Estados Unidos ≠ España

Alrighty. Before I began to get into this I would just like to point out that neither country is superior to the other. They each have different cultural practices and as I learn more about Spain, I am able to examine and realize things about my own country more & more. It's going to be hard for me to write this & not sound like I think America is screwed up but don't mind that. Just pay attention to the differences. 

One of the biggest things I've noticed is that Spaniards value their family, relaxation, & socialization time a little more than we do. Ok maybe it's not fair to say more than we do. Maybe we just show it in different ways. But then again......idk. For example, every Sunday here is family day. Our study center is located in front of what they call the Riverbed. It's an old dried up river with fountains, playgrounds, soccer fields, and I see they even have a traveling circus there now lol. This place basically has everything. People exercise, walk their dogs, and go on dates there. Very romantic. Now back to what I was saying. On Sundays this place is filled with families and strollers lol. Hmm..now that I think about it whenever I have seen a family it has always included a mom AND a dad. Muy bueno! The city just seems so happy on Sundays. I know in the Black community Sundays is usually the day when your mom or grandma make a big soul food meal and the whole family comes over for dinner. Besides holidays I can't really say that my family participates in this anymore. Therefore, it's always a nice treat for me to see families spending time with each other every Sunday :) 

SIESTA!

(btw, I know the guys in the pic are Mexican but I thought it was funny lol) 

Siesta means afternoon nap. I think all college kids can appreciate this. The whole country shuts down from 2pm to 5pm to take their afternoon nap and then resumes again from 6pm-9pm. Isn't that crazy?! One day Zachoria and I walked into this store and it had to be like 1:45pm. We probably spent a good 7mins looking around before the owner went upstairs, cut the music off, & grabbed her coat lol. She didn't say "Hey guys, the store is about to close for a couple of hours. If you'd like you can come back at 5pm." Nope. Nothing. She just proceeded to shut the store down as if we knew the routine lol. It could have been looked at as rude, like she was kicking us out, but in Spain I guess it's a general consensus that at 2pm you need to be in your bed lol. I think I will adopt this little practice. Next semester I'm planning all of my classes around siesta! Who's with me?!! 

Spanish people looooveee to socialize. I still haven't quite adapted to their way of socializing yet. For example, when they go out to eat they talk for 2 hours, then they order, and then they talk for 2 more hours. When I go out to eat the FIRST thing I'm doing is ordering. Y'all know it takes foreverrr for the food to come lol. I can't waste 2 hours talking when I could be eating. In America we do most of our talking waiting for the food to come and we'll maybe say a few words in between bites as we eat. I also noticed that as soon (maybe not as soon all the time) as we're done eating we talk for a few more minutes and then we ask for the bill if the waiter hasn't already brought it to us. Well here you have to ask for the bill since they expect you to stay for a lil minute. Spaniards love to talk and catch up with you doing lunch or dinner and that's fine & dandy, but it just feels weird sitting there for so long. 

While we're on the subject of food I told you guys that they're on this Mediterranean diet, right ? They eat 5 times a day, whereas we mainly focus on 3 meals a day. For breakfast  or El Desayuno which is between the hours of 7-9am they have a cup of coffee and 1 slice of toast or a croissant. This is the smallest meal of the day. 

 Now compare their breakfast to ours 

Lol BIG difference. Clearly our most important meal of the day is breakfast. Our McDonalds serve "Delux" breakfast combos. Their McDonalds have no such thing. You can only order a coffee & a doughnut. 

Next is Tapas - little Spanish meals eaten after breakfast but before lunch.

They look tasty right? Hmph! Just remember looks can be deceiving. I wasted $1.80 on 2 last week.

At around 2pm-4pm (during siesta) is La Comida also know as lunch. This consists of a 5 course meal. 

Salad...NO REGULAR dressing. Just vinegar & oil...

Paella de Valencia. All I needed to know was that it has rabbit in it. 

Sam liked the chicken..Zachoria said it wasn't seasoned. 

After your main course you order dessert. Not sure of the proper name for this but it looked the closest thing to normal so I went with it. It's basically chocolate over a waffle, and I love waffles :)

And finally your meal wouldn't be complete if you didn't end it with coffee lol. They love coffee! I'm starting to want it every 5 minutes myself. 

That's a lot of food for just lunch, but maybe that's why Americans are so obese. We eat big meals for dinner compared to eating a big meal midday giving ourselves enough time to work it off. Side note: There's an Obese Clinic downtown for fat people lmao! That's a little bizarre to me but I can't say that I've seen many people here. The ones that I do see are American..sad to say :( 

At around 5pm you have your afternoon snack, La Merienda. This mostly pertains to children who need energy to play soccer. Speaking of snacks..their cheetos taste different here. It's like healthy cheetos lol. Cheetos aren't meant to be healthy! If I'm trying to pig out then let me pig out! 

Dinner or La Cena is the hardest thing to get adjusted to. Dinner is eaten between the hours of 9pm- midnight. WTH?! At 7pm my body is ready for it's next meal but noooo I can't eat because all the restaurants are close until 9pm. I actually took a break while writing this to go and get dinner. Ha! Bust my bubble. Everything was freaking closed. I really wanted to eat at this Italian restaurant but I had to settle for Asian :( . The Los Chinos never close :( 

 Random facts: 

1. Wine is like juice in Spain. They have alcohol throughout most of the day. 

2. Spaniards walk ev.ery.where. They laugh at us because we're usually out of breath within 10mins, but I'm getting used to it. Last week we climbed 277 steps to the top of a Cathedral. I haaad to be smoking to go through with that lol. Jk jk! 

3. They all recycle! I'm glad America is getting into the swing of things. 

4. Our COKE (coca cola I mean, I don't do drugs) is waaaaay better! Ugh! I feel like it's secretly diet coke. It taste funny but Samara says Coke tastes different in different countries to go with the different spices & foods. It makes sense but I want real soda. 

5. The napkins feel like wax paper. Really weird. 

6. They take the garbage out every single day. I'm sorry, but I can't get with that. That's wasting bags.

7. Nobody here will ever end up on the "worst dressed" list lol. Everybody looks nice & they dress up for everything! The latest trend is the leggings under shorts. It's really cute. 

8. LOTTO IS BIG IN BOTH COUNTRIES 

9. THEY LOVE AMERICAN MUSIC haha #WeWin :) 

It would be a sin not to love her

 They shocked me w/ the Keri, but it's cool. I'm a huge fan

Chriiiiis! They still got love for him too lol 

I even heard "You gotta be" by Des'ree :) real crazy! 

Oh na na...

And I literally here "The Time" by Black Eyed Peas everyday lol. It's fine. I love it :)