Monday, May 10, 2010
OH ALSO I WENT TO A BULLFIGHT
I went to a bullfight last night! It was actually incredibly fascinating. I liked it less and less as it went on (there are six rounds and they are all more or less similar) but it was still very interesting, the beginning especially. I had no idea how much of a performance it is. I completely understand it as an art. Every movement and act is calculated and means something. Of the three biggest bullfighting rings in Spain, Sevilla is the most prestigious one to fight in (Toledo is where the bullfighters make the most money, and Madrid where they earn the most fame). I am so glad I went, though I will never need to go again. But I will say, it was absolutely mesmerizing.
Consider my feelings unmixed.
I am entirely unprepared to leave. Even if I've got another two weeks in Europe, the fact that I have less than one in Spain is fahREAKING me out. Spain has not always been good to me, but in the past few weeks I have grown so much more attached. There are things that I miss about the US and am excited to return to (cupcakes), but I can get along without those things if it means I can keep this going a little longer. But unfortunately, I will be saying my goodbyes to many, many people on Thursday whose company I have truly enjoyed. The thing is, while I am highly aware that life here is like a vacation from actual life, the majority of my experience this semester has been far from it. And just as I am finally easing into having my act together enough to truly enjoy it, it is cut short. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am the type of person who needs time, and this experience has been no different. But for only four months, I have grown remarkably comfortable here; in many ways more so than I am at home. So, villanueva? Not ready to relocate here permanently, but it is certainly a place where I can feel as comfortable as if I were at home.
This week I will be running around like a madwoman. I plan to sleep when I'm dead, or when I'm back in my bed in Chapel Hill whichever comes first. I have gifts to buy, tests to pretend to care about, and people to see off. I've got a list of places that I just want to go to One Last Time. But I have a feeling I will be back, so it's more like One Last Time For Now. Regardless, I'm buggin'. But then again, I feel much the same when I end a year at Villanova. I smell some post-graduation depression on the horizon. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it! Right now I'm focusing on wrapping things up here and finding a place to stay in London in 4 days. Yep I left something until the last minute that's weird.
This week I will be running around like a madwoman. I plan to sleep when I'm dead, or when I'm back in my bed in Chapel Hill whichever comes first. I have gifts to buy, tests to pretend to care about, and people to see off. I've got a list of places that I just want to go to One Last Time. But I have a feeling I will be back, so it's more like One Last Time For Now. Regardless, I'm buggin'. But then again, I feel much the same when I end a year at Villanova. I smell some post-graduation depression on the horizon. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it! Right now I'm focusing on wrapping things up here and finding a place to stay in London in 4 days. Yep I left something until the last minute that's weird.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Mezcla de Sentimientos - Mixed Feelings
Two weeks from today, my program ends and we all go our separate ways. I am at the point where I can confidently say, I’m gonna make it. I never imagined that homesickness could persist so completely for such a long period of time. More than homesickness, it is peoplesickness – I am homesick for the people that I love. At the same time, it will be hard leaving Sevilla. After dancing around each other cautiously for so long, I feel like we are finally getting to know each other. I am content sitting for hours by the rio or in a café, a contentment that I never feel when I try to go read or write at Borders or something. When men call me “guapa,” I am learning to take it as a compliment, one that I will miss, because flattery is never quite so blatant and appreciative in the US. The smiles on the street that I have been giving since the beginning of the semester but never seen reciprocated seem to be returned more and more these days. I have learned to appreciate a good drink, a cold tinto or cerveza (even if it’s cruzcampo) or a café cortado and have learned the value of making it last and enoying it. I love the mornings here, before the heat of the day sets in, and am making new efforts at getting myself up and out to enjoy them. Not much luck yet, but hopefully I can make it a new habit.
