Celebrating differences

The night before my first day of work, my main concern had nothing to do with my actual job, but rather entailed what to wear to work. Anyone who has worked in teh fashion industry understands exactly what I am referring to, as first impressions based on choice of clothing often precede job qualifications in this field. Kristen, Kindall, and I each went through multiple combinations of clothing, shoes, and accessories, trying to achieve the perfect look for our first day at Desigual.

As soon as we stepped foot into the office, we realized our attire was totally off-base. While we would have fit in perfectly in an American office, the culture at Desigual is way more laid back, and employees are given the freedom to wear whatever they want. On our first day of work, our boss wore a zip-up hoodie with cargo pants, and one of the girls in our department was wearing jean shorts. Yes, that's right, jorts. To work. I was shocked.

Japris (i.e. jean capris) are also common in Barcelona. And manpris. For those of you who may not know the correct terminology, capris are those pants that awkwardly fall mid-calf so that they are not shorts or pants, perfect for middle-aged mothers running errands on warm spring days that have a slightly chilly breeze. Manpris are capris for men. My personal favorite (and a popular choice among Barcelonians) is the man-japri.

Nic, one of the Intrax interns, and his friend, embracing Spanish style.

Other than man-japris, the hardest thing for me to become accustomed to has been the different meal schedule. My first day at work, I was starving by around 11, and waiting for our 2 pm lunch break seemed excruciating. However, it was well worth the wait when we realized that we would get 1 1/2 to 2 hours for lunch (also referred to as siesta), thus making the afternoon seem way shorter. Desigual has a "cantina", or cafeteria, where employees can eat each day. We were encouraged to take our meal from the cantina to-go, and bring it outside to the rooftop, where there is a rest area with a ping pong table and benches for employees to enjoy breaks from the workday. At my parents' house, we begin dinner by 6:30 or 7 at the absolute latest each day. Here, the earliest I've eaten has been 10 pm. I actually like eating later much better than I initially expected to, as doing so makes the days feel longer and allows me to fit in more things to do after I get off of work, rather than rushing home to eat dinner right away. 

Eating dinner at our apartment in Barcelona

We met the Madrid interns in Valéncia

 All of these differences between the Spaniard and American lifestyles, while seemingly miniscule, truly reflect a major cultural difference in attitude. While Americans tend to be much more uptight, leading stressful lifestyles full of planned schedules and regulations, in Spain the attitude is much more laid back. Everyone I have observed in the office works diligently, and Barcelona is a major metropolitan city full of profitable and successful businesses. Yet the people appear to be more comfortable in the work environment, less worried about life in general. I noticed this difference this past weekend in Valéncia, when we stopped for a minute in the park to observe a group of middle-aged men playing street hockey. My friend pointed out to me that in America, this would be a common activity for a group of kids to engage in, but we would almost never see 40-50 year old men playing street hockey with each other. Instead, this age group is much more likely to be driving their kids to soccer tournaments, or spending their weekend running errands and getting other productive things done. While this may seem to be a better use of time, it is way less enjoyable. Even things that should be pastimes, such as sports and physical activity, have become a part of our planned schedules in America, and thus now constitute just another thing we need to get done. Consequently activities such as going to the gym or practice seem more like a task, and less fun.

Valéncia, first weekend excursion

Valéncia has the largest aquarium in Europe

I think La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias looks like something from Star Wars.