One More Pre-Barcelona Blog Post!

Another note: This is also a pre-written blog, remnant from my train ride. I will write out a nice long one detailing Barcelona and my time here with Matt, but this is what came before I got to Barcelona…

I can’t put my finger on it, but recently I haven’t felt like myself or at least felt like the version of myself that is me at my best. I think it’s partially due to lack of schedule/boredom, partially just to do with being away from home. But at the moment, I’m currently feeling “myself” come back more and more, minute by minute. Why? Because I’m on a train going to Barcelona to spend the week with Matt, who has flown out for his spring break because he essentially will never really be able to travel again thanks to football. Being around him brings me back to my best self and reminds me of who I am and what I want. And so the minutes tick by, and I’m just staring out at the gorgeous Spanish countryside.

Currently out my window are rolling hills filled with row after row of olive trees.  I’m not outside so I have no idea what the temperature is, but the scenery reminds me a little of driving through Arizona, but with more olive trees (why aren’t there more olive trees in Arizona/California?). I have music in one ear, and I’m letting the Spanish conversations around me roll over me as I write. Kind of like sleeping with your textbook under your pillow hoping that you’ll suddenly absorb it all right?

So Barcelona. This weekend, 5 of the girls from my program (Cassy, Michael, Caitlin, Madysan and Megan) decided to come up because it was a good excuse for them to see Barcelona. I’m really excited for them to meet Matt, because that makes it all the more real. I realized after I got home from India that it would be tough maintaining those friendships because they had no relation to my “real life”. They didn’t know my family, or my friends at home, they had their own lives and there becomes less and less to talk about. But between them meeting Matt and my parents/brothers coming out here in April, many people will have a relation to my life which I hope will make the friendships last much longer. It also helps that in many ways I have more in common with the people here than the group in India.

In India, we were a bunch of incredibly random, different people who had all chosen to come to India for very different (or fundamentally, maybe the same) reasons and all had very different lives and truthfully, in any other situation, probably wouldn’t have been friends. But being in India was such an intense experience (a realization I’m having here as I think I’m finally letting myself recognize what I went through being in India in many ways), one that I wouldn’t change for the world. Although, I don’t think I could do it the same way again. I can’t wait until I can go to India again because I think part of me will always love the country and the people, but it’s an incredibly difficult place to be; ordering food is difficult, drinking water is difficult, really, walking down the street is difficult. India just requires a constant vigilance that I don’t know if I’ll ever lose; being there forces you to both trust no one and everyone because they’re so kind and giving. Being here has really given me perspective of what an experience India was. I still can’t put it quite it words and it might be a few years before I realize what an impact it has had on me and how it has changed my life.

XOXOXO 

Finally...oh finally...

Note: This post was "pre-written" on Saturday morning.

There’s something stoically romantic about being on a train that just makes me want to write. Write the way that I used to write, finally write the blog post I’ve been putting off for too long, just put words on a page and write. So I’ll start with the blog post, and eventually end up just ranting most likely.

The basics- first of all, I’m really sorry that it has been about two weeks since my last blog post. I think it’s something about being in my room, just sitting on my bed on the internet that makes me not want to write. Actually, I think that it’s the internet that makes me not want to write. The temptation of it is too much, enticing me with  StumbleUpon or Facebook or a Skype call…it’s all just too tempting. So I’ll try to make up for it. I’ll probably end up breaking up this post into a few smaller ones so it’s not so intimidating to read it all at once.

So life here is beginning to settle down and fall into a routine. My host family is great; we don’t talk a ton simply because I don’t necessarily have that much to say to them but I can tell that they really like me and I think they’re really nice so it works out. My ‘mama’ and I keep butting heads a little bit because I just cannot wrap my head around the idea of working on my computer at the desk in my room instead of my bed…it just doesn’t work for me. Not to mention that the desk is incredibly cluttered cause it’s the only real surface in the room so it’s where I put my make up etc for the mornings. Classes are going really well and I can feel my Spanish improving by the day. I really hope that I’ll be mostly fluent by the time I leave and I’m starting to think that might actually be a realistic goal. The teaching is actually some of the best Spanish teaching I think I’ve had (if any Spanish teachers are reading this, SORRY!) because of the structure of the book and because we do SO many activities in class. I’m starting to befriend some of the other foreigners in the class which is nice because I’m ready to start branching out from our group of Americans (to another group of Americans? Perhaps.)

