Ahhh, spring. Right now in Salamanca, it’s a bright and sunny 20°…wait. What? 20°? Celsius, that is.
You see, here in Spain (and almost all of the rest of the world), they use the metric system. The U.S. is the only industrialized country yet to adopt it. I write yet with hope because, honestly, why are we still using feet and Fahrenheit? The metric system is based on powers of 10. Thus, if you understand the prefixes (mili-, centi-, deci-, etc.), you can tell easily how much something. Plus, it’s easy to multiply by 10. Just move the decimal point right one place. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
During my time here, I’ve had to learn to adapt. For example, I’m still not used to the temperature in Celsius. I’ve finally begun to understand what is warm, what is cold, but in the middle? I’ve no idea. Because there are more numbers in Fahrenheit, I feel it’s easy to approximate temperatures – “Oh, it’s about 60-something degrees out today.” No way you can do that in Celsius. There’s a big difference between 0 and 10, 10 and 20, and 20 and 30. So I’ll often translate the temperature in my head, just so I can really get it. I was raised in a Fahrenheit world, you see.
Other than the obvious benefits of the metric system mentioned above, I’ve noticed some other (side) benefits. Let me enlighten you:
- You weigh less in metric. A kilogram is roughly equal to 2.2 pounds, so most people weigh under 100. If you weigh 150 pounds, that’s equivalent to 68 kilos. Not bad, eh?
- You can run “more.” Okay, not really. But first of all, every mile is equal to about 1.61 kilometers. So for every mile I run, I run 1.6 km. Today, I ran 5.5 miles or 8.85 km. I like it.
- You can run “faster.” I have a Garmin watch, which tracks my time, pace and mileage (or kilometerage – is there a word for this?). When I run and have it set on the U.S. system, it goes by more slowly. Am I the only one who motivates herself by thinking, “Okay, you’re at 7.75. You can get to 8!” and so on and so forth? I’m guessing no. This is easier in kilometers. And yes, I do realize this is all my head. Leave me be.
But I will never get used to measuring myself in centimeters. I am about 180 cm. To me, that is meaningless. I mean, how would a girl ever use her dating criterion of a 6-feet cutoff? 181 cm? Nahhh. That just doesn’t work.