Siesta time, by Jake O’Brien

When coming to Spain the one thing I was not aware of was what a siesta was. A siesta is a time in the United States this is not a thing. We are so going to go that we don't take any breaks. People here in Spain value their time and their time to take breaks. They value life, happiness, and family over their jobs. With that, they scheduled a couple of hours in their day dedicated to a break and family time. This part has become a crucial part of my day. I like to take this time when there's no class to take a break. I get a chance to just relax and take in the beauty of Spain. It gives me a chance to catch up and just take a few hours to myself before going back to class and other activities. We in the USA are consumed in our work life. We are all about work and not about life or happiness. Another way to show that Spain values a siesta and family over work is having nothing open on Sundays. They take Sundays as their family time and their time to take a break. They use this day to spend with their families and not worry about work. Back home we are working all day every day and have limited time without families. Coming here and taking a couple-hour break was a culture shock. We talked about in class how people can experience culture shock in many ways. I was shocked to come and not be so go go go. I got a chance to come relax take time for myself and catch up on life. In a few months when I go back to the United States, I will miss my siesta time. I will miss the couple of hours I have to myself and relax. I will miss having that time in my day to catch up and more. Because once I go back it's all about working and school where here I got the chance to value life and friendships a lot more. It gave me a few months to reflect on the beauty of life and value the friendships and time that I have for myself more.