Madrid - Day 2

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I Don’t Belong Here

No matter how hard I try, I don’t really belong here; I am just a visitor. This was made very apparent to me at the Spain vs Sweden soccer game. Standing there with a red, blue, and yellow jersey on, I felt like I belonged, but then they started playing the national anthem and I did not know it. This is another example of my lack of knowledge affecting my cultural experiences. I now know that when I enter into another culture again, I will change my CQ strategy to include more study of the practices that will help me fit in better.



I Was Spotted

During this game, we interacted with many people rooting for both teams. As with my other posts, I wondered what they were thinking of us. I think it was very obvious that we were Americans, and I remember getting looks from the locals. They could definitely tell that we did not know the chants but were still encouraging us to join in. On the other hand, the Sweds that we interacted with were actually very rude. I’m not convinced that they were being rude because they thought we were actually die hard España fans. I am still unsure why they were being so rude, but they definitely were treating us differently than other people at the stadium.



Tourism in Spain

With soccer being such an important part of the European culture as a whole, I thought the Spaniards may have been intolerant toward our ignorance about the customs of the sport. But then I realized that us coming to that event is bringing more money into Spain. “The Spaniards are usually kind and courteous to foreigners they meet, but perhaps this is because these foreigners are usually European tourists, who come to spend money in Spain” (Culture Smart, pg 56-57). Although we are not European, we look it, and we bring money, so they don’t care.

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