The end of the road in Madrid

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Madrid has a different feel to it than the other two cities.

Personal Perceptions:

After spending three weeks in Spain, in a multitude of different cities learning about their specific small scale culture, I can say that Madrid has the most different feeling to it. Barcelona was very fast paced with a culture that felt unique to Spain, while Granada had a small city feeling that I enjoyed. Madrid initially felt like a cleaner, bustling New York City (and I do not mean that in the way of constantly putting Spain in an American context i.e. ethnocentricsm or “evaluating other people and their culture by the standards of our own cultural preferences— (Livermore, page 65).” I loved the music, the food, the laughter, the different people - it felt authentic and all it’s own, even after comparing it to another city.

Relationally Recognized:

On our day off, we spent the day exploring, eating and just simply people watching. Every interaction - I felt the most like a tourist in Madrid and that did not impact how others viewed me and my friends. We constantly were greeted with kindness and grace and it was something that made me reflect on how I am treating my neighbors or tourists at home. I was glad that I experienced what it was truly like to be on the other side of a traveler and I was also sad because I knew while we were being treated well as tourists, there were different dynamics for illegal immigrants.

Social Order:

One evening when we were exploring Madrid’s streets, one of my peers in our group asked about the Men selling “fake” bags on the streets. I was curious about what they were doing and why - I was wondering why they would set up on bags and pack up quickly and move into the shadows when the police slowly drove by. Once the police were out of sight, they’d reappear from the shadows and set back up until the next police car arrived. I would come to learn that clearly it was illegal to sell wares on the street as such, but that most times it was because the men were illegal immigrants and they were selling the items in exchange for a place to stay. It was disheartening and sad because of the risk associated with doing so, but also that multiple people were being exploited (those making the bags, those who are illegal selling them) to make someone a profit.

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