A woman who has spent nearly four years living abroad in Spain has shared the biggest culture shocks she has experienced after moving country – and there’s some she still can’t get her head around
A Brit living in Spain has shared the biggest culture shocks she has experienced since she started calling the sunny country her new home. Lauren Jade, who is known as @laurenjadewaters on social media, has been documenting her life in Spain after making the big move – and says it has come with some unexpected surprises.
Amongst these, she has noticed a stark difference in how British and Spanish people go about their daily lives – including preferred meal times and how they greet each other in the streets. In her TikTok video, she said: “Spanish meal times, I can’t get used to it. They eat quite late here so their normal dinner time is maybe about 9pm or 10pm. I can’t get out of my English ways. I still eat tea at 5pm or 6pm.”
When it comes to going out for drinks, the expat says Spanish people usually hit the clubs at about 10pm. In contrast, she says she starts thinking about her bed at this time instead.
But despite everyone being awake late into the evening, she says shops shut a lot earlier than they do in the UK, with almost “no 24 hour shops”.
She said: “The amount of times I’ve walked to the corner shop at 9.30pm only to find it closed at 9pm. I’ve been here for nearly four years and I’m just not used to it.”
One thing she couldn’t quite get her head around is the fact that some apartments in Spain do not come with ovens.
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She praised the invention of air fryers from saving her cash on having to buy an oven.
She says this was even more strange to her considering both apartments she has lived in “came with a dishwasher, came with a bath, but didn’t have an oven”.
Finally, she says the vast majority of Spanish people greet each other with ‘adios’, meaning bye, when they pass each other in the streets, rather than ‘hello’ like Brits do.
While she understands how this makes sense as they’re usually not stopping for a chat, she says it’s a tricky one to get her head around.
Commenting on her video, one user said: “I’m a Spaniard and I moved to Ireland for a few years and got used to having lunch at 1pm and I’ve kept it since I returned.”
Another user added: “Upside down light switch, gets me every time.” While a third person said: “If I eat at 10pm I will get the biggest tummy ache.”
One more user added: “These are the first things you have to get used to in Spain.”
Adding their own to the list, another user exclaimed: “No Ubers at all!”