# What do you think about Spain / Spaniards at present?



## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

i'd like to know the image we have in the world


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

I have only been in Barcelona in Spain. It felt like a very dense and crowded city.

At the railway station Sants I ordered a simple meal in a restaurant and sat down to eat. The service was good, but after a while I noticed a young man walking from table to table asking for money. He seemed overstrained and somewhat agressive.

He said something like: I'm from Valencia, I'm out of money need some cash for the train ticket. I didn't look up and continued to have my dinner. I said that I didn't understand.

On the news they speak about the economical crisis, so these type of beggars are probably not unusual.


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## isakres (May 13, 2009)

Love it. Feels like "home" actually. Could easily live there, specially in Barcelona, if the economic situation wasnt that bad.


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## MysticMcGoo (May 30, 2010)

Jobless with a bleak future


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## calaguyo (Nov 28, 2008)

Philippines was under Spain empire for more than 300 years (1600 - 1900). But what did Spanish taught us in those years? Roman Catholicism is one, the language itself (most of our language were derived from Spanish, those fiestas, our names are spanish, the food (menudo, caldereta, afritada etc..) etc..

We've never resented Spanish despite of colonization atleast not to the level that we resented Japanese while Americans are most loved. In fact, we are very much thankful for the heritage and cultures these Spanish brought us. 

Now is the time of Asian civilization and Philippines might emerge as one super power country (we'll never know!) but our Spanish traits, heritage and cultures will still remain.

PS: Spanish should have taught us football lol!


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## ssiguy2 (Feb 19, 2005)

Well, these days when people think of Spain they automatically think of the Euro crisis with high unemployment. 

In a more general sense, I think Spain is viewed very favorably by the overwhelming majority of people. Spain is a very respected nation internationally.......your nation's reputation is far superior to 99% of all the countries in the world.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

Thanks for answers...
spain is the second european cars manufacturer , just after germany


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

zara , the largest clothing and accessories retailer in the world is spanish


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

we have a free public health system for everybody and we are the world leaders in organ donations..


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

we also have the world second largest high speed train network , after china


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## Galro (Aug 9, 2010)

NordikNerd said:


> I have only been in Barcelona in Spain. It felt like a very dense and crowded city.
> 
> At the railway station Sants I ordered a simple meal in a restaurant and sat down to eat. The service was good, but after a while I noticed a young man walking from table to table asking for money. He seemed overstrained and somewhat agressive.
> 
> ...


I gets approached by beggars on a daily basis in Norway too. I don't think there is anything specially spanish about it. :dunno:


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## Dahlis (Aug 29, 2008)

I think about the football losses, spanish football is going downhill.


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## 009 (Nov 28, 2007)

Almost a perfect country aside from two things (not including the current economic crisis)


All the ugly Franco era architecture

All the pickpockets, con artists, thieves due to ridiculous Spanish laws and corrupt useless police


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

sorry but here in spain , police is not corrupt


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## Chrissib (Feb 9, 2008)

I like Spain very much, I even stick to their eating times (having dinner really late in the evening) although I'm German. ^^


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## A_Supremacy (Apr 26, 2013)

Bankrupt, broke, albinos, hairy


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## julesstoop (Sep 11, 2002)

I live in Leiden (the Netherlands), a smallish city with a large university and many international students of whom quite a large group is Spanish. After twenty years, my view of the general culture of Spanish students is not all that positive. 

If stuff breaks on the parties we especially throw for international students - and with 'stuff' I mean glass, toilet mirrors, toilet pots, doors, etc.. - quite often one or a few of the Spanish students are the culprits. If you try to explain that their actions are not very commendable, they refuse to take responsibility and try to hide behind some silly excuse or simply deny they were near (we have cameras) . Very annoying if you ask me. And quite unique as a group culture as we don't see this behaviour with any of the other international groups.

Spain is a wonderful country though.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

all kind opinions are welcome


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## poshbakerloo (Jan 16, 2007)

I like Spain, I have been there many times and work with Spanish people in Manchester and I get on with them very well!


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## Blazar (Aug 24, 2008)

I still continue to like Spain


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## geococcyx (Dec 27, 2011)

edited.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

One thing that has always puzzled me about Spanish culture is the tendency to do everything very late at night; to eat dinner at 10pm, and not to go to a bar or club before midnight or 1pm. That must be hard for people who have to get up in the morning and go to work. I imagine that banks, business, stores etc... in Spain probably open the same time in the morning as other countries. I've even seen groups of Spanish tourists visiting Canada who arrive tired and jetlagged, but refuse to eat their dinner until 10pm our time, which is the middle of the night for them.
Why is it such a late culture, and has it always been like that or has it evolved to be like that?


