Sunday, June 15, 2014

Week two in the wonderful land of Spaniards and Futbol (Stereotypes)

When I came to Espana I don't think I really had any big glaring stereotypes against anything. It's safe to say that I could be one of the most ignorant people on this trip because I didn't really look up anything beforehand. This probably caused me to have some stereotypes against Spain that were far from correct. One example of this was I expected to not walk a block without seeing a couple of kids playing with a soccer ball. Another example was that I thought the streets would for the most part be extremely dirty and everything would seem kind of third worldy. 

That last misconception I had about Spain might have been due to a video game I played a while back... which took place in Mexico. It's pretty obvious that my knowledge of Spain was pretty close to nill and none. It is safe to say that most of these stereotypes I had were wrong for the most part. I even sort of like the way the people live here. They don't have the best resources and luxuries but they are happy with what they have and they take so much happiness in the little things; especially futbol. 

As far as stereotypes about America, all of the ones I have heard have come from bar speak. The things I have heard is that Americans are loud... That one is true. Americans are mostly fat, are all rich or well above their means, and are uncultured or violent. It is funny to see some of the peoples reactions to when they see that we don't fit their expectations, at least not to the full extent. They are also somewhat surprised to hear us speak Spanish to them which is always what gets me because it makes me feel like I am doing something right.

No comments:

Post a Comment