High School Lunch Culture

    One the most underrated culture shocks for me was high school lunch. Yes, lunch. 

In Spain, lunch isn't really a "school thing". You either go home to eat and come back afterward, or stay at school and have the ridiculously expensive cafeteria food, which not many people choose to do. Lunch break in Spain is pretty long too, about 2 hours, so some people even squeeze in a little siesta.

Then... lunch time in the US. I remember being so scared about who I was gonna sit with at lunch the first day. I had seen the movies where the new girl wanders around with a tray and nobody lets her sit down, and I was so scared that was gonna be me. But actually, I ended up being so lucky and by lunch time I already had a bunch of people offering me a spot at their lunch table. To be honest, I didn't even remember their faces or names, so I just sat with whoever waved at me first and I stuck with them all year.

The cafeteria food's not good either, but at least in my high school it was free!! So it made up for it. I'll never forget the chicken sandwiches that could probably survive a hurricane, or the chocolate milk cartons (my absolute faveeee). Plus, you could buy yummy snacks and drinks, I would always get a Diet Dr.pepper or a Propel. I MISS ITTT!!!

And then there's the trading. Chips for cookies, fries for some gushers...  People really became Wall Street food stock traders at lunch.

At the end of the day, I realised for wasn't even the point (which is good because the food was preeeetty bad), for me it was just the true American high school movie vibe that it gave. It was a break that was just as much about the people as it was about eating. In Spain, lunch is long and relaxed, and when you just want to get done with your school day it can get annoying, but in the US it becomes part of the high school experience. And honestly? That's what made it fun.