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## sebvill (Apr 13, 2005)

^^ Is the same in Latin America.

In weekends nightclubs start filling at 1am in Lima or 3am in Buenos Aires. Summertime is crazy. Nightclubs open till 10am.

Its a different culture than anglo countries. I think in USA, Canada and UK, people go directly after work to parties. But in Latin America people go to their house first to have dinner with family, then take a nap, waking up at 11pm for the pre-party and going to clubs and parties at 1am. 

In large cities people tend to go out at least 3 nights a week. Of course during workdays people go to sleep earlier. But its common to go to sleep at 12am and then go to work at 8am next day.

I think the latin culture (in Europe or America) tends to overweigthed the importance of social time.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

may be its the climate or the working hours we have till 20.00 pm in my case (travel agency ) , we have lunch at 2pm and i start at 9.30 am in the morning .
we love spend time out ...


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## Kaetzar (Jun 30, 2009)

I don't know. Spanish people sleep one hour less than other europeans in average. And yes... including the mith of siesta  If you live in a fun country you prefer sleeping less and enjoying more social life althoug you felt a little tired. More lighthours per day is another reason. These spaniards in Canada will get used go to bed earlier if they live there, for sure.


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## Acosta (Jan 15, 2012)

In Brazil, there are people that sleep way to much (8-11 hours), the majority of the population sleep around 5-7 hours, and some, such as me, and specially youngsters, tend to sleep between 3 and 7 hours. It's not a culture like in the Spanish or Argentinean case, but, while some people have dinner at 7 pm here, another considerably big and important grouphave it around midnight. There's a tendency since the generation Y on sleeping less and later. 

As sebvill said, on the weekends, it's common to leave the nightclubs at 6 pm (and if it's a summer electrodancemusic party, called rave, from 8 to 11 pm) and sleep during the morning.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

Yes it's very much related to climate. During day it is simply very, very warm. This will remain an abstract notion until you actually get there and realize how it feels and how it affects your body. For example, when I first went to Spain (in Barcelona), I drove there and when I got out of the car, at 11PM, it was so shockingly warm and humid that in that instant I felt my knees "mellowing". And I wasn't there at the height of summer, but just a few days before September kicked in (and that is Autumn, where I come from :lol
So there's no point in going out at 5-6PM, right after finishing work (like it is the habit in the more Northern countries), because the sun is still too ruthless at that hour (to me that felt like the peak of the day). You don't walk or eat at that hour because the energy is drained out of you. Instead, you wait until evening, when you're much livelier and in a better tonus. 
It's also a cultural thing. Southern cultures are very social, and when's the best time to socialize? In the evening, after you've went home and refreshed for a bit. Then you go out, and at that point in the day, you know there's no pressure of time and you can do everything relaxed, at a slow pace.
(BTW I have been told that this all is even more extreme in countries from the Near East, where apparently many people work until midnight, because of the unbearable heat, then go on with their life until about 6AM when they go to sleep.)
It is equally shocking for those of a more Southern origin, when visiting Northern countries. When I went to Scotland, I couldn't believe that restaurants would close their kitchen in average somewhere between 7 and 8PM. That's when the free time starts, in one's day! If it's cold, you dress thicker and get on with it. But we had to accept the idea that maybe as the weather isn't particularly inviting for staying out, people have developed other habits: they spend one, maybe two hours out after work, at a beer or a whiskey, then they go home. We ended up alternating between eating from Tesco and a chippy that had a slightly longer program.


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

Taller said:


> One thing that has always puzzled me about Spanish culture is the tendency to do everything very late at night; to eat dinner at 10pm, and not to go to a bar or club before midnight or 1pm. That must be hard for people who have to get up in the morning and go to work. I imagine that banks, business, stores etc... in Spain probably open the same time in the morning as other countries. I've even seen groups of Spanish tourists visiting Canada who arrive tired and jetlagged, but refuse to eat their dinner until 10pm our time, which is the middle of the night for them.
> Why is it such a late culture, and has it always been like that or has it evolved to be like that?


Another reason besides what has been mentioned is that Spain is in the wrong time zone. Spain should join the time zone of Portugal and the UK. Experts on the matter in Spain have advocated this.


