What I Miss Most About Spain When I Am Abroad (Spanish Vlog)

21 min video

Join Lucía for a personal Spanish vlog about what she misses from Spain while she is abroad. A personal story gives you natural listening practice and a glimpse of everyday culture beyond a textbook.

Watch the lesson

Try it yourself

Watch once for the story. On a second viewing, write down three words or expressions connected to places, people, or routines. Tell someone what you would miss from your own home country in Spanish.

Watch the original lesson on YouTube.

Follow the vlog in short chapters

The video lasts 21 minutes and 14 seconds. Lucía walks through Seoul and talks about ten things she misses from Spain, then finishes with things she enjoys about being abroad. Follow one topic at a time and notice how she compares routines, makes jokes and expresses mixed feelings. These are her experiences and opinions; the comparisons are not rules for every person or place.

• 0:00–0:39 — Introduction
  She introduces the listening practice and the Spanish and English subtitles.
• 0:39–2:10 — 1. Daylight hours
  She describes how the different sunrise and sunset times affect how the day feels to her.
• 2:10–3:07 — 2. Window blinds and roller shutters
  Listen for persianas and her joke about waking up at five in the morning.
• 3:07–5:08 — 3. Meal times
  She compares her usual lunch, dinner and snack times with invitations she receives in Korea. She returns to the pace of meals at 7:27.
• 5:08–8:28 — 4. Weather and summer routines
  She talks about humidity, her hair, air conditioning, pools and the beach. There is a football aside at 7:03, before she returns to eating slowly and chatting after a meal.
• 8:28–11:49 — 5. Greetings and affection
  She compares the greetings and hugs she is used to with her experiences abroad. Around 10:55 she asks viewers to compare their own routines in Spanish and mentions the free guide.
• 11:49–13:18 — 6. Humor
  She explains why a joke can lose its effect when it needs explaining.
• 13:18–15:18 — 7. Public transport hours
  She describes how late-night travel affects her plans.
• 15:18–16:56 — 8. Food
  She talks about finding vegetarian food, enjoying new products and missing bread and toast.
• 16:56–18:09 — 9. Family
  She describes missing birthdays and family gatherings, and planning a present for her sister.
• 18:09–19:24 — 10. Concerts and events
  She misses concerts with friends while also making new memories in Korea.
• 19:24–21:14 — A balanced ending
  She jokes that she cannot complain, talks about what she does not miss, asks for viewers’ opinions and invites them to watch the Barcelona vlog.

Selected transcript excerpts

These ten short passages come from the vlog, in their original order. They are selected excerpts, not a complete transcript of the 21-minute video. Punctuation has been added for reading and a few hesitation sounds are omitted. Each English line translates the Spanish meaning in context. Replay with the Spanish subtitles on screen to hear the surrounding exchange.

1:13 — A different rhythm to the day

Entonces eso a mí me descuadra mucho y hace que sienta que los días son más cortos.

So that really throws me off and makes me feel that the days are shorter.

Me descuadra means “it throws me off” here. She is describing her own reaction to the daylight hours.

5:02 — Getting used to different meal times

Pero bueno, como estoy en otro país, pues me tengo que acostumbrar y ya está.

But well, since I am in another country, I just have to get used to it, and that’s that.

Acostumbrarse means “to get used to.” Y ya está closes the thought: “and that’s that.”

8:18 — A joke about eating quickly

Me siento mal, me siento mal por no comer a la velocidad de la luz.

I feel bad, I feel bad about not eating at the speed of light.

A la velocidad de la luz is a humorous exaggeration of how quickly her friends finish eating.

10:07 — Greeting a friend

¿Cómo no te voy a dar un abrazo?

How could I not give you a hug?

This is a rhetorical question: she means that of course she wants to hug a friend she has not seen for a long time.

12:26 — Explaining a joke

Y si se lo explico también pierde la gracia, ¿no?

And if I explain it to them, it loses its humor too, doesn’t it?

Perder la gracia means to stop being funny in this context. Spanish se replaces le or les before lo.

14:40 — Ending the evening earlier

Jo, eso hace que, claro, tenga que parar mis planes mucho antes de lo que me gustaría.

Ugh, that means I have to cut my plans short much sooner than I would like.

Me gustaría means “I would like.” Here she is explaining how getting home affects her evening.

16:15 — Finding something to eat

Siempre encuentro algo, siempre encuentro algo que pueda comer.

I always find something, I always find something I can eat.

