I´ve been in Spain for a week now and I don´t have a phone because they aren´t renting the international phones to us until the end of orientation when everyone is back in Madrid. A few people have blackberrys so they can contact each other for free but the rest of us have no phones or ways to communicate except for the hotel computers because most of us left our laptops to Madrid. This is inconvenient in 7 ways.
1) Communication. We´re a group of 21 people and in our free time we like to go out together. This becomes really difficult without phones because there is no way to efficiently get the plan out to everyone. We end up leaving some behind who aren´t available at the moment we knock on their doors or we separate into smaller groups to avoid leaving anyone out but we can´t reunite without communication. In the mornings our conversations are like this:
Person A-What happened to you last night?
Person B-Oh my god we ended up at this club and it was totally crazy! You should have been there!
Person A-I thought we were meeting at that restaurant! I waited for you. What club? Can we go again tonight?
Person B-Absolutely! Let´s go at 11!
Person A-Okay I´m grabbing dinner around 10 but I´ll meet you there at 11.
The next morning...
Person B - What happened to you? I thought we were meeting at that club at 11.
Person A - Oh my god after dinner we went to this bar and it was the best night ever! I told Person C to text Person D because Person D has Person E´s number and I knew you were with Person E but I guess you didn´t get the message. Sorry! We´ll go again tonight...meet at 11?
2) Visualizing my schedule. I do this thing where I need my phone calendar or alarm to visualize my day or week. If I´m planning something a few days ahead I need to move my calendar to that day. Or if I´m planning something later in the night I need to count the hours with my phone alarm so I can visualize it in my head. Without my phone I have no idea what day it is, time it is, or when I need to be anywhere. My watch just doesn´t give me an accurate impression of time windows.
3) Not feeling awkward. Okay I know I´m not alone in this but when there is a conversation around me that I´m not really included in I play with my phone. I check old texts and sometimes send new ones. It´s a way of saying "I choose to not be involved in this conversation because I am busy, but not too busy that I can´t give you some of my attention if you so desire." Without my phone I just fidget uncomfortably, play with my hair, or pretend to look for something in my purse. It´s awkward.
4) Simple math. I´m not talking about converting euros to dollars, because I consider that complicated. But I need my phone to do basic addition and subtraction. Like if my meal costs 11 euros and my drink costs 4.
5) Doo-Doo-Doo-Duh. I miss my Kimmunicator ringtone. I keep playing it over and over in my head. When I get my new phone I´m going to try and get it again.
6) Worrying about having lost the phone. Normally I keep my cell phone and my pocket and I´ve always been in a habit of checking to see if it´s there whenever I stand up or move locations. I´m still doing this and I keep freaking out for a second that I lost it. But then I remember it´s not with me.
7) Popularity. I miss that special feeling when I get a call or text. Like someone is trying to communicate with me and eagerly waiting for me to communicate back.
No comments:
Post a Comment