I feel blessed being a citizen of the United States of America. Although Spain is a magnificent country to say the least, the technological opportunities available to students are far behind those in the United States. For example, all of the computers in the lab at the school I am studying at in Madrid are ancient machines. I sense that all of them were made prior to 2000. Picture this - a room full of gigantic monitors that displays in Windows prior to Windows XP. On another note, everyone must supply their own printer paper and the public printer is no larger than the one I keep on my desk at USD. In the United States it would seem ridiculous to have over 150 students printing from such a small, inefficient printer. The largest difference is the internet capabilities here in Madrid. Although there are internet cafes, it is very rare to see WiFi around the city. At my host home I must use an ethernet cord to get access to a very slow and tempermental Broadband Network. The wireless network at the school crashes if someone is trying to upload pictures and is hence "hogging the network". Clearly, there is a difference between internet use in Spain and in the United States and I am extremely grateful that I am even able to access the web.
