I'm back! Safe and sound. It was really hard to leave, and I cried for like six hours straight the night before I left. And yet I knew it was time to go.
Thanks for reading about my bumbling around Spain. This is my last post on this blog, but if for some demented reason you want to keep reading random and sporadic writings, you can check in on my other blog from time to time.
I can't express how grateful I am for the friends and family I have, and the support they have given me, and the happiness the memories of them inspire within me. So yeah. I love you guys. See you soon, in REAL LIFE.
xoxo
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The End [of the semester] Is Near
I had to add that extra little bracketed phrase there because I don't want to tempt fate and get run down by a Vespa tomorrow. Anyway.
I have:
- 4 (useable) days
- 3 exams
- 2 papers
- 1 more Christmas shopping run
- 2 bags to pack
- 3 special people to say goodbye to
- 8 bus rides
- 4 metro rides
- 1 cab ride
- 1 flight
until I am back in the USA. Now that I know that it's almost over, it's gotten very heavy very fast, but in a very odd way. The other night at dinner, Isabel sat down and basically said, "Listen, dudes. You'll come back here some day. And when you do, you will come over and we will all eat dinner together here. Other girls have come back, and you will too." That paired with the fact that Luis is an active Skype-r makes it all the more clear that it's not a goodbye forever. It's not. I am going to miss them so much, but I can always find them again easily, even if it's just over the internet. Once I took the human-ness out of saying goodbye, it's just leaving a city. Granted, this city is going to be very hard to leave. I will miss the sidewalks, the buildings, the cafes, the bars, the food, the people, the language, the pride, the culture, the language, and the way it all makes me feel like I am tremendous and insignificant at the same time. I know I'll return, but never again will I be in Barcelona quite as I am now, a stranger and a local, a familiar face and an outsider, someone who doesn't belong but can tag along just the same.
So all that leaving sucks. But with leaving comes returning, and can I just say, oh baby Jesus I am so excited to see all the people and places I love in the USA again. Like, for real. I would go on, but then I'd get too mushy, so suffice it to say, I freaking love you guys and can't wait to see you again.
I have:
- 4 (useable) days
- 3 exams
- 2 papers
- 1 more Christmas shopping run
- 2 bags to pack
- 3 special people to say goodbye to
- 8 bus rides
- 4 metro rides
- 1 cab ride
- 1 flight
until I am back in the USA. Now that I know that it's almost over, it's gotten very heavy very fast, but in a very odd way. The other night at dinner, Isabel sat down and basically said, "Listen, dudes. You'll come back here some day. And when you do, you will come over and we will all eat dinner together here. Other girls have come back, and you will too." That paired with the fact that Luis is an active Skype-r makes it all the more clear that it's not a goodbye forever. It's not. I am going to miss them so much, but I can always find them again easily, even if it's just over the internet. Once I took the human-ness out of saying goodbye, it's just leaving a city. Granted, this city is going to be very hard to leave. I will miss the sidewalks, the buildings, the cafes, the bars, the food, the people, the language, the pride, the culture, the language, and the way it all makes me feel like I am tremendous and insignificant at the same time. I know I'll return, but never again will I be in Barcelona quite as I am now, a stranger and a local, a familiar face and an outsider, someone who doesn't belong but can tag along just the same.
So all that leaving sucks. But with leaving comes returning, and can I just say, oh baby Jesus I am so excited to see all the people and places I love in the USA again. Like, for real. I would go on, but then I'd get too mushy, so suffice it to say, I freaking love you guys and can't wait to see you again.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Is this what this blog is turning into???
Yes. Christmas is coming, y'all!!!!!!! Like, it's coming for you.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
papa mobile and the big man upstairs
A little over a week ago, the Pope was in town to consecrate la Sagrada Familia. Lots of people were upset because both Spain and Catalunya had spent an ungodly amount of money on his visit in the middle of a financial crisis that leaves more and more people hungry each month. The Pope probably wanted to consecrate a cathedral in his lifetime (and who the hell knows when another one of those is going to be built?), and so came to Barcelona, ignored the many protests (spanning issues from finance to gay rights, which was perhaps the largest) and then peaced out. If you have not seen pictures of the Papa Mobile you should definitely look down right now at the Papa Mobile.
It's interesting to see Spain grapple with their concept of religion. During Franco's regime, he wanted to make Spain a great Catholic nation, as done by Isabella and Ferdinand way back in the 15th and 16th centuries (in 1492 Isabella expelled all Jews from Spain, and the Inquisition began. And Colombus set sail, for what it's worth). Franco changed the entire identity of Spain in alarming and terrifying ways. Let's just do a quick inventory here.
