For me, choosing to study lifestyle was a sure choice. I've always had some interest in the differences not only in our culture, but also how I viewed Spanish citizens in my mind, with no knowledge on them before hand. Needless to say, the differences were more than I had anticipated and the people were unalike what I pictured this whole time.
The first point I'd like to make is meals. Breakfast was fairly similar, still serving eggs, meat, cereal, doughnuts. The only differences were really the amount of different hams there were and some of Spain's traditional things, like the toasted bread with olive oil and tomato. Lunch and dinner were also quite similar, unless you were going to a tapas bar. In Spain, tapas are quite popular. They are small dishes that consist of many different things, such as patatas bravas, tortillas de patatas, spring rolls, chorizo with bread, and many other things. From my experience, they are usually served when you purchase alcohol from a restraunt. Once they notice you've had whatever amount, they will start to bring them to you free of charge.
The next thing I noticed was travel. Even when we were out in what they considered "cold" weather, people were always walking. The streets were always busy, and people were walking everywhere you turned. Obviously we saw some cars and other vehicles, but for the most part it seemed that everyone just walked place to place. I feel as though unless you were in New York or a busy sight seeing place like that, then you wouldn't ever really see this amount of people traveling by foot. It's all vehicles in America.
Another point the goes hand in hand with the travel is the love for animals in their culture. I felt as though every block I was on had somebody walking a dog. They are always out accompanying them, on a leash or not. The dogs and other animals also seemed almost more friendly in general. Though every dog I saw seemed super happy, I noticed things like birds not flying away as they do here. If someone got to close to a bird it would fly forward a few feet and keep walking to get around. It was cool to see the differences in their nature and really notice these aspects without really trying.
Another big point would have to be the interaction with us tourists. Now this was a bit tougher, as people don't always take it the same way. To me personally, I felt like they either hated you, or wanted to help you and appreciated the effort in speaking some Spanish. I got both sides of this multiple times, so I can't say either way how the general people feels about tourists. I imagine now those that don't mind are more calm because it isn't really tourist season. This makes it easy for them to deal with, instead of an entire restaurant or street crowded with people that only speak English. The last point I'd like to come around to is the family bond in Spain. Just like with the animals, kids are always seen roaming the streets with their parents. Many little kids that looked like they should barely be able to even stand, were running by us and all over the place, or staying close to their Mom or Dad and just taking in everything surrounding them. It was cute and it was nice to see how close these parents and children were with one another, something that one might not see in America at all.
So through everything, I am extremely happy with my trip. I was able to meet great people not only there, but people in my class as well. It made me realize how wrong I was about the culture, and now I can only count down the days until I return. I will make sure that I come back whether it's with friends, family, or by myself. Spain created a spot in my heart that it will have forever.
I liked how you included observations about the culture's love of animals. Obviously, we all saw lots of people walking their dogs down the streets in every city but you were one of the few to add this into lifestyle observations.