Toparse con la novedad

Question

Hola todos! He regresado de un largo viaje! Pues, la verdad es que no estuve de viaje, pero he empezado mi primer año en la universidad. He estado bastante ocupada! De todas formas, me surgió una pregunta acerca del significado de la expresión "toparse con la novedad." Creo que quiere decir algo así como "to have a rude awakening" pero quisiera saber más si alguien me puede dar unos ejemplos de cómo se usa. Gracias!

Hey everyone! I've come back from a long trip! Well actually I wasn't on a trip, but I've started my first year at college. I've been busy, to say the least! Anyway, I had a question about the meaning of the expression "toparse con la novedad." I think it means something like "to have a rude awakening," but I'd like to know more if anyone could give me some examples of how it's used. Thanks!

Welcome back. Yes, that is a darn good reason to disappear for a while. I remember feeling like I never had a free minute, and wondered how people found time for all that college partying. - rogspax, Oct 12, 2013

Thanks for the welcome! - LaPiedraAlegre, Oct 12, 2013

Answer 1

Your understanding is very close. Toparse is to suddenly come accross something, but novedad doesn´t have to be rude; it can be anything new - positive or negative.

Your parragraph is very well written, but remember that "todos" doesn´t take the place of someone´s name, so "Hola a todos" is better.

Thanks! I learned this expression the other day listening to an interpreter. I had never heard it before! Thanks for your suggestion on "hola a todos" From the way it sounds spoken, I didn't know it had the "a!" :) - LaPiedraAlegre, Oct 12, 2013

Yes, spoken, the ´a´ isn´t always clear to we non natives, when leading or trailing another ´a´. I´ve had several of those where I learned I´d been skipping a needed ´a´ in my writing. - rogspax, Oct 12, 2013

So would the original phrase be merely to come across something novel, or have more of a feeling ¨to be struck by something new¨ with struck not being literal, but rather lilke darse cuenta. - rogspax, Oct 12, 2013