This was one of the stranger experiences I had in Spain, mostly because I’d never experienced anything like it before, but it also happened on my first full day in Bilbao when culture shock had already taken over my brain. This is how it was from my perspective: Before I arrived to Spain, I knew from my program that the two women I’d be staying with were therapists; that is all. When I arrived, I found my room off to the side of my 45yr old host mom’s, Sal, and across from

The scene smelled of incense. The air was light, as the entire right side of the apartment was made of floor to ceiling windows. I had just arrived to my Spanish home. There was a quiet humming of music that echoed from all corners of the house and I noticed both a Mary and a Buddha on the mantle piece. My host mom, age 45 with wickedly beautiful red curls and a body Barbie would dream of, led me to the room I would inhabit for the next four months. I smiled when I saw it.