Monday September 9th, 2013
Well,
this weekend was a great one. Thursday we met up with some Spanish girls that
we met last weekend and saw La Plaza de España, which was gorgeous. Apparently it was built in 1928 as a
sort of showcase for Spanish industry and technology in an exposition the next
year. And it was used in one of the Star Wars movies. It is lined with ceramic
benches; one bench for each province in the country, of which there are around
50. We then found super tasty gelato. Here’s the thing, gelato is awesome and I
could pretty much eat it at any given moment, but it is usually not cheap. But
it is, again, incredible and available everywhere so I will probably continue
to mention it. Friday was our last day of class at the language institute and
we talked about each of our countries and immigration, which is huge in Spain.
It’s similar to the situation in Cuba, where boats come in at night crammed
with people that are trying not to get caught by coastal police. Some will
destroy or hide their papers so that if caught, officials don’t even know which
country to contact in order to deport them. Representatives from five countries
present in class made for very interesting discussion. I am not going to get political,
but I will say it is very apparent to me that Americans on the whole know far
less about other countries than other countries know about us and I think we’re
doing ourselves a big disservice. I am one of the most guilty of this. But it’s
like being in a room with one sided mirrors; everyone can and does look in and
knows things about us but we are content to walk around amongst the mirrors and
look at ourselves. We came straight home for lunch, which was fascinating. We
had on our plates a sunny side up egg, a hot dog, and a well-molded mound of
rice with tomato sauce on top. I just kind of went for it and it was really
pretty enjoyable. I doubt it has a name. I think I already mentioned that eggs
seem to show up in random places.
CADIZ
The train ride to Cadiz on Friday
was uneventful and not too long. Cadiz is one of, if not the, oldest city in
western Europe and was very important back in the day regarding imports and
exports because it is practically an island in the south of Spain. It was often
the first port ships would come to and for that reason, the city has a ton of
watch towers scattered throughout to look for incoming ships and pirates. It
attracts a ton of tourists for its beaches though, and none of the above. So
our system of planning trips pretty much ends at getting us to the train
station with an address in hand. Luckily, we just kind of exit the station and nice
people always offer us maps or help and we find where we’re going, often with a
lot of walking. We’ve decided studying/traveling abroad is pretty much about
trusting strangers. We did find the hostel though. For Friday night our señoras
had packed us a bocadillo for dinner so we sat on La Playa Caleta (oldest beach
in Cadiz and used in a James Bond movie) and had those while we enjoyed the
sunset. Poetic right? It was gorgeous and a good time contemplating life/messing
around. Gifton is super good at back handsprings now. At one point we looked
around and realized everyone had left the beach, which was eerie but awesome to
be the only ones out there. Back at the hostel we met the owner, David, who was
very friendly and great, and then too friendly and all of a sudden had us
coming to a tapas bar with him for dinner and a flamenco show afterward. I
truly don’t know how that happened. We thought some other people were going but
once outside we realized it was just us four. It was like being in a social setting
with a pretty chill professor. You’re happy to see them, and would definitely
say hi, but not hang out with them all night at a bar. We mostly side-lined
tapas because we had eaten bocadillos and then backed out of the flamenco show.
Don’t worry, he still went and had a great time. The bar he showed us was great
however and we went back there for dinner on Saturday. . . and ran into him
again. So comical.
Saturday was beach day. We walked
to a different beach and just camped out for about 7-8 hours. It sprinkled a
little in the morning but was overall perfect. We also got to see some sort of
simulation from pilots at a US base nearby that apparently happens once a year.
It was terrifying at first, not knowing what was going on, but super cool. I
would like to go ahead and confirm that the European topless thing is indeed a
thing (for some) per my experience on la playa Santa Maria that day. I’m not
sure how else to comment. Overall, beautiful day full of siestitas.
Sunday was our day to spend in the
city. Breakfast at the hostel (never book a hostel that doesn’t include
breakfast) with the friendly Latvian girls that work there and then we headed
out to El Castillo de San Sebastian (old castle). It is down a long stone
walkway and pretty cool up close. Nothing tall is still standing though so it
doesn’t look like much from afar. We also looked at the cathedral and then over
to El Torre Tavira, which is the tallest tower in Cadiz. You can climb to the
top and get an incredible view. This tower also has what they called la camera
oscura, which was kind of like a telescope and used a giant mirror and lenses
to project a live, 360 degree picture of the city onto a bowl-shaped screen on the
floor. This thing was seriously incredible. We stood all around it and a guide
took us on a telescope tour of the city. She maneuvered the lens to focus on different
buildings at varying distances and turned the mirror to give the whole 360
degree view. We watched people walking through the plaza or hanging laundry on
their terrace. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen here and definitely
the best application of physics of lenses I’ve ever encountered. We found lunch
at some small local place and the owner recommended a gelato place to us. This
is absolutely the way to get around foreign towns. Locals give the best
recommendations, accurate directions, and are super friendly. We never would
have found/chosen this place otherwise. I could have sat and stared at the
ocean for a long time but we eventually walked back to the train station and
passed out on the way home.
