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OUTSIDE LIFESTYLE A study of similarities and differences between
Valencia, Spain and Tønsberg, Norway
Norwegian Cultural Journey ERASMUS +
Javier Alonso Fenollar Claudia Salvador Margaix
2014-2015
1
INDEX
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 2
2. Theory ....................................................................................................................... 3
2.1. Climate characteristics in Valencia and Tønsberg ............................................. 3
2.2. Climate and health ............................................................................................. 4
2.3. Climate and mood .............................................................................................. 4
2.4. Climate and activities ......................................................................................... 5
3. Method: Interview ..................................................................................................... 6
4. Summing up the interviews ....................................................................................... 7
5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 10
6. References ............................................................................................................... 11
7. Appendix ................................................................................................................. 12
7.1. Interviews ......................................................................................................... 12
2
1. Introduction
First of all, we want to work on this topic because in our short time in Norway, we have
realized children play outdoors even when it is bad weather. We are from Valencia, Spain
and we are used to see the sun every day and to play outside with nice weather too. In
fact, when it’s raining in Valencia children stay at home. These differences between two
cities have been our motivation for investigating about outside lifestyle.
In our project we would like to compare Valencia’s climate with Tønsberg’s in order to
understand the several differences between both countries’ lifestyles. Moreover, we are
interested in what children do in Norway when they finish their school day and what they
do in Valencia too.
Attending to Oxford dictionary (Oxford University Press 2014), the word lifestyle can be
determined as the way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a
person or group of people. Therefore, what we mean by saying 'outdoor lifestyle', is the
manner of living that pupils have got after their school classes.
Moreover, we would like to know if our hypothesis is right. We think that weather in
Norway is not a problem for children or families, because they are outdoors when it is
raining or it is so windy. In contrast, in Valencia when there is bad weather children
choose to stay at home playing videogames, surfing on the Internet, watching TV, etc. So
our research question will be: Is it the weather what determines the activities or is society
which determines how to act depending on the weather?
Finally, we are going to work with our project in several chapters. At first, we will speak
about theory explaining some climate characteristics, how it affects our health and our
mood and what kind of activities can take place in different weather conditions.
Furthermore, we want to interview some people to find out some information about the
climate in their countries and about which activities they did when they were children
depending on their own country weather. As a result, we will write a conclusion about
our project where we will try to answer our question.
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2. Theory
2.1. Climate characteristics in Valencia and Tønsberg
Firstly, Valencia's climate is typically Mediterranean, which is characterized by a mild
and damp climate. The average annual temperature in the city is about 17.8°C. However,
in January the average temperature range between 11.5ºC and in August is around 25.5°C.
The yearly rainfall is above 450 mm. On the one hand, in summer you can find three dry
months, from June to August. On the other hand, in autumn it rains much between
Septembers to November.
In addition, another characteristic feature of the climate of Valencia is that the city has
2660 hours of sunshine every year, equivalent to more than 300 days. Although it gets
dark very early in winter, in summer you can enjoy 16 hours of sun. That is why at the
end of the year we have an average of 300 days of sunshine.
Finally, we need to say that the climate of Valencia is very irregular, it has long periods
of drought combined with some very wet ones (Wikipedia 2014).
Secondly, Tønsberg’s climate is conditioned by the simple ground that provides a fairly
uniform climate. On the coast, February is the coldest month, with average temperatures
of -1°C. However, in July, the average temperature 16-17 ° C.
Annual precipitation is about 700 mm on the coast and about 1,200 mm in the inner
regions. Usually, it’s in the late summer when it’s most rainy, while it doesn’t rain much
in spring and early summer. It is said that the coast areas receive more snow than similar
east of the Oslo fjord areas (Dannevig 2009).
Regarding fog, the coast and the islands usually have little fog, around 5.3% of the foggy
days are in spring.
Now, since we recognize these characteristics, we can analyze how the weather affects
our health and then, we will be able to know if it is a problem in our mood or not, based
on which activities children do in Tønsberg and in Valencia.
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2.2. Climate and health
It is well known that the extreme changes in temperature cause cardiovascular and
respiratory disorders, but also the high temperatures use to be associated with some
headaches and episodes of irritability and aggressiveness, as it is explained by some
specialists.
Meanwhile, changes in atmospheric pressure and humidity seem to affect us with pain,
for instance in cases of arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, especially when the
humidity and atmospheric pressure are high.