With two weeks to go, a sense of urgency is setting in. The comments have started: this may be the last time I’ll go here, see this, eat this. The tourist spots that we haven’t yet seen are becoming a priority in our schedules over class and homework. We are silently starting to accumulate the gifts and souvenirs for loved ones that we had the whole semester to buy, but of course did not. Exotic trips that we planned at the beginning of the semester, which we felt like would never actually happen, have come and gone. It is hard to take things one day at a time when the knowledge that there are so few creates a sort of pressure. But I have been feeling this pressure all semester, and I have learned that I have to actively suppress it if I am going to be able to enjoy myself at all, rather than haphazardly try to get a complete taste of Sevilla. It is this sense of pressure that makes me think most I could have benefited from spending a year here. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have even booked a return flight until probably a week or so ago. I believe that having the date “May 15” in my head all semester has tainted it a little, and it’s a shame. Four months is a long time, but it is just enough time to do all that needs to be done. The knowledge that any wasted second is a waste of a one-time opportunity has made me immensely self-critical every time I take a night off, have a conversation in English rather than Spanish. But it is that mentality that had me run-down and frustrated within a month of starting my program, so I am now actively working to shut it up.
With two weeks to go, a sense of urgency is setting in. The comments have started: this may be the last time I’ll go here, see this, eat this. The tourist spots that we haven’t yet seen are becoming a priority in our schedules over class and homework. We are silently starting to accumulate the gifts and souvenirs for loved ones that we had the whole semester to buy, but of course did not. Exotic trips that we planned at the beginning of the semester, which we felt like would never actually happen, have come and gone. It is hard to take things one day at a time when the knowledge that there are so few creates a sort of pressure. But I have been feeling this pressure all semester, and I have learned that I have to actively suppress it if I am going to be able to enjoy myself at all, rather than haphazardly try to get a complete taste of Sevilla. It is this sense of pressure that makes me think most I could have benefited from spending a year here. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have even booked a return flight until probably a week or so ago. I believe that having the date “May 15” in my head all semester has tainted it a little, and it’s a shame. Four months is a long time, but it is just enough time to do all that needs to be done. The knowledge that any wasted second is a waste of a one-time opportunity has made me immensely self-critical every time I take a night off, have a conversation in English rather than Spanish. But it is that mentality that had me run-down and frustrated within a month of starting my program, so I am now actively working to shut it up.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
FERIA, Italy and Greece photos
I have two weeks and two days left in Sevilla. clock's tickin' and time's a'wastin! Last week was the Feria de abril, which was the most unique and fabulous thing I have ever experienced. I unfortunately had the flu for the kick off and first day, but was able to pull myself out of bed by Tuesday and see myself some flamenco-ing. I pinned an obnoxiously large blue flower in my hair and stepped out of my apartment feeling a bit foolish, only to see women fully decked out in multiple flowers, brightly colored (and well coordinated!) flamenco dresses, and heeled flamenco shoes. I felt like I was in another world as we all rode the bus together to the feria grounds, sitting calmly as if we were not all in full costume.
Arriving at feria was epic. There is an enormous entrance, called a portada, that is lit up in the No8do slogan of Sevilla (this sign can be seen absolutely everywhere in sevilla. it is on buildings, street signs, manhole covers. It is read aloud as "no madeja do, because the 8 looks like yarn, or madeja. When spoken rapidly - what isn't in Andalucia - it sounds like "no me ha dejado," or "it (sevilla) has not abandoned me.") The No8do sign is a great representation of sevilla pride, so it is only fitting that it marked the entrance to perhaps the most quintessentially sevillan ocurrence in this city. Feria is unmatched in any other city. It is an enormous fairgrounds with typical "fair fare" - rides, food [read: fried death. DELICIOUS], noise, crowds. But what makes it feria are the casetas, rows of elaborate tents that families and organizations own and fill with their friends and family. The casetas are incredibly intricate - inside, they have dance floors, bars, walls complete with wall paper and hung paintings, certainly no circus tent. Each caseta is filled with music and flamenco, most notably the sevillanas - the dance of feria. The casetas are full all night and all day. I have never seen anything like it.
