Cultural differences
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07 Januari 2016 | Spanje, Almería
Holaa,
Spain isn’t far from The Netherlands. But there are a lot of differences between the countries.
- They don’t speak English well
That was really the first thing I noticed when I arrived in Almería. Why doesn’t anyone speak English?!
- Reggeaton is everywhere
Like everywhere. Not only in the clubs, but also at the supermarket, at streets, the gym and after a while in your head.
- They notice you are from abroad, because you sing and dance on that one English song
Yes it is true. It seems like people here don’t even know the English songs. One time a guy told me really proud that you knew the song ‘five more hours’ was from Chris Brown. In The Netherlands that’s more general knowledge.
- Most of them walk slow, or I walk just really fast
- They have a totally different pace
The mornings start later, read: more sleep everyday! And also the lunch is really late. It is about 2p.m. till 4p.m.. So, I was really hungry the first few days.. And dinner, dinner can be really late around ten in the evening.
- They live at night
Still having dinner at midnight seems to be normal.
- The siësta’s are real
Yes, it is real! But, that also means that shops will close around 2p.m. till around 5p.m.. People just stop living at those times, even in the winter when it is not even that warm. In the beginning it is kinda annoying when you’re still living the Dutch lifestyle and you want to fix stuff but everything is closed.
- But, the fiësta’s also
No more words are needed.
- And tapas are also real
Especially in Almería you are in the tapas-heaven. Almería is one of the two tapas-cities of Spain. The other one is Granada. With every alcoholic drink you get free tapas. Well, you pay 1 euro extra but that’s reasonable.
- There are no vacuum cleaners..
No, I still don’t understand why, but they are just not there. You have to clean everything with a broom.
- They are never on time, never.
Just never.
- No fireworks with NYE
Where The Netherlands pops apart, Spain stays remains intact. I also think it was the biggest bummer.. We were celebrating NYE with the Mexicans and some other Erasmus students who stayed. Just after midnight we ran to the beach to see some fireworks. But there was none.. Later I heard there was some in the centre, but also not that much.. I really missed the crazy Dutchies at that point.
- New Year's dive
Dutch tradition! I never did the New Year's dive in The Netherlands. But because we were in Spain, it seemed a fun idea. After the party on NYE we invited everyone for our Dutch tradition. The next day we were at the beach with the Dutchies, German and some Mexicans and we ran into the sea. All the Spanish people were looking and probably thinking that we were crazy.. And yes, the water was still quite cold but better than in The Netherlands.
Hasta la próxima!
Spain isn’t far from The Netherlands. But there are a lot of differences between the countries.
- They don’t speak English well
That was really the first thing I noticed when I arrived in Almería. Why doesn’t anyone speak English?!
- Reggeaton is everywhere
Like everywhere. Not only in the clubs, but also at the supermarket, at streets, the gym and after a while in your head.
- They notice you are from abroad, because you sing and dance on that one English song
Yes it is true. It seems like people here don’t even know the English songs. One time a guy told me really proud that you knew the song ‘five more hours’ was from Chris Brown. In The Netherlands that’s more general knowledge.
- Most of them walk slow, or I walk just really fast
- They have a totally different pace
The mornings start later, read: more sleep everyday! And also the lunch is really late. It is about 2p.m. till 4p.m.. So, I was really hungry the first few days.. And dinner, dinner can be really late around ten in the evening.
- They live at night
Still having dinner at midnight seems to be normal.
- The siësta’s are real
Yes, it is real! But, that also means that shops will close around 2p.m. till around 5p.m.. People just stop living at those times, even in the winter when it is not even that warm. In the beginning it is kinda annoying when you’re still living the Dutch lifestyle and you want to fix stuff but everything is closed.
- But, the fiësta’s also
No more words are needed.
- And tapas are also real
Especially in Almería you are in the tapas-heaven. Almería is one of the two tapas-cities of Spain. The other one is Granada. With every alcoholic drink you get free tapas. Well, you pay 1 euro extra but that’s reasonable.
- There are no vacuum cleaners..
No, I still don’t understand why, but they are just not there. You have to clean everything with a broom.
- They are never on time, never.
Just never.
- No fireworks with NYE
Where The Netherlands pops apart, Spain stays remains intact. I also think it was the biggest bummer.. We were celebrating NYE with the Mexicans and some other Erasmus students who stayed. Just after midnight we ran to the beach to see some fireworks. But there was none.. Later I heard there was some in the centre, but also not that much.. I really missed the crazy Dutchies at that point.
- New Year's dive
Dutch tradition! I never did the New Year's dive in The Netherlands. But because we were in Spain, it seemed a fun idea. After the party on NYE we invited everyone for our Dutch tradition. The next day we were at the beach with the Dutchies, German and some Mexicans and we ran into the sea. All the Spanish people were looking and probably thinking that we were crazy.. And yes, the water was still quite cold but better than in The Netherlands.
Hasta la próxima!
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