Lockers and binders and pens, oh my!

Whenever I am introduced to a Spanish student, either at my school or out socially, I can predict what they will ask me within the first five minutes of learning that I'm American, “Do you have a locker at your school back home?” Most Spanish teenagers have watched and love the movie, High School Musical, which is their primary reference for American high school culture, and hallway lockers made a big impression on them.

My Spanish friends are fascinated as I talk about the size and location of my locker, as well as traditions that revolve around lockers, such as decorating friends' lockers for their birthdays, sitting in front of lockers, meeting at someone's locker.... It all seems so normal to me, but not here. There are no lockers in most Spanish Schools. Instead, I am given a small, one foot by nine inch cubby, along with a hook for my coat in my classroom.

Instead of a locker, each student is assigned a small cubby in the classroom

Back in September, I partook in the annual school supply purchasing ritual (my favorite!) and was in for quite a shock as I discovered that binders and paper are not universal in size. Spaniards use the typical European paper size called A4, which is longer and narrower than our 8.5 x 11 inch paper. It also has 4 holes to put into a 2 or 4 hole binder. But really, no one puts their papers directly into their binders. They first put their papers into an A4 plastic sleeve and then put the sleeve into the binder to keep the papers nice, clean and organized.

Notes on graph paper are inserted into a plastic sleeve, then added to a binder

When it comes to note taking, my Spanish classmates are experts. Their notes are a beautiful work of art written on graph paper (for all subjects, not just for math) and in beautiful cursive handwriting. They have a special color coding system and write in multiple colored inks for different parts of their notes: headings, key vocabulary words, etc. Additionally, it makes me laugh that to highlight or underline something, they pull out their ruler! I don't think I'll ever achieve such particular note taking skills and do it in the required and unforgiving pen, which brings me to the my last point.

Pencils are a rare item here as pens are requirred for homework and even math tests. When I review my calculations, things can get a bit sloppy without any erasing capabilities, and waiting for the whiteout to dry becomes disastrously messy. The test I end up turning in is certainly not a work of art! But I'm learning.

A friend's color-coded philosophy notes