Forwarding Mail Address
To have mail forwarded to you in Spain from Earlham or mail forwarded to your
home address, fill out the appropriate forwarding mail address card at the
Earlham Post Office.
Mail during the Program
Your mailing address will be your host family address which you will get when
you are assigned your family. First class mail from the US to Spain and vice
versa normally takes about a week to arrive. In Spain, you may purchase stamps
(sellos; franquear = to stamp) at most newspaper stands and tobacco stores
or you can go to the post office (Correos) which is on the Plaza del Ajuntament,
24. For international mail, the heavier, the more expensive. One way you can
avoid this is by buying the airgram letter stationery at any papelería.
Sending boxes to and from Spain third class takes time (4-8 weeks). There used to be a special rate for books but the rules are changing and some post offices no longer have that rate. Books packed to send home should be in boxes of no more than 10lbs/each. There are specific directions for how boxes can be wrapped and it seems that each post office has its own quirks so before you attempt to wrap a box to send back, check with local regulations.
If your friends or family want to send food products to you in Spain, make sure they check it out carefully at the post office in the US first. Undeclared food products may or may not get through or they may get through with long delays. Do not send medicine through the mail unless declared through customs.
IPO will send weekly packages to the program and on-campus people writing to you can use this service to send mail. School information will be sent this way (TheWord).
Telephones
Telephones are not the conversational tool that they are in the US. People
will tend to make calls to arrange meetings but save the chit-chat for the
meeting. One reason for this is that, historically, telephone charges to a
household have been based on number of calls and length of the calls (called
a step-rate plan). Even if this system is not the case now, people act as
if it were. Also, many people have cell phones now (móviles) which
are convenient but pricey. We ask that you not make outgoing long-distance
calls from your homes unless they are by credit card and with the express
permission of your host mother (for each call). You are allowed 2 short calls
per day in your home should the families wish to enforce the guidelines. You
should not make any phone calls to cell phones from the house phone. Please
use a regular pay phone for that.
All telephone numbers in Spain are 9 digits in length. House lines all begin with a 9. When you hear people giving you only 6 or 7 numbers for a telephone, it is because all lines in a given area probably have the same prefix (ie., Valencia 963). U
Of course, you may receive calls to your home but make sure that anyone calling you from the US understands the time change factor (6 to 9 hours difference depending on location called from the US and the time of the year). For calls made to Spain from the US, dial 011(international number)-34 (Spain's country number)-and then the 9 digit Spain telephone number.
To make outgoing long-distance calls, one recommendation is to have a telephone credit card issued before you leave the US. Another way to make long-distance calls is to go to the Telefónica (public telephone bank) at Estación del Nord, C. Xátiva, 24 (8am-10pm). At the Telefónica, you will place your call (to US: 00-1-area code-telephone number), and then pay the cashier after you are finished. You may also buy telephone cards in Spain that can be used in public telephone booths for long-distance calls..
To call within Spain to anywhere in Spain, just dial the 9-digit number.
