Some cultural observations

Fashion: People dress really well. Of course styles (some more than others) have a European flair, but on the whole, I'm very surprised, and I love just looking at people. Women tend to wear jackets like those below. I found some pictures (from El Corte Ingles, a big Spanish department store, and H&M, also moderately popular here) to help you visualize. At some point I'll become creepier and take photos of actual people haha. 

 

Women also almost exclusively wear skinny jeans, and actually multicolored jeans are moderately common. (Emily, today my host sister wore a pair identical to your green ones!) Shoes are either boots (generally black or dark brown, and not too tall) or flats... I think it's too cold to not wear socks here but I guess they're used to it. Heels are also quite acceptable, and depending on the look they are going for (especially for younger girls, under 20 or so), Vans or Converse, or maybe other sneakers, are very popular. Most people seem to actually wear knock-off Vans, from the brand "Andy-Z", which are only $10 or $15... Might need to buy a pair of those since my Vans (which I obviously should have brought) are almost dead.

Dress seems to be rather more dependent on the time of year than the actual weather, which is what I saw in Greece too. When I was out this afternoon, I was only wearing a light sweater because it was pretty warm, and then when I was out tonight, I wore a warm jacket, gloves and a scarf (I may have overdressed slightly...) because it was cold, and it seemed like more or less, local women were wearing the exact same type of jackets both times. Bummer for them.

I haven't paid much attention to men's fashion, but jeans or neutral colored pants are the norm  along with a leather jacket or maybe a sport coat if they're dressing up. Occasionally I see a guy wearing pastel pants and a polo or some similar outfit too!

Aviators are by far the most common sunglasses. I feel right at home in that respect, other than many people have RayBans and I haven't been willing to shell out quite that much yet... If the weather here were getting nicer and nicer instead of colder and colder, I probably would though!

Children's fashion is the most interesting... Parents are willing to spend a TON of money on their kids' clothing, even though of course they'll outgrow everything in a year! The little kids (particularly in the age range of 3-6 years) are absolutely adorable, in large part because the girls might wear cute dresses, tights, nice shoes, and cute jackets and the boys wear a nice shirt/sweater, often pants that aren't jeans, and a nice coat, and none of this is bright pink and covered in butterflies and rainbows or sports logos; it's all attractive colors which match. I will definitely take a picture at some point to convey this!

Window shopping: It's a real thing here! Of course we use the term in the US, but in the evenings the streets are FULL (again, will find a picture to show this) of people walking around (either families or couples), socializing and looking in windows! Every store has a well-thought-out window display, and the majority have prices displayed because people actually look at them. Shopping also seems to be a pretty popular, although that's not quite so foreign to Americans. I will add, though, that since this is a European city, it's quite urban and residences are mixed in with businesses and stores and plazas so within the 100 meter radius my host my has mentioned, there are many cafe/bars, shoe stores, clothing stores, bakeries, a cell phone store or two, a couple pharmacies, and more. It's great.

Vino y tapas: At night, people often go out and get a wine (vino) or beer with friends. When I said cafe/bars before, that slash actually means the establishment is both things... in the morning you can get coffee (often this comes with some kind of bread, cracker, or cake and a small juice) and at night, you can go back and get a drink! It's weird when you're drinking a morning coffee and looking up at a display of alcohol... There are many local and Spanish wines served here, and I've discovered that I love their sweet white wine. I've tried some that's so sweet, I hardly know there is alcohol, and others that still taste like wine in addition to tasting like juice, and those are the best. Also, a glass of wine is only about $2! Even better is the fact that when you go out to pretty much any of these cafe/bars and you buy a drink, you get a "tapa"; which is a small plate of food, for free. It could be anything; I've had little potato cubes with lots of salt, a slice of bread with cheese, a fried cheese stick ish thing, and there are plenty of others too. Obviously not the healthiest, but not the worst either. The name originates from the verb "tapar", which means to put a lid or top on something, and they say that a long time ago, the small plate of food was placed on top of the wine glass, "tapando" the glass.

OK, this last bit doesn't actually fit neatly into a "cultural observation", but it's too cool to not include in today's post!

The San Isidoro Church has a historical light show in the summers on Saturday nights here, and while some of the history was lost on me, it was still gorgeous! It's basically 20 minutes of art (with accompanying music for the relevant period in time) projected over the face of the church, sometimes matching with existing architecture, but not necessarily. A summary of the historical events covered was projected at the beginning, but it moved too fast for me to read.

I took a bunch of pictures but since I was holding my camera and the image was always moving, they're a bit blurry and I had to lighten them after. Still, I hope you appreciate how pretty the colors were! I'm afraid I can't say which period the first photo is from, but the second is a representation of an art (I think) museum that's in town (present day!). I haven't seen it yet but our class is going there at some point. I will post more pictures and you'll be entertained by the resemblance!