I stole these pictures from random facebook albums/cassandra - thanks guys :)
Now for my own photos: One step closer to actually writing that godforsaken blog. Which undoubtedly will not happen until the lazy days of summer.
Italy:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027543&id=1391040171&l=71ea6f90c2
GREECE I LOVE YOU:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027544&id=1391040171&l=fcdb846ef1
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Los gitanos
Yesterday my lit class had members of the Gitano (gypsy) community come speak to us about the origins and nature of their culture. Before coming to Sevilla I had no idea the strength of the presence that los gitanos have here, and it’s a culture that I’ve been curious about since arriving. The Gitano culture is the origin of almost all things quintessentially Spanish, the most prominent of these being flamenco which was used as an expression of frustration and pain in response to the historic oppression the community has experienced. The gitanos came from India beginning in the 7th century, migrating in groups of 50 to 100 for hundreds of years and eventually achieving the presence that they have today. They are set apart by extreme values of family, solidarity, and adaptation, all of which are the most fascinating in their level of extremity. If a gitana woman leaves her family to set off on her own, for example, she no longer calls herself a gitana – she is literally expelled from the culture. The solidarity amongst gitanos is admirable – if gitanos recognize another Gitano who doesn’t have a family, he will be essentially taken in no questions asked. To be without family is not an option for these people, and I think they have such a beautiful sense of unbridled compassion. It is customary for flamenco to be performed as husband and wife, which is beautiful. Both start learning the music and dance from their families when theyre not even 7 years old and perfect it for years, eventually performing together after marriage.
Today my social justice class went to El Vacie, a shantytown that is literally a two minute walk from my volunteer site. Right on the outskirts of Sevilla, it is where about 1000 gitanos call home. It is primarily constructed out of makeshift houses of wood and cardboard, and provides communal showers and water for its people. It is a place of abysmal living conditions, largely due to the marginalization of the Gitano community. However, its counterpart is called Tres Mil Viviendas, a government project that provides housing, water, and electricity and where many gitanos were replaced to. While this project counteracted the effects of marginalization, it has backfired as a result of the disproportionate resources that projects such as Tres Mil Viviendas provide: namely, education. People are simply replaced there and given resources without any idea of how to properly allocate and preserve them, and so they exploit them. Drugs and crime are rampant in Tres Mil. While not nearly as prominent in El Vacie, the government is reluctant to spend any real time there observing the culture and the people and providing them with a more holistic response to their needs. So, the gitanos stay marginalized. We visited an organization today that provides many services to the children of the Vacie community, such as preschool, breakfast and lunch, a place to have a siesta, clean water to bathe in. Hopefully these resources will give these kids a better chance at survival and at developing their own skills to do so. It was unbelievable and humbling to see how close El Vacie is to Sevilla proper. The question of whether the gitanos want to and should integrate more completely in the Spanish culture is made all the more complicated by seeing conditions such as those in the shantytowns – it should be so simple, allocate more resources to these people, but there is so much tied up in that. The distinct Gitano culture, for one, makes for a very suspicious people who do not necessarily value formal education – particularly if it comes from the public government, which will teach and reinforce Spanish values, not Gitano ones. Their most fundamental values inherently make integration difficult, and it is also a question of whether they even want to integrate and perhaps give up a piece of their cultural heritage versus the human rights that should be universally guaranteed regardless of cultural identification.
I am still quite daunted by the task of writing about my 8 days in Italy and Greece but I do want to share it. So keep an eye out, I’ll get my act together sooner or later!
Besitos!
