While I must say that some of the cultural differences here have thrown me for a loop (i.e. adjusting to the new sleeping & eating schedule), there are other differences I’ve found myself quite at home with. Early on in my stay here in Oviedo, and for the weeks that have ensued, I’ve noticed one thing in particular that I’m pretty fond of– the majority of people here seem to be quite environmentally conscious. In the United States, environmentalism seems to be something hopelessly entangled in politics, and more of a personal choice. Here, being extra thoughtful about your energy consumption and your impact on the surrounding world almost seems like a cultural phenomenon.
I say this only after comparing notes with many other students in our group, and I’ve had several conversations about it with my host mom. But of course, like all generalizations, this could just be the specific experience in Oviedo. When I got here, I knew friends were having difficulty adjusting to the fact that their laundry was done at only certain points in the week, or that they were expected to turn lights off behind them in the house. But this lifestyle, for me, is something I’ve been working at honing all my life, and something that gives me a lot of hope about the state of the world. I think it’s safe to say we could all learn something from some of the environmental habits I’ve seen here.
As I mentioned above, the majority of the host families only do their laundry at specific points in the week. I myself re-wear things like jeans and pants pretty often, unless they’ve gotten extremely dirty, and don’t rack up laundry extremely quickly anyway. However, I’m glad to hear that many of my friends are getting used to this adjustment. I’ve also been pleased to see how many people hang their laundry out to dry here. In fact, my host mom told me that most people simply do without drying machines. This might seem contradictory to the weather forecast here (did I mention there’s a lot of rain?), but somehow, most people manage with a clothesline and some sun. This is how my family often dried clothes when I was growing up in rural Lancaster County, but I love that living in a city doesn’t seem to stop anyone here. Here’s an example below- as you can see, there’s some sort of line outside of just about every window.
In addition to laundry habits, there is also a general expectation that you won’t shower for too long, especially if you do so every day. During previous travels I learned to cut my consumption down to an every-other day shower (which is great for maintaining healthy hair, too…), but I try to keep in mind that there is always more room to save water. For example, it’s not too big of a sacrifice to simply turn the water off while taking the time to shampoo, and in the long run, it can save quite a lot.
All in all, I’ve felt like I’ve been able to maintain integrity with my own values in terms of the environment during my stay here, which I really appreciate. I’ve been more conscious than ever about turning off lights, shutting doors to save heat, and watching my water consumption– and it feels great. Some of these things are habits I’ve been practicing all my life, but other tricks are new to me, and I’m grateful to be able to take some of these lessons back home with me to the states.