La Vida Madrileña
¡Buenas Noches!
Había llegado a Madrid, or should I say, I’ve arrived in Madrid! Today is my second day, and I’m very excited to share everything about my trip. I’ll try to be good about updating this frequently (because obviously I failed last semester). For now, I’ve just compiled a list of things that I find interesting about Spain so far.
¡Saludos!
Helena
Random Things About Spain That I Find Interesting (and have noticed so far)
• Drive-up windows at McDonalds are called “McAutos.” I thought that was cute.
• Spain has Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, but Dunks is called Dunkin Coffee instead (maybe because most Spaniards would recognize the word Coffee but not Donut). Iced coffee is virtually non-existent in Spain aside from at Starbucks and as with the rest of Europe, it seems that ice is basically non-existent in general.
• When I take the train further outside the city above ground for my internship, there are tons and tons of cats beside the tracks, and I’m always afraid that we’re going to hit them, but I guess they’re pretty savvy about the trains or they wouldn’t live there. Pets seem to be very common here in Madrid and one thing I’ve noticed that is very weird is that if someone goes into a café or store briefly, they’ll just leave their dog on the sidewalk (NOT tied to anything- just wandering around). They don’t seem to go far, but the problem is that once you come out of the store, you have to go find your dog. I would be so scared that my dog would run away or get hit by a car, but they seem to be pretty good about staying on the sidewalk and in the area. I’ve seen tons of smaller dogs so far- like Beagles and wire-hair dauschunds- and one Irish wolf-hound.
• On the commuter train, you have to use your ticket to both enter and leave the station. I learned this the hard way the first day. In any American country or on the normal Madrid Metro you obviously don’t need your ticket to leave the station, so I threw mine away… and then I had to buy another ticket to leave the station because the security guards wouldn’t let me out of the station without my ticket, even when I tried to explain my dilemma.
• Pretty much all Spanish people are incredibly well dressed; however, they wear what we would wear in the late fall during the summer. Most people wear long sleeves every day and jeans or long pants. I’ve seen plenty of shorter skirts and dresses, but shorts are basically unheard of. In all the walking around I’ve done, I’ve only seen two Spanish girls wearing shorts. I’m also amazed at how thin the Spaniards stay considering how much they eat! A large population of Spanish women would probably consider Mary Kate and Ashley to be very overweight.
• The signage in Madrid is SO frustrating for someone coming from the U.S. All street signs are attached to the sides of buildings, so if there isn’t a building at a certain corner, that street us just unlabeled. And there also are plenty of times where there is a building but the street is still not labeled. Also, in the U.S., we usually use up arrows to indicate going forward. In Madrid, up arrows do not exist; even if you are meant to go up, they use an arrow pointing down (to indicate going forward), which was incredibly confusing to me at first. I kept trying to go downstairs at places where I should’ve gone upstairs because I though a down arrow meant to go down.
• I’ve seen some places in Madrid where they have tiny gas stations on the sidewalk so cars can just pull over, get gas, and continue going. They’re about the size of a newspaper stand and have only one pump. It actually seems to be a good idea to me. I’ll try to get a picture of one.
• There are many beautiful gardens and fountains on practically every street corner. Today I was by a long stretch of roses and there were tons of signs saying, “These flowers are not edible! Thank you.” Apparently that is a problem in Madrid.
• The typical high-class imported cars in America obviously do not have the same status in Europe. It seems that half the cars here are BMWs, including the trash trucks. I am actually very impressed with the condition of their cars. I haven’t seen a single car with dents or scratches, even though they drive like MANIACS (and we all thought Boston was bad!).
• On the other hand, imported American things obviously have some sort of distinction in Spain. I was looking around a department store today and found a simple lightweight sweater… only to realize that it was 150 Euro because it was imported from the U.S.! (And it wasn’t a fancy brand or something- it probably would’ve cost me $30 at home) How ironic. There are little stores all around Madrid called VIPs which sell mostly American things. I was walking around today and saw someone selling American copies of Cosmo for 10 bucks. Maybe I should’ve stocked my suitcases with American magazines and made a buck or two on the street! Spaniards also have an obsession with wearing shirts with random words in English on them. Half the time I wonder if they know what they mean. I came across a whole collection of shirts with random American words (“The Words Collection”) and a store today called “And.” Hannah Montana and High School Musical are huge here as well. I had a super hard time finding school supplies, but once I did, it was all I could do not to buy a Zac Effron notebook.
