misc. thoughts from spain

reflections stemming from a 10-day road trip abroad 🇪🇸

My family and I just returned from a 10-day road trip through Spain. We visited Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Ronda, Sevilla, Malaga, Granada, Valencia, and Barcelona, among other smaller cities. It was a hectic trip, but so much fun and so fulfilling.

On the 9-hour-long return flight from Amsterdam back to Minneapolis, I typed up a few of the thoughts that had been running through my mind throughout the trip. These are largely incomplete ideas. Perhaps I’ll explore a few of these deeper in the coming months.

language patterns

Apologies in advance to my wonderful high school teachers, but I haven’t practiced Spanish since my senior year of high school, which was (gulp) 7 years ago. My Spanish was rusty at best, and in my attempts to communicate with native speakers, I resorted to a broken form of the language, stitching together bits and pieces of gestures, the few words I remembered, and English. It went pretty well for the most part, and my family didn’t encounter many situations at all where we were fully incapable of communicating with someone. 

There are some clear differences between Spanish and English in terms of how language is constructed. As a small example, the Spanish way of communicating that you’re hungry is by saying “tengo hambre”, which in its direct translation means “I have hunger”. This is a slightly different idea than saying “I’m hungry”, and I think this small nuance points to a different way that the two cultures relate to feelings or sensory experiences. 

On the flip side, I’m sure some universal ways of communication work across languages that point to a general human way of relating to the world. Things like a thumbs up or pointing with your arm to signify direction. I’m curious about what language patterns also persist across languages. Is it a worldwide tendency to spell words out by saying “A as in apple, B as in bravo”, etc.? What other ways of expressing ideas are consistent throughout the world?

I have no idea how to even begin answering that question, but it’s fun to think about. 

god as inspiration

I saw so many beautiful cathedrals and religious institutions in Spain (the Sagrada Familia) is probably the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen). I was completely awe-struck and humbled every time I walked in. They each were extraordinary displays of science; they each so beautifully integrated architecture, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and so many other disciplines in the name of commemorating our longing for union with God. 

This experience solidified the general sense that I’ve started to have that true creativity, beauty, and innovation come from channeling our inner longing into art and technology. While a lot of people nowadays mislabel their inner longing as longing for wealth, status, power, or other things, I have a feeling that the greatest works of humanity across all disciplines come from people who correctly recognize this inner longing as a longing for reunion with God, and through the surrender to the idea of something far greater than themselves are able to find the inspiration for their transformational works. This applies to the sciences as well - the greatest physicists and philosophers of the 20th century were all deeply religious (at least as far as I know).

I think the broader turn away from religion and faith is why so many modern things appear lifeless and drab nowadays. I just felt such a greater sense of life and inspiration in Spain, in those religious institutions specifically. I’m going to seek more of those spaces back home. 

Art or innovation that channels the inner longing generates inspiration; everything else generates shallow desire. (This is an idea that I want to explore much more deeply at some point.)

people in Spain are very conscious of space

From my observations, stores are generally smaller, driving lanes and parking spaces are smaller, apartments and living spaces are smaller, and people are much quieter and mindful of other people around them. I also saw very minimal littering and pollution relative to the size of the cities. It was such a refreshing change from New York where everything is loud and in your face; if you’re on the streets and don’t have your head on a swivel, your safety is at risk. 

Also, none of the places we stayed at had a dryer (all clothes were air-dried), and most places had keycard-like things at the entrance which would turn off all power to the apartment if it was removed to optimize energy usage when people aren’t home. It was a very interesting change of pace; I’ve never thought too deeply about energy consumption, and the environments I’ve been in have never sacrificed convenience for energy efficiency. I honestly really enjoyed experiencing a little more friction in my day-to-day life, like waiting longer for the laundry cycle to be done or for the apartment temperature to adjust to my liking. It made me realize that I can probably do without a lot of the conveniences I take as necessities, and I’m excited about the challenge to live more fully with less.

rhythm of life

I’m in love with the Spanish pace of life. Slow mornings, leisurely work days, long afternoon siestas, and late, rich nights throughout the week. Every day, the cities were quiet throughout the day but so filled with life after 8:30. Bars, restaurants, and public plazas were routinely packed with people past 10-10:30 PM, even on weekdays. 

It just felt like instead of forcing an “idealized” or “optimized” version of how their days should go upon themselves, people in Spain preferred to simply follow the rhythms of their bodies without pushing too much or adding stress into their days. I felt such a sense of lightness and relaxation in each city, and it felt like they had achieved the perfect integration of work and leisure; it all flowed so naturally. On the contrary, the work-hard-play-hard nature of New York and the United States more broadly seems so jarring and unnatural now, and I’m now questioning whether I’m mistaking restlessness, adrenaline, and the edginess that comes with anxiety in New York with life and infectious energy. 

signals of luxury

In all of our sightseeing, we saw several places that screamed luxury, but I couldn’t immediately identify exactly what exactly about those places made them seem luxurious. Was it the people? Was it the decor? Was it the furnishings? A combination of all of those? I had no idea, but I’m dying to do some more research into this. 

If you can figure out universal signals of luxury and find low-cost ways to mimic those signals and create that feeling, you have the foundation for a pretty powerful business.

health signals

Spanish people are amongst the healthiest in the world, but I couldn’t find “typical” health signals while I was in Spain. I didn’t see that many gyms, there weren’t that many food or drink establishments that marketed healthy food, food menus didn’t contain many prototypical healthy meals, and there were countless bars, ice cream parlors, candy shops, bakeries, and more. It didn’t look like people were going out of their way to prioritize “health”; health seemed like a byproduct of their lifestyle and attitudes. 

I’m curious to get a more complete picture of exactly what about Spain is so conducive to health. Free healthcare is probably a huge bonus. I think it also has to do with the walkability of all cities, the quality of food, the plethora of communal spaces and plazas, and the strengthening of social bonds with age as opposed to isolation (I saw so many old people out and about and socializing in Spain, and only after this did I realize that I rarely see anyone over 55ish in New York). 

music

Very, very few restaurants or bars played live music, and even fewer blasted music out onto the streets in an effort to attract people. Instead, I saw so much more live music with people singing or playing guitar. I really liked this! Again, it made me realize just how drowning the noise in other cities is. 

trip preparation

We did a lot of driving on this trip, but I did not prepare one bit for driving in Spain. I didn’t research the road signs, the driving etiquette, the main parking rules, or anything like that. Thankfully, we escaped through the trip with only one silly parking violation, but looking back, I think it was not only reckless but disrespectful and arrogant to not prepare and learn about the customs and rules in advance. 

sabbatical

I’m slowly starting to appreciate that not all trips are created equal. Trips that include adventure, sightseeing, and novel experiences are wonderful and inspiring, but they’re exhausting. To prepare for these trips, I need to do a much better job of resting before the trip and planning rest after the trip, but the vacation itself isn’t very restful. 

I’m craving a different type of trip nowadays; a true sabbatical. I want to go to a comfortable place where instead of adding experiences, I’m cutting away distractions to truly give myself a chance to rest, recover, absorb and reflect upon my experiences, and re-center myself. Perhaps I’ll spend a month in San Diego sometime soon. We’ll see.