Before my semester abroad in Sevilla, Spain, I could hardly contain my excitement about finally fulfilling my dream of spending four months living in my dream city. I found myself searching YouTube videos, looking up Google Images, going on Street View, and reading plenty of articles about Sevilla, the dos and don’ts of living in Spain, and the cultural differences between life here in the United States versus under the Andalusian sun. After my semester ended, I found that most of these articles failed to highlight the real differences which can only be learned through firsthand experience. For that reason, in this blog post, I want to point out seven unique cultural differences that I learned while living in Spain.
“Most travel guides and influencers will tell you that Spain is known for its tapas, and that is one hundred percent true. However, what I found during my experience, is that simply knowing what tapas are did not sufficiently prepare me for knowing how to do tapas or which tapas to order.”
-Spaniards are far less proud to be Spanish than Americans are proud to be American. Whereas here in the United States there is a strong sense of national pride and unity amongst the fifty states, the seventeen Spanish autonomous communities fail to share many common ideas, never mind any pride in a Spanish identity which few people genuinely feel. In Spain, people are proud to be Catalan, Basque, or Galician – not Spanish. For those reasons, this factionalism contributes to an individualist attitude and this notion is best captured by their inability to agree upon lyrics for the Spanish national anthem. In fact, what I found most interesting is that there are only two significant occasions where the Spaniards demonstrate any form of national pride: When the Spanish national team sets out on the pitch and when watching Rafael Nadal take command on the tennis court.
-Spanish drinking culture entails drinking for leisure, whereas American drinking culture is more oriented to getting drunk. Coming from a big party school, I have witnessed just how intense the drinking culture here is in the United States. Friends of mine have drank entire 12-packs of beer at parties or finished off entire bottles of hard liquor in a night. When I was in Spain, I learned that drinking is not for sport, but rather purely casual and a way to relax and spend quality time with people. There were days when I, somebody who rarely drinks, would sit down at the university café with my friends and just share a Cruzcampo at lunchtime. Could you imagine the response here in the United States if somebody sat down for a beer while on lunch break? That person would get called an alcoholic for drinking that early in the day. Yet in Spain, lots of people flood their local hole-in-the-wall bars during lunchtime to share drinks with friends and share conversations.
-Here in the United States we live to work, whereas in Spain people work to live. One of the biggest tangible differences I noticed between Americans and Spaniards came when I found myself waiting for the pedestrian signal at crosswalks. Oftentimes, what I found was that us Americans would jaywalk or cross the street as soon as the signal changed, eagerly waiting for the color to change, whereas the Spaniards would wait and engage in conversation, sometimes not even noticing the cue to cross the street. Given our forty-hour work weeks and a fast-paced, work-oriented attitude, we as Americans are constantly living life on the go. When I arrived in Spain and slowed down my life to adjust to the slow-paced, easy-going nature of life in Spain (Andalusia especially), I realized how much more relaxed and stress-free I was. In Spain, there is no rush when crossing the street, so slowing down our ‘go, go, go’ attitudes here in the United States and being able to take a step back paid dividends.
-Knowing what tapas are and knowing how to eat tapas are two drastically different things. When most people prepare to visit Spain, they do some preliminary research by visiting travel websites and blogs to get advice and suggestions on dining in Spain. Most travel guides and influencers will tell you that Spain is known for its tapas, and that is one hundred percent true. However, what I found during my experience, is that simply knowing what tapas are did not sufficiently prepare me for knowing how to do tapas or which tapas to order. I learned that the perfect tapas experience typically asks each person to order about three or four tapas. Ideally, everyone would start things off by ordering a cold tapa such as gazpacho (cold tomato soup), ensaladilla (potato salad), or jamĂ³n y queso (cured ham and cheese). By starting off with a cold dish, which is typically already prepared, nobody has to wait for their hot dish to come out, which, if you have a girlfriend like mine, offers an easy solution to ‘hangry-ness’. As your cold tapas come out, the next step is to order your other dishes. Here, my preference is to order two different types of tapas, one being a starch like croquetas (Spanish croquettes), tortilla de patatas (Spanish potato omelet), or patatas bravas (spicy potatoes), and the other being a meat or fish tapa, some good examples being rabo de toro (bull tail), solomillo a whisky (pork loin in whiskey sauce), or carrillada de cerdo (pork cheek). Once everyone finishes these first three tapas, if there is any space left in your stomach, the best way to close things off is either by getting your favorite tapa again or by trying a new dish to end the night. After learning how to master the art of ordering tapas, you will be virtually guaranteed to enjoy the vast Spanish cuisine.
