Time is On Spain's Side

Fewer hours may lead to greater happiness

Chase Gunnell

The Daily Evergreen

Published: 03/26/2009

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BARCELONA, Spain — Siesta. This infamous Spanish tradition typically falls between 1 and 5 p.m., but depending on the whims of shop or restaurant owners, it could be anywhere from a half-hour break to taking the rest of the night off.

During siesta, most residents of Barcelona sip espresso shots and dine on croissant sandwiches at outdoor cafes, spend time at home with their families, or relax at the beach or in one of the city’s parks.

It’s certainly not the most productive business model, closing shop for most of the afternoon, and very different from the driven American sales ethic. However, it’s clear that overworked Americans could learn something from the Spanish view of leisure.

During a recent field study, my art history class visited the Joan Miro Foundation, a unique modern art museum dedicated to 20th century surrealist Joan Miro, who lived much of his life in Barcelona. Overlooking the city high on Montjuic Hill, the foundation is reached by a tram that funnels visitors to the top.

Unfortunately for our class, after it dropped off my professor, a few classmates and I at the hilltop, loudspeakers at the tram station informed us that it would no longer be running that day. It was only five in the evening, and no explanation was given for the change in schedule. What’s more, the rest of our class was stuck down at the bottom and forced to miss the free museum trip. With a laugh, my professor’s only response was, “That’s Spain for you.” Spaniards are certainly hardworking people, but their reverence for punctuality and clockwork-like efficiency is vastly different than that of the fast-paced hustle propagated by American society.

“Spanish time” runs at its own pace, and it’s a leisurely tempo. Buses, subways and trains stop for the day unexpectedly. The citizens of Barcelona stroll unhurried down their wide sidewalks without any thought of rushing (which can be a real pain when I’m attempting to hurry to class amid throngs of pedestrians).

Eating out in Barcelona is fueled by the same mindset. Traditional meals are not fast food, drive-thru or in-and-outs. Sitting down to eat is a lengthy and dignified affair, starting with tapas (appetizers), salads and Sangria, continuing with paella (seafood and rice dishes) and more Sangria, and finishing with dessert, café or Cava (Catalan champagne). The entire outing can last hours, but in Spain there’s no need to hurry.

Even when it’s not siesta, it’s common to see Spanish workers spending half their time on the job simply standing and staring, taking in the beautiful city around them without any motivation to get the job done. It’s no wonder buildings like La Sagrada Familia take centuries to complete.

As Americans, we grow up in our driven capitalist society, touting our intrepid workforce and high productivity as things we should be proud of. But as we work hard and long, do we really benefit more? Americans work on average between 46 and 50 hours per week. In Spain, the typical work week is much shorter, clocking in at roughly 35 hours.

But the Spanish people seem no less happy than those back in America. They take their time, relax their afternoons away with their family and friends and laugh off the regular breakdowns in public transportation. And they probably deal with much less stress because of it.

Maybe it’s just the sparkling sun in Barcelona or the close proximity to the beaches of the turquoise Mediterranean that lure the Spanish citizens into easy tranquility. But if happiness is the highest measure of life’s success, Americans could certainly learn something from Spain’s carefree attitudes and peaceful perception of time.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/28190

Student activism alive in Europe

Student activism alive at the Sorbonne

A trip to France highlights Cougar inactivity

Chase Gunnell

The Daily Evergreen

Published: 03/12/2009

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PARIS – The riot police were out in force. Dressed in full body armor like baseball catchers, toting batons and tear gas canisters, dozens of them silently stood guard on the street outside the Sorbonne.

Waving cameras and microphones in the faces of campus administrators, the media were crowding the front gates of the famed campus of the University of Paris.

And locked inside were roughly 200 students, blockading the doors and staging an expression of dissent at President Nicholas Sarkozy’s recent plans to cut funding for higher education.

Civil Disobedience is nothing new at the Sorbonne. The campus, located in Paris’ Left Bank and not far from the meandering promenades of the Seine River, was the heart of the May 1968 student protests. This notorious general strike and lock-in, aimed at employment deficits and harsh government crackdowns on leftist groups, nearly forced then-President Charles De Gaulle from power, setting a new precedent for student activists worldwide.

But unlike the calls for freedom of expression that took place here in the ‘60s, I had a front-row view to the spectacle of protest that remains as strong as ever today in Paris.

Staying at a friend’s apartment on Rue Saint Jacques, near the more passive Sciences Po University, I got my initial view of French college students. Most of the undergraduates at Sciences Po reminded me of characters from Wes Anderson’s movie, "Rushmore.” Not really the type you would expect to overthrow a government.

But nowhere was the French students’ passion for political involvement more evident than at the Sorbonne. After getting word that a protest was underway, we approached the university amid tell-tale signs. Trucks of riot control officers suiting up. News vans and crowds of spectators. At the university entrance, forcefully barred doors proclaimed there would be no class today. Locals said that the students had locked themselves inside, blockading the doors with tables and chairs.

The riot police seemed content to stand outside and look intimidating, and no student leaders were making any significant calls for rebellion when we arrived. Nevertheless, the event forced me look at today’s American student activists with a fresh perspective.

French students are not alone in their passion for social dissent. While American universities may have lost the spark of past college movements, Barcelona has seen its share.

My first week in Spain, I witnessed a demonstration of more than 50,000 people, many of them students, marching against the recent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip and filling the City Center of Plaza Catalunya with fierce shouting and signs.

Healthy social dissent is the lifeblood of any democracy. Where would America be without the Boston Tea Party? College students have always been at the forefront of this freedom of speech, but much of that fire seems to have gone out at American universities today, particularly WSU.

Young Democrats, College Republicans and many more passionate campus groups, armed with infinite colored leaflets, always seemed to deter my route to class on the Glenn Terrell Mall. While I’ll commend those students for their efforts to be active citizens, their leaflets usually end up in the trash, and I wonder if their messages are truly being heard. And those negligible political efforts don’t seem much compared to what I witnessed at the Sorbonne.

Blocking the doors of Todd Hall with tables and chanting slogans of “freedom for education” may be going overboard, but in times of such political and economic stress, American students, regardless of their political leanings, could take a note from our European counterparts and ensure that our voices are heard loud and clear.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/28094