Hey y’all. Here is an incomplete list of things I have noticed in Spain (or at least where I live). None of these are bad things, they are just things I have observed in my two months here that I found either interesting or different from where I am from. Enjoy!
1. People are very physical here. Unless it is a professional environment or something, if you are introduced to someone by another person, you are expected to do the two-sided kiss thing. And again, when someone leaves. This threw me off a little when I met my host family. I had been under the impression that that was only done with people you have previously met before and knew, but nope, it is done among strangers and acquaintances. I am getting use to it now, but at first it was strange.
2. That being said, you would think that in a country where they do the kissing thing that people on the street and in shops would be friendly too but alas, not really. Not necessarily unfriendly but it reminds me a lot of being in a big city. When walking on the street, you don’t make eye contact with others, you don’t talk to others and mind your own business. This I noticed when I was lost in Huelva. Being a socially anxious person, I wanted someone to approach me (and my obvious sobs) but no one did. Again, not a bad thing. You just mind your own business.
3. People wear shoes in the house here. It is considered strange to not wear anything on your feet while in the house. I don’t know about other people, but I am a barefoot all day kind of person. Usually when I go to someone’s house (that I know) I have been strangely conditioned to always take off my shoes. Don’t know why, I have always done that (so does my family). I was surprised here that even in the hot summer people wear slippers or shoes in the house. My host family noticed, and my host mom got me a cute pair of slippers. I wear them sometimes, but I honestly forget to a lot.
4. No one owns driers. In every house I have been in, people have washing machines but no clothes driers. This is obviously more environmentally friendly and economical. My family back home is sort of similar since we do try to hang up our clothes outside when it is nice out but during the winter that is not an option obviously. Here I guess since it doesn’t snow or rain much you can hang up things outside all year round.
5. Public toilets. They rarely have toilet paper, or soap. They have the dispensers for both and yet 3 times out of 10 they are empty (or torn off the wall). Carry purell and tissues, my friends.
6. The scheduling of stores is different here. They open later (like 9-11 am) and close a lot later (10-11pm). Stores are also sometimes closed in the middle of the day for lunch and they are usually never open on Sundays (even big super markets and department stores).
7. Every travel guide online said this but some reason I didn’t really notice until I got here. The meal times are very different. At school I usually eat lunch at 1:30 pm which is kind of normal but at home on the weekends we sometimes don’t eat lunch until 3-4 pm. Dinner is also late (usually between 9-11 pm). That took some getting used to (I sometimes would eat dinner at 5pm back home).
In school:
8. The school I am at is a bilingual school, but obviously we are closer to England than we are the US. So they teach them British English. This threw me off slightly, especially with different spellings of words and vocabulary (like when I proctor a test). I have had to change some of the words I use (like sneakers to trainers, cookies to biscuits, elevators to lifts ect) so the kids would understand them. Not a bad thing, I feel quite posh when I use the word plaster instead of band aid .
9. The classes are different here. This might be because I am in a small private school but the amount of classes they offer are really small. Unlike in my high school in the US, students cant pick what kind of courses they take. There is only one class of 20-30 students for each grade and you are with the same group for every class. There are no different levels for math or language (like AP or CP or remedial) and you can’t choose elective classes (except for one course that meets a few times a week, but most students choose to do exam prep).
10. There aren’t any clubs or sports in this school. I don’t know how it is at other Spanish schools, but in the US in almost every school they offer after school sports and clubs. That is a huge part of someone’s school experience back home (Cross country and Track and Field all the way). Some students do play sports, but they are separate from the school and are usually private lessons. Where I am at, tennis and horse back riding are very popular.
11. Students here have way more breaks during the day than we did in America. At my school, regardless of grade, they have a study and recess period during the morning for about an hour as well as a full hour and a half for lunch. They do eat in 45-minute shifts (half the school for one and the other for the other) but the rest of the time is either for their elective class (study or exam prep) or another recess. In high school in the US, the school I went to didn’t offer a study period or break, and our lunch was only 24 minutes long. I prefer this system for obvious reasons.
12. As everyone knows, very unfortunately gun violence is becoming a common issue in schools in the US. So we have become accustomed to things like lock down drills and procedures. Unfortunately it is the norm for us. Here, that doesn’t exist. As far as I know, they don’t have specific lock down procedures in the event of an intruder or a shooter. The school doesn’t even have a PA system to alert students of such things. We have never even had a fire drill in the two months I have been here. After living in America for my whole life and going to school there and doing these things, it was almost surprising and a very sad realization that a lot of other places don’t have these types of issues. I am grateful to be in a place that doesn’t typically deal with these issues, but it is just a sad realization about what students in the US have to worry about every day.
Food: (the way to my heart is through my stomach)
13. Besides things like the classic paella (which is delicious by the way) there are a few foods that are surprisingly popular here that I was not expecting. Yogurt and pudding are super popular, and most grocery stores have a whole aisle dedicated to them. But the yogurt is more fruit flavored rather than the US’s tendency of making “dessert flavored” yogurt. But yeah. Very popular. The fridge at my host families house has a whole shelf in the fridge dedicated to yogurt and pudding. Me gusta (I like).
14. Biscuits are also popular. I am not talking about biscuits like what you would eat at KFC or with gravy. These biscuits are like cookies and are all pretty much the same flavor (but with hundreds of different brands). Kind of like British tea biscuits. Kids eat them for breakfast which I found kind of strange at first but hey. Life is short. Eat a cookie (biscuit) for breakfast. My favorite brand are these ones called Tosta Ricos. I recommend. They have cartoon pictures on them and sometimes are shaped like dinosaurs.
15. In the area I live in, they eat a lot of meat. Every meal I have eaten, (lunch and dinner) there is always some kind of meat dish as the main entre. Maybe for some this is normal, but I personally come from a family that only really eats meat a few times a week. When I was in college I only ate meat maybe once every two or three weeks. So I have been getting a lot of protein. I have also tried fish and have eaten more fish these past two months than I have in my entire life. I kid you not.
That’s all I got for now. Obviously, this isn’t everything that is different from America and these are purely my experiences so far here. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more (wait for me to do something exciting first). Adios.
Jordan's ESL Adventure 