And since I have now been here for 14 days, I think I can write with a bit of authority about some of the differences between back home and Sevilla, Spain.
Also, I thought that instead of giving you all some more obvious differences that I think you can probably read about elsewhere (e.g. siesta time, smoking, eating times, etc.), I would give you some less conventional differences.
Number 1.
I want to talk about pigeons. Or rather, I want to talk about Sevilla's lack of pigeons. The birds here are beautiful white creatures known as doves, NOT pigeons! They are all over the place and beg for food, and generally act like pigeons but they are so pretty, I can't imagine people really mind them. In fact, as far as I know, in spanish there is no word to differentiate a pigeon from a dove - they are all "palomas."
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| One of the usual suspects.
Number 2.
There are Catholic churches ALL over the place in Sevilla. It is not unusual to see 3 or 4 churches on the same street, all within a couple hundred yards of each other. They are kind of like 7-11's back home, you see them on every corner, the only difference is that one has been there for hundreds of years and the other hasn't, and one sells cheap food and one is a church and well... actually they're not really anything alike. But! They are both ubiquitous throughout their respective city! 
La Iglesia de Santa Ana
Number 3.
This is a kind of a weird one to put after the churches, but nudity on TV is a-okay in Spain. Not complete nudity!! But I've seen a fair amount of exposed boobs and even some mens rears while watching TV with my host mom. These aren't racy TV channels either, just the basic cable channels that will play the news later on in the day.
Number 4.
Electricity is expensive. Maybe a more obvious one but I wanted to mention exactly how different it is here from back home. I can't tell you the exact price difference but I can tell you what we do to conserve energy.
We never ever use artificial lighting during the day. We use the natural lights from the windows. The only exception to this is if you're in the bathroom or somewhere else without a window. Even during class at school we rely on the light from the windows. And its not that we don't have lights in the classroom to use, it's that we don't turn them on.
I have to say I haven't minded this at all, which I'm a little surprised by. It's made me realize just how EXTREMELY wasteful I am back home.
At home I keep my lights on all the time, and there's absolutely no reason for it. Other things somewhat related... no dryer - just line dry our clothes. And no AC in our bedroom - just use a ceiling fan.
Number 5.
Dogs walk without leashes right next to their owners. I was pretty confused by this at first and thought there were all these lost dogs running around with collars. I was ready to save them all from the streets and then I realized they all had owners. The dog might wander a bit, but as soon as their owner calls them, they go right back to their side. 
Now, if the dog is not off their leash, the dog is probably on a super short leash.
Talk about opposites. 
(Sorry for the blurry pictures! I was trying to casually take pictures of people's dogs without being creepy)
Number 6.
The street signs aren't like back home! 
Oh hello Calle Duarte!
Number 7.
It is hot here! At least right now it is. There is really low humidity here too so what we end up with is a very dry heat that I had honestly never experienced. Back in Virginia we suffer from heat and high humidity - not a fun combination. The low humidity in Sevilla means using lots of lotion and chapstick!
Along with the heat, there is not much rain and so, not much grass either. I mean I literally never see any grass at all in the city. Going to the outskirts of the city on my way to school, you will see something that looks like it may have once hoped to have been grass but it died of a heatstroke before it got there.
And finally,
Number 8.
The Spanish don't believe in hand soap, or washing their hands...
Okay that's a lie... but it's a lie that is not completely untrue. Does that make sense?
About 90% of the time that I have used a public restroom (this includes the bathrooms at school), there has been no hand soap. You might think that's because everyone is using it all up before I get to it, but nope. Normally there is not even a dispenser. In addition to this, the few times that there actually is hand soap available, I would say that the vast majority of ladies I have seen leaving the restroom do not bother even looking at the sink. It could be that they're all just assuming there isn't going to be any soap available but I'm not too sure. I'll have to ask someone about this phenomenon - it's probably a cultural difference. I simply happen to like washing my hands. I also like hand sanitizer -- something else I don't think they have here. Because there are a lot more things I have noticed, and I'm guessing a lot more I will notice before my trip is up, I've decided that there will be a part 2 to this blog post. But this is a good start :) Until next time & to many more adventures, xx Gaby |
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