Making Friends and Getting Involved in Spain

I have had quite the adventure in Spain, and have met a lot of people on the way. In this post, I would like to talk about my exprience with making friends here in Madrid. I would also like to talk about how I got myself involved at my school and in the community. 

Madrid is a missive city. It has a population of over 3 million people (about nearly twice that of Barcelona's), meaning there is always something going on and there are always people to meet. When I first moved to Spain, I wasn't sure who I was going to meet or who I was going to be spending my time with. However, as time progressed and the more spanish I learned, the more I got involved with my school and the community. This helped me develop the circle of friends that I still have now and I consider to be my family. 

My experience is a little diferent than most of the people in this program, because I started out teaching in Spain as a volunteer in Segovia. Before I moved there, I was curious about whom I was going to be spending my time with and how I was going to make friends. I thought that I would be hanging out with other language assistants the majority of my time but it turned out to be the oposite. I became close friends with the man I lived with and also a lot of the teachers at the school. On my first night in Segovia, we all had dinner together and then we went out to the clubs dancing. That was the one and only time I have ever had an expirience like that with co-workers. I was very fortunate to have had such a cool staff to work with while I lived there. I would also like to note that I became friends with the other assistant at the school and we became travel buddies. The same is happening for me right now while I am teaching in Madrid. I am starting to become friends with the other auxiliar at the school. 

Another important thing that has helped me make friends is Music. I am a Scratch/Hip-Hop DJ and there are a group of djs out here that all get together and organize massive gathererings for like-minded indivuduals. We are called the Almighty Skratcher Madrid and there is also an Almighty Skratcher Barcelona. Attending these events has probably been one of the best things I have done out here in Spain. It forces me to speak with others in Spanish while still doing something that I love. I think that it is important to find something you like doing that includes the language you are trying to learn. In this case, I tend to spend most of my free time with poeple who live in Madrid that speak spanish. Of course it is always good to have american friends, but don't let yourself get cought in that American Bubble. What I mean is... Try to step outside your confort zone. 

I have also become very close with my co-worker at work. His name is Jesús and I we now call him my godfather. When I first started working with him, I would pretend like I understood him when I really didn't. He eventually inspired me to get rid of my embarassment and to tell people when I don't understand them. During my first year, he would let me borrow his bicycle and I would go with him and a few other teachers for a ride up in El Pardo. He has taken me to a Real Madrid game, we have gone riding in Casa De Campo, we attended another co-worker's choir concert, and we also went to Greece together with the school. I have mentioned in my blog posts before that I am also friends with the staff in the cafeteria. I am an avid collector of 2 euro coins and the staff knows me so well that they are always looking out for rare coins that they have never seen before. 

So to end this post. The one word that I think is extremely important to consider when trying to make friends in Spain is "involvement." The more that you make an effort to get involved in activities that you like doing, or in the school, the better off you will be with having  a variety of people in your circle of friends. For me, it is really important to make some friends who are from Spain or who have lived here for a long time. This will help you avoid getting trapped in the American Bubble. Thanks for reading! Here are some photos to inspire you.

Photo taken of Jesús (On my left), Víctoria, and Chesco (On my right) in Delphi during our Greece trip with the school. Some great friends that I have made during my time in Spain.

Photo taken of all us scratch nerds in Burgos. 

Skratcher Madrid competition this past weekend in Alcorcón. 

Photo from last years scratch competition "Enter The Dj."