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I had set up tutoring kids…unfortunately that fell through as they had “too many volunteers”. So I’ve been once to volunteer at a school and it was honestly CRAZY (only once because I had a chiropractors appointment this week on the day we’re supposed to go). It really made me miss my Lepcha Cottage kids in India. The kids here speak a gypsy version of Spanish that has a LOT of words that we don’t know/cannot follow so it’s very difficult talking to them. Additionally, the school has NO structure and they don’t appear to want any…the kids just run around crazy and essentially do whatever they’d like. For someone like me who secretly loves structure and a schedule, it’s very overwhelming. Like I said, it just makes me miss my kids at Lepcha Cottage. Well, I guess they’re definitely not “my” kids anymore, to be fair.

We talked to Nancy about other volunteering stuff, but honestly, we have yet to hear anything about it, which is somewhat frustrating. Hopefully she’ll figure it out soon. I’ve been messing around online looking for nanny-ing stuff or maybe part-time jobs but the truth is that unemployment here is hovering around 37% (crazy!) and so anything that I would do would likely take away a job from someone who is currently searching for one so I’m iffy on doing that to someone. And since we’re in class when they’re in school, we can’t work in any schools. Alas!

So two weekends ago we went to Cordoba, which is beautiful. La Mesquite is the most important sight to see, as it’s an old and GORGEOUS cathedral that embodies the history of Spain in one building. It was at one point a Roman church, which can be seen in the old Roman columns and the founding. When the Muslims invaded in the 9^th (?) century, they used Cordoba as their primary capital for the area, and converted the old Roman building into a mosque. Over the years, the population increased exponentially and they had to continue to extend the building, and you can see each extension in the architecture, like a stretch mark across a pregnant belly.  Then during the Crusades, the Christians “expelled” the Muslims, and turned the mosque in a cathedral, changing the architecture yet again. Due to the mandate of simplicity in a place of prayer, the Muslim work is gorgeously simple; a beautifully mosaic splays across the wall that faces Mecca, the arches are classically Muslim and it’s all just incredibly simple. When the Christians came in, they decided to build around the beauty that is already there, lifting up the ceiling in a certain area to create the awe inspiriting look up that defines Catholic architecture, incredibly detailed and breath-taking stone and wood work. Perhaps I’m being romantic, but what I really saw when I looked around the building was this beautiful melding of cultures, religions, history and people, which to me, seemed a symbol of the harmony that is possible in our world if we just realize that the beauty someone/something else has doesn’t take away from our own beauty but that it can add to it.

Sometime that week, we had a meeting of our “gastronomy group” in which we were educated regarding the “Mediterranean diet”. I won’t write too extensively about this because, to be honest, it wasn’t that exciting but I will mention that apparently, it is believed that the Mediterranean diet is actually one of the healthiest for you. Note that this does not mean that it will make you skinny, it just reduces your chances of many diseases, lowers your blood pressure…etc. It is essentially based in a high (high) use of olive oil, a very low intake of red meat, and a higher intake of fruits than we’re used to in the US (I have at least one, if not two oranges every day).

Last weekend, we went to Carnaval in Cadíz, which was…interesting. The highlight of Carnaval is supposed to be all of these small groups singing and playing music. Unfortunately, we missed all of that. Why? Because we got stuck in the main plaza where there are tons of people and then we never left. Highlights (or really, lowlights) of the night- one of my friends decided to try and fight someone, so while I was trying to pull him out the fight (with the help of my friend Cassy), we both got bottles (1 litre bottles of beer) broken over our heads. I had a nice little cut on my scalp for a few days that is fine now, and I lost a chunk of hair in the process (the force of the impact of the bottle I think) but it’s not noticeable at all and I’m really fine. After that we essentially tended to drunk people for the rest of the night and froze until we were finally able to get back on the buses and come back. Quite the night. And part of the reason that I’m looking to branch out from our group a little as I’m feeling a bit claustrophobic.

The Much Anticipated Second Blog Post...

After probably about a week and a half without posting, I’m finally ready to blog again. I’d love to say that I was simply too busy or that I had too much going on, but the truth is far from that. Truthfully, in many ways, I’ve had a much harder time adjusting to being here than India. I was hit with quite a bit of culture shock the first two weeks and felt very in over my head. Despite how kind my host family is, I felt the urge to scream every time they spoke Spanish and felt an obvious sense of relief whenever I would hear English spoken. I was utterly confounded by their daily schedule that seems itself a bit confused; there is the daily Spanish siesta, but not everyone can take that time or make lunch the family meal it’s meant to be due to globalization and international businesses. Barclays, for example, isn’t willing to sacrifice their normal 8 hr work day that they standardize their employees to and thus, the Spaniards must adjust. I stressed over when to meet up with friends, when it was rude to leave, and whether I was being just plain rude for constantly being in my room alone because truthfully, it’s easier than making awkward conversation with my host family.