Today my social justice class went to El Vacie, a shantytown that is literally a two minute walk from my volunteer site. Right on the outskirts of Sevilla, it is where about 1000 gitanos call home. It is primarily constructed out of makeshift houses of wood and cardboard, and provides communal showers and water for its people. It is a place of abysmal living conditions, largely due to the marginalization of the Gitano community. However, its counterpart is called Tres Mil Viviendas, a government project that provides housing, water, and electricity and where many gitanos were replaced to. While this project counteracted the effects of marginalization, it has backfired as a result of the disproportionate resources that projects such as Tres Mil Viviendas provide: namely, education. People are simply replaced there and given resources without any idea of how to properly allocate and preserve them, and so they exploit them. Drugs and crime are rampant in Tres Mil. While not nearly as prominent in El Vacie, the government is reluctant to spend any real time there observing the culture and the people and providing them with a more holistic response to their needs. So, the gitanos stay marginalized. We visited an organization today that provides many services to the children of the Vacie community, such as preschool, breakfast and lunch, a place to have a siesta, clean water to bathe in. Hopefully these resources will give these kids a better chance at survival and at developing their own skills to do so. It was unbelievable and humbling to see how close El Vacie is to Sevilla proper. The question of whether the gitanos want to and should integrate more completely in the Spanish culture is made all the more complicated by seeing conditions such as those in the shantytowns – it should be so simple, allocate more resources to these people, but there is so much tied up in that. The distinct Gitano culture, for one, makes for a very suspicious people who do not necessarily value formal education – particularly if it comes from the public government, which will teach and reinforce Spanish values, not Gitano ones. Their most fundamental values inherently make integration difficult, and it is also a question of whether they even want to integrate and perhaps give up a piece of their cultural heritage versus the human rights that should be universally guaranteed regardless of cultural identification.
I am still quite daunted by the task of writing about my 8 days in Italy and Greece but I do want to share it. So keep an eye out, I’ll get my act together sooner or later!
Besitos!
Barcelona Is....
Barcelona is wonderful. I had no idea what to expect other than crazy architecture and the 9th best chocolate store in the world. But it is so much more than that – so much so that I didn’t even get to the chocolate store, nor did I get my beloved cupcake that I set out to find with such determination. Yep, I forewent legendary sweets and baked goods, so you know this trip was a big deal. I got off the Metro Friday afternoon to a huge port filled with the sails of private boats, yachts, and even floating restaurants. The first smell to hit me (other than the Metro Musk, which I don’t feel like I need to recount) was sunscreen, and I was LOVING IT. I walked to our beachfront hostel and met up with SARA YUSKO (hey girl you’re famous, at least among the 8 people who read my blog other than my parents) and some of her friends from the Notre Dame program in London. We had a great afternoon on the beach, which was a pleasant surprise. I had wanted to jump into seeing some sights immediately, but as soon as I sat down I realized how much I wanted to be lying on a beach. So we did that. And then we ate delicious seafood paella at a restaurant on the water.
The rest of the weekend was just as relaxing. We kept a great balance of tourist-ing and beaching. The weather all weekend was ideal for both. “Abundant sunshine,” according to weather.com. It was hard to get a feel for the people in Barcelona – it seemed to me to be very much a city of tourists, although much of that probably was because we hit all the tourist spots. I will always wonder where all the Barcelonians were hiding this weekend!
As for the sights:
- Parc Guell. INCREDIBLE. This park was filled with unique mosaics and designs. We pretty much had to walk up a ninety degree (180 degree? Straight up) incline to reach it, but it was well worth it. Like a playground for grownups (although as a kid I would have FLIPPED for this place).
- Sagrada Familia. A magnificently unique cathedral begun by Gaudi and still under construction for at least 10 more years. It is one of a kind because nobody in history liked his style enough to copy it (though it is so intricate, few people could). I sat and just took it in for a long while. It is absolutely necessary to see in Barcelona – for a good five minutes, all I could say was, “wow.” It is certainly striking at 1st glance and 2nd, and 3rd.
- Lunch at Mercat de la Boqueria, lots of colors and smells, though free samples are scarce so I wouldn’t see any reason to go back there personally.
That night, we ate Mexican food and found a bar to watch the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer game in (Barcelona won!). The next morning I got up and went to the Cathedral for mass, then hit the Picasso museum which I LOVED. I never really knew nor cared much about Picasso (I suck, whatever) but this museum presented the progression of his art over the course of his life in such a fascinating way. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it. The museum is tucked away a bit into some side streets, which made it all the more fun to discover.
