Growing up in Barcelona with an American mother, all my life I had dreamed of coming to America to live, I wanted to move here so badly that I took my home country of Spain for granted. It wasn’t until I actually left that I realized all the special things about it that I missed terribly.

1. The food

Many people would agree that the Mediterranean diet is the best diet. American food has way too much sugar in it for most international people and it’s hard to maintain a healthy diet with so many unhealthy options. It was very difficult for me to learn how to eat balanced meals when I could get a bacon cheeseburger just as easily as I could get a salad.

2. Blinds on the windows

For some reason blinds are not really a thing in America? Everyone uses curtains, whereas in Spain curtains are mainly used for decoration. It’s something that takes a very long time to get used to.

3. The festivities

Holidays are different in every country, and seeing my friends and family post about local festivities on social media always hurts a little bit. Holidays like the Catalan “Castanyada,” or Reyes (three kings), aren’t celebrated here and are terribly missed.

4. Public transportation

This might just be relevant to Barcelona, but you don’t realize how good the public transportation is until you go somewhere else, where riding the subway is a low-key scary thing to do.

5. The weather

This depends on each particular case, but moving from Barcelona to Wisconsin is a big change when it comes to weather. I had never been as cold as I was my first winter in Wisconsin.

6.The media

In Spain we grew up with some TV shows, movies and music that never really made it to other countries, which is why when you leave it is hard to find someone that can relate to the childhood you had. La Abeja Maya, David el Gnomo, Operación Triunfo, Érase una vez, etc., are a part of most Spanish millennials’ childhood and, therefore, a big part of who we are.