la cultura

So far I’ve noticed lots of differences in culture. The biggest difference being how defined the Spanish daily schedule is. It’s nice because it forces you to adapt to the lifestyle faster, but it is difficult to get used to. In Spain, a majority of the people don’t work eight hour days like we do. All the shops here have very strange hours (they open at 9:00, close for lunch, re-open at 5:30, and close at 8:00). Can you imagining everybody going home to eat lunch with their families in the US? It simply wouldn’t work because it would cause major traffic problems, but here everyone lives in the city and within walking distance of their homes.

There is a saying here that “Spaniards live in the streets.” No it doesn’t mean there is an overload of bums, let me explain. The majority of people in Spain live in built up, urbanized cities in tall apartment buildings. These apartments are therefore small and crowded, so people go out ALL THE TIME to cafes, shopping etc. It’s for that very reason why the city here is populated with shops. There are bread shops, pharmacies, shoe stores, hair salons, fruit shops, magazine stands, bars, and the list goes on and on. In fact, my professor told me that behind Las Vegas, Valladolid has highest bar-to-person ratio than any other city! These shops have a very influential impact on the Spanish culture in regards to fashion, entertainment, and food.

I already kind of mentioned Spain’s atypical eating schedule, but allow me to elaborate; it is by far my favorite cultural distinction (and that should be no surprise for most of you lol). Mornings begin with a light breakfast; typically coffee and cookie/crackers called galletas. Lunch is the most important meal of the day, and it’s a lot of food. The other day we had a salad, tortilla española (which is like a fluffy tortilla/egg pocket), wine, bread, and a pudding-like dessert. It’s no wonder why Spaniard take a nap afterwards! Dinner is usually smaller, but served at like 9 o’clock at night.

The Spanish diet is NOT Mexican—there are no tacos or burritos—it is extremely Mediterranean. There is a lot of pasta, vegetables, eggs, fish, and lots and lots of bread. Bread is a major staple food and is served with every meal. In fact, families will go out to the bread store and buy fresh bread every day. Happily, All the meals I’ve had have been phe-nom-en-al. Very flavorful, healthy, and delicious. It’s much better eating than the caf.

I also wanted to include a paragraph about fashion because the fashion is not at all what I was told. There are tons and tons of shops: shoe shops, clothing stores, watch shops, hair salons, you name it. Valladolid dresses way better than any city I’ve ever lived in. Papi himself is very stylish, and saying he loves shopping would be an understatement. Everywhere you go you’ll see very nicely groomed Spaniards of all ages. It’s very different from my home town or EC. I hope to go shopping sooner or later because they have awesome jeans here (with the exception of these saggy crotch jeans that are popular with women), and I cannot wait to get some.

The fashion is not the only thing that surprised me, the radio is not at all like I imagined either. I was thinking the radio stations would be conquered by Spanish artists like La Oreja de Van Gogh or maybe Juanes, but SOOO not the case. Papi listens to KISS FM (Kees-ef-fay-em-may) which is like a playlist of American pop hits from the last couple of decades. I’ve heard ABBA, Taylor Swift, Sinèad O’Connor, Tony Braxton, and Katy Perry. It’s really strange. I didn’t realize how much other countries love American music until I came here. This Italian guy I met was a DJ and he loves American Pop and Hip-Hop because the beats are the best. I also have a new friend in class who is from Japan and she also said that she loves American artists (Oh, and JH I asked her if she was an Utada fan and she said the whole country loves her!). They play very few Spanish songs unfortunately.

The tv is not in English though! JG and I have a tv in our room but it has 10 channels, and they have really odd programs. It’s not very Spanish to watch tv (because, remember, Spaniards live in the streets), but the news is popular. Unlike the US, however, there isn’t much censorship here so you’ll see nudity, violence, or cursing. I like to turn it on ever now and then to watch fútbol, but I have never watched much tv.

Woo. I know I’ve written a novel with my last couple of entrees, but that’s okay. Love it or hate it, I guess. I’m just excited to share my experience with whoever will lend an ear. Remember I miss all of you SO much!!! Please, feel free, even pressured, to comment. I will also do my best with replying to posts on Facebook. The routine of walking to a campus building to find the internet is not as easy as it may seem, especially with me only being here a week; my apologies, I promise I’ll be better. Hasta luego! Os echo de menos mucho! *Two kisses españoles*