Voices en Español

This is a guest post from Becca Moy, an English teacher who has been living in Madrid for a little over a year.  She calls Connecticut and California “home(s)”.  She spends far too much time on the Metro (Madrid’s subway) but enjoys the free newspaper and the always pleasant live music.  She is obsessed with Spain, just like yours truly, and thinks that’s pretty obvious to anyone who has met her over the last several years. This is Part 1 of a two-part entry.

In Madrid, I wouldn’t qualify myself as the type of person that has smooth first encounters. By “first encounters” I’m including everything from meeting people, finding my way to a new location without getting lost, figuring out things at the bank/post office/doctor, and renting a car, etc.

Perhaps this is due to my nature as a person that doesn’t spend much time anticipating what I might need to say or do, and just “giving it a go.” Perhaps it is because I have long forgotten the categorized lists of vocabulary within the structured chapters of my high school and college Spanish books (i.e. “Going to the grocery store!” “Juan visits the post office!”). Perhaps it is simply because I live and work in a foreign country.

Either way, after quite a bit of serendipitous learning (trial and error—mostly error) and repeat “encounters” I have become much more versed at normally simple things that had suddenly been made almost impossible in a different language. The ultimate “first encounter” scenario, however, take place in the almighty group “intercambios” that are held throughout the city. I categorize them as such because meeting people is the main activity within them, but also because I think it is important to set the tone for your first visit, especially if you are like me and go into many things less prepared than you thought you were. Thus, I will use my special talent at learning from my mistakes to give you advice about what makes a “bad”, “good”, or “excellent” intercambio—the quality of my own experiences going in that exact order, like most other things.

These “cultural exchanges” are held with the premise that people from all over the world can go, socialize, and practice a variety of languages. They are interesting on several levels, but mostly because people aren’t accustomed to doing anything similar back in their home countries. Usually held in the more tourist-heavy areas of the city, some more popular intercambios are organized in well-known Irish bars. They are easily located, especially for those university students that spend more time than is probably advisable wandering (or stumbling) around these areas. There are also trips, cultural events, parties and even dinners that are organized apart from the main weekly event. For those that attend these meetings regularly, groups of long-lasting friendships are often created…long-lasting at least throughout the duration of their stay in the city/country.

Here are Becca’s picks for popular group intercambio locations in Madrid:

Beer Station - Thursdays starting at 10pm, cuesta de Santo Domingo 22 (Metro Santo Domingo/Callao)
O’Neils Irish Pub -Tuesdays from 10:00 pm, c/Principe, 12 (Metro: Sevilla, Sol)
Cafe Madrid – Thursdays, 9:30 pm to 2 am, c/ Escalinata    (Metro: Opera)
Star Studio – Fridays, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. c/ Salud 9 (Plaza del Carmen) (Metro: Sol, Gran Via)

Outside of Madrid, check MeetUp.com to see if there are any Spanish conversation groups that meet in your community.

Becca will be back later this week with advice on how to get the most out of these public meetings. In the meantime, follow Becca on Twitter.

Photo: “Friends” used under license from iStockPhoto.com