HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY TO ME! I have mixed feelings about birthdays, I like them, but to celebrate, you need invest time and money. Where should you celebrate it, who do you invite, if you celebrate it at home, you can not invite all your friends, so what else can you do etc. Even when it is someone else’s birthday, what should you give. Giving money is boring, but buying something else is hard as well.

And now it was my birthday while in Spain. My new roommates thought that I should do something special. They told me not to stress, they would do everything and I just had to invite my friends for Friday. (My birthday was on Saturday, but on Saturdays nights the landlord was in the building and after 23.00 pm we had to be quiet).

My roommates were so sweet, they did not let me do anything. They decorated the whole house, cooked dinner since I was fasting and I couldn’t eat before 21.15 pm. They bought a cake, they bought drinks etc. I only bought some snack’s. They were really making sure that I had a good time. Afterwards, they told me to go outside with my friends and we would do a sleepover later. So I went to this sky bar with my friends. It is in the middle of Valencia, and you can see the whole city from there. Afterwards we went to a bar and then I came home to the girls, all sleeping on the ground.

The next day, I had lunch with some Spanish classmates and in the evening I went out with some Erasmus friends. It was a funny night because I was fasting, so I wanted to be home before 04.00 am so I had some time to eat. But there were no taxis and we have been waiting for an hour. I tried calling a cab, but they were all occupied. At the end, I got so annoyed, cause I was hungry and I couldn’t eat the next day and I had a lot to do that Sunday so I had to be fit. I wanted to lift with strangers, but at the same time a taxi came by, so we took it and I latterly had just two minutes to eat.

The week after my birthday I had to focus on school. The deadlines for all the projects were this week, and since I have changed my bad habits in Spain, like postposing everything, I didn’t have to do a lot. I had some exams, which went really well. A month ago I had some exams as well. I had high results, which was great, so I was not worrying about the written exams.

Certain subjects were rounded off through a practical assignment. We had to prepare some lessons for children and execute this. The teacher was amazed by my skills. I think this is because we have another image of education and also the system is different. I had classmates who would yell ‘’shuut up!’’ to their ‘children’ and who would push them if they were standing wrong while doing a game for example. If they wanted attention, they would just yell ‘’Helloooooo’’. Which I thought was really weird. I kept the order in a way that was more responsible. But both counties could learn from each other.

I want to reflect on Pedersen’s culture shock model one more time. I think I have adjust the Spanish lifestyle very good, without problems. This has to do with the fact that I am from Tunisia and there are some similarities with those two countries. The last time I said I think the people here party too much, I did this as well. More than usual, but this has to do with the fact that I know that I am here for just a few months.