Back in 2019, I had the opportunity to participate in a 3 month teach abroad program in Spain. I was super excited to live in another country and be able to experience a new culture firsthand. But being Black while abroad comes with some unique moments and challenges. Luckily, I did not have too many overly harsh or disrespectful situations happen to me personally, but everybody's experience will be different. Here are some of the things I noticed while abroad.
I only saw 3 other Black people in my whole town.
I'm not sure about the makeup of bigger cities such as Madrid, but very few Black people lived in my little town. In fact, I saw so few that I remember each of their faces lol. One guy that I saw walking down the street while we were riding in the car, one of my students at my school, and the student's mom. And for Black people here in the US, anytime there is only a few of us, we are going to bond and stick together. However, that natural connection did not play out the same way in Valladolid. Smiling at the man and trying to interact with the student resulted in nothing at all. It actually kind of sucked because it made me realize just how much of an outsider I really was. So this feeling definitely took some getting used to.
Spaniards stared A LOT!
And as one of the only Black people, the very first thing I noticed after getting to Spain was the amount of staring I got. I don't know if it's a cultural difference playing into it because that's definitely considered unacceptable in the USA. But the Spaniards were very bold and unapologetic as they stared at me on the streets, in restaurants, at the school, and everywhere in between. They would even stare at me while I was riding in the car with my host family. I often tried to ignore them and avoid eye contact but I was very uncomfortable.
They would also point and whisper...
Along with staring, they would also point at me and whisper among themselves. I vividly remember the first time I went to my host family's church with them. I remember standing off to the side while everyone was getting ready for service and looking over to see my host sister and two of her friends very clearly whispering about me. I mean staring at me with hand covering mouth kind of whispering. To this day, I still don't know what they were saying but I will never forget how bad they made me feel. In fact, I cried in the church bathroom after that. Adjusting to life abroad can be naturally overwhelming, especially at the beginning, so that was the last thing I needed to see that day.
Don't rely on finding hair products locally.
Before I left for Spain, I asked my stepsister to do box braids in my hair because I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to worry about fixing it at the very beginning. And I figured wearing a protective style would give me at least a month to get acclimated to my new life and new schedule, scope out the bathroom situation in my host family's home in preparation for wash days, and find hair products that would work for my hair. Well, that month came and went very quickly and I still hadn't found any good natural hair products. So one day, during my break between classes, I decided to walk to a couple of different stores to see what I could find. Not only did I struggle to find a deep conditioner, some kind of leave-in, and a curl cream, I couldn't even find a wide-tooth comb (I forgot mine at home)!!! After I took the braids out, I spent the rest of my time abroad shampooing my hair, putting regular conditioner in my hair (and left it in), using gel to brush down my edges, and pulling my hair into a high puff.
And to that point, Black hair, in general, was an anomaly.
Of course, having few Black people means a very little understanding of kinky curly hair. After a little over a month, it was finally time to take out my braids. Since I didn't work on Fridays, I spent the day taking my braids out while my host family was gone. Once I finished combing it out, I pulled it back into a ponytail to each lunch before washing it. I remember my host family walking into my hair in the ponytail and they were shocked! My host dad said the infamous "You're hair is crazy!" while my host sister stared in shock and my youngest host brother started touching my ponytail. The next day, I went to school with my hair in a high puff and got the same kinds of reactions. "You're hair's so crazy! Did you cut your hair? What happened to your hair???" IYKYK.
I got my hair checked by airport TSA???
And traveling around Europe with my natural hair was the first time that I got my hair checked by TSA. The airport workers would literally pat down my hair after I went through the scanners. Of course, this didn't happen to any of the other women in front of me and I had never experienced this in the USA, so when I got patted down, I was very confused and surprised. While living in Spain, I flew to 4 other cities/countries and it happened 2 other times. After the first trip, I knew to expect it and was no longer surprised. But it was very...interesting.
And the weirdest of them all, my school coordinator excitedly mentioned the KKK to me...
I mentioned this in another blog post before but it's still one of the funniest moments so I figured it was worth mentioning here as well. When I first met my school coordinator, he was telling me a little about the area and the culture. One of the cultural traditions he mentioned was Holy Week, one of the largest religious celebrations in Valladolid. He was telling me about the ceremonies, parades, etc. that take place during the week and that if I would still be in Spain, he would highly recommend I experience this myself. He also mentioned how they dress for the processions and excitedly said "Oh, like the Ku Klux Klan!!!" Instant turnoff. Like SIR?! I am Black so that is nowhere near enticing or encouraging. My ancestors taught me better than that LOL. Of course, he meant no harm in saying that. In fact, I'm almost positive these religious ceremonies and costumes were around way before the KKK and did not have a bad connotation before them. But still, I was too stunned to speak LOL.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time abroad and would definitely do it again. But being Black abroad can be very interesting. Here's another blogger's perspective that I really liked if you're interested in reading more.
Save $200 With These Referral Links!
Hope this served as your sign to step outside of your comfort zone and teach abroad! I thoroughly enjoyed my experience! And if that wasn't enough, I also have a referral link that will save you an extra $200! (I wish I would've had one of these before my trip, $700 to cover housing, meals, placement assistance, etc. while living abroad for 3 months is honestly a steal! That would normally only cover 1 week in a hotel lol.)
And of course, there's no hiding that there is a benefit for me too if you use my referral link because if you get $200, I also get $200. Win-win lol. However, I'm not in it for the money. I genuinely did enjoy my experience and would recommend it a thousand times!
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