The Matt Faus Blog

Well, since the Internet in the dorms has been down for the weekend, I have been going a little crazy. Imagine a day without the Internet – it’s just a basic commodity, like water. So, anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and figured I should share some of my observations from European cultures.

• All the rooms in the dorm have a urinal as well as a toilet. However, it’s situated on the ground, so I didn’t really understand what it was until I found someone I was comfortable to ask. I kind of thought it was a urinal, but why would they put them in ALL the rooms if 50% of the people that live here are female and they can’t use them? It still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I guess it helps conserve water (no flushing).
• Restaurants are only open during eating times, which are 10am, 2pm, and 10pm. If you want to eat, you can generally only eat at those times. Except for fast food places, which are open all day, but who wants to eat fast food all the time?
• Wine, and well, alcohol in general, is cheap. Johnny Walker Red Label is $30 in the States and 10 Euros here, or $15. Half price, always.
• Trains go everywhere, but they are neither super-cheap nor super-fast. It’s a toss up between flying. I had always heard how awesome and cheap it was to travel by train, but it’s really not.
• Spaniards eat horses. I don’t know, maybe they’re low on deer?
• Four-wheelers (ATVs) are allowed to drive on the street.
• Chicks at the beach really do sunbathe topless. However, it’s not all of them – I’d say maybe 10%, and some really ugly ones do it too, so it’s not all fun and games.
• Spanish college students can put up with not having the Internet for a weekend. I mean, at UTD, we would be rioting in the streets if the Internet was out for this long.
• No one drinks tap water. At restaurants, you either buy bottled water, or drink wine (which is similarly priced).
• Cell phone service is incredibly expensive. The pay-as-you-go plans are very popular here, and they charge $0.271/min. One hour = $16.26.
• Coastal cities are the best places on Earth to live. This doesn’t have anything to do with Europe, but I lived in Seattle last summer and now Valencia and I can’t get enough of it!