A few things I've noticed

So today is 14^th . I can officially say that I have survived an entire month in a new country experiencing a completely new and different way of life. I decided that today would be the perfect day to write about some of the differences I've noticed between Spain and America after living here for an entire 30 days. Hopefully there won't be too many repeats from previous blog posts, but I have a hard time remembering what I have and haven't written about.

1. I guess the best place to start off would be greetings. The difference between how Americans greet each other and how Spaniards greet each other is very different. In America, if you were meeting someone for the first time you would most likely shake their hand or give a slight wave if you were meeting them in a big informal group. If you were greeting a friend there most likely wouldn't be any formal greeting at all besides a few phrases such as “Hello” “How are you?” or other things along those lines. Of course, everyone is different and I can't really speak for all of America but this is my experience. In Spain, you must always greet someone with two kisses on each cheek. When I first got here this actually kind of annoyed me because of how time consuming it was. Whenever I go out to a party or to dinner, every person I meet I have to kiss twice on the cheek. I guess now I'm used to it but I still sometimes miss the quick straightforward handshake/wave.
   
2. Another thing that's different here are house rules. First, I am never allowed to take my shoes off unless I'm in my room. I still don't know why this is a rule considering it's just basically creating more work cleaning the floor. I guess it's not really a big issue here because it hardly ever rains and it never snows. Another house rule is that dishes aren't reused without going through the dishwasher first. I have a feeling this is just in my house but I find it very frustrating and I often break it by putting my water glass in the same place every time so that I don't have to get new one. (Dirty dishes go on the counter because the sink isn't big enough.) I know it's not good to break rules, but I come downstairs for water probably 10 times a day and there is no way I'm using 10 glasses a day for water.
   
3. Throwing away trash. Here's another example of me yelling in English at Spaniards when I'm upset. Excuse my anger in this next point but this actually makes me very upset. I don't know why, but kids here seem to think it's cool to throw their trash on the ground. Even if there is a trash can five feet away, most kids think it's perfect acceptable to just throw whatever trash they have on the ground. My friends all laugh at me because I always take the time to find a trash can no matter how far away it is. This is one custom I will not adapt to. The other night I was at a park near a Burger King and even though there were plenty of trash cans around, the entire park was filled with Burger King bags, empty bottles, ketchup packets, etc. It was disgusting.
   
4. From what I've experienced in my school, there aren't really any “groups” of friends which is a lot different than at home. Back in Yarmouth, most people are decent to everyone during school, but if you wanted to hang out with someone on the weekend, you have your specific group of friends to turn to.If there was party then maybe a few more people would be added but there are always those kids you just don't hang out with for whatever reason. Things are very different here. During school everyone is talking to everyone. It's always one big group instead of a bunch of clusters. Everyone seems to truly be friends with everyone. Even the kids that most people would consider outsiders seem to fit in with the rest of the class. Outside of class, it's the same. For example, whenever I hang out with my host sister, she's always having different people over. The only person I've seen more than once is her boyfriend. This makes things much more interesting and has caused me to become friends with a lot more people than I would if I was just friends with one specific group of people.
   
5. There are no school sports here. At Yarmouth High School, it's perfectly normal for kids to be at school until four maybe even five in the afternoon for sports, clubs, and other various activities. Here, it's very different. Ten minutes after the final bell rings the school is a ghost town. Even the teachers are gone. Everyone goes home for siesta. (By far the best time of the day) It's basically just a three hour nap. I'm actually writing this post in the middle of a siesta. Most people sleep during this time but I can never sleep so I spend my siestas playing countless games of solitaire (I still can't beat your score Sydney), watching Arrested Development (I love you Devon, thank you for downloading that on my laptop), or doing homework if I understand it.
   

Anyways,
there are many more differences I could write about but they're minor and I'm sure I'll mention them in future blog posts.
Now I'm off to coloring in my second map for French.
Something I actually understand!

-Libby



P.S. Happy birthday to my little piggy Gina Robertson. I hope it's absolutely amazing. Can't believe we're turning 17 this year. Miss you :)