Jamie Clift, The Rotunda's longtime features editor, is studying abroad in Valencia, Spain at the Institute of Spanish Studies during the spring 2012 semester. Having stepped down from her position as features editor for the time being, Jamie Clift has charitably taken it upon herself to assume the role as The Rotunda's official Foreign Correspondent. In doing so, she will document her traveling experiences as an exchange student in each issue of The Rotunda.
I'm sure a good portion of American college students agree that midday naps are a beautiful thing. Back home, they are a coveted rarity. But in Spain, the midday nap is common practice. It's called a siesta, and I'm a fan. I had heard of siestas before I made my way to Spain, but I never imagined that they would be such a big part of the culture. It's not really a casual thing. The stores close, people go home. The city is pretty quiet in the middle of the day.
I joked with my Aunt Amie a few weeks before I left about taking siestas while I was in Spain. She said she was curious, so she gave me a mission: I was to find out about siestas and report back as soon as I could. She liked this idea of taking a nice, long nap in the middle of the day. Who wouldn't? I've learned a great deal about Spanish culture since I arrived a little over a week ago, and I now feel that I am accurately able to describe the siesta and everything that goes with it.
Basically, the siesta is a period from about 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the afternoon when all of the stores close and everyone goes home. The American Institute building where I have class and use the internet closes as well, so I have no classes in the middle of the day. I leave the institute around 1:30 p.m. and walk back to the apartment. I don't have to come back until 4:30 p.m. for the evening classes.
As I described last week, lunch here is the heaviest meal of the day and takes place at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon. So, here, after we eat, there's really not much to do. Sometimes, I watch TV with our host mom, Esparanza, but I typically take a half-hour long nap, read a little about European politics and wait for Ashton to wake up. She has embraced the siesta a little more than I have.
Siestas are important to me so I can sleep off the ridiculously large portions here. America always gets a bad rep for having large portions of unhealthy food. But the amount of food that we eat at Esparanza's is mind boggling. At first, Ashton and I had to force it down. I think our stomachs stretched out. After eating a huge plate of pasta, sandwiches, paella or arroz con pollo, it's really easy to take a nap, and when you wake up, you feel much better.
I've heard a few different reasons as to why napping is such a big deal here in Spain. Esparanza explained that siestas are important because of how hot it is here in the summer. Apparently, it's so hot that people don't want to do anything, and it's important to close down businesses in the middle of the day. Children, especially, are made to come in and rest to protect them from the heat. But I think that there's a little more to it than that.
To make a generalization, Spaniards are night owls. They live to go out, and they stay up very late. The whole city seems to be open until at least 10 p.m. The discotecas don't even really open until midnight. I believe that siestas are what make them all be able to stay out so late.
Perhaps the reason that things are so different here is because in America we never seem to make time for breaks. So many people at Longwood, for instance, are so involved that they could never make time for a midday nap. Spain is different. People are busy, but somehow they seem more relaxed. Maybe the warm weather and pretty palm trees here in Valencia just have that effect on people.
In some ways, the siesta is annoying; in other ways, it's practical. Want to go shopping in the middle of the day? Forget it. Everything here is closed. But really, who couldn't love a culture that loves naps this much?
