American mom residing in Barcelona shares the schooling system culture shocks she hasn't gotten over

Two different countries with vastly diverse cultures are bound to have some notable differences. These things become more evident when a person moves from one country to another for work or education. What is a regular thing for others might seem quite shocking to such a person. A mom from America who is now living in Barcelona, Spain, shared the things that she is still not used to regarding the differences in the school system in Barcelona and the U.S. after so many years of being there. The woman, Alexis Charbeneau–who goes by @complexis on TikTok–took to the platform to share her culture shocks about schools.

"Some school culture shocks that I'm still yet to get over so many years later, being an American mom in Barcelona," the mom began. "Okay, number one, the long days. The days are so long. My daughter gets on her bus at 8:00 AM or so in the morning and gets back at 5:15 PM. Yesterday, she had an extra 'escuela' — extracurricular activity. She didn't get home until 7:45 PM. The class didn't get out until 7 PM. 8 AM to 7:30 PM, wild for six years old!" Charbeneau expressed. Next up, she revealed, "The grandmothers are so involved. To an American, it's like genuinely mind-blowing. The line at pick up is more than half abuelitas."

The emphasis on extracurriculars is another cultural shock for the woman. "They do them, sometimes, during the lunch break. There's a music class after lunch, during the recess. So, like, you don't have to come pick your kid up. They can still go home on the bus and have it. They go home because they're doing it during the school day." The last thing she talked about was how kids can return home for lunch in Barcelona. "I'm officially out of time, but going home for lunch. Going home for lunch is a concept we don't know in the U.S. And it doesn't happen as much in the city. It happens much more in... not cities... It doesn't happen so much, but it is an option, and many people do it. Pick their kids up for two hours and then return back to school," Charbeneau explained.

She captioned the video, "Some culture shocks about school that still shock." The video received more than 14.6k views and over 600 likes. People took to the comments to share their experiences as well. @meowmerz commented, "What made my eyes wide is how physically affectionate the teachers and staff are with the kids. USA teachers would never hug or kiss a kid on the cheek, etc." @halfbloodmais wrote, "Moms here are working moms most of the time. Since stay-at-home moms are so rare and child care is usually done by grandparents, they are a very important pillar of the family and work-life balance."

@chiquita3364 shared, "I grew up in Madrid and I went to eat at home. I lived closer to the school. In the US, my daughter had to be at the bus stop around 6:15 am because school starts at 7:00 am. It is still dark at that time." @montsecll6 expressed, "I was baffled when I saw on here that some kids in the US only have 15 minutes of actual time to have lunch. I had two hours (which was lunch + recess before and after lunch)."

You can follow Alexis Charbeneau (@complexis) on TikTok for more family-related content.