GALWAY–Marta Gimenez is 15 years old and is from Spain. She is studying in Galway for a year through a program called AFS. She came across this program online after her parents encouraged her to look into studying abroad. Her parents are big advocates of traveling, and Marta and her 17 year old brother, Javiee, have traveled many places with them. Marta and her family have traveled all over Europe including but not limited to Turkey, Italy, France, and England. Marta has also been to the USA multiple times prior to her arrival here in September. She has visited California, Florida, Puerto Rico, Arizona, and Nevada. Marta says she enjoys traveling because it makes you think differently when you see things you’re not accustomed to.

Since she’s been here in Galway, she has noticed a lot of things she’s not accustomed to. One of the main things is school. She claims adjusting to classes in a different language has gotten easier, but US History is the most difficult to understand. She says science is the easiest, because in Spain they teach science in English. In her opinion, school is more difficult in Spain. In Galway we rotate to 8, 40 minute classes throughout the day. In Spain you stay in the same classroom from 8:20-2:10 with the same people, and the teachers rotate to you. You also have only 6 different classes a day, and they are in a different order every day. This eliminates the need for lockers since they are not changing classes, so they keep their stuff in a bag with them. She also noticed the students dress differently in school here than they would in Spain. In Spain, they wear jeans and sweaters to school. According to Marta, people would look at you funny if you wore a dress or skirt to school there. When it’s time for lunch, everyone in Spain eats outside, while we eat in the cafeteria.

This brings us to another topic, food. Here we typically have breakfast in the morning, lunch around noon or so, and then dinner around 6. In Spain they eat breakfast, have a big lunch at 2:30 and then have dinner at 10 pm! Not only are their eating habits different, but the food they consume as well. The first thing Marta had to say about the food here is that it’s so unhealthy! She says in Spain they take a lot of time to prepare and cook food, compared to here where it’s whatever can be made the quickest. One of the foods Marta was introduced to in the US is peanut butter. In Spain they use Nutella. She still has yet to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Her favorite food is a Spanish omelet. This is an omelet with eggs and potatoes. It’s one of Spain’s most common meals.

Marta doesn’t enjoy cooking but prefers to spend her free time skiing, ice skating, hanging out with friends, playing sports and relaxing in the hot tub. She joined the JV Cheerleading team and plans on playing softball in the spring. Cheerleading along with football, baseball, and wrestling are not commonly offered in Spain. Back in Spain she played on a volleyball team, and wishes she had the opportunity earlier to play here.

She looks forward to a great year here at Galway, and sadly will be returning to Spain in July. If you’re thinking about studying abroad or just simply love to travel she highly suggests doing some research online. Feel free to ask her any further questions you might have.