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| 西班牙旅行 |
In my five months in 西班牙 it was clear that many Sevillanos have had very few interactions with black people and just really did not know how to handle it. 人们会在街上盯着我看, 有些人甚至拦住我，要摸我的头发. I was called “Morena” and “la morenita” which means dark or black skinned girl. 在一个不太愉快的场合, I had a much older man touch my skin as a way of saying that I was beautiful. 不管是不是赞美……..这太恶心了. Another time, a younger Spanish guy impressively rapped to me when he asked me if I liked rap music. Even my host mom was joking around one day asked me to teach her how to twerk because she assumed I knew how it was done. My roommates and I teased her about the whole thing and even invited her to come out with us but when I look back I can’t help but wonder why she asked me and not anybody else. 在美国，这种事情永远不会发生.
It is important to I mention that I didn’t ever feel threatened or insulted because I knew the interactions weren’t coming from a place of hate. 驱使他们行动的是好奇心和阴谋. When I looked at it that way it made me see things a little bit differently. For some Spaniards all they have as representation of Black people is pop culture: Music, TV, 和电影. All too often pop culture presents a unilateral view of a race or culture to draw in viewers. 当然，外国消费者的观点是有偏差的. That’s when I realized that the response I would normally have if someone touched my hair or rapped to me, 或者让我跳电臀舞，就和在美国不一样了. 人们就是不一样. Rather than accepting the fact that I looked different and would probably be treated differently, I actually looked at my time abroad as a challenge to educate the people of 西班牙 that I encountered. 对我来说，在国外当黑人是一个教书的机会. A chance to shift the “Black narrative” from the stereotypes portrayed in movies and TV shows and guide it to something much more real.
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| 在塞维利亚找到了我的家 |
My first lesson: I may be different in skin tone but we’re more alike than you think. Despacito 这不是2017年夏季的热门之作. 每个人都能欣赏好音乐! I’d like to point out that I was a fan of the song before Justin Bieber came out with his remix and I definitely prefer the suave intro Luis Fonsi serenades me with in the original. Nevertheless, when it came down to the music, there was no Black vs. 西班牙战争时，我们一起欣赏各种音乐. 即使我们不懂他们的语言.
我教的另一课是关于我的头发. When I was abroad, I felt like my hair got more attention than I did sometimes. My go-to style since basically the fourth grade has been individual box braids with curly or wavy ends. When it was time to get my braids redone I knew I was going to have to find someone to do them and I was definitely prepared to take the six hour bus ride to 马德里, 如果需要. 幸运的是，有人帮我找到了一个能干的当地人. When I came back to my program the next day looking different a lot of people loved my new look, but also had a lot of questions which meant that I had to be open about what my natural hair looks like and the process to get it styled the way it is. The questions were a lot more candid than I’m used to but to help them learn, 我必须愿意教书.
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| 探索五彩缤纷的世界 |
The main lesson I tried to teach was that African-Americans are not all the same. 有的喜欢说唱，有的会电臀舞，有的梳着黑色的长辫子. But some like K-pop, some can’t dance to save their lives, and some have big beautiful afros. 没有什么类别是我们都能归入的. So when it comes down to answering the question “What’s it like to be Black? ” My answer could be totally different than some other Black person and since I am more than just my skin, 我宁愿你问, “做克里斯蒂娜是什么感觉??”
克里斯蒂娜B. 是东航校友大使吗. She studied abroad in 塞维利亚 in the Spring of 2017 and is currently a senior at the Christopher Newport University.
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