What I'll Never Understand

I’ve been living in Madrid for seven months now, seven whole months. In fact, I haven’t left the city much; my attitude towards weekend excursions has been that of a recalcitrant resident rather than that of an excited American abroad. With my very presence I’ve tried to really live in Madrid, to make this city my home. It is an unusual approach to a year abroad, this one I’ve taken, and I won’t try to argue that it’s any better or worse than the plan you might have for your European tenure. I’ll only say that for me it has worked. Still, despite all my time in Madrid spent watching and listening, discussing and asking, touching and tasting, there are a few things that I still don’t understand.

 1. Why churros seem like a remotely good idea for a breakfast food. Personally, if I’m going to take a giant leap in the direction of clogging my arteries, I like to do so once I’ve already lived through the day. What happened to “the most important meal of the day”?

 2. The rollerblading phenomena. What is this, the 90’s?

 3. People who will wait in line just so they can stand on the escalator. It’s not that hard to walk up a moving staircase… in fact, half of the work is done for you!

 4. The canned tuna obsession. The other day I was presented with a slice of pizza that had canned tuna on it. I’m all for the tuna salads… put pizza is pushing it.

 There are any number of other critiques that I have for Madrid, Spain, the Spanish, but at the moment I am feeling humbled by the reality of my impending departure, so we’ll leave it at that. The top four things I just don’t understand about Spain. Surely you’ll find your own.