Wait...Before I Go

Ok, so I know I said that you wouldn´t be hearing from me again until I was back in the U.S. but lucky for you all, I had a little something on my mind that I wanted to dish before I go. I wanted to talk about a couple of cultural differences that I noticed during my short time here. As you know, the United States and western Europe are a decent distance away from one another but they are very similar in multiple ways. But...I´m not here to talk about the similarities, I´m here to talk about the differences, and three differences in particular:

1) Being Nice

As simple of a concept as it seems, I don´t often run into very nice New Yorkers, and I´m guessing that there are some other New Yorkers out there who feel the same way. This trend of un-niceness may not be a demonstration of the true colors of many New Yorkers, but perhaps when you get so caught up in your work and you´re constantly rushing from place to place, you can come across as being a bit aggressive. Maybe this is why so many people in the city walk around with their headphones on? To tune out all of the mean people they feel they are surrounded by? I bring up niceness as an example because when I was in the grocery store the other day, a nice associate came up to me when I was walking down one of the aisles and handed me a hand cart. May not seem like such a big deal but...it is. This has NEVER happened to me in the U.S. and if it did, I would probably shop at that grocery store every day. Yes, perhaps this was a tactic to get me to buy more but hey, it worked because I definitely bought more things than I would have been able to hold in my hands.

2) Caring for your fellow man or woman

The picture at the top of this post is of something that I typically see around here; older spanish women holding hands and taking a walk together in the early evening. Let me tell you, I love seeing this. I barely ever see older people here who are accompanied by care takers because most of them are caring for each other...isn´t that a beautiful thing? Wouldn´t it be great if we all, at any age, could partner up with the people we love and make a fitness pact? As a matter of fact, it doesn´t even have to be about fitness, you can merely have an agreement to take an hour long walk twice a week to reflect on the events that have been occuring in your life. Wow, what a difference that would make.

3) Please...stop the music...and the phones

Huge thing that I´ve noticed - people don´t walk around listening to their ipods and talking on their cell phones. The few times that I see someone with an ipod is typically when they´re running in the street but other than that, I seldom see people wearing headphones. This is probably because most often, people are walking in pairs or triplets - typically with their significant other, a friend, or children. Aren´t conversations always better than words in a song anyway? ( although, I´m a huge advocate for audiobooks). Also, cell phone usage while walking in the street is virtually non-existant. I can´t tell you how sick I am of hearing about who gave who the STD in what should be a private conversation between two people. When will the madness stop?? What ever happened to landlines??

Anyway though, I think I have done enough ranting for the last week and it´s now time to settle down a bit and get back in the school mindset. I´ve got an economics exam waiting for me on Monday...how so very exciting...

Take care everyone and expect another post in the next few days.

Raw. Love.

-Natalie