Somos diferentes - Parte 2

I forgot two of the most important cultural differences- the greeting and their stereotypes of urban vs. suburban!

When you meet someone new, you give them a kiss on each cheek in addition to shaking hands and all that. I realized how formal, and dare I say, stiff we are when it comes to greeting people in the United States while talking to this guy in Barcelona. He asked the group of us how we greet people in the United States, and we told him that the first time, all we do is shake hands. With our friends, we'll shake hands, maybe give a quick nod (you know, the "hey, what's up?" nod), and sometimes, hug them (depending on how close we are), but we'd never do more than a handshake with strangers. He exclaimed something along the lines of, "How cold!" and I realized that it is indeed rather cold. In Spain, the greeting is a lot more warm and friendly. Despite the fact that greeting people in Spain requires getting a lot more into the personal space of a stranger, I haven't found it weird to transition into at all. It makes things feel a lot less formal, and I think it loosens people up a little bit. Plus, it kind of feels like everyone is family or close friends upon their first greeting, and I really like that. So, look out guys, I may come back to the states ready to kiss everyone on their cheeks!

Ok, on to the urban and suburban stereotypes. In Spain, the stereotypes concerning the inner-city and the suburbs are the complete opposite of American stereotypes. So, in Spain, the closer you are to actually living in the city, the better off you are. The richest neighborhoods are actually in the city and are close to the center. The poorer neighborhoods are in the suburbs. It is interesting to see this flip.