City life of Spain: Apartments vs the “American Homes” by Alejandro Gomez de la Vega

The day that I arrived in Seville I noticed that everyone here lives in apartments. Big houses, like those found in American suburbs, are a foreign idea here. I remember during my orientation I learned that people do not really invite people over to their homes to hang out, but rather meet out somewhere life at a coffee shop or bar. This was interesting to me because in California, I go to my friends’ homes to hang out very frequently. Living with a host family, I became very acclimated to Spain’s apartment lifestyle quickly. I remember I had a conversation with my host mom and her sister about my house back in California. They were very curious to see what my house and neighborhood looked like. This conversation began due to their curiosity that American houses really looked like what they saw in TV shows. I showed them my home and they found it super interesting and they thought it was so cool to have a place with so much space. Seville and my hometown differ though beyond just the simple fact that the homes are different. Because of how spaced out American suburbs are, the idea of being able to walk around everywhere is a very impractical idea. Seville’s extreme walkability would not be possible with its apartment structure. In Spain as a whole, 65% of people live in an apartment while in the U.S. it is about 17%. Another interesting difference that arises from having different homes is the disposal of garbage. In the U.S. most people have their own garbage bins that they put out on the sidewalk once a week for the garbage trucks to pick up. In Seville, there are instead garbage bins outside in the street that neighbors share. I also noticed that most people in Spain don’t have dryers in their homes, but rather hang their clothes outside to dry. This was very different from my experiment in the states. All in all it is very intriguing how the type of homes typical within a place can have such an effect on the way people live their lives.

https://felixwong.com/2021/10/differences-between-homes-in-the-u-s-and-spain/

Apartment in Spain Where I Stay

Home in California