Since living here in Oviedo, I’ve become aware of a few stark differences between the Spanish lifestyle and the one that I’m used to leading back home in the U.S. When I refer to lifestyle, I’m talking about the general daily schedule here, including things like sleeping and eating habits. Although one can’t generalize about an entire culture, and many of these dissimilarities seem minute, I have found that the way I compartmentalize my time here has changed my perspective on how I go about my day.
I’ll begin by saying that I have always been someone who adores sleep, and will gladly sleep more than 8 hours at night if given the chance. To achieve this in the U.S., that means getting ready for bed around 10:30 PM and having the lights out by 11 PM or midnight (at the latest, of course!) on a work or school night. My friends back home often affectionately refer to me as a grandmother, which I unashamedly accept. Of course, my schedule varies when I don’t have to be fully awake and working the next day, but this is just a rough sketch.
That schedule, to my initial dismay, has been a little difficult to maintain here. I’ve been quite surprised at just how different the daily schedule is here in Spain, and after a full month, I’m only just starting to feel more adjusted. (Honestly, maybe it wouldn’t be as big of a transition for someone who doesn’t value sleep as much as me…but this is my experience!) Ever heard the phrase–“The Spanish never sleep”? This of course is a stereotype, but I have noticed that many seem to split their resting hours between a long afternoon siesta and a late-night snooze instead of the (in my mind, conventional:-) 8-hour night of sleep.
The average day starts around 8 or 9 AM, and many shops are only just beginning to open at this time. After waking up and having a light breakfast, I head off to school and make sure to bring plenty of snacks for the day. Why bring snacks? Well, for me, they are mandatory, because I don’t sit down for lunch until after class (2:30 or 3:30 PM), and I can’t go that long without food! However, after a few weeks, I realized that eating lunch at this time makes a lot of sense: you know that post-lunch sugar crash we all experience around 1PM during school and work days? It isn’t much of a problem here, because after a late lunch, you’re free to indulge that sugar crash and lay down for a siesta!
I have definitely come to take advantage of the guilt-free naps that are built into the schedule here, and this has tremendously shifted my sleeping schedule. To me, the inclusion of a siesta in my day has become a mark of moderation—why not give myself a break in the middle of a long day? Many stores shut down during the siesta anyway, so it just seems to make sense to stay home and relax! A lot of my friends here who aren’t big on naps still take the time to just decompress, and the whole city seems to get a little calmer and quieter around this time of day. The naps keeps me on par to stay wide awake for the usual 9 or 10 PM dinner, and give me energy for my new night owl schedule. It seems that no one sleeps here at least before midnight, and I’ve been surprising myself going to bed at 1 or 2 on school nights. (Weekends are a different story—the bars don’t even get going until after midnight!)
All in all, for someone who is used to a very structured sleeping and eating schedule, it’s been strange to lay down for a nap most days, turn the light off for bed at 2 in the morning, and shift most of my meals back by 3-4 hours. However, I realize that it’s just part of settling into life here, and if I truly want to enjoy what Spain has to offer, it’s best done if I go by their clock! And I must say, the days seem much longer (almost endless, and in the best way) when you follow a schedule like this one.
Til next week!