When we talk about the rain, it is related to an increase in pain in old bone fractures,
painful scars, coupled with a decrease in migraines due to the drop in atmospheric
pressure. It is checked that the rain has a "calming" effect on animals and humans; in fact
there is a study by the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona (Costa 2012), which confirms that
when it rains 50% of panic attacks decrease.
Moreover, we must not forget the direct influence that the sun has on our bodies. The
absence of sunlight can cause irritability, nervousness, annoyance and depressive signs.
Furthermore, ultraviolet rays of sunlight are responsible of producing a large amount of
vitamin D in the body, which is necessary to properly absorb bone calcium and other
minerals.
In fact, in our short period in Norway, we have had the opportunity of being in contact
with foreigner people and we have realized that there are people that need to take Vitamin
D pills because of the lack of sun in Norway compared with their home countries, for
example Brazil.
2.3. Climate and mood
It is colloquially known that there is a sickness called "winter depression." Which is
characterized by the emergence of depressive symptoms in the winter (when the days are
shorter and there are fewer hours of daylight) and disappear when spring and summer.
According to professor Rosenthal (Sánchez 2000), the lack of sun is associated with
apathy, absence of energy, feeling tired and depressed mood, although the symptoms can
be very diverse.
5
Studies that Sánchez have done claim that 10% of depressions are due to this
phenomenon. The explanation is that the UV rays increase the production of endorphins
and a neurotransmitter associated with the feeling of well-being: serotonin.
To get an idea of how important it is in our mood sunlight, some studies report a higher
incidence of any type of depression and even higher suicide rates in countries of the
northern Europe, where they have very long winters with few days of sunshine a year.
Examples are countries such as Finland and Sweden, which have held positions with the
highest rate of suicides in the world, in contrast to the high quality of life and high rates
of life expectancy enjoyed by its inhabitants for many years.
2.4. Climate and activities
It is well known that the activities depend on the weather and you cannot do the same in
every season. Thanks to the information given by Geir Sanne that is one of our teachers
in Norwegian Cultural Journey and an outdoor teacher in the high school too, we could
find some information about this topic. Now, we can show some examples about outdoor
activities that take place in Norway and in Valencia too. Depending on the season,
different activities are performed.
Norway Spain
Summer Hiking in the mountain and
living simple camp life.
Mounting-climbing.
Sailing with traditional boats.
Rafting in a river.
Hiking in the mountain and
living simple camp life.
Outdoor sports like canoeing.
Autumn Rappelling close to a
waterfall.
Finding your way using a
map and a compass.
Fishing.
Pick up autumn things (Leafs,
rocks, etc.)
Hiking in the mountain.
Winter Cross-country skiing.
Alpine-skiing, snowboard or
Telemark.
Skiing in the mountains and
sleeping in hotels. (Just one
week)
Ice skating.
Spring Bicycle-tour.
Paddling kayak in the sea.
Sailing.
Go to the farm.
Rope skipping.
Traffic education (Security /
Bicycle)
6
We have realized that Norwegian use to keep their activities even if the weather is not
good, just sometimes they must change route if the weather is too rough. This is a really
positive point for Norway that we cannot enjoy in Spain.
3. Method: Interview
Our method of work is the interview, we chose that because it’s an easy way to find some
realities about both countries. In addition, we are here for four months and we would like
to meet as much people as we can so asking them these questions we are getting in touch
with several different students.
We planned to interview them in Klokkergården, the place where we are living, because
we have a comfortable situation for getting the answers. Our meetings were undertaken
after being a little bit informed about our topic. We think that it is important to know the
theory and after this, start with the practical part.
We want to focus our interviews asking about activities to find some information about
outdoor lifestyle. The questions that we will use are:
1. When did you finish primary school? Can you tell us some experiences that you
have had in your country when the weather was bad and there were planned some
excursions at school?
2. What did you use to do when it was raining/windy/cloudy after school?
3. In what way do you feel that the weather affects in our mood?
4. Can you tell us some advantages and disadvantages about your country outside
lifestyle?
5. Do you think that your parents/teachers showed you how to act in bad weather
conditions?
We are interested in their answers because we think that it could help us in our writing
project. While we were looking for some information for our essay we could find a lot
about climate and health and about mood too. However, it was difficult to find some
7
information about different activities so we decided to make this interview in order to
find out more details about climate and activities.
Furthermore, we decided to make four interviews, two for each country that we are
comparing. So we are going to interview a boy that is studying business and economics
from Valencia, a girl that is studying to be a primary teacher from Valencia too, a
maritime electrical equipment engineering boy student from Norway and a Norwegian
girl that is studying 1-7 grade of teaching. We chose them because we would like to
compare several different points of view and they are not so similar between each other.
