Two Lists

I've decided to compile two lists of things I've seen here. I'll probably add to it all summer, so check back if you're interested.

Things We Should Adopt in the USA

1. Cleaning People For Dorm Rooms
 Yes, I'm serious. We have cleaning people come every Wednesday and clean, including changing our sheets and towels. From what I've heard, its completely weird that we don't have that in dorm rooms in the United States. How much less disgusting would freshman dorm rooms look if we had people doing that? So great.

2. $10 lunch
Ok, so it doesn't sound that great. But this is what you get for 10 euros, just for yourself (including tax and tip, of course): individual first course, individual main course, bread, dessert, and a drink. I think you could get wine or beer instead of Coke Lite, but I haven't tried. Or, you can get a bocadillo for 3-4 euros (tax and tip still included) and those are basically big sandwiches on french bread. Seriously, lunch here rocks. Oh, but the 10 euro deal is only good from 2-4, which is when Spaniards eat lunch.

3. Old Awesome-Style Buildings
Basically, most buildings downtown and in the little village-type towns look like clean versions of the French Quarter. The whole USA should adopt that, too. Its way prettier.

4. Holidays Like Every Week
Not sure if its just June, but so far we have today (Monday) off and then Thursday and Friday off next week. We should definitely get in on all the holidays, even if it means most of them are distantly connected to Jesus.

5. Castles
 This one we were all talking about while seeing some castles. How much cooler would it be if we had castles in the United States? Now, you might be saying "hey, we'd need a king or a queen to have a castle!" Well you know what? I've seen two castles already and one is a military museum and one is an art museum. I'm just proposing we build our museums in the style of 500 year old castles. They wouldn't have the history, but they'd look pretty damn awesome. That, and we could project movies off of the castle walls like they do here in the summer (yes, they show movies on CASTLE WALLS).

6. Vending Machines With Apple Headphones
Now if you've been in a Macy's, you might be thinking "ummm....we have those." But not like this. The Apple headphones that come with the little volume plus/minus thing are only 17.50 euros. They're $29 at home, so even with the exchange rate they're cheaper here. I'm stocking up. 

Things We Should Definitely NOT Adopt in the United States

1. Tiny Little Cars
Ok, so they're better for the environment. But people look so dumb driving in SmartCars. There's a limit. Most cars here are ok, but some just look stupid. And have no trunk space, so what's the point?

2. Very Small Quantities of Hot Water
Not sure if this is all of Spain or my dorm in particular, but you can't take a shower longer than 8 minutes without it getting completely cold. I think that's enough on that one.

3. Lunch from 2-4
The two-hour lunch concept is great, but I still haven't figured out how Spaniards can make it from 8 am breakfast until 2 or 3 pm lunch. Its a lot of hungry hours in an office for me. That, and no one in my office actually takes a lunch break. At all. Not just from 2-4, but in general. So I don't get to see the siesta thing in action :(

4. Only Listening to Foreign Music in Stores, Restaurants, and Bars
Any place I've been so far that doesn't just play mood music plays foreign music. By that I don't mean Spanish music, I mean American. I mean that every store plays American pop music, and the only exception is the one store that threw in a Spanish version of "Love Don't Cost A Thing" by Jennifer Lopez. And if even I know most of the words, they're not new American hits, they're mostly from the early 2000s.

That's my whole list for now. But I'll keep adding to it as the summer goes on, probably as I travel to different places, and I'll compile a full list of both at the end.