Second Republic (1931-1939)
-Women could vote, hold public office, work outside the house, get divorced, were considered equal citizens
-State is extremely secular
-Catholicism loses followers, due in large part to ineptness of Church, and the fact that the government disassociated itself with Rome, leaving Catholicism to fend for itself (after centuries of funding it with government money)
- Education, free thinking, free speech encouraged.
CIVIL WAR (1936-1939)- Fascists, led by Franco, win. Republicans slaughtered after the victory. Spain is left in serious trouble, as the country has literally been torn apart in one of the bloodiest, terrifying ordeals. Many considered the Spanish Civil War as a prelude to WWII, as countries such as Germany and Italy supplied the Nationalists with new weapons and technologies. The aftermath of the war lasted over twenty years; Many areas in Spain did not have street lights until the 1960s.
Franco's Regime (1939-1975)
- Catholicism forced onto entire country
- Women could not divorce, leave the country without their husband's passport, open a bank account, leave the house without their husband's permission, contraception outlawed. Women's rights non existent.
- Catalan, Galician and Basque languages outlawed.
- Censorship of books, magazines, television, movies, etc. Dubbing of foreign films became the norm, so as the content could be manipulated easily. The practice became engrained in the consciousness of Spain, and even today people prefer dubbed movies to subtitled ones, even though they obviously are not censored.
- Freedom of speech outlawed.
- Pretty much anything else you can think of that coincides with a dictator.
So, clearly, there's a lot going on here. In 1978, Spain instituted a new form of government, a constitutional monarchy. The new constitution took Spain out of the dark ages, and interjected more modern and liberal ideals into the political system. In more ways than one would think, Spain is infinitely more secular than the United States, which now seems to me to be more conservative than I had thought while living there, and our government clutching the Bible tighter than I had thought. And yet we still have completely different interpretations of the term "religious tolerance." Hell, even freedom of speech differs in interpretation.
I've been wanting to write this post for awhile. It's so incredibly hard to condense everything I've learned this semester (or even just day to day things) into a blog post. I never feel like I do my subjects justice, and there's really no way I could ever. But I did want to end on this one note, that's not a history lesson, and dude, if you're still reading this you deserve something shiny. So here goes.
I put it off as long as I could. As soon as my religion teacher gave my the assignment, I felt uncomfortable. Interview a Spanish person on their concept of religion in Spain. How the government is affected by it. What they believe in. What are customs and social norms. I felt like it was a really personal thing she was asking us to do, press someone on their faith in a different language no less. So naturally, I put it off until the night before. Before dinner I tentatively asked Luis if I could interview him for a class. As my professor suggested, I approached it as a live history, and then the plan was to segue into more religious topics. So at about 9.00, I grabbed my computer, and met him in his and Isabel's room, where he was poised by his computer. Each armed with Google Translate, the interview began. I asked him about his church community, religion in school, his own experiences with education as well as factual information about the 1978 constitution. He was, as always, incredibly patient and helpful with me.
I typed out the interview as best I could, and as I saved it in my email to print the next day, I felt like I hadn't fully done what my teacher wanted me to in the assignment. I knew she would grade me harshly for not pressing issues pertaining to his own personal ideologies. Born in 1931, Luis had lived through the Second Republic, the Civil War, Franco. When I asked him when he started school, he mentioned he was six years old, and attending was difficult. He waved his hand and looked away, "The war in Barcelona... was terrible. Terrible time." He then immediately changed the subject to something a little more positive. I didn't want to push him to talk about anything. My host family has welcomed me into their home and treated me like a daughter, joking with me, nagging me, feeding me. Who the hell was I to ask personal and probing questions? About midway through the interview, his brother called, and they chatted briefly. After hanging up, he looked at me and said proudly, "Catalan," referring to the language they were speaking in. When I ran out of questions, we discussed the decorations on the bedroom wall, his and Isabel's First Communion papers, a bridal picture of Isabel on their wedding day. Sitting in my own room afterwards, I reflected on the history of the country, what it had been through, and what individuals had faced throughout the years, seemed more real than what I had seen in literature, primary documents, textbooks, film. It's when these concepts you have learned get fleshed out, become illustrated before you do they really take root. It goes from interesting historical information to a tangible array of emotions and real experiences of the kind an outsider can only get the faintest glimpse of.