We interviewed two girls and two boys. It was easy to find Valencian people due to it is
our home country and we found some Norwegian people in our residence that help us.
4. Summing up the interviews
Now, we are going to sum up the results of the interviews, mixing the answers and
comparing Norwegian and Spanish outside lifestyle. First of all, we have different replies
regarding their own experiences when weather is bad.
Our interviewers finished their school almost in the same year, between 2005 and 2007,
so that gave us the opportunity of comparing different experiences in different countries
from people with almost the same age. That allow us to investigate about their childhood
topics. While we were reading the interviews we realized that there were two different
answers.
On the one hand, Valencian students told us that the bad weather (in that case the rain)
did not let them to carry on with their planned activities. On the other hand, the Norwegian
girl said there is not bad weather, only bad clothes. Therefore, she and her classmates
went outside anyway. These answers told us that depending on the country people has a
different perception about the weather and the activities are called into a question in front
of this natural phenomenon.
If we talk about the second question, we can say that we were surprised with the answers.
Our interviewers’ replies were completely different as what we were expect.
8
First, in Valencia, the answers were generalized. Normally, if it is raining, people use to
be at home. Children play indoor games, they do their homework together or maybe they
choose to practise indoor sports.
Nonetheless, after making the interview we can affirm that Norwegian children have other
different thoughts. Our interviewed friends said they are waiting for the rain for going
outside and playing with the poodles, making dams and dancing in the rain.
Furthermore, Milla, the Norwegian girl who is studying education, told us a surprising
situation. When it was raining, her mum wanted her to go outside and to release energies.
So they had to use the correct clothes and go to the street for a while.
Thanks to having asked this question we can extract that Norwegian people love their
environment and they know how to act in front of what we call bad weather. On the
contrary, in Valencia we are not grown up like them, and we are not educated to go outside
when it is raining. Therefore, if there is an activity planned for a specific day and when
this day arrives it starts to rain, the activity is not going on.
Regarding to the third question we can make a division between the different answers. In
Norway, citizens say the bad weather does not change our mood, is the darkness instead.
They feel depressed when they cannot see the sun in winter. In Valencia we feel this
sadness when there is no sun and when it is raining the whole week. Then, we could
establish the affirmation of one climate that we are not use to have, it can change our
mood, either the darkness or the rain; depending on the country.
The forth question can be summered in this table. It is referred to advantages and
disadvantages in both countries depending on the weather. As you can see below, each
person has got personal opinion that it is similar between people of the same cities.
9
Finally, we would like to talk about the last question. We have seen that in Norway
students are educated under this sentence: “There is not bad weather, only bad clothes”.
Parents and teachers taught children to dress according to the weather conditions.
Norwegian people know how to respect and behave under different climate. They think
that thanks to their lessons they can achieve one of their values: nearness to nature.
Otherwise, the Valencian students haven’t got as good values as Norwegian and they
don’t appreciate so much that they can do lots of outdoor activities if they wear the right
clothes.
Weather
Advantages
Valencia
Practice lots of outdoor sports
Hang out with friends more often
Spent more time in public places
Tønsberg
Snow hels them to have fun in winter
You appreciate the warmth of your
home
You can enjoy more the summer
Disadvantages
Valencia
People is always outside and they
have problems with other people
Cancelling outside activities if it is
raining
Tønsberg
The darkness is the worst thing
Working outside with bad weather
conditions
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5. Conclusions
In the last part of our main written work, we are going to refer to the question that we
have done at the beginning of the project. In this way, we would like to answer our
hypothesis: Is the weather what determines the activities or is society which determines
how to act depending on the weather?
As we have seen in the interviews that we have done and studies that we have searched,
there are many possible answers that could response our hypothesis, but we maybe have
found the correct one.
If we go back and have a look in our work, we could realized that the answer to this
hypothesis cannot be solved by studies. The responses can vary greatly depending on who
responds. Nevertheless, we can conclude as we have observed with the help of the theory
and our interviews that it is society what determines how to act in front of the different
kinds of weather.
Therefore, the Norwegian society, chooses the right clothes for bad weather. However,
the society of the Mediterranean coast, has been continuously educated for enjoying only
the good weather, instead of acting as Norwegians do.
