I have experienced many culture shocks just from attending UA—one of the biggest being game days. At least for that, I had a relative idea of what going to an SEC school would be like, but the culture shock of living in a different country was further from anything I could have expected. Since arriving, I quickly had to force myself to adjust to the daily schedule. Specifically, when it comes to meals.
Yes, there exists a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My main issue is the times at which these meals take place.
While the time that breakfast is consumed is quite typical for an average American, I will note that the breakfast itself can be relatively different (and personally preferred in comparison to the common pancakes with sausage or oatmeal). Some of the most popular options are pan con tomate (translating to toast with tomato) and churros with hot chocolate syrup. The pan con tomate is more like smushed tomatoes and then garnished with garlic and olive oil, which I have yet to try just because I unfortunately do not like tomatoes. The churros though are fantastic. You may think that they are churros coated with cinnamon sugar like what is most commonly found back home (or like what they used to have at Costcos R.I.P), but they aren’t. This is where the hot chocolate syrup comes into play. This dish was phenomenal, especially because the chocolate was not too sweet, but I would not really recommend drinking it straight just because it is so viscous and heavy (if you do want to try it though, go ahead. I won’t stop you).
Lunchtime here does not start until 2, 1:30 at the earliest, and will end around 4. This was an adjustment just because I would typically eat my lunch at 12:30. However, when your dorm residence does not offer lunch until 1:30, you must learn to acclimate your hunger. Many of the lunches I have had here in Spain were included in my meal plan with the school, which have been quite nice. I will say that common lunches are often paella and gazpacho. For this program, I actually got to help make paella, which is a rice dish cooked with various seafoods and vegetables. I am quite fond of this dish. Gazpacho, on the hand, I cannot say the same for. The gist of this dish is just cold tomato soup, but it is far less thick than that of a typical tomato soup. Instead of having a cream base, it basically tastes like regular cold tomatoes in water form. I truly wished I liked tomatoes, because I know that I would have the potential to like this dish even remotely, especially during the summer. Alas.
Between lunch and dinner exists something known as “merienda,” which is a mid-afternoon snack. Meriendas are typically had at around 5 to 7 just because dinner is so late. In my cultures class, my professor had told us that the most common treats to have during this time are bocadillos and fruits, which to me are practically lunches in and of themselves rather than a snack.
The most challenging meal because of its time has been dinner. I have been so used to having my suppers between 6 and 7 depending on the day of the week, but here? Here, dinner is not starting until 8:30 pm in the dorm residence. Many restaurants don’t open until these times as well, but much of Spain is not going to be having dinner until 9-10:30 (which is quite crazy to me). My struggle with this routine was that I have always been so used to going to bed earlier, but that has been difficult to keep up with because of my day-to-day schedule in Madrid. I will say that this slight con is heavily balanced out by how delicious the dinners are here. Some of the most common dishes are paella, croquettes, and patatas bravas. Unfortunately, I have only had the chance to try the patatas bravas from a restaurant in Segovia and paella because I took a paella cooking class, but both were beyond fun and delicious to try. I still have time to try some croquettes though while on this program, so I may update on that in my last post.
To gist, the entire routine of meals was the biggest eye-opener to me. I have acclimated to the time change after living here for a month, luckily, but I do miss the early dinners I have always known and loved.
