If You're Puerto Rican Like Me, Follow These Tips When Traveling Abroad

Published on May 29, 2019 at 11:16 AM

Unsplash | Annie Spratt

The moment I decided I was going to live abroad for five months by myself, I knew figuring out how to survive without my abuela helping me in the kitchen and my precious coffee was going to be difficult but not almost impossible. I was not prepared for not finding any homey comfort that reminded me of Puerto Rico. Through a lot of homesickness and desire for things that were not dominant in Europe, I had to learn how to maintain my "Puerto Ricanness" the hard way, but it led me to feel more in touch with my identity than ever. Here are some things I wish I knew before heading out to live and travel in Europe.

Latin food is almost impossible to find, so your only option is to cook.

And Puerto Rican food is completely impossible. Since Latin foods share a lot of common items like rice, beans, and chicken, I assumed that some variation of a Latin restaurant would be easy to find, but that was too big of an assumption. There were all other types of food except the one I needed.

About a month into my time abroad, I realized if I wanted to eat some good rice and beans, I had to cook, but I had not brought any ingredients. In this moment of crisis and hunger, abuela came to the rescue, sending me a package with all my adobo to properly season what I cooked at home.

I learned my lesson: bring everything you could potentially need to satisfy your extreme food cravings because you would not find anything remotely similar over there.

You can survive speaking Spanish (at least in Italy), but it helps if you learn the language.

Traveling abroad is all fun and games until you are unable to tell the cab driver at the airport where to drop you off, or make new friends at the bar. There are apps that can assist you, but it's way more satisfying when you can talk to someone without any outside help.

As a native Spanish speaker, picking up Italian was easier since the languages are similar. I started learning it after I got to Rome, which was useful, but it would have been better to arrive with that knowledge in order to get around and socialize from the second I landed. Learning the local language makes the experience a little more fulfilling.

Fix your hair, nails, and face as perfectly as possible before leaving because beauty salons are extremely pricey.

In Europe, beauty salons are not as valued as they are at home, so when my friend from Panama and I decided that we should treat ourselves to a mani/pedi, we quickly backed out and opted for our usual €2 gelato instead, because the prices were extremely high compared to what we know them to be. What we pay $30 for was going to be doubled, plus the conversion. We learned our lesson: do your nails at home, or starve for a week in order to pay.

Abuela’s remedies are nowhere to be found, so bring your own medicines from home.

The homemade remedies abuelas make are from another planet. Somehow, they work magic, and any potential sickness disappears. I don't know if it's just an abuela thing, but the ingredients used for their weird teas and mixtures also matter — the weird suggestions, too, like putting Vicks VapoRub behind my ears when I have a cold. None of that was at reach in Rome, and the medicines over there do not function the same in these Latinx bodies, so make sure to bring medicines that you know work for sure.

Don’t worry too much about the coffee — they love it, too (and it is almost as delicious).

Let's face it: almost all of us need coffee to function in the mornings. In Puerto Rico, we are used to really strong and flavorful cafecito, which is why I was extremely scared about coffee elsewhere. But coffee was one of the few things that was able to keep me rooted in my traditions.

I'm not the biggest fan of espresso shots, but they did the job at 3 p.m. when I was falling asleep, because of jet lag. Having accessible coffee there made me feel right at home with all the coffee shops I adore.

There is going to be good Latin music at every club you go to.

The food and the people may be missing, but the party scene still shares a lot of similarities. As someone who loves dancing, I was relieved when I heard music that made me feel like I was partying back in Puerto Rico.

You can still go and jam to Bad Bunny and J Balvin at every club you go to. For some reason, Europeans love Spanish music — maybe because it's just so great! From salsa to trap to reggaeton, the club is probably the place where you will feel the most at home, so make sure to bring a bomb outfit to rock the night.