I’m not in Spain…. but the Basque country does have some similarities with Spain. For example: the greetings. Everyone new I’ve met here has greeted me by kissing me. No joke(and only a tiny bit exaggerated)

Ok, so it’s the whole two kisses on the cheeks sort of thing, not a full on kiss-on-the-lips romantic style thing… and I definitely knew to be prepared… but it was still a bit unsettling. More unsettling than I expected it to feel. It doesn’t help that I spent most of my childhood not even doing so much as hugging my father. My mom would decide sometimes that she needed to demonstrate her love for me and that a hug was the best way to do so…. but it was always super awkward. I didn’t really learn to like hugs until high school when I actually made friends who liked hugging people. Needless to say… my kisses (even those on cheeks) have hitherto been reserved almost exclusively for romantic encounters….

Not that I mind really. It’s all a part of the cultural immersion, and it’s cool. It just threw me off a bit more than it should have. And it’s proof that no matter what they say, the people of Catalonia and of the Basque Country do have something in common with the rest of Spain after all.