Tops off! by Katherine Vetrano

One of the most uncomfortable, but interesting experiences for me this semester was visiting the beach in Cadiz. I went with my boyfriend, his cousin, and a few of her friends for a trip during the weekend. Much to my surprise, when we were walking over absolutely beautiful bluffs and I looked down at the beach, I saw a few completely naked people in more secluded areas as we walked closer to the main beach area. I just assumed it might be okay because those areas were far more private and they may not have realized that other people could see them. Then as we walked down all the stairs to the beach that was our destination, I noticed a few women without their tops on. To which I thought – “Hey, it’s Europe, I should’ve expected that.” We walked along the beach looking for an open spot to set up our towels, and next thing I know, there is a fully nude older gentleman crossing my path. My eyes immediately went to the ground and I followed my boyfriend’s steps to our spot, and I nudged him in the back to check if he was seeing the same thing I saw. He explained to me that was normal here, but he himself felt uncomfortable doing the same and tried to avoid “people watching” while at these types of beaches. This continued to happen all day, including when some of the girls with us even took their tops off. I thought it was interesting that though I did feel slightly weird about that, I definitely felt most uncomfortable seeing people without bottoms on. The main concern I felt with having no bottoms on was that there were very young children running around and playing, with completely nude, typically much older, men and women in the on the same beach swimming and tanning, which although it was clearly not malicious, would technically be something criminal to expose young children to in the United States. I mean overall beautiful beaches, and I had a wonderful time, just a fair warning to those who may potentially end up at a similar beach to brace yourself for a few body parts you may not want to see.