Sports

Sports are a very important part of entertainment in people's lives. Though soccer has been growing enormously in the United States, and going to the final round in the Confederations Cup is the living proof of this, I don't think it will ever have the same level of passion that it has in Europe. During my trip to Milan, my friend Jessica, who by coincidence was there, called and told me she had tickets for the Sunday game in the SanZiro Stadium, home of the Milan AC, one of Italy"s premiere teams. 

We arrived to that temple of sports, when the game had already begun. I was so excited to be about to presence one of the greatest players not only of this league but of the world. Kaka, Dida, Ronaldino, Batista, etsc; the game was Milan against Roma in Paolo Maldini'd last game of his career. Maldini has been one of the besr defenders in soccer history and even captain in his national team, he is a legend and one of the most respected soccer players in the world. It's very interesting to see the level of passion in the stadium. It was so huge that it felt as the stadium had a life of its own, everybody singing anthems as a unity. The game was very tight. Roma was winning 1 to 0, but Milan was not going to let the victory go away and with Ronaldinhos entrance to the field, everything changed. I felt the football as I would have never imagine. 

Music, Culture & Design

Music is an essential part of almost each human being. It doesn't matter the genre or the artist, music is always part of our lives. In Mexico, the most famous square where Mariachis (Mexican music) play is called Garibaldi. 

Since I live in Miami, I haven't found a place like this. I guess it is because Mexican population has being growing in Miami since the last three years. The curious detail is that I found the Plaza Garibaldi in Barcelona. It looks quite different to the Mexican one because there are not singers but this art is expressed in many other ways around Europe. 

This singer was performing in one little square in Barcelona, he was singing songs in English, this is interesting to me because I would have expected a spanish person singing in Spanish; however, this man was incredible and everybody who was passing by stopped just to witness his amazing talent. Moreover, just a few people could resist to leave at least a coin for him.

Musical expression is not only a way to get some money in the streets but also it represents part of many cities' pop culture. Besides this way of expression, I found interesting how people enjoy these kind of presentations; tourists barely stop, locals are the main audience.

During my trip around Europe, I witnessed a Music Festival in Paris, a Carnival in Berlin and a "serenata"  in Vienna. All of these events tookk place in the streets.

The Carnival in Berlin had music and dancing, we saw a parade of different cultures from different countries. We were able to listen different rhythms and to see exotic costumes.

 

Advertisement was also present, the two main examples I can mention are, a hula hoop school and a water backpack.

The hula hoop dancers were giving post cards with the information of their school and the guy with the backpack was serving water to the participants.

Images of Sex and Beauty in Europe.

In some countries of Latin America, like Mexico,  the word sex is represents a “taboo”. In other words, because of the education and values, that traditional parents transmit generation to generation, talking about “this” results very difficult or nearly impossible. Although new generations are growing more informed and accept sex as something absolutely normal, women are still commonly portrayed as sexual objects and the desire of being physically perfect is really strong at any age. This may sound as a contradiction, if we consider that this desire of beauty aims to be attractive to men in a sexual way.

In Europe, people tend to be more liberal and don’t think about sex as something forbidden; instead, they rather to prevent and to be “safe” than unaware.

There are several ads in Berlin in reference to sexual safety; for instance, the campaign against hepatitis. They want to approach young people and send explicit messages they will learn that AIDS is not the only one STD.

The famous store H&M is running a global campaign using celebrities; such as, Yoko Ono, Katie Perry and Dita Von Teese; wearing clothes that promote the importance of safe sex. I have seen these billboards not only in Berlin but also in other cities in Europe. They also give condoms in a little card and these are for free but there are other ways to get condoms easily.

I found a condom vending machine in a train stop in Berlin, it is openly located in the middle of the station and everyone is able to get one, besides, these are cheap. Since people is aware of the risks of having not safe sex, it seems like something as common as to buy aspirins in America.

This vending machine is not enough to illustrate the liberal posture of Europeans about sex. Even in bookstores, Playboy magazines are exposed to the general public, for example, right next to the entrance of a bookstore. We can find Playboy magazines in America but the difference is the exposure of them.

Expectations About Cultural Differences Between Europe and US

Smokers and alcohol consumers from the United States have a great time visiting Europe. I have learned that it is possible for them to smoke almost everywhere in Spain and to drink beer everywhere in Germany, including the subway. 

I noticed that in Italy, people cannot smoke indoors but they can do it everywhere else, even in a subway station. The difference between Italy and Spain may be that in Spain, there are a lot of street-ashtrays and people are used to depositing cigarette butts there. On the contrary, people in Italy just trow them away, it makes some streets, subway and train stations look dirty. In United States, it is not possible even to smoke indoors or in subway stations. Smokers are very restricted and they are just allowed to smoke  in open spaces, which means only the street.

So far, I have visited four different countries, Spain, Italy, Germany and Switzerland;  where I have observed that cigarettes are so popular that there are cigarette vending machines at almost every corner, restaurant or bar.

Photo by: www.hooliator.net/Assets/europe/italy/rome/general/cigarette%20vending%20_hooliator.jpg

In general, alcohol beverages such as wine and beer are very popular and cheap around Europe.

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/checkestherout/2634508793/