Hola! My name is Abri Berg, and I’m a junior at Parker spending my junior year abroad through SYA Spain. For the past three months, I have been living with a host family in Zaragoza, a the fifth largest city in Spain located in the north, and attending an American school comprised of students from international schools and American students from all around the country. Here’s some insight into what a typical day in my life looks like:

7:30 The upbeat, cheery sound of “At the Beach” blares through my iPhone 8 speaker, signaling to me that it’s time to begin my day. I reluctantly roll out of my cozy grey ombré comforter, slip into my zapatillas, and start my morning routine. I am slowly adjusting to wearing my house slippers at all times since it is not customary in Spain to walk around the house barefoot.

7:50 I walk one room over into the kitchen for my daily breakfast of a café con leche and pan con aguacate made by my host dad, Fernando. Avocado toast isn’t a typical morning meal you’d find around here, but it’s one my host dad, host mom, Encarna, and host sister, Coral, enjoy before heading out the door. I’ve heard from some of my friends that for breakfast they indulge in cookies and churros with chocolate, but extreme doses of sugar in the morning is a trend I’ve yet to catch onto.

8:05 Luckily, I have the luxury of living right next to the tranvia, a modern and over ground train that runs on tracks, the most functional and practical form of public transportation in Zaragoza. My family’s apartment is located outside of the center of the city and my ride to school takes anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes. I leave thirty minutes before my first class starts just in case I happen to miss the first tram and have to wait for the next one. A lesson I’m in the process of learning is how to run on time––not my usual five or ten minutes late, especially now that I travel mainly by public transportation. The tranvia will leave you if you don’t make it in time and no amount of knocking (or puppy eyes) will persuade anyone to open the door for you.

8:20 The tranvia comes to a firm stop at Plaza Aragón, so I hop off and quickly cross the street into a mini park located outside of the SYA school building. I pass by many people bundled head to toe in winter gear (in fifty degree weather). Chicago built up my resistance to the cold, so I often get away with a light fall jacket. I stroll along, smiling at the old man who sits with his old brown dog on the same bench every morning, and arrive at school.

8:30 I greet my friends in the sala and head to my first period class. I am enrolled in six classes in total, four of which are taught only in Spanish. I take two history electives––“Contemporary Art and its Roots” and “Contemporary History of Spain through the Lens of its Cinema”. In these classes, we utilize oral discussions to practice our conversational skills and visit

local museums and monuments that relate to the time period in history we are studying. I also take “Spanish and Latin American Theater: Analysis and Performance”, “Precalculus and Advanced Topics in Mathematics”, and “English”. Currently, we are practicing for our show right before winter break. We just received our roles and now are memorizing our lines (in Spanish, of course). Every student is required to take a Spanish language class which is focused on improving grammatical skills, practicing pronunciation, and expanding our vocabulary. My homework is challenging and takes me longer to complete than at Parker because the majority of it is in Spanish. SYA’s block schedule grants me at least one free period a day that I use to work on homework and meet with teachers.

10:15 After two fifty-minute classes, it’s time for my favorite part of the day: descanso. Descanso, which directly translates to “rest”, is a thirty-five minute break period in the middle of the morning that occurs every single day. I head out with my friends and walk around the block to our favorite coffee shop “El Criollo” to grab my second café con leche of the day or a pastry. Sometimes I use this time to meet with teachers and finish up homework, but I prefer to spend it catching up with friends and relaxing.  

10:50 I finish up the last sip of my coffee and head back to school. Descanso is ending and now it’s time for three more classes before lunch. This is probably the most challenging stretch of classes since we eat lunch 13:30,  a custom in Spain I am still adjusting too.

13:30 I hang up my backpack and grab my coat out of my locker before heading out the door to lunch, which is an hour long.No one brings their own lunch because it’s included within our tuition and there is no cafeteria in the school building. Instead, the school gives us the option to eat at any of the four restaurants they have a contract with.

The one that is closest to school is El Rinconete. It serves a well rounded plato del día with typical Spanish food such as tortilla de patata, salad with tuna, croquettes, and some sort of meat or fish. Memel is also nearby, which allows you to choose an appetizer and an entree, they also have amazing bread. Fray Juan is a little bit of a walk but completely worth it and serves bocadillos, hamburgers, veggie burgers, huevos rotos, and salads. The last restaurant, Jalos, is nearby Fray Juan and a renowned favorite amongst the students here. They offer a wide range of options, anywhere from falafel dish to a vegetarian burrito. I try to visit each of the restaurants once throughout the week.

14:40 Lunch ends and I have two more periods before school is over. The last period ends at 16:30, which seems a little intimidating at first, but I only end school at that time on Mondays and Thursdays. On Fridays we have a half day of school which is always a great way to start off the weekend.

16:30 My last class ends and now it’s time for afterschool activities. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I have field hockey practice with a local club team consisting of girls in high school and college from the U.S., Spain, Belgium, and Holland. I’ve enjoyed practicing the sport and my Spanish with the locals my age and learning new skills from the college students on my team.

Thankfully, one of our coaches is bilingual and is able to translate if we don’t understand their explanations of drills in Spanish first. On Wednesdays, I teach English to an adorable little four-year-old girl and sometimes I have a voice lesson. On Friday I spend time with my host family before heading out to meet friends in the center of the city.

20:00 The hour at which I return from my afternoon activities varies every day but it is usually around this time. I head to my room and try to finish up any homework for the next day that I did not have time to complete during my free periods.

21:30 Dinner! There’s a whole history as to why Spaniards run on a later eating schedule that I looked up during my first week while impatiently waiting with a growling stomach until dinner. Once every member of my host family is home from evening activities, we head into the living room and sit at the dinner table. My host dad loves to cook and some of the most common dinner items he prepares for us are fresh salads, roasted vegetables, fish, potatoes, and vegetable soup. Postre is always fruit, one of my favorites being mango, which takes so much better here than it ever did in the States.

0:30 I finish up the last of my tarea and lay down in bed. I give myself a couple minutes to catch up with some friends and family back home before double checking if my alarm is set for the next morning and heading to bed… buenas noches!