• In fact, they seem to be pretty savvy about American in general. Almost all the Spaniards I’ve talked to know exactly where Colorado is in the U.S. and the fact that it has lots of mountains. They’re all very interested in American politics and especially Obama. My boss gave me a copy of the latest documentary they produced- which happens to be about how Obama used Facebook and MySpace in his election.
• I’m very relieved not to be a vegetarian or animal rights activist in Spain. All of the grocery stores have full carcasses hanging everywhere-and not just behind the meat counter! Today I was looking for some body wash in the grocery store, turned around, and was confronted by a large display of hanging lamb legs- hoof and all- in the middle of the aisle.
• Fruit is not at all considered to be part of the normal diet. People will never eat fruit with a meal or for a snack; they only eat it for dessert. Today, my Señora was very excited to have strawberries for dessert. Yesterday it was some kind of apple pastry.
• People do everything much later here. Lunch is served around 2 or 3 and is the largest meal of the day. Dinner is served at 9 AT THE EARLIEST, though most people have it around 10 or 11 and many wait until midnight. Luckily my Señora likes her dinner around 9:30 or 10. I think I’d either starve or fall asleep (or both) if I had to wait until midnight for dinner. It also amazes me that even the elderly stay up so late. I can’t imagine Granny staying up until midnight every night watching TV like my Señora here does! It’s very common for people to make plans to meet up here at midnight or later, and not just if they’re going to a club or something. They seem to be a very nocturnal culture. If you do go out to a club, bar, or fancy restaurant, they say most people will stay out until 6 AM because the metro doesn’t run between 2 AM and 6 AM, so you might as well stay out until 6. I think I’ll skip doing that- I would get so tired!!!
• The stereotypical “siesta” is very much a reality in Spain. Virtually all stores and businesses (except for some restaurants and cafes) close around 2 PM and don’t open back up until 5 PM for the period of siesta. I guess it is a necessity if everyone stays up so late!
Anyways, that’s all for now! Hopefully I’ll have some pictures soon.
Había llegado a Madrid, or should I say, I’ve arrived in Madrid! Today is my second day, and I’m very excited to share everything about my trip. I’ll try to be good about updating this frequently (because obviously I failed last semester). For now, I’ve just compiled a list of things that I find interesting about Spain so far.
¡Saludos!
Helena
Random Things About Spain That I Find Interesting (and have noticed so far)
• Drive-up windows at McDonalds are called “McAutos.” I thought that was cute.
• Spain has Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, but Dunks is called Dunkin Coffee instead (maybe because most Spaniards would recognize the word Coffee but not Donut). Iced coffee is virtually non-existent in Spain aside from at Starbucks and as with the rest of Europe, it seems that ice is basically non-existent in general.
• When I take the train further outside the city above ground for my internship, there are tons and tons of cats beside the tracks, and I’m always afraid that we’re going to hit them, but I guess they’re pretty savvy about the trains or they wouldn’t live there. Pets seem to be very common here in Madrid and one thing I’ve noticed that is very weird is that if someone goes into a café or store briefly, they’ll just leave their dog on the sidewalk (NOT tied to anything- just wandering around). They don’t seem to go far, but the problem is that once you come out of the store, you have to go find your dog. I would be so scared that my dog would run away or get hit by a car, but they seem to be pretty good about staying on the sidewalk and in the area. I’ve seen tons of smaller dogs so far- like Beagles and wire-hair dauschunds- and one Irish wolf-hound.
• On the commuter train, you have to use your ticket to both enter and leave the station. I learned this the hard way the first day. In any American country or on the normal Madrid Metro you obviously don’t need your ticket to leave the station, so I threw mine away… and then I had to buy another ticket to leave the station because the security guards wouldn’t let me out of the station without my ticket, even when I tried to explain my dilemma.
• Pretty much all Spanish people are incredibly well dressed; however, they wear what we would wear in the late fall during the summer. Most people wear long sleeves every day and jeans or long pants. I’ve seen plenty of shorter skirts and dresses, but shorts are basically unheard of. In all the walking around I’ve done, I’ve only seen two Spanish girls wearing shorts. I’m also amazed at how thin the Spaniards stay considering how much they eat! A large population of Spanish women would probably consider Mary Kate and Ashley to be very overweight.
