I knew expat life in Spain would bring my life tons of changes, but some of the more impactful are actually the simpler things. There are always going to be quirks to moving to a new place, no matter where it is. Living in Spain brings new changes almost daily! Most of them are welcome and fun, others not so much. If you’re considering living in Spain, here are some helpful, albeit random, things to note.

1. Mealtimes are Different

In the states, we generally do breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch is a lighter meal and we go heavy at dinner time. You might already know that in Spain lunch is their heavy meal, but what I was unaware of was the complete change in schedule. Here, breakfast is a light pastry or yogurt and then lunch is around 2-3. Snack time, ‘merienda‘ is around 5 and dinner is pretty much any time after 8 pm. My roommates tend to eat between 11 and 12 pm! I’ve finally found a balance but this was a weird one to get used to.

2. Nighttime Partying

I honestly didn’t even know how to title this section. Partying? Clubbing? Going Out? Basically the entire Spanish timeline is a bit pushed back from the American timeline. I’m not big on clubs and that scene anymore, and even less so because of the times in Spain. Clubs open around midnight, but don’t show up then! People start arriving between 1-2 am and leave between 6-7 am. Crazy, right?! I tried once and couldn’t stay awake long enough to make it out. So if clubbing is in your itinerary, a nap probably should be as well. I can’t do a whole workday then stay up until 1 am to go out!

3. Please and Thank You’s Don’t Happen

It’s not that people are rude, they just don’t say please and thank you. This was a shock to me coming from a Latin American family where politeness is ingrained in us from infancy. This also applies to the whole ‘respect your elders’ thing. In Latin America we treat anyone elder with respect, especially when they’re strangers. We use ‘usted‘ and ‘señor/señora‘. Not here. Want to offend someone? Call them señor/señora. Once she heard my accent she realized I was South American and it was me being polite, but the lady was not pleased at first. And if you do say bless you, don’t expect a thanks in return.

4. Slippers

I thought this was just my roommates, but apparently not. For whatever reason, people wear slippers all year round. Many homes even have a ‘zapatero‘ or shoe cabinet in the foyer. When people come home, they slip off their street shoes and into their slippers. Being from Florida, this felt strange. Plus since I’m such a hot-natured person, it’s not something I’ve ever done. I compromise with flips flops instead!

5. Fashion

One of the more noticeable differences, for me, is the fashion here. I guess in the back of my mind I knew Europeans were a bit more fashion-forward than Americans, but I hadn’t really thought about it until moving here. Obviously nobody’s running around looking like Lady Gaga on a daily basis, but people really do what they want here. The best part? Nobody really cares. One of the harder parts about living in Nashville for me was how restrictive it felt. I felt judged when I would wear something a little different, where here it’s just another way to express your personality and everyone’s ok with that!

These may seem like arbitrary things, but I’m just trying to help you prepare for expat life in Spain, in case you do consider it! I’ve got some more practical tips here!

Any things I missed?