My Waiting Room Experience, by Hannah Higgins

        I have been sitting in the waiting room of a clinic for about an hour now. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make this post about, but I think it would be fitting to write about the fact that it’s so loud in here that I am having trouble writing anything. The more I think about it, the more I realize how truly strange this situation is. There are probably ten separate conversations going on around me, all at a regular talking volume. The conversations on the phone are even louder. I’m not sure why people don’t just talk at a quieter volume so that you don’t have to talk so loudly to be heard, but I realized that doesn’t happen here a long time ago. Something else that everyone seems to be doing is not noticing how much it sucks that we have all been in this room for a long period of time, waiting. Even though I don’t understand a lot of what is being said around me, I honestly don’t think very much of it is complaining. I’ve heard quite a bit of laughs too. Several people have even said “buenas tardes” upon walking in to the room to everyone here. No one seems as thrown off by that as I am, and everyone that has greeted the entire room has received several responses.
        As strange as this waiting room experience seems to me, I think I prefer it to what I would normally experience waiting at the doctor’s office in the U.S. Normally, it would be expected that I be as quiet as possible in order to not disturb anyone around me in any way. There would also be an understanding among the room that the situation sucks. I can’t even imagine someone coming into a room and saying “good afternoon” to everyone. I don’t think the response would be quite as positive and natural as the response it receives in Spain. Overall, I think people in Spain have a much better and more pleasant attitude toward waiting rooms than we do in the U.S.