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## AmoreUrbs (Mar 6, 2013)

Yeah that's an important issue to consider, time zone..
Although it's true that this "late" attitude in Spain could be considered extreme by Western standards, even by Italian ones (that has similarities with other Southern timing traditions).. for example here in Italy we usually eat at around 1pm a very rich lunch (not at 3pm; the elderly mostly at 12) and eat dinner (more contained and "laissez-faire") at around 8pm-7pm (never at 10pm), although some things are rather more "relaxed" nowadays, but I think the same could be said for Northern countries too.. Eating dinner at 6 compared to Northern Europe here is considered rather weird, as even the large salty "northern European/Anglosaxon" breakfast is (much more actually as here is just a casual croissant and/or coffee cup &c; like Spain, France and Portugal I think); Also the sleeping time here is more "normal", with the normal worker going to bed at 11-midnight (or 10) and waking up at 7am; weekends are more relaxed, but you can still find life on Sunday mornings; a friend of mine said to me that Sunday mornings in Spain appeared to be very sleepy and empty, I don't know if this is completely true though, but I know that Spain has a more generalized attitude in regards to going-out, party etc. (while here is mostly the youth).. Nothing bad, just cultural differences


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## weava (Sep 8, 2007)

sebvill said:


> think in USA, Canada and UK, people go directly after work to parties. But in Latin America people go to their house first to have dinner with family, then take a nap, waking up at 11pm for the pre-party and going to clubs and parties at 1am.


from the US, I don't know anyone who goes to party before 10pm, bars are usually busiest between 11pm-1am.


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## sebvill (Apr 13, 2005)

But still. It finishes early. In San Francisco bars and clubs close at 1am. NYC 4am. Miami I think is later. Thats so weird for us, too early.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

in may 100.000 fewer unemployed


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

http://marcaespana.es/en
^^
if you want to learn more about spain


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

Nice timing to come with promoting the Spanish brand. It's probably at an all-time low but there are some shining lights luckily like Spanish cuisine and fashion brands. The site is not badly made but as usual does not promote the diversity of Spain at all. Calling Spain a competitive economy as the site does is a bit rich as well. The rankings show otherwise. Maybe in a while when are the reforms are bearing its fuits.


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## Viva_Bulgaria (Jul 6, 2008)

VITORIA MAN said:


> http://marcaespana.es/en
> ^^
> if you want to learn more about spain


Here is a very interesting article about a Spanish mission on Mars. I sincerely hope that there will be some actual development in that direction.


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## Ulpia-Serdica (Oct 24, 2011)

Well, I spent one exchange semester back in university in Barcelona. So I love the city and the country. :cheers:


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## Skyprince (May 2, 2006)

Spain is my favourite country in Europe. Despite high unemployment , the infrastructure & transportation network look so advanced - can even impress Scandinavians. Being in warmer region of Europe, people are friendlier than most European countries. 
The architecture in Spain is so stunning, arguably the world's best.
Very beautiful culture and very beautiful languages & local dialects. Mediterranean to me, is the best part of Europe.


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## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

interesting thread, I love spanish cuisine.


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## SPAL (Jul 23, 2011)

weava said:


> you're all unemployed, you run with bulls, you have the famous Bilbao art museum(which I thought was in Barcelona until recently when I learned Bilbao was a separate city) ,and they hosted the Olympics when I was 8 years old. I've only known one spanish person in my life and I assumed he was Mexican for years.


I think your opinion does not count too much, you look quite ignorant


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)




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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)




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## Santi.M (Nov 15, 2010)

SPAIN AND ITS WALKABILITY
http://maplessmike.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/spain-walkability/


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## madonnagirl (Aug 7, 2011)

I think of Spain as one the world's popular tourist destinations - nice beaches, beautiful people, delicious cuisine, fiestas etc, etc.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)




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## d'.'b (Nov 3, 2011)

sur_les_etoiles said:


> What I think of Spain...
> 
> *MOVIES.* Just love spanish cinema.
> 
> I can also think of a very advanced society regarding gay/lesbian issues. It is undoubtly one of the *most open minded societies in the world*.


MOVIES: Really? i'm looking for good movies in Spanish. Care to share some titles? (preferably romantic movies, but not too dramatic, and horror) 

Indeed! I think most Latin countries are, including The Philippines :cheers:


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## d'.'b (Nov 3, 2011)

I think of Barcelona :cheers:


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## johnsonbig (Dec 5, 2013)

ur the guys who gets finnish girls easier than me

best regards
finnish guy


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## IThomas (Feb 11, 2011)

our brother country :hug:


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## marcopaulo (Oct 16, 2010)

i like spain too, i live near the spanish border, almost every saturday-night me and my friends go to spain. too bad about the unemployment though, at least the salaries in spain are not so bad. what i don't like about spain is the stupid and uncivilized manner in which the country's government (and some of it's people) are behaving towards gibraltar. :bash: last time i was in la linea, i had to wait too long at the border to enter gibraltar. hno: and the uk and gibraltar still continues to accept spanish immigrants, despite the fact that a british citizen loses a workplace to a spanish immigrant. meanwhile, spain stole olivença from portugal, and still the people of portugal are civilized, never has any spaniard been bothered when coming into portugal, noor has the government of portugal (despite this government being a pile of shit) ever tried to mess around with spain or it's people because of olivença. not to mention spain's territories in africa - spain won't hand these territories to morocco, meanwhile, the spaniards living there have never been disturbed by the moroccan authorities, or moroccan people because of this matter.


