I hope your weekend was lovely. I spent the majority of Saturday on the beach in Barcelona which was lovely except for the throngs of people climbing all over each other. I am convinced I was a mermaid in a past life and thus feel a very strong connection to the sea; one of the many reasons I wanted to go to Barcelona. Sadly, classes are getting in my way of decent beach time. I guess that is the struggle of being a privileged American who gets to study abroad for a semester; poor me.
So, I decided to use this post to talk about the lifestyle of the Spaniards, or what I've seen so far. One thing I saw that I loved, at first, was that on the streets there are so many trashcans and most are labeled with what they are for; plastic bottles, compost-able, paper, etc. When I first saw that I thought it was so ingenious, line them all next to each other so people put things in the correct bins and save the earth! However, more often that not, I've seen people just shove things in the first can they see, not the appropriate one. THIS DRIVES ME INSANE! Why would you put a plastic bottle in the paper bin when 3 feet to your left is the plastic container?! It is so frustrating because there are all these great ways around to save the planet from liter and yet is normal to throw trash in the street.
As a self-proclaimed woman trying to save the world, I just want to run up to these people and make them dig their trash out and put it in the right bins.
One thing I really love though is the extensive measures taken to save electricity. In many public restrooms the lights are on timers, so either you flick it on when you're in there or it goes on by a sensor. Although more often than not it goes out while you are still in the restroom, it is better to have to put it back on than wasting electricity. And my host mom is really into turning lights off when not in use; and the internet. (Which is actually frustrating sometimes because she turns off the wifi at night but then I cannot communicate with anyone from home.) But saving the earth is more important than sending ugly face snap chats with my sister (even though we would argue to our dad that the snap chats are more important than paying attention to the road when he needs help finding signs). Sometimes being the only male in the house can be really hard on my dad, he's always over-ruled.
My final Spanish lifestyle comment is on the topic of beverages. The water here is safe to drink, it has been proven multiple times, and yet almost everyone just buys water bottles repeatedly instead of filling up bottles at water fountains. It is considered strange to drink tap water, and it is not even available at restaurants. This just creates more waste so I really do not understand the thought process. One thing I do like though is that restaurants recycle all glass bottles for reuse (you can see them put the empty ones back into the crates they came in).
Maybe I am just experiencing culture shock, but there are so many good ways to conserve here that are not being implemented to their full potential. This must be how the Spanish feel about Americans leaving their lights on when no one is home.
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| I saw this on the internet and just thought it was funny! |
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