The young American Ashton (@ashtonjoyner23) has made Mallorca her new home, and through her TikTok account, she's sharing what it means to live in Spain through her eyes. And what a journey it’s been! In one of her videos, she explained the six biggest culture shocks she experienced after moving to the island.
From the very beginning, Ashton realised that life in Spain moves at a very different pace compared to her home country. Dinner time, for example, was something that surprised her a lot. In the United States, having dinner at 6pm is completely normal, but in Spain, people tend to eat much later—almost at the time she would typically be getting ready for bed. And that’s not all; the concept of a siesta fascinated her. Although it took her some time to adapt to this tradition, she now can’t imagine her day without a small nap after lunch.
Another thing that has caught her attention is the way Spaniards take care of their clothes. Ashton was amazed to see people hanging their laundry on balconies and clotheslines to dry in the sun. In the United States, using dryers is much more common, so this practice struck her as very eco-friendly and, on top of that, clothes smell so much better!
As if that wasn’t enough, Ashton has also discovered that Spaniards love to walk. Walking everywhere is a common habit. Not only is this great for the environment, but it has also allowed her to discover hidden corners of Mallorca that she never would have imagined.
Despite all these changes, Ashton says she is thrilled with her new life in Mallorca. "Life here is so much more relaxed, and I feel so much happier!" she admits in one of her videos. As she herself puts it, "Spanish life promotes physical and mental well-being in ways I never expected."
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camila culverrTherein lies the problem! People moving here yet earning a salary from their other countries! If only a law would be passed that if you want to live here, you have to work for a Spanish registered company. It would sort the housing problem, and so many other issues too! And as for drying washing outside, it reminds of the whole organic food thing - it was just the normal way of doing things before! But just give it a fancy name and charge 3 x the amount - all in the name of progress of course!
The reason why most Spainards who live in flats do not have dryers is because there is no space to put a dryer. Many of the washing machines are a combo washer / dryer. Many people also take bigger washed items to the self serve laundromats for drying. Spaniards themselves do not consider drying clothes outside as a nostalgic, cute, cultural quirk; (classic naive American observation). As for cheap groceries?? not at least for most Spainards today; even our beloved draft beer is getting too expensive. This girl should try living on an average Spanish salary, and then see how much fun it is to air dry her clothes...in winter!
Cheap groceries? What is her salary?
tranq tranquerI have no idea whether I will be alive when that occurs, but, speaking personally, I would much prefer that a western democratic nation got there before an eastern communist one, whoever pays the bill. And imagine, they might even discover something even better than Teflon.
Reminds me of my one time visit to the US, a three day trip to Fort Lauderdale. Waiting at the long line of Customs at Miami I could not get over the amount of fat people in the queue . And I mean fat, arms and legs like tree trunks, and this was 25 years ago. God knows what its like now. As for the washing and walking, now maybe she is starting to realise why Americans consume more energy per capita than anyone else, and remember I guess at least half the country has decent sunshine. They have got us to the moon, I'll give them that, and maybe Mars soon with Trump trying to upstage JFK using Elon's squillions.