Since we have seen in our first section (characteristics of each geographical location) we
can find some differences between Valencia and Tønsberg. On the one hand, Norway is
a country where weather conditions are not as good as in Spain, so this means that the
citizens have to act differently. So Norwegian people must adapt to these weather
conditions, and do outdoors life. On the other hand, the Valencian do not need to be
adapted to bad weather conditions due to the fact that Valencia is one of the most envied
cities for its good weather.
In conclusion, each country has different values and, for this reason, each citizen
considers the weather as a different meaning. Finally, we can affirm that Norwegian
people have a different meaning for bad weather if we compare it with Valencians’
opinion.
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6. References
Costa N. (2012) El sol, la lluvia i yo, Somos como somos
http://www.soncomosomos.com/2012/10/el-sol-la-lluvia-y-yo-el-clima-y-el.html [Seen
on 25/09/14]
Dannevig P. (2009) Vestfold Klima. Store Norske Leksikon
https://snl.no/Vestfold%2Fklima [Seen on: 29/09/14]
Gregoire C. (2014). The Surprising Ways The Weather Affects Your Health and Well-
Being. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/14/climate-
health_n_4568505.html [Seen on: 07/10/14]
Grohol J. (2008). Weather can change your mood. Psych Central.
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/11/09/weather-can-change-your-mood/
[Seen on: 12/10/14]
Maagerø E., Simonsen B. (2008) Norway: society and culture. Kristiansand; Portal
Books.
Mylene W. (2013) Como afecta el clima y las temperaturas a la Fibromialgia, La
Fibromialgia no es el final de la vida http://fibromialgico.blogspot.no/2013/06/como-
afecta-el-clima-y-las-temperaturas.html [Seen on: 27/09/14]
Oxford University (2014) Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. OUP
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/lifestyle [Seen on:
21/10/14]
Sánchez M. (2000) Depresión por falta de luz, El país
http://elpais.com/diario/2000/02/29/salud/951778806_850215.html [Seen on: 25/09/14]
Wikipedia (2014). Valencia. Wikipedia http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencia [Seen on:
27/09/14]
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7. Appendix
7.1. Interviews
Robert Sellés, Valencia, 21 years old.
Now we are going to speak about how the weather affects your mood and your outdoor
activities. We would like to ask you some questions in order to write our main project
thanks to your own experiences in your home country.
1. When did you finish primary school? Can you tell us some expediencies that you
have had in your country when the weather was bad and there were planned some
excursions at school?
I left primary school when I was twelve, back in 2005. It has been a while since then but
I still recall one time when I went to visit the MARQ museum in Alicante with my
classmates. It was cloudy early in the morning but rain was expected to fall shortly so, by
the time we got to Alicante by bus it was raining heavily.
Since we were visiting a museum, the rain did not cause a lot of trouble. However, that
hindered us from visiting the most interesting section of the museum; an outdoor section
where archeologists had been working on for a long time. That area consisted of a Roman
ancient city, which had been completely buried under the ground for centuries.
2. What did you use to do when it was raining/windy/cloudy after school?
I used to be booked all my evenings with music classes, football practices or swimming
lessons and normally, I would do whatever I had to do regardless of the weather.
Nonetheless, in the case I had football practice in a rainy day, I would either skip that
session or take some indoor exercise such as swimming.
3. In what way do you feel that the weather affects in our mood?
It absolutely does! You just have to look at the differences between people from countries
with the lowest number of days with bad weather and the highest. Comparing them, you
can appreciate that there are significant differences in character, humor and so forth.
Besides that, I know of some Spanish people who have lived in northern countries such
as Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom or Sweden and they claimed to have been
somehow more depressed or suffering from more headaches than when they were living
in Spain. Consequently, their mood would also change.
13
4. Can you tell us some advantages and disadvantages about your country outside
lifestyle?
The weather traits of Spain allow us to do plenty of activities. We can practice sports
outdoors, hang out with our friends more often, have more face-to-face conversations
which make our relationships healthier, walk down the streets of our city/town or spend
some time in our parks. Nevertheless, too much outdoor life can also be a drawback. That
is to say, you can hear noises all day long and they never stop. This is quite a bit different
in colder countries where people go out less often.
5. Do you think that your parents/teachers showed you how to act in bad weather
conditions?
If we understand as bad weather, extreme weather scenarios such as earthquakes,
tornados, tsunamis, hurricanes or lightning, we just do not have a clue of how to act in
those situations because they are not usual in our country. But, if we understand as bad
weather heavy rain, we are somehow aware of its danger and how we should act in such
case.
Milla Melgaard, Horten, 25 years old
Now we are going to speak about how the weather affects your mood and your outdoor
activities. We would like to ask you some questions in order to write our main project
thanks to your own experiences in your home country.
