I'm no demographics expert, but I am under the impression that not everybody is from the same town or city or even country for that matter. Many of us have only seen a portion of the world and getting to know about other places even through the lens of another person is interesting.
So, tell us a bit about where you're from. Try to personalize it rather than making it so fact-based. If all I wanted was facts, I'd look to Wikitravel and look up wherever you live.
I currently live in Valencia, Spain. I call it "The Forgotten City". Despite it being the third largest city in Spain, it's often overlooked by tourists who leave Barcelona (the second city most tourists visit after Madrid)* just skip over it in lieu of the beaches of Alicante or the beautiful historical monuments and buildings in Seville. Even if they do see it, they stay here for a maximum of one weekend.
Personally, I love it for that exact reason. Spain is like Italy in the sense that most of the country is an enormous tourist trap. The cities that are the best for living in my opinion are ones that offer plenty of culture with a slight cosmopolitan edge to make it easier to adjust to living in Spain. Another good example of that appears to be Zaragoza from what I have heard.
After spending a week in Madrid, a month in Barcelona getting a teaching certificate, and now two weeks in Valencia searching for a job, I have committed to living in Valencia. Despite the economy, the English teaching industry still has plenty of jobs available and I've gone on one interview per day for the last 5 working days. There's no doubting the action here for a job if you have sufficient experience.
While Madrid and Barcelona are bigger cities, have way more tourist attractions, have a higher diversity of people and a booming nightlife, they are simply too large to appeal to me. In Barcelona, I was constantly bothered by the street sweepers that cut through the city at 2 or 3 AM every night. People would be screaming to each other at 5 AM after getting back from one of the countless bars in the area. Madrid is simply too large for my tastes and Barcelona is so cosmopolitan that learning Spanish would be a waste of time. If I was 5 years younger (I'm nearing 29 now), I wouldn't care as much. Like just about every big city I've lived or vacationed in, it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
Like America, each province in Spain has its own culture. For example, Valencia is the birthplace of the original paella which is a combination of rice, meat (rabbit or chicken for paella valenciana, other may be used in different mixes). Many consider paella to be the national dish in Spain. I don't have any personalized food porn, but I can provide an example of what it looks like:
I don't eat it as much as I'd like as eating out in Spain is quite expensive (10 Euros for a full afternoon meal, more for dinner). But if made properly (in a special dish called a paellara), it'll hit the spot more often than not.
Due to dwindling funds, my job search, and inability to fly solo in social situations, I haven't socialized as much as I would like. I'll undoubtedly have more to say later should this thread take off.
*People traveling into Spain from France will often visit Barcelona first given its proximity to the southern border and work their way down from there.
So, tell us a bit about where you're from. Try to personalize it rather than making it so fact-based. If all I wanted was facts, I'd look to Wikitravel and look up wherever you live.
I currently live in Valencia, Spain. I call it "The Forgotten City". Despite it being the third largest city in Spain, it's often overlooked by tourists who leave Barcelona (the second city most tourists visit after Madrid)* just skip over it in lieu of the beaches of Alicante or the beautiful historical monuments and buildings in Seville. Even if they do see it, they stay here for a maximum of one weekend.
Personally, I love it for that exact reason. Spain is like Italy in the sense that most of the country is an enormous tourist trap. The cities that are the best for living in my opinion are ones that offer plenty of culture with a slight cosmopolitan edge to make it easier to adjust to living in Spain. Another good example of that appears to be Zaragoza from what I have heard.
After spending a week in Madrid, a month in Barcelona getting a teaching certificate, and now two weeks in Valencia searching for a job, I have committed to living in Valencia. Despite the economy, the English teaching industry still has plenty of jobs available and I've gone on one interview per day for the last 5 working days. There's no doubting the action here for a job if you have sufficient experience.
While Madrid and Barcelona are bigger cities, have way more tourist attractions, have a higher diversity of people and a booming nightlife, they are simply too large to appeal to me. In Barcelona, I was constantly bothered by the street sweepers that cut through the city at 2 or 3 AM every night. People would be screaming to each other at 5 AM after getting back from one of the countless bars in the area. Madrid is simply too large for my tastes and Barcelona is so cosmopolitan that learning Spanish would be a waste of time. If I was 5 years younger (I'm nearing 29 now), I wouldn't care as much. Like just about every big city I've lived or vacationed in, it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
Like America, each province in Spain has its own culture. For example, Valencia is the birthplace of the original paella which is a combination of rice, meat (rabbit or chicken for paella valenciana, other may be used in different mixes). Many consider paella to be the national dish in Spain. I don't have any personalized food porn, but I can provide an example of what it looks like:
I don't eat it as much as I'd like as eating out in Spain is quite expensive (10 Euros for a full afternoon meal, more for dinner). But if made properly (in a special dish called a paellara), it'll hit the spot more often than not.
Due to dwindling funds, my job search, and inability to fly solo in social situations, I haven't socialized as much as I would like. I'll undoubtedly have more to say later should this thread take off.
*People traveling into Spain from France will often visit Barcelona first given its proximity to the southern border and work their way down from there.