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## farmerboy (Nov 29, 2013)

Our latin brothers. I/we love Spain, and everything related to it :apple:


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## Manitopiaaa (Mar 6, 2006)

I studied abroad in Madrid but I'm from the US (dad's Spanish though). I travelled extensively and loved it all! Spain is gorgeous. My favorite places were Cordoba, San Sebastian, Seville, and Valencia (went during Las Fallas). Barcelona and Madrid are in a whole different league.


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## VITORIA MAN (Jan 31, 2013)

Premium Risk compare to Germany 

United States 124 
United Kingdom 132 
Spain 120 
Italy 134 
Australia 245 
New Zealand 303


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## Japanac (Jan 20, 2013)

Awsome country!
I didn't know Spain has second fastest train sistem after China. :nuts: :cheers:


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## Erolisk (Aug 18, 2008)

I still have a horrific memory from Spain back in 2004 , we were about to have a fatal accident in Madrid's highway , when a racist retard tried to take us out from the road . He noticed our moroccan plate number , got ahead of us and started braking repeatedly while switching lines . I will never go back again there. Of course the world is black & white but my parents & I were always victims of Racism back in my childhood . Even though we were spending lots of cash in hotels ,restaurants ,local malls (Canada ,Corte Ingles) we would still feel unwelcome .On the other hand , we felt great in Catalonia (Barcelona ,Tarragona ,Girona) and had never experienced acts of this kind .


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

^^ Sorry to hear that, there is always some bad apples in every country.


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## Jay (Oct 7, 2004)

one of my favorite countries, love everything about it (minus the economy)

Beautiful places/beaches, good food, friendly people, Spanish guys are sooooo hot (girls too of course) 



Another thing I don't like is that it doesn't pay well at all when it comes to ESL teaching compared to other less fun countries so it would be hard for me to find a good job and live there for a year or so.


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

PAELLA


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

Football sucks tho!  J/K


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## IThomas (Feb 11, 2011)

Japanac said:


> Awsome country!
> I didn't know Spain has second fastest train sistem after China. :nuts: :cheers:


Europe's 10 fastest high-speed trains
Train, operational speed, (broke a record speed)

01. *AGV Italo*, 360kmph (574.8kmph) ITALY
02. *Siemens Velaro E - AVS 103*, 350kmph, (403.7kmph) SPAIN
03. *Talgo 350*, 350kmph, (365kmph) SPAIN
04. *ICE 3*, 330kmph GERMANY
05. *SNCF TGV*, 320kmph, (574.8kmph) FRANCE
06. *ETR 500 Frecciarossa*, 300kmph, (max speed 360kmph) ITALY
07. *Eurostar*, 300kmph, (334.7kmph) UK-BELGIUM-FRANCE
08. *Thalys PBKA*, 300kmph, (max speed 320kmph) FRANCE-BELGIUM-NETHERLANDS-GERMANY
09. *Pendolino Tilting Trains*, 250kmph ITALY
_Some of the major operators of Pendolino trains include SBB (Sweden), Trenitalia and Cisalpino (Italy), Virgin Trains (UK) and VR (Finland)._​10. *Talgo 250*, 200kmph, (max speed 250kmph) SPAIN

http://www.railway-technology.com/features/feature-the-10-fastest-high-speed-trains-in-europe/


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## alaroner (Aug 19, 2006)

Erolisk said:


> I still have a horrific memory from Spain back in 2004 , we were about to have a fatal accident in Madrid's highway , when a racist retard tried to take us out from the road . He noticed our moroccan plate number , got ahead of us and started braking repeatedly while switching lines . I will never go back again there. Of course the world is black & white but my parents & I were always victims of Racism back in my childhood . Even though we were spending lots of cash in hotels ,restaurants ,local malls (Canada ,Corte Ingles) we would still feel unwelcome .On the other hand , we felt great in Catalonia (Barcelona ,Tarragona ,Girona) and had never experienced acts of this kind .


Erolisk, I'm so sorry to hear that, is totally unfair as we should all be considered as human beans, despite borders or cultures. I come from Mallorca and there's a big moroccan community and I have some very good friends and learned many things from them. Unfortunately everywhere you will find ignoring people... By the way, I´ve been in Marrakech, Essaouira and Casablanca, your country is very beautiful, very good food and as neighbours we have many things in common!


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