Things I learnt and loved about Espana!

1. Lunch is eaten at 2 or even as late at 4. When I first arrived I had a hard time with this but now I am so used to it. Also one thing I really enjoyed is lunch is the bigger meal of the day, whereas dinner (at 9-10ish) is very small and often just protein. This makes sense as you can use the day to burn off the calories of a large meal compared to going right to bed after.

2. People know how to parallel park!! You really can’t park any other way, but still you have to know how to do it. I would have a little trouble in this department that’s for sure.

3. Traffic circles make sense here, and people know how to drive in them! It keeps traffic moving, which in Madrid is very necessary. I would think of the new traffic circles they just built behind Western on 18th ave in Calgary and it makes me laugh.

4. Transit is amazing! The metro runs throughout the whole city and is comes on a very regular basis. I think the longest I ever had to wait for a train to come was 5 minutes. Also they have buses that run to all the nearing cities and sites for very good prices. For a trip from Madrid to Segovia (comparable distance Calgary to Red Deer) it was 12€ (~$17) round trip. I am pretty sure greyhound doesn’t offer the same deal. Also these above buses run very often. Yes I know the large population in Madrid an area does help in this but I was still very impressed.

5. In Spain, Spanish has a slightly different accent than Latin America Spanish (which is what most of us in North America would have learnt or heard). I only note this as when I first arrived I found myself having a hard time saying all the words with z’s and c’s with a “th” sound. Also when hearing the word and then seeing it writing with a “z” was also very confusing, but now I have gotten very used to it and yes Plaza is not pronounced pla-za, but pla-tha!

6. Fruit and veggies are so yummy. When I came back to Calgary I grabbed a pear and then almost had to spit it out as it just tasted very pulpy. I never realized how horrible the fruit is we get until experiencing fresh fruit on a daily basis.