But let’s back up? Maybe get the skeleton of what my past two weeks have looked like? Alright.

We started classes, which are four hours a day of Spanish with a twenty-minute break in the middle. My teacher, despite the fact that she hates me and the other Americans, is really nice and a very good teacher. They’ve obviously been very well trained in how to teach Spanish as a second/third/fourth language and she incorporates many activities and games into class.  We have around 10 people total in our class I’d say- a Brit, Aussie, 2 Dutch girls, a German, a Chinese girl, a Danish girl, and us 3 Americans (myself, Briana and Seth). The structure of CLIC (our language school) is actually very interesting; most of the students are there through CLIC and live in student housing through it (from other people from their country). Additionally, I believe CLIC essentially runs almost 365 days a year…there are no semesters and students come and go essentially as they please. Last week a Japanese girl left our class, this week there was an influx of Italians into classes (not ours!), next week, Stefanie (the Dutch girl) will be leaving…and so it goes.

Essentially my days look more or less like this-

Wake up around 730, shower and get ready for school. I meet up with Cassy (from Oregon, one of my closer friends here), Carson (from New York but he’s lived all over the world), Megan (from Delaware), and sometimes Caitlin (from Chicago). It’s about a 30 minute walk from our house to class, and sometimes we pick up the beautifully quirky Briana (from Evanston, Chicago) and maybe a few others on our way there. It takes us a legitimate 30 minutes…even SPEED walking I can only shave off about 3-5 minutes!

After class, we usually walk home because lunch really is still the family meal of the day. My mama makes me some kind of DELICIOUS lunch and I awkwardly sit with her and her husband and we watch TV (yes, we watch TV during every meal) and I attempt to dream up something to talk about. It’s very stressful. If I don’t have anything else to do, I go to my room afterwards and just rest and maybe talk to people back home if I can. I may take a short siesta if I’m tired enough or have time. More recently however, I’ll go out with Cassy on a walk or meet people in the park along the river or meet up with people somewhere. So far, I’m still mostly interacting with people from our program.

Around 8ish (at least) I head back to my house because dinner is around 930. If I’m going to go out, I’ll leave around 11/1130ish, which is considered going out “early” here because most people ‘go out’ at 1AM and return around 6AM apparently. However, call me too American, but I don’t have the stamina for that and I don’t like being out THAT late and sleeping away my day.

Interesting things I’ve done the past two weeks: I set up an internship where I’ll be tutoring immigrant kids once a week…unfortunately (as I believe I mentioned in my last blog) volunteering is very difficult so…went and visited some of the GORGEOUS sites around Seville…found a cheap and delicious sushi restaurant that I’ll be frequenting…went out for tapas and found my favorite ‘discotecas’ in town! Fairly successful, if you ask me.

Getting back to serious stuff. In many ways, I think the adjustment to Spain has been a lot harder to my adjustment to India. In some ways, there are a lot of comparisons to the stereotypical high school; India is your ‘nerds’, while Spain is the ‘popular kids’. India is a country full of people who essentially want to be your friend, talk to you, maybe sell you something or stare at your, but are generally kind. India is very welcoming no matter what it is that makes you imperfect and accepts you fully.

On the other hand, Spain is very much the ‘cool kid’ in high school…if you don’t dress properly you stand out (not kidding), if you can’t speak with the absurdly strange Andalusian accent then you’re instantly disliked as a foreigner especially if they’ve managed to deduce that you’re American (the whole irony of this being that they love America for its TV, clothes, culture, but hate the people…). That being said, the cool kids are just like any kids and underneath it, there’s a lot of genuinely kind people and I know there are plenty of incredibly kind Spaniards.

So yes, I had quite a time adjusting to being here. It’s tough because we don’t live together so it’s hard to get together and it was hard trying to figure out the daily schedule. Additionally, just getting used to hearing Spanish all the time was incredibly stressful and I felt constantly overwhelmed and drowning in my own confusion. Luckily though, I have resurfaced, much stronger and ready to attack not only the language barriers, but any returns of culture shock that come my way!

Anyways, it’s time for me to go to bed.

Much love always,

Sara

First Impressions

It’s amazing what not being able to communicate to someone tells you about yourself. Does that lack of communication bring you a feeling of relief? Does it make you more anxious? Do you feel rude or unkind? Do you prefer it that way? Somehow, not being able to form the words to create the sentence you want, having that true mental block in front of you changes the dynamics of a relationship. 

I officially met my host family two days ago, I believe. I’m living with an older couple, who have a 27 year old son who lives here in the apartment. This was my first cultural shock if you will- living at home at 27 here is not abnormal and not viewed poorly at all. In fact, not living at home is. They cannot understand why you would move out of your house…after all, you have someone cleaning and cooking for you so why leave? Until you get married of course, which is the point at which most young people more out of their homes. Additionally, thanks to the current economic woes of Europe, Spain has an unemployment rate that hovers around 30%...yes thirty percent. A little high, eh?

