by Monse Alegria (Western Oregon University and Lydia Gonsalves (University of Oregon)
Monse Alegria:
When I first arrived in Oviedo, I noticed that everyone was well dressed. Like in every city, there are unwritten social norms that everyone in Oviedo knows and follows, except sometimes the foreigners who are not aware of them. In the United States if you do something uncommon, people will not say anything to you because the sense of freedom is stronger there. In Oviedo someone will say something if you are acting in a way people do not usually act, for example not wearing a scarf when it is cold outside. Be aware that if you are not properly bundled up some stranger on the street may yell at you!
Oviedo is a medieval city and because its inhabitants put much effort to maintain that identity, they sometimes end up adopting a somewhat medieval mentality. One feature from the medieval times that remained for a long period in Spainwas the class division into hierarchies. Religion played a crucial role in the social ranking of Spanish society. For a time these powerful kings and queens supported by the church, lived in Asturias, and the citizens of that time started dressing up to fit into this royal society. Dressing up has become part of Oviedo’s population’s lifestyle since then and during Franco’s dictatorship social etiquettes and values inculcated by the church remained strong due to the emphasis he put in maintaining these values and creating a perfect society.
This feature of dressing up gives the city its own identity, and it is easier to distinguish who is not from Oviedo. Winter for me, is the season when I never have energy to get ready. Oviedo is the opposite; winter is the time of the year when people enjoy walking around in their fur coats. Now that is the middle of March and the temperature is increasing, some have decided to leave their fur coats at home and get comfortable enough to work out in the park. But even though it is warm outside, it seems like the older people refuse to leave their fur coats at home.
The people from Oviedo dress formally since they are young. You can see the kids in the streets dressed so formal that they remind me of porcelain dolls and every time I pass by a children’s clothing shop I stop for a moment to admire the clothes in the window displays. Traveling to other parts of SpainI have not seen much emphasis in one’s appearance as in Oviedo. My conversation partner told me that it was an Oviedo thing, because in other parts of Spainpeople do not dress up or take care of their appearance the same way. The weather is another crucial factor in this equation: Oviedo, in comparison with other comunidades autónomas, is one of the coldest, and this influence the people’s clothing. My conversation partner is from Las Islas Canarias and because the weather is always warm there he said there is no need to wear coats. He is still not used to Oviedo’s dress code, as he was accustomed to wearing sandals in Las Islas Canarias. If someone does wear sandals in Oviedo– even in the warm weather– people will stare at them disapprovingly.
Lydia Gonsalves:
To the people of Oviedo the appearance of the city as a whole is just as important as their own clothing and physical appearance. With this newly acquired mindset, I started to become aware of the daily city-cleaning habits that occur at night while the rest of the world is out of the streets and inside their homes. Based on an alternating schedule, every street in Oviedo—big, small, main street or side street—gets thoroughly rinsed and cleansed of all debris. 
During the day the only cleansing rituals that are visible to the citizens are when the men in their blue suits are walking around with their brooms made out of tree branches, sweeping up the cigarette-butts and misplaced chip bags. The government of Oviedo puts a lot of time, effort and money into keeping the city clean, which to me is a direct reflection of their dedication to maintaining a groomed, cleanly and elegant appearance. As a matter of fact, “an opinion poll carried out by the OCU consumers’ organization has shown that the Asturias capital of Oviedo is the cleanest city in Spain… The survey polled more than 6,500 people in 62 Spanish cities” (Oviedo). Oviedo’s pride in keeping itself clean is well known throughout the entire country. This pride without a doubt supports the desire to uphold this impeccable image as Spain’s cleanest city.
This persistent habit of cleaning certainly requires a lot of money and government funding as well as water. According to Aqualia, Oviedo’s Municipal Water Service, the water for the city is divided into two parts, urban and rural. Within the urban area, the city is divided into zones, each with corresponding water cylinders. According to the summary of the citywide budget of Oviedo’s 2011 fiscal year, € 192.706.382,00 was 
collected in the form of different taxes and fees (to name a few: taxes on alcohol and tobacco, urban licenses, towed vehicles, museum entrance fees). From this acquired money, € 79.291.812,32 (40%) was spent on goods and services for the city, which includes sanctions such as education, health services, public transportation, trash collection and street cleaning. Research also showed that street cleaning was not as costly as education or health services, but it is still high on Oviedo’s list of priorities. As mentioned earlier, a city is the way it is based on the preferences and habits of its citizens; therefore, Oviedo is an impeccably clean and aesthetically pleasing city because the people who live there enjoy having things that look attractive (clothes, sidewalks, buildings, etc.).
The people of Oviedo definitely live a cultured lifestyle and care very much about physical appearance, which is ultimately carried over into the complete image of the city.