–Spain is a country that truly embraces its holidays and traditions… And it is very prevalent in day-to-day life. Here in the United States, I view a majority of our holidays as an excuse to get a day off from school or work. Apart from the major holidays of Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter, holidays don’t really mean that much to me. In Spain, I found that traditional celebrations simply mean more. For Semana Santa (Holy Week) or the Feria de Sevilla (Seville Fair), the sheer grandeur of the celebrations was unparalleled. Tens of thousands of people lined up the streets, dressed in traditional clothing and singing hymns. Even apart from holidays, Spanish traditions reign supreme, whether it be by the prevalence of attending a bullfight, supporting your boyhood fĂºtbol club, or admiring the mastery of a flamenco dance. In Spain, these holidays and traditions offer an opportunity to foster a sense of belonging, either for those from the country or for the outsiders like me. Spaniards are very proud, regardless of whether it is their hometown, family, or religion. From the way they dress to the way they pray, Spaniards embrace their heritage and culture in pretty awesome ways.
-Spaniards love to meet and help American tourists, so don’t feel afraid to reach out for some help. When I was abroad, I was always scared to ask the locals for help with directions or for help to translate. For my first couple of weeks in Sevilla, Google Maps and Translate were my best friends. However, after a month or so, I began to realize that Spaniards love to help Americans. The Spanish are very proud people, whether it comes to talking about their food, their family, or their hometowns. For that reason, they are always happy to help people who look lost or out of place. After I began to talk to the locals and built relationships with Andalusians, I found that I learned so much more about the Spanish language and culture. Connecting with locals permitted me to learn slang, pick up different regional sayings, and helped me work on perfecting my Castilian accent. On top of that, Spaniards have a funny fascination with Americans. I was constantly being asked questions about life back in America, such as, “Why doesn’t your country let women get abortions?” or “Why doesn’t your president ban guns?”. For these reasons, I suggest that you embrace your ‘Americanism’ and use it as a tool to get to know Spaniards, because when you do, it can reap so many rewards.
-Spanish neighborhoods are easily walkable and accessible hubs for all your needs. In Sevilla, I lived in the Porvenir neighborhood, which was home to everything I needed for my four months abroad. There was one street, Calle Felipe II, that was the center of the neighborhood and was home to everything I needed. Whether it be the local bakery, a grocery store, restaurants and bars, a print shop, a gymnasium, or a bank, there were rarely ever any occasions that required me to leave my neighborhood. In the bigger picture, the makeup of Spanish cities embraces efficient public transit and neglects the necessity for vehicular transportation. When cities in Spain like Sevilla, Madrid, or Barcelona are as walkable and accessible as they are, it makes our decentralized American cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, or Austin pale in comparison due to their heavy reliance on car traffic and wide lanes. Since I have come back to the United States, I have gained a significant appreciation for European bike lanes, pedestrian lanes, metro lines, and high-speed rail. Every time I have to hop in my car and drive ten minutes to Stop & Shop, five minutes to the bank, and twenty minutes to my favorite bars and restaurants, I think back to last Spring, when a seven-minute walk was all it took to reach all these places.
“After I began to talk to the locals and built relationships with Andalusians, I found that I learned so much more about the Spanish language and culture. Connecting with locals permitted me to learn slang, pick up different regional sayings, and helped me work on perfecting my Castilian accent.”
For anyone contemplating traveling to Spain, I hope that reading this post offers some unique insight that may offer more help than most travel blogs that all cover the same things. Spain is truly an amazing place, and I want to make sure that by following these bits of advice, I can help you enjoy your trip even more.
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