Berkley Center

Imagine going to the library in your home country. Imagine what you’d see there. What I would see is this: students who are studying for exams; professors who are scanning the spines of books to find a source for some research they’re writing; students who are checking out books for some huge paper they have to write by next week.

In Salamanca, Spain, you go the library and what you see is so much different. Most of the people there seem to be there for the pleasure of reading. People are reading comics, novels, and poetry. They are learning about the things that interest them. There aren’t as many students looking for sources, or cramming for exams in a coffee-induced frenzy: people are genuinely there for leisure.

In most cultures around the world, leisure is something in which one engages after the work is done. Leisure is “free time.” It’s not compulsory, and it’s not essential. In Salamanca, leisure is, in many senses, compulsory. That people have free time is something that is actually legally imposed. There are no classes from 2:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m. There are no shops open at that time either. This time is expected to be spent having lunch with families. Also, shops are not allowed to be open on weekends. There is very, very little homework. All of the homework I have received so far only took 10 minutes of my time per day. I have so much free time, more than I could ever dream of having in any other country I have lived.

You very rarely see students studying in coffee shops. You very rarely see students stressed out. People do not work as much here. People are not encouraged to work here, not nearly as much as they are in the United States. There isn’t a culture of “keep working until you make it” like there is in many parts of the world.

When I first came to Salamanca, I thought that I had all this free time because my study program is not a very intense one, but now I realize that the lack of work is part of the cultural experience of the city. Here, leisure is seen as more valuable or just as valuable as work. People spend so much of their time watching television, drinking, going to various cafes with friends, cooking and eating, walking around the city with the family, engaging in nightlife activities, and more. In addition to all of this, there are so many different unique holidays that people in Salamanca celebrate including Semana Santa, Lunes de Aguas, El Dia de San Juan de Sahagun, and Ferias de Salamanca. People simply love to celebrate here.

Many foreigners who have come to Salamanca have noted that the pace of life here is so “slow.” People seem relatively nonchalant about their work and their studies. Now I realize it’s not so much nonchalance as it is their conception of time. Here, time is conceived as abundant and sufficient, while in many other parts of the world, time is scarce and insufficient.

This conception of time is reflected in how long it takes to build monuments here. One of the most important monuments in Salamanca, Catedral Nueva, took over 200 years to be completed. At first, one would think that this is not necessarily a positive quality, but the fact it took over 200 years for that monument to be completed is the reason that the Catedral Vieja de Santa María still exists. This is the cathedral that Catedral Nueva was meant to replace, but by the time the new cathedral was completed, people had recognized the value of antique architecture. I think that the pace of life here is very closely tied with the fact that there are so many old buildings still standing.