• The signage in Madrid is SO frustrating for someone coming from the U.S. All street signs are attached to the sides of buildings, so if there isn’t a building at a certain corner, that street us just unlabeled. And there also are plenty of times where there is a building but the street is still not labeled. Also, in the U.S., we usually use up arrows to indicate going forward. In Madrid, up arrows do not exist; even if you are meant to go up, they use an arrow pointing down (to indicate going forward), which was incredibly confusing to me at first. I kept trying to go downstairs at places where I should’ve gone upstairs because I though a down arrow meant to go down.
• I’ve seen some places in Madrid where they have tiny gas stations on the sidewalk so cars can just pull over, get gas, and continue going. They’re about the size of a newspaper stand and have only one pump. It actually seems to be a good idea to me. I’ll try to get a picture of one.
• There are many beautiful gardens and fountains on practically every street corner. Today I was by a long stretch of roses and there were tons of signs saying, “These flowers are not edible! Thank you.” Apparently that is a problem in Madrid.
• The typical high-class imported cars in America obviously do not have the same status in Europe. It seems that half the cars here are BMWs, including the trash trucks. I am actually very impressed with the condition of their cars. I haven’t seen a single car with dents or scratches, even though they drive like MANIACS (and we all thought Boston was bad!).
• On the other hand, imported American things obviously have some sort of distinction in Spain. I was looking around a department store today and found a simple lightweight sweater… only to realize that it was 150 Euro because it was imported from the U.S.! (And it wasn’t a fancy brand or something- it probably would’ve cost me $30 at home) How ironic. There are little stores all around Madrid called VIPs which sell mostly American things. I was walking around today and saw someone selling American copies of Cosmo for 10 bucks. Maybe I should’ve stocked my suitcases with American magazines and made a buck or two on the street! Spaniards also have an obsession with wearing shirts with random words in English on them. Half the time I wonder if they know what they mean. I came across a whole collection of shirts with random American words (“The Words Collection”) and a store today called “And.” Hannah Montana and High School Musical are huge here as well. I had a super hard time finding school supplies, but once I did, it was all I could do not to buy a Zac Effron notebook.
• In fact, they seem to be pretty savvy about American in general. Almost all the Spaniards I’ve talked to know exactly where Colorado is in the U.S. and the fact that it has lots of mountains. They’re all very interested in American politics and especially Obama. My boss gave me a copy of the latest documentary they produced- which happens to be about how Obama used Facebook and MySpace in his election.
• I’m very relieved not to be a vegetarian or animal rights activist in Spain. All of the grocery stores have full carcasses hanging everywhere-and not just behind the meat counter! Today I was looking for some body wash in the grocery store, turned around, and was confronted by a large display of hanging lamb legs- hoof and all- in the middle of the aisle.
• Fruit is not at all considered to be part of the normal diet. People will never eat fruit with a meal or for a snack; they only eat it for dessert. Today, my Señora was very excited to have strawberries for dessert. Yesterday it was some kind of apple pastry.
• People do everything much later here. Lunch is served around 2 or 3 and is the largest meal of the day. Dinner is served at 9 AT THE EARLIEST, though most people have it around 10 or 11 and many wait until midnight. Luckily my Señora likes her dinner around 9:30 or 10. I think I’d either starve or fall asleep (or both) if I had to wait until midnight for dinner. It also amazes me that even the elderly stay up so late. I can’t imagine Granny staying up until midnight every night watching TV like my Señora here does! It’s very common for people to make plans to meet up here at midnight or later, and not just if they’re going to a club or something. They seem to be a very nocturnal culture. If you do go out to a club, bar, or fancy restaurant, they say most people will stay out until 6 AM because the metro doesn’t run between 2 AM and 6 AM, so you might as well stay out until 6. I think I’ll skip doing that- I would get so tired!!!
• The stereotypical “siesta” is very much a reality in Spain. Virtually all stores and businesses (except for some restaurants and cafes) close around 2 PM and don’t open back up until 5 PM for the period of siesta. I guess it is a necessity if everyone stays up so late!
Anyways, that’s all for now! Hopefully I’ll have some pictures soon.