A quick note on hostels: go to
them. They are fascinating places full of fascinating people. We met two Australian
girls at this one who we chatted with for a while. They loved our accents and
asked us about peanut butter and jelly. To them, jelly is our jell-o and jam is
our jelly, so they had been picturing peanut butter and jell-o sandwiches all
their lives. Glad we could clear that up. And they do eat vegemite, which I recommend
to no one to eat but everyone to taste. It’s uniquely repulsive.
What else is new? I forgot to
include in my last post about my first attempt to run. (I really miss the
Trinity for this reason). I left around 6:30 in the morning and there was absolutely
no one in the street; it was sufficiently eerie. These people truly do not
start their days until sunrise. Today our señora was talking about some event
and how it is better in the “afternoon” maybe around 8:30. . .that is obviously
nightime. The timing is such a huge difference, but I’m getting used to it
fairly easily and I might even like it. Anyway,
I went down by the river, which is the most scenic place to run but it was dark
and empty and below street level so basically I was on high alert and cut the
whole thing short. Back at the apartment building, my key wasn’t working so I
gave up and called my poor roommate to wake her up to let me in. She didn’t
answer but I buzzed our place and some man’s voice answered so I must have
pressed the wrong bell. He asked if I was confused but ultimately let me in. Up
at the door to our apartment, my key for that door wasn’t working either. That’s
when the man’s voice came back again from behind the door I was trying to break
into. He said I had probably confused the buildings and I’m pretty sure he was
right there looking at me through the little view hole. He was definitely
right. At least I didn’t actually get into his place. My bad, Spanish man that
was probably still asleep. Next time I’ll be a little calmer and perhaps double check
the building number. To be fair, the whole street of them look the same. The running since then has been better.
Today was our first venture to the
university, called UPO (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)! We took a placement exam
with a ton of other American and Australian students and then had a tour of the
campus. It’s great, but nothing like TCU. It’s also outside the city and basically
surrounded by fields so it’s several metro stops away from our homes. We start
class on Wednesday, which will be September 11, which seems ridiculously late
to start a semester. In September, all the university students have a chance to
re-take the comprehensive finals for the classes they previously failed. The
fail rate is about 30% and students can spend the summer studying and take the
exam in September to avoid retaking the class entirely. Interesting set-up. Students
care far less about GPA and while there is a scale, the mindset seems to be
pass/fail. We will see once I start spending time daily at the university. I’m definitely
excited to get started there. We’ve met a few people already because of the
exam and metro ride this morning. This afternoon we went back for more Moroccan
tea with a new friend, which is fabulous and served at a very authentic feeling
Arabic place.
Dinner was interesting tonight as
well. Our señora was commenting that all the girls she hosts are so anxious to
learn the language and know everything right away. She says to give it time,
absorb the culture, and the language will come easier. I think she does have a
point, but I also think she highlights a significant culture difference. There
is less urgency here to know and do and more emphasis on just living a life
that isn’t “apretada” or jammed full of things to do. She and her sister both
talk to all of their grown children multiple times per day. I imagine they are
not the only ones. The unemployment in Spain is nearly 50% for age range of
about 17-30, which definitely says something, but I already appreciate the way
they appreciate their life daily. She also says she has a lot of “psychology on
us girls” because she has been hosting for 21 years. We are each different, but
all have things in common. I get the impression it would be hard to do
something that would totally surprise her. We also brought up how much we like
dipping bread in olive oil with salt and pepper. She literally spent about 4
solid minutes saying how ridiculous that was and no one would do that and how
pepper is meant for tomatoes. It was hilarious. Her son was slightly more
open-minded but no less confused at the idea. We really like our little family J.
Well, three pages later I feel
pretty caught up. Coming up next: classes at UPO and a day trip to Huelva. La
vida española continues.
Love,
Jenna
P.s. Pitch Perfect has not yet made it to Spain. . .
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