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Kusmin: Some things better abroad, some things better here

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

After spending a semester in Madrid, Spain I have come to the conclusion that some things are better here while others are better in the United States. This is by no means exhaustive, scientific, nor without bias or possible ethnocentric preconceptions.

Spain’s ruling PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español — Spain’s left of center party) headed by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is far superior to the Republican Party and President Bush. Besides the obvious incompetence of the current Bush administration, the Zapatero government has accomplished two major equal rights achievements. First, Spain completely legalized gay marriage nearly a year ago. In contrast, Bush has continually advocated amending the constitution to ban gay marriage. Secondly, Zapatero has deliberately created a cabinet equally represented by both genders, including a female vice-president. Bush’s cabinet has only four women in a cabinet of 16.

Spain does not achieve equal rights for all, though. Innumerable places are not wheelchair accessible, nor have I ever seen a handicap parking spot. On this note, the Americans with Disabilities Act is tremendously successful in providing access to public buildings for virtually every American.

Unrelated to the ruling government, the legal drinking age in Madrid is 18 — like most of Europe. There is no reason the drinking age should be 21 in the United States. Finally while the United States tries to take away marijuana from those in pain and dying of AIDS and cancer, Spain is much more relaxed. According to drugpolicy.org, the consumption and home growth of marijuana is legal, while the selling and trafficking of it is criminalized.

In general, partying in Spain is an all-night experience, where it is not unusual to stay out until 6 or 7 in the morning, though going out does not usually start until midnight or 1 a.m. While it can be fun to stay out all night, and we have all experienced the night cut short by the bar closing at 2 a.m., the next day is basically slept away.

The United States trumps Spain in customer service, though. In Spain, it seems the general wisdom is the customer is always wrong. While, this might save Spanish laborers in the service industry from the extremely whiny customer, it means that service sucks in Spain. On Saturday, I went to a fairly posh restaurant with a friend and we waited twice as long for a table as they told us we would. After promptly placing our order, we waited at least 25 minutes for our drinks to arrive. Our waiter truly forgot about us.

I am obviously not addressing a host of other issues where either the Spanish way or the American way is better, but have attempted to highlight the issues I think are most pertinent to my life as a student. That said, I have extended my stay in Madrid, through the summer, because despite its flaws, España es muy bueno.

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