So. History, religion, government, family. They are all intertwined in such messy and subtle and unexpected ways. I have just over a month left here, and for the first time it hit me I would actually be leaving. The thought of saying goodbye to Isabel and Luis made me so incredibly sad.
 |
| Right!?!?!?!?! Like... what. |
It's interesting to see Spain grapple with their concept of religion. During Franco's regime, he wanted to make Spain a great Catholic nation, as done by Isabella and Ferdinand way back in the 15th and 16th centuries (in 1492 Isabella expelled all Jews from Spain, and the Inquisition began. And Colombus set sail, for what it's worth). Franco changed the entire identity of Spain in alarming and terrifying ways. Let's just do a quick inventory here.
Second Republic (1931-1939)
-Women could vote, hold public office, work outside the house, get divorced, were considered equal citizens
-State is extremely secular
-Catholicism loses followers, due in large part to ineptness of Church, and the fact that the government disassociated itself with Rome, leaving Catholicism to fend for itself (after centuries of funding it with government money)
- Education, free thinking, free speech encouraged.
CIVIL WAR (1936-1939)- Fascists, led by Franco, win. Republicans slaughtered after the victory. Spain is left in serious trouble, as the country has literally been torn apart in one of the bloodiest, terrifying ordeals. Many considered the Spanish Civil War as a prelude to WWII, as countries such as Germany and Italy supplied the Nationalists with new weapons and technologies. The aftermath of the war lasted over twenty years; Many areas in Spain did not have street lights until the 1960s.
Franco's Regime (1939-1975)
- Catholicism forced onto entire country
- Women could not divorce, leave the country without their husband's passport, open a bank account, leave the house without their husband's permission, contraception outlawed. Women's rights non existent.
- Catalan, Galician and Basque languages outlawed.
- Censorship of books, magazines, television, movies, etc. Dubbing of foreign films became the norm, so as the content could be manipulated easily. The practice became engrained in the consciousness of Spain, and even today people prefer dubbed movies to subtitled ones, even though they obviously are not censored.
- Freedom of speech outlawed.
- Pretty much anything else you can think of that coincides with a dictator.
So, clearly, there's a lot going on here. In 1978, Spain instituted a new form of government, a constitutional monarchy. The new constitution took Spain out of the dark ages, and interjected more modern and liberal ideals into the political system. In more ways than one would think, Spain is infinitely more secular than the United States, which now seems to me to be more conservative than I had thought while living there, and our government clutching the Bible tighter than I had thought. And yet we still have completely different interpretations of the term "religious tolerance." Hell, even freedom of speech differs in interpretation.
I've been wanting to write this post for awhile. It's so incredibly hard to condense everything I've learned this semester (or even just day to day things) into a blog post. I never feel like I do my subjects justice, and there's really no way I could ever. But I did want to end on this one note, that's not a history lesson, and dude, if you're still reading this you deserve something shiny. So here goes.
I put it off as long as I could. As soon as my religion teacher gave my the assignment, I felt uncomfortable. Interview a Spanish person on their concept of religion in Spain. How the government is affected by it. What they believe in. What are customs and social norms. I felt like it was a really personal thing she was asking us to do, press someone on their faith in a different language no less. So naturally, I put it off until the night before. Before dinner I tentatively asked Luis if I could interview him for a class. As my professor suggested, I approached it as a live history, and then the plan was to segue into more religious topics. So at about 9.00, I grabbed my computer, and met him in his and Isabel's room, where he was poised by his computer. Each armed with Google Translate, the interview began. I asked him about his church community, religion in school, his own experiences with education as well as factual information about the 1978 constitution. He was, as always, incredibly patient and helpful with me.
I typed out the interview as best I could, and as I saved it in my email to print the next day, I felt like I hadn't fully done what my teacher wanted me to in the assignment. I knew she would grade me harshly for not pressing issues pertaining to his own personal ideologies. Born in 1931, Luis had lived through the Second Republic, the Civil War, Franco. When I asked him when he started school, he mentioned he was six years old, and attending was difficult. He waved his hand and looked away, "The war in Barcelona... was terrible. Terrible time." He then immediately changed the subject to something a little more positive. I didn't want to push him to talk about anything. My host family has welcomed me into their home and treated me like a daughter, joking with me, nagging me, feeding me. Who the hell was I to ask personal and probing questions? About midway through the interview, his brother called, and they chatted briefly. After hanging up, he looked at me and said proudly, "Catalan," referring to the language they were speaking in. When I ran out of questions, we discussed the decorations on the bedroom wall, his and Isabel's First Communion papers, a bridal picture of Isabel on their wedding day. Sitting in my own room afterwards, I reflected on the history of the country, what it had been through, and what individuals had faced throughout the years, seemed more real than what I had seen in literature, primary documents, textbooks, film. It's when these concepts you have learned get fleshed out, become illustrated before you do they really take root. It goes from interesting historical information to a tangible array of emotions and real experiences of the kind an outsider can only get the faintest glimpse of.
