There are several different things done in Spain that are much different from our culture here in The United States. There are typical foods and also time differences to when dinner is served. There are also different traditions that the country is known for. Spain is also known for their big and fantastic cities.

One of the main things that Spain is known for dealing with food is the time that they eat their meals. People in Spain usually don't eat their dinners until 8:30 or 9:00. Although they don't eat at an early hour, the people in Spain are known for tapas. During a break at work or even if someone begins to get hungry before dinner hours, the people head to the bars. At the bars, people get served tapas for free if they order drinks. For every drink they order, they get a choice of a ration of tapas. A ration of tapas is just a small portion of food to hold off the hunger until dinner. One of the most common forms of a tapa are champiniones de ajillo, mushrooms in a garlic sauce. A type of food that is famous in Spain is gazpacho. This is a cold vegetable soup. Generally, gazpacho is served very cold,in the summer due to the extreme hot temperatures in Spain during the summer. I had the chance to try gazpacho during my Spanish course this fall semester. I really liked it, my opinion on gazpacho is that if someone doesn't like tomatoes, they probably won't like this. A typical Spanish dish served for dinner includes paella. Paella is a potato and egg mixture. I also had a chance to try this in my Spanish class. I really like this as well. It is generally served cold with mango juice. As I had said, Spain's culture is a bit different from our's, and food is definitely one way.

A popular custom in Spain includes going to see a bull-fight. Bull-fighting is an exciting show to go see. The audience always gets into the preformance. Spainards will only cheer on the matador if he fights the bull with artistry and dignity. A bull fight takes place in three acts. The first act is known as the "capote". In this act the matador uses a quite, large rag of purple and yellow color. The second act is known as "la suerte de banderillas. "In this act, the bull-fighter engages in a chase and tries to stab it with his sword. The third act is known as "suerte suprema." In this act, the matador uses a muleta, a small red rag. He must show he can cover bull with the rag. Then stick the bull with his sword. A bull-fight is something that when I travel to Spain, I am looking forward to seeing.

Finally, I feel that each country makes its own culture, and that is what makes each of the countries unique. I plan on visiting Spain after my college graduation. There are several things I want to do while I am there. Two of the major things that I want to do include heading to the bars for tapas and also as I said, going to see a bull-fight.

I am a freshman here at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and majoring in Spanish Education. There are several reasons why I chose to major in that field. In this section of writing I plan to discuss all of the reasons for being a Spanish major and why I like the language so much.

As I said, there are several reasons why I study the Spanish language. One of those reasons is simple. I enjoy to speak, read, and write it very much. When I had to make the decision in the eighth grade on which language to take throughout the rest of my years at high school, I debated about it a lot. I finally came to the conclusion to study Spanish. I came to that conclusion because Spanish is very prominent in our world today. From the very first week in the class, I absolutly loved it. It was the only class that I looked forward to throughout the day. As my freshman year in high school went on, I just loved it more and more. I enjoyed speaking it the most. When it came time to schedule for the next year, I had no problem on deciding the language to take. Finally in my junior year, my teacher had talked to me and asked me if I had decided on a major for college yet or not. I told her that I was still a little unsure, but I thought that maybe something in the Spanish field. When I told her that she was just tickeled. She told me that she thought that I would be of great success in the field and would make an excellent teacher. That is the first reason I have for choosing to study the language in college. The fact that I experienced for four years in high school and had no problem keeping a 4.0 in the class.

Another reason I chose to study Spanish education here at IUP was from the influence of my teacher, Mrs. Rafella Dinga. She was my teacher for the four years that I had the language. In my opinion, she was one of the best teachers that I have ever had. She influenced me into becoming a teacher in several ways. For example, she gave me a couple choices when I told her I was interested in majoring in Spanish. She told me that I could become a teacher or even a translator. When I told her I wasn't sure which, she said "with the type of person you are, I recommend teaching." It was from that point on that I decided to major in the education field. Throughout my senior year, she kept asking me if I was ready for the challenge of college. I always said "I guess, I really don't know what to expect." Now that I am here at college, I have stayed in touch with Mrs. Dinga. She has helped me go over a Spanish composition and really encouraged me to do the best I can and that will be enough.

There is one final reason why I chose to study Spanish education here at the university. When I was in my junior year, I began looking at colleges. With the influence of my parents, I decided upon a college that was some what near home. I looked at a few different colleges, but finally decided on IUP. IUP has an excellent education program and is well known for some of the Spanish professors that teach here. Now that I am here studying, I couldn't be happier. A Spanish education major is a major that suits me in every way. I enjoy the language and enjoy working with people and helping them in any way I can.

In conclusion, I feel that in general a person should pick their major for college based on everything that interests them. If someone would have told me when I was 14 that I was going to become a Spanish teacher, I probably would have thought that they were crazy. An important thing to remember is keep every option for a major open. If Spanish interests someone in high school, then they should think as it for an option for a major at a university.

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This page was last revised on December 12, 1997. You are the person to visit this site by Tonya Cravener