Economics is an abstract concept. When you're sitting in a sunlit classroom or under a courtyard magnolia at Yale, neither the stock market nor latest (un)employment numbers seem particularly urgent. Oh, for those halcyon days.

Every morning after breakfast, you get ready for yet another "work" day, always hoping that today will be the last one like this. It may seem rough, but really it's not so bad: you're just one of six million Spaniards who are unemployed today.