So I guess I should start where I left off in the Madrid airport (sorry, things have been a little crazy and I was too busy/tired to blog). After I set up my blog, I went, found a nice bench and fell asleep which helped kill about two hours of my 7 hour layover. We arrived in Madrid, gathered our bags and went on to the hotel. We (the 6 of us on the Madrid-Seville flight) were almost the last to arrive (one more was coming in around 9-10ish). I was sharing a room with Michael, from Virginia, and Breanna, from Chicago. Breanna was in India last semester too on a different program, so it was really great to be able to talk to someone who understood India and had done basically all the things that I had done. That night we went out for tapas and then we broke off, a few of us going to a nearby bar and a few of us just walked around the area for a little to try and get our bearings.

The next morning, at 9, we went to CLIC (where we’ll be taking our Spanish classes) and took a language placement test. Thanks to an utter inability to remember any of the official rules of Spanish that I learned in high school, I was placed in the most basic class! Woohoo! Hopefully I’ll jump up a level when they realize that I can actually communicate when trying but who knows. Then we went to the CIEE center to discuss housing, security, etc. At around 1, we went back to the hotel, where we met our host families. That night, we all went to a flamenco show. Interesting fact of the day: flamenco is not, as many ignorant tourists believe, the dance but it is actually the music that is SOMETIMES accompanied by dance. After the flamenco show, which was very nice although incredibly touristy, we went to a nearby bar and then to Abril, a very popular club in Seville. Personally, I think we started the dancing there (it was around 1.30 or so I think when we got there) because nobody was dancing when we started to, then everyone was. But who knows!

Another note on the social schedule here. Around 10/11, everyone gets up and goes to desayuna which is breakfast or coffee/beer and toast usually with ham or tomatoes. Then at 2/4 they go for lunch, which is the big meal of the day, followed by the famous Spanish siesta (so nice!). Then, they have dinner around 9/10 and START going out at 1, eventually returning around 6/7 AM. Unfortunately, I don’t have the stamina to be out until 6/7 so we usually return around 4/5. So early!

Yesterday, we did a ‘useful’ tour of the city to see important areas. Seville is truly a beautiful city, with the classic winding and curving streets and tiny alleys. The cobblestone streets can be a pain to walk on (I imagine especially in heels!) but are beautiful when you’re just taking in the surroundings. The city is almost entirely flat which is what lends it to being such a great city to walk around. The city is cut by a river which runs through the middle; I live on the south side of the river I believe, while CLIC, CIEE and the main part of the city are on the north side. We saw where the metro is (there’s only one line which is very impractical to use) and we got cell phones. Then Michael, Carson and myself wandered around the main area of town for about 3+ hours I believe before finally returning home. Unfortunately, follow my long and sleepless night prior, I decided not to go out again since I’m currently fighting off a cold.

Today, I accidentally woke up too late to join onto the tour, so I essentially wandered the city for hours, meandering down cute side streets and trying to get my bearings before eating at a most DELICIOUS sushi restaurant (which I will now be frequenting) and then coming home. Around 7, Cassy, Carson and I (we all live near each other and meet up to go places) went to a cute café called Charlotte (I believe) where I had the most DELICIOUS hot chocolate EVER. It literally tasted like a melted hot chocolate bar with a tiny bit of milk added…don’t even want to think about the nutritional info on that sucker!

Anyways, now I’m off to bed so I can rise bright and early for my first day of Spanish classes. I promise/hope my coming posts will be more thoughtful and detailed than this one as I’m sure it’s not as great as it could be!

Much love,

Sara

Arrivals

Hi there,
So obviously, I've decided to do a blog again...just hope I can keep it up better this time than last! This is basically just a quick post about my flights out here (I am currently in Madrid, waiting out a 7 hour layover...ahk!) and just to have something on here when I start publicizing that I'm doing a blog again :)

Not much to say besides that my flights were very long. Also, I was sorely disappointed by American Airlines...I was expecting at least a cabin movie playing but there was no movie playing at all :( Which made me very sad because I enjoy the distraction of movies.

And a note to any future Spain travelers...oh.my.god! The Madrid airport has to be the most confusing airport I've ever been in personally. It is convoluted, has a major lack of signage and just plain confusing! Just a heads up.

Anyways, that pretty much covers it. I'm just desperately trying to stay awake here and conjure up the remnants of my Spanish in school...not going so well yet. Ah, well.

Much love,
Sara