She is talking about finding options that suit her vegetarian diet. The repeated siempre encuentro algo emphasizes that she does find something.

18:05 — Missing family events

Me gustaría no perdérmelos, pero es lo que hay.

I would like not to miss them, but that’s the way it is.

Los refers to the family events she has just mentioned. Perderse an event means to miss out on it.

18:55 — Making new memories

Igualmente yo aquí estoy creando otros recuerdos muy guays, también otras experiencias con otros amigos.

At the same time, I am making other really cool memories here, and having other experiences with other friends too.

Guay is informal: “cool” or “great.” She balances the events she misses with the experiences she is enjoying.

19:24 — A playful contradiction

No me puedo quejar, aunque me esté quejando aquí de cosas.

I can’t complain, even though I am complaining about things here.

She jokes about her own list of complaints, then says that she enjoys living in Korea for a few months each year.

Expressions to listen for

These expressions occur in the vlog. The English meanings below fit this conversation; try using three of them to describe your own routines or experiences abroad.

• echar de menosto miss someone or something
• me descuadrait throws me off; it disrupts what I am used to
• acostumbrarse a algoto get used to something
• merendarto have an afternoon snack
• meter prisa a alguiento hurry someone along; to rush someone
• ir a tu bolato do your own thing; informal
• me hace graciaI find it funny; it amuses me
• perder la graciato stop being funny, in the discussion of explaining jokes
• ¡Ostras!Wow! / Oh my!; an informal interjection in this vlog
• perderse un eventoto miss out on an event
• es lo que haythat’s the way it is; it is what it is
• me lo paso muy bienI have a great time

Write echo de menos and he echado de menos, with no h at the start of echo or echado. They come from echar. The RAE dictionary records echar de menos for noticing or feeling someone’s or something’s absence. In the exclamation ¡Ostras!, use the contextual meaning “Wow!” or “Oh my!” rather than the literal noun “oysters.”

Check your understanding

Answer these questions in Spanish after listening. They ask about Lucía’s experience in the video; your own experience may be different.

1. ¿Por qué echa de menos las persianas?
2. ¿Qué diferencia nota entre sus horarios de comida habituales y los de sus amigas en Corea?
3. ¿De qué se ríe cuando habla de comer «a la velocidad de la luz»?
4. ¿Por qué le cuesta explicar algunas bromas?
5. ¿Cómo afecta el transporte nocturno a sus planes?
6. ¿Qué dificultades encuentra al buscar comida vegetariana? ¿Consigue encontrar algo que pueda comer?
7. ¿Qué eventos familiares y conciertos se pierde? ¿Qué experiencias positivas menciona al mismo tiempo?
8. ¿Qué cosas de España dice que no echa de menos?

Make the story your own

Keep Lucía’s invitation at 10:55 in mind: compare your own routines in Spanish. You can write a short response or record yourself speaking for a minute. Choose one prompt:

• Cuando estoy fuera de mi país, echo de menos…
• Una costumbre a la que me tuve que acostumbrar fue…
• Aunque echo de menos…, también me lo paso bien porque…

A few details to keep in context

Lucía uses humor and emphatic comparisons while describing her summer abroad. Meal times, greetings, shop hours and household habits vary between people and places. You can keep her personal perspective while checking these specific details:

• Daylight and weather, around 0:39 and 5:08: sunrise and sunset times depend on the city and date; the clock times in the vlog are not fixed times for all of Spain or Korea. Spain’s Instituto Geográfico Nacional provides tables by province and year. Southern Spanish summers can be very dry, but “it never rains” is too absolute: AEMET’s Seville Airport climate averages include some summer rainfall.
• Air conditioning, around 6:15: Spain’s RITE regulation sets temperature limits for specified administrative, commercial and public-use premises. The vlog’s broad “Spain and Europe” comparison should not be treated as one universal European temperature rule.
• Madrid metro, around 14:10: the video says it runs until 2 a.m. The standard service window is generally 6 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.; check the last departure and any connections for your station. The official CRTM timetable shows that window. Seoul Metro provides last-train timetables by station, direction and day, so the vlog’s 11:30 p.m. reference should not be treated as one universal closing time.
• Body odor, around 20:10: “Koreans have no body odor” is too absolute. An ABCC11 gene variant can reduce underarm odor, but researchers found noticeable odor even in participants with that variant. People vary; the vlog’s observation should not be taken as a biological rule for every Korean person.