flamenco bar where we were privy to a private and
impromptu flamenco performance in the basement of the bar. Throughout all of this I really did not
experience anything negative because of being black. Although I wonder if traveling with a pack of people,
who also happened to be all white, might have shielded me from some things I might have otherwise
experienced on my own.
My experience in Spain that year prompted me to return the following year, this time alone. I had just
graduated from college and decided that I wanted to see London and also Madrid and Barcelona. This time
when I returned to Madrid it had lost some of its magic on me so I was happy to leave a few days later for
Barcelona. It was a long 8-hour train ride through very barren Spanish countryside, but I made it. Once in
Barcelona it was easy to see why people seem to prefer Barcelona to Madrid. The city has a certain
romantic and dreamy quality to it. The architecture, the waterfront, and the culture make Barcelona a
beautiful city to visit.
Most of my memories of Spain are favorable. Like the time I went into a pharmacy in Madrid and I was
trying in my best Spanish to explain to the pharmacist what I needed and an older woman tried to help me
out. I had only been in Spain for a couple of days and I had been apprehensive of how I would be treated
there. In that store I noticed that once I started to speak Spanish and interact with the people the less they
stared quizzically at me.
are black! After a couple of days in Barcelona, I
remember being relieved to finally return to London
where I wouldn't receive so many stares. Personally I
ended up feeling self-conscious at times, but I think it
would vary from person to person as to how much it
might bother you. Another thing to be aware of in Spain
is the term "morena", used to describe a darker skinned
woman. To get an idea of how the term is used, in my
experience it usually came from a group of young men
or a man both walking by me or in a car and saying it
with a big smile on their faces.
only happened a handful of times for me while I was in Spain.
I enjoyed Spain and would recommend it as a worthy experience for anyone. As far as sticking out by being a
person of color, it is just one of the aspects of travel that one has to deal with. In the end I would not want
something like that holding me back from the experience of traveling.