1. When did you finish primary school? Can you tell us some experiences that you
have had in your country when the weather was bad and there were planned some
excursions at school?
When I was 11 years old I finished my primary school, I started school one year earlier
than the others.
If the weather was bad and there were planned excursions, we went anyway. I was grown
up to hear: there is not bad weather, only bad clothes. That’s why we were outside without
taking care of the weather. Just if someone in my class that hadn’t got the correct clothes,
only this person could stay inside the classroom. The others were outside doing what it
was planned.
2. What did you use to do when it was raining/windy/cloudy after school?
14
When I was outside with my friends and it was raining we were jumping inside the
poodles. I always went out anyway. My mum said that if we want to see a movie, we can
do it but after these we had to use your energy, so since we were not allowed to run inside
the house, we had to go outside and play there, using always the correct clothes.
3. In what way do you feel that the weather affects in our mood?
Yes, I think so. Especially in the fall when it starts to get darker and some Norwegian
people has got a little bit winter depression. So there is not the bad weather that change
your mood, is the darkness.
4. Can you tell us some advantages and disadvantages about your country outside
lifestyle?
The good thing is that we had four different seasons and all season has got its good things
and bad things. In summer, for instance, sometimes can be really bad because of the rain
and other time it can be perfect like in Spain. We are waiting for this nice weather, our
winter is so cold so we are waiting for having sunny and warm summers. In winter I like
when we get snow, because the light is up. The snow reflection is so nice and even if it is
dark, the snow make the landscape really nice. I think the bad thing in the winter is the
darkness.
5. Do you think that your parents/teachers showed you how to act in bad weather
conditions?
Of course, as I said before: there is not bad weather, only bad clothes. I remember when
I was a child and I was in class and it was raining we always said to our teacher we wanted
to stay inside. But we were growing up to love the nature, so we went outdoors. Thanks
to this, now I like having a walk when it is raining as long as I have correct clothes.
Harald Fjøsne, Tønsberg, 21 years old
Now we are going to speak about how the weather affects your mood and in your outdoor
activities. We would like to ask you some questions in order to write our main project
thanks to your own experiences in your home country.
15
1. When did you finish primary school? Can you tell us some experiences that you
have had in your country when the weather was bad and there were planned some
excursions at school?
I finished primary school in 2007. A problem I remember caused by bad weather was
when my school had planned a day for winter activities. The days before the day of winter
activities it had been raining and the temperature was unusual warm so the snow had
smelted and there wasn’t enough snow left, so it was cancelled.
2. What did you use to do when it was raining/windy/cloudy after school?
When I was from age 6 to 8 at school and it was raining, we would go outside and make
small rivers and make dams as large as possible, this was really fun. We used to want rain
and sometimes dance the “raindance” to make it rain. When I was 8 I got my first
motorboat. If the weather was windy and there was waves on the sea, we would go out in
my boat and have fun in the waves.
When I became older I and my friends would stay more and more inside if the weather
was bad. We would play games or watch TV. We would skip outdoor activities like
football, staying at the beach or just hanging around. Sometimes we would just go to our
separate houses, but we usually met online on computer games.
3. In what way do you feel that the weather affects in our mood?
Yes, I think that weather affects our mood. Especially in Norway with the different
annuals. In the summer it can be daylight all night, and in the winter it can be dark the
whole day. How dark and how light it is depends on where in the country you are, but
where I come from it can be really dark in the winter. I feel that in the darkest months it´s
easier than normal to get depressed, I actually sometimes take solarium just to see some
light and get happier, and it actually helps. I have this in common with other Norwegians.
In the summer months it´s nice to have light for many hours of the day, but it can actually
be hard to get to sleep if you can´t manage to cover the windows and close the light out.
4. Can you tell us some advantages and disadvantages about your country outside
lifestyle?
I see that on the west coast of Norway where it use to rain almost every day, people don’t
care so much about the bad weather compared to the parts of Norway with good weather.
16
For example in Bergen you will see a lot of people doing outdoor activities when it´s
raining, but in for example Drammen where the weather is usually nice, people will skip
some of the activities that the people from Bergen would do during bad weather.
From my own experience when I was working on a boat. I sometimes had to work under
bad weather conditions like cold winds, snow, rain splashing seawater and big waves.
