eurotrip! valencia style

There have been plenty of political protests in Valencia (and across Spain) in the past month.  One of the main reasons for this social tension is that the presidential elections will be held this Sunday, November 20th.  I watched the political debate between the presidents of the two largest political parties in Spain, the PP Partido Popular, and the PSOE, Partido socialista obrero Español with my spanish sisters earlier this week.  Everyone here has very strong opinions either one way or the other, and it is very interesting to learn about in class (history, business spanish), as well as to experience and talk about with my spanish familia.

Speaking of protests, Spanish university students boycotted school today and protested in front of the University of Valencia because their tuition will be raised due to the desperate economic state of Spain (22% unemployment)

fun fact for everyone in the US:

The yearly tuition for spaniards to attend a public university will raise from 500 Euros to about 550 Euros, a year!
Hahaha.  That is incredible.  Any student (and their parents) in the US would give an arm and a leg to only have to pay 550 euros for a year of university education.
But- there is more to the story, as my professor was discussing in my cultural conversations class yesterday.   Spain is a more socialist country, they have universal healthcare and other social services that are provided to everyone and not a luxury dependent on income.  For example, my hermanas, host-sisters were in shock when I told them that I have to pay each time I go to a doctor (or my insurance does), and that we have to pay hundreds of dollars if we need an ambulance to take us to the hospital.  Here: there are public and private hospitals, and the public ones are free for everyone; also, the ambulance ride to the hospital (if necessary) is free.
However, Spaniards do actually pay for these services- through taxes and the IVA- Impuesto sobre el valor añadido, which is a tax placed on every item.  Luxury items (alcohol, sports cars, tobacco, etc.) have a higher IVA tax included in the price.  Whereas goods of necessity have an IVA tax of about 10% less.
Another consequence of universal healthcare and other services in Spain is that the average salary of a Spanish worker is lower than that of an American worker.
Just some interesting information that I thought you'd all like to know.  Every day I learn new differences between my país, country, and Spain

Alright everyone, that's all for today, folks!
Besos