Before heading to Alicante, Spain for a semester, I had been advised by a few classmates and friends that I needed to sign up for un intercambio, or a language partner, while abroad. They all told me that it was the best way to meet locals, especially when going abroad with many other Americans through a third party study abroad program. When my advisors in Alicante announced that we should go to their office to sign up for un intercambio, I went straight to them and put my name on the list. I requested a young woman my age. Shortly thereafter, I was assigned Paula.
It took us about a month to finally link up. I was busy adjusting to Alicante and she was busy with work and flight attendant classes. My host mom was convinced that we would never actually meet one another. Finally, we made a concrete plan to meet up in the center of the city.
Paula suggested we go to una tetería that I had never heard of near my host family’s apartment. I was really looking forward to it, but I was a little nervous. I hadn’t yet made friends with any other Spaniards. I put the name of la tetería into Google maps and I was off.
After just a five minute walk, Google maps said I had arrived, but I did not see any tea shops in sight. I did, however, see a hookah bar with the same name as the tetería Paula had suggested… Coincidence? I think not. La tetería turned out to be a hookah bar that serves tea. Although other teterías I had been in did have hookah, the emphasis of this establishment was surely on the hookah. Upon my realization, I walked into the meeting place and looked for a person that looked like Paula’s Whatsapp photo.
I found her and her friend in the back of the room. Immediately, they were so kind and happy to see me. They showered me with compliments about my Spanish and my outfit, and this made me feel comfortable immediately. It really felt like Paula and I connected instantaneously; she reminded me a lot of myself. We spent about an hour together, speaking mostly in Spanish but in a bit of English as well, as they were trying to improve their English. They taught me plenty of bad words and slang in just that hour. We had a lot of laughs.
Over the course of the semester, Paula and I saw each other about once a week. Since she had a car, she would pick me up and drive us around the city. She showed me an awesome beach about twenty minutes away that would have taken me an hour to get to by train. I was also lucky enough to meet some of her friends along the way.
One of the best adventures I had with her was one Sunday when we traveled to her hometown with a few of her friends to have a traditional paella de conejo made by her abuela. The hour-long ride was a good time in and of itself. Paula showed us all around her neighborhood. We got to watch her abuela make a large portion of delicious paella. Lunch together was full of laughter and great Spanish practice. After eating, I got to see the apartment Paula grew up in. We finished the day at a (real) tetería with her childhood best friend. On the way home, we drove past mountains cast with a perfect pink sunset, and we sang and danced to the number one song in the world at the time, Despacito.
On my second to last night in Alicante, Paula and I hiked up a large hill/mini mountain to el Castillo de Santa Barbara, a huge fort at the highest point of Alicante, right in the city. At the top, we shared a bottle of sparkling wine and watched the sunset. We actually met a couple visiting from New England while up there. After hanging out for an hour or so, we descended, and said goodbye to each other. It was bittersweet because we did not know when we would see each other again, since I was leaving Spain. Rather than feel sad, I really just felt lucky that I had made such a good friend in my time abroad.
If these sweet memories don’t convince you to sign up for an intercambio while you’re abroad, then I don’t know what will. Spending time with Paula was not only fun but it was also great practice for speaking Spanish. We taught each other plenty of vocabulary that you can’t learn in a classroom, and we both gained confidence speaking in our foreign language. Paula is working as an au pair in the United States right now, and we hope to see each other while she is still here.