The Language Barrier

The students on this trip with me have some unique stories about their experiences speaking spanish in Spain. Many of the students can speak perfect spanish, but the spanish here is different than Mexican spanish. But there are also many of us that speak very broken spanish, if we are even able to speak any spanish at all.
My friend Ileana speaks perfect spanish, well to me it seems perfect. However, many words in Spain are not the same. She understands mostly everything but uses different words for somethings but people are able to understand.
The other students, including myself that speak little spanish don't understand everything, which can lead to some crazy stories.
One student was telling me that he thought his host mom said she was a DRUNK. After more talking he figured out that she had not said she was a drunk but actually drank very little but liked a certain drink they have here. Also he had to explain to his 69 year old host mom that he was gay. At first, not sure how she would react he did not say anything. Until she asked him if he was. I can't imagine trying to explain that in spanish. But when all was said and done, he said they were laughed until they cried about the misunderstanings.
I am blessed to have the chance to learn another language and about another culture. There are so many misunderstandings in the world that could be prevented if everyone took the time to learn about each other. I am still confused most of the time but I can't believe how much I have learned in a week.