MADRID- After being in Spain for more than two weeks, I’ve started picking up on some of the random cultural differences from the U.S. Half of these (ok, more than half) I learned after getting dirty or confused looks from my host family. Let me tell you how fun it is to live up to the whole clueless American thing!

-That whole walk on the left, stand on the right escalator rule doesn’t exist here.

-Spaniards peel all of their fruits before they eat them. That includes apples and pears, and it takes a good 15 minutes for someone to peel one with a knife.

-It’s considered rude to walk around the house barefoot. Apparently many people are convinced that’s how people get sick.

-Kids wear Harry Potter glasses here! It’s pretty much the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

-As opposed to Washington, where generally people don’t like taking care of other living things, Spain is an incredibly dog-friendly country. In fact, many people walk their dogs without leashes around the city.

-In this country, it’s all about the ham, ham, ham! Chicken is considered low class, so it is not uncommon to have ham every meal. In many butcher shops there is a bar area for people to have a beer while sitting under giant pig legs. Talk about atmosphere!

-There aren’t really set hours for anything here. Store hours and deadlines are more like suggestions, and things just kind of happen whenever

-A tradition back from the days when people carried swords finds a person untrustworthy if they rest their hands on their lap while eating. Instead, it is customary to keep both hands on the table during meals

-Wine is cheaper than water. Enough said.