So. History, religion, government, family. They are all intertwined in such messy and subtle and unexpected ways. I have just over a month left here, and for the first time it hit me I would actually be leaving. The thought of saying goodbye to Isabel and Luis made me so incredibly sad.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Birthday Dinner
So it was my birthday the other day, thank you to EVERYONE FOR FORGETTING.
Just kidding, my birthday's not until January. But did some of you (one of the two of you) freak out for a second?? Yeah you did.
Anyway, no it was Kendall's birthday yesterday, but today Isabel and Luis threw her a party. We had cake, sweet potatoes, panellets and a little champagne. After taking a few pictures, Isabel showed us old family photos in an album. She used to be a brunette and Luis used to have so much hair! It's really cool getting to spend time like that with older generations, especially since I've never been close to my grandparents. I hope I can keep up some kind of connection with them. Luis is big into Skype (I've met a couple girls they housed in previous years through it), so I think it's an attainable goal.
Yesterday was also Halloween. It's not really celebrated over here, and for most of the day I forgot that kids went door to door asking for candy. What a sweet holiday, no pun intended. I kind of miss it. Like I've never been SUPER CRAZY INTO HALLOWEEN, but still. Candy, scary movies, costumes, cute little kids, pumpkins? Dude. Great day. Anyway, hope everyone had a great weekend! We had today off, so tomorrow it's back to ye olde grind.
Later, dudes
Just kidding, my birthday's not until January. But did some of you (one of the two of you) freak out for a second?? Yeah you did.
Anyway, no it was Kendall's birthday yesterday, but today Isabel and Luis threw her a party. We had cake, sweet potatoes, panellets and a little champagne. After taking a few pictures, Isabel showed us old family photos in an album. She used to be a brunette and Luis used to have so much hair! It's really cool getting to spend time like that with older generations, especially since I've never been close to my grandparents. I hope I can keep up some kind of connection with them. Luis is big into Skype (I've met a couple girls they housed in previous years through it), so I think it's an attainable goal.
Yesterday was also Halloween. It's not really celebrated over here, and for most of the day I forgot that kids went door to door asking for candy. What a sweet holiday, no pun intended. I kind of miss it. Like I've never been SUPER CRAZY INTO HALLOWEEN, but still. Candy, scary movies, costumes, cute little kids, pumpkins? Dude. Great day. Anyway, hope everyone had a great weekend! We had today off, so tomorrow it's back to ye olde grind.
Later, dudes
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Walk home
Four blocks before I made eye contact with a blind man, someone lit a trashcan on fire. I could smell it before I saw it. Oddly sweet, it easily could have been a vendor roasting yams. A woman hurriedly dumped the contents of her water bottle into the flames, causing smoke to pour out furiously. The warped garbage bag had turned to a stringy black mess, parts of it badly melted onto the metal can. It looked permanent.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Halfway
There are some nights you hang out with a group of sweet Catalans for an hour and a half in a bar, go dancing with your friends, and come home the same time you wake up for school on weekdays. And then other nights you stay in wearing your stepdad's old pj pants, drinking coffee with your host family while watching a dubbed movie about Aidan Quinn running around in a ridiculous get-up in the middle ages. I mean, I'm no historian, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have sequins or bedazzlers back then. Just sayin'.
Today marks the halfway point of the semester. It's come to my attention that the goals I took with me from the US may have been a little ridiculous. But new priorities come up, and the things that once seemed like the main point of coming here have become less important. I guess that's how pretty much everything in the history of mankind goes though. I've realized that there's no way I can do all I set out to. And you know, that's fine. I treasure the time I spend with people more than any site I've ever seen. The crazy times, and yes, the quiet Aidan Quinn times too, those are the things that have real staying power.
So it's odd to think about leaving. I am going to be sad to go. But going back to the US will probably give me 897 excitement-induced heart attacks. I miss everyone there, and I think of them often.
Today marks the halfway point of the semester. It's come to my attention that the goals I took with me from the US may have been a little ridiculous. But new priorities come up, and the things that once seemed like the main point of coming here have become less important. I guess that's how pretty much everything in the history of mankind goes though. I've realized that there's no way I can do all I set out to. And you know, that's fine. I treasure the time I spend with people more than any site I've ever seen. The crazy times, and yes, the quiet Aidan Quinn times too, those are the things that have real staying power.
So it's odd to think about leaving. I am going to be sad to go. But going back to the US will probably give me 897 excitement-induced heart attacks. I miss everyone there, and I think of them often.
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