Eva Pecorella came home to Bethany this summer with a new appreciation for long dinners.

Pecorella, a senior at Westview High School, spent four weeks in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, through the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) program, as The Nexus reported Friday, Aug. 28.

The Westview student newspaper profile, written by Layla Ivanchuk, described how Pecorella's days on the Mediterranean island mixed classroom study with real-world practice.

Each morning, Pecorella and her program group visited cafes and ordered in Spanish. Afternoons brought three hours of language class. Lunch breaks were free time to wander the city in small groups.

But the deeper lessons came at the dinner table.

Pecorella lived with a host family alongside roommates. Her host parents often brought the group to neighbors' homes for evening meals, where she encountered sobremesa.

The Spanish tradition calls for unhurried conversation after eating, with no technology at the table. Sessions can last about two hours. In Spain, it is considered rude to rush a meal, and restaurant servers will not bring the check until diners ask, according to a George Washington University study-abroad guide on the custom.

"There's a lot of cultural differences, but overall it was really fun and they're really sweet," Pecorella told The Nexus. "Sobremesa is big in Spanish culture. It's a time after the meal when the family engages in conversation without technology, lasting for about two hours."

Pecorella said the friendships she formed were the highlight. She connected with locals on the island and with fellow American students in the program, calling the experience of learning how someone else lives "really eye opening."

The CIEE Palma program is a four-week immersion open to high schoolers who have completed at least one year of Spanish. Program details are available at ciee.org.

Pecorella is back at Westview for her senior year.