This could sometimes make my job tougher and make me hate my life. However, when I
was done with a job or my shift was over, I could go inside and maybe take a warm
shower, eat well, relax and have a really good time. This fits the Norwegian expression
“yte for å nyte.” This means something like “to really enjoy something, you have to work
hard first.” I think this is the mindset of many Norwegians working or staying outside in
bad weather.
One of the best things about the winter is that it makes you enjoy the warm summer so
much more. This goes both ways. It’s nice with a cold winter after a warm summer. I
think this is one of the biggest advantages of living in Norway.
5. Do you think that your parents/teachers showed you how to act in bad weather
conditions?
I have always been taught by my parents and teachers to dress according to the weather
conditions. If you don’t dress up correctly you can get sick. Sometimes earlier I used to
not always bother to take on me or take with me the right clothes, and I would sometimes
get sick. But now as I’m older I have learned my lessons!
I consider myself a person who knows how to respect and behave under different weather
conditions. I have learned a lot from just being out in the nature. I have been on many
trips in the nature with my parents, the boys scout, with school and with friends.
I had one fantastic and educational skiing experience this year in February. Me and my
dad went skiing on Hardangervidda, Europe’s biggest mountain plateau. We were skiing
from a cabin to another (40km). 10km in when got hit by a whiteout (everything is white),
I couldn’t see more than a meter. This could have been really dangerous considering the
steep hills around us, but we were good equipped with compass, map, digital map, GPS
and food’. We had to check position and direction every 100metres. 11 hours after we
started, we finally reached the cabin. THAT FEELING!
Ana Alonso, Valencia, 24 years old
17
Now we are going to speak about how the weather affects your mood and your outdoor
activities. We would like to ask you some questions in order to write our main project
thanks to your own experiences in your home country.
1. When did you finish primary school? Can you tell us some expediencies that you
have had in your country when the weather was bad and there were planned some
excursions at school?
I finished it in 2006, when I was twelve years old. I really loved doing excursions because
my school was placed in a small village so nature was close to me. Our teacher used to
plan one excursion each month. For instance, we went to the farm school, we visited the
city of arts and science of Valencia, we went to the beach for doing some sports activities,
etc. However, when the weather didn’t let us to go outside there weren’t excursions.
One experience that I remember was placed in my last course, when I was twelve years
old, my class had organized for spending our last coexistence together. It took place in
June, but unfortunately the week that was reserved our hotel in Madrid was bad weather.
In spite of travelling around and visiting the capital of Spain with my friends, we chose
to stay in the hotel, playing pool, chees, card games, etc. The situation was sad because
my last trip with my classmates was in a hotel and we spent a lot of money but we didn’t
visit anything. For me it’s a problem that in my country the lifestyle depend on the
weather and we cannot enjoy our free time when it’s not sunny.
2. What did you use to do when it was raining/windy/cloudy after school?
I remember when I was a child it was raining that I went to my friend’s house and we did
our homework together. Other days my friends came to my house and we played with my
dolls. Moreover, we used to imitate that we were saleswoman and we enjoyed our
afternoons playing together believing ourselves like adults; “selling” the food that we
found in our kitchen. I preferred to go outside with my classmates and play to hide and
seek or jump rope, but I have to admit that spent my free time with my friends in our
houses was nice too.
3. In what way do you feel that the weather affects in our mood?
Yes, I think so. In my opinion, people’s behavior change when the weather is bad.
Actually, my father is from Almeria and there is a very sunny city so when it is winter in
Valencia he gets angry and he is always shouting me. This is not his normal behavior
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because I really know the weather affects his personality. I think that happens to him
because he has a surgery in his knee. It is well known that after a surgery your can have
pain in your affected part of the body and this is the main reason of the real bad mood of
my dad.
4. Can you tell us some advantages and disadvantages about your country outside
lifestyle?
I think Valencia has a very good climate and it makes our outside lifestyle really
enriching. It is because it permit to go outside and playing in parks, visiting public places,
doing some sports and a lot of activities related to being in touch with your peers. On the
one hand, for me, these are the advantages of the good weather. However, in the other
hand, we can find some disadvantages such as cancelling your outside activities if it’s
raining. For example, if you have football training in the afternoon and it’s raining your
mum will say you to stay at home; for me this is our worst behavior because the weather
determines our lifestyle.
5. Do you think that your parents/teachers showed you how to act in bad weather
conditions?
Yes, our relatives teach us that in front of the bad weather you cannot do anything
outdoors. I, as a future teacher, have to change this thoughts because for me the
weather is not an inconvenient.
Valencia's activites
Good weather
Sports
Go to the park
Visit natural places
Bad weather
Stay at home