AND now I am home, heading to Portugal on Friday until Sunday, will be home for FERIA until the end of next week, then going to the Costa del Sol to soak up some Sol (sun)! I’m happy that I’ll be able to fully experience Feria while still traveling a bit when people flock to Sevilla. Sevilla has been inundated with tourists ever since a few weeks before Semana Santa and it is a bit much for me. It’s such a clash of foreign and familiar, although the interesting thing is, hearing all the English and seeing all the people of my heritage and brand preferences (think North Face and Starbucks) is kind of more the foreign part. I have been getting used to feeling like a black sheep lost in a big city – uh, combo of metaphors there, go with it. Spain is my place to feel like a lost American wide-eyed mess, not like I can walk up to a stranger and have them speak to me in English! It really messes with my mind. I have heard that the culmination of Feria is the peak tourist time. It’s funny that the draw of an event so deeply cultural as feria can be almost countercultural in how much it attracts people of other cultures. I don’t know if this goes for feria, but I think semana santa is gaining the reputation in Spain for being an overwhelming, overcrowded mess of tourists blocking the streets. Many Spaniards of more recent generations, my senora included, take Semana Santa as a time to leave! That also might be because Spain isn’t as religious in principle as it is in tradition, but it is certainly a factor. Neverthess, Semana Santa and Feria are still decidedly Spanish and I am so glad that coming abroad in the spring has given me the opportunity to experience them.
The rest of the weekend was just as relaxing. We kept a great balance of tourist-ing and beaching. The weather all weekend was ideal for both. “Abundant sunshine,” according to weather.com. It was hard to get a feel for the people in Barcelona – it seemed to me to be very much a city of tourists, although much of that probably was because we hit all the tourist spots. I will always wonder where all the Barcelonians were hiding this weekend!
As for the sights:
- Parc Guell. INCREDIBLE. This park was filled with unique mosaics and designs. We pretty much had to walk up a ninety degree (180 degree? Straight up) incline to reach it, but it was well worth it. Like a playground for grownups (although as a kid I would have FLIPPED for this place).
- Sagrada Familia. A magnificently unique cathedral begun by Gaudi and still under construction for at least 10 more years. It is one of a kind because nobody in history liked his style enough to copy it (though it is so intricate, few people could). I sat and just took it in for a long while. It is absolutely necessary to see in Barcelona – for a good five minutes, all I could say was, “wow.” It is certainly striking at 1st glance and 2nd, and 3rd.
- Lunch at Mercat de la Boqueria, lots of colors and smells, though free samples are scarce so I wouldn’t see any reason to go back there personally.
That night, we ate Mexican food and found a bar to watch the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer game in (Barcelona won!). The next morning I got up and went to the Cathedral for mass, then hit the Picasso museum which I LOVED. I never really knew nor cared much about Picasso (I suck, whatever) but this museum presented the progression of his art over the course of his life in such a fascinating way. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it. The museum is tucked away a bit into some side streets, which made it all the more fun to discover.
AND now I am home, heading to Portugal on Friday until Sunday, will be home for FERIA until the end of next week, then going to the Costa del Sol to soak up some Sol (sun)! I’m happy that I’ll be able to fully experience Feria while still traveling a bit when people flock to Sevilla. Sevilla has been inundated with tourists ever since a few weeks before Semana Santa and it is a bit much for me. It’s such a clash of foreign and familiar, although the interesting thing is, hearing all the English and seeing all the people of my heritage and brand preferences (think North Face and Starbucks) is kind of more the foreign part. I have been getting used to feeling like a black sheep lost in a big city – uh, combo of metaphors there, go with it. Spain is my place to feel like a lost American wide-eyed mess, not like I can walk up to a stranger and have them speak to me in English! It really messes with my mind. I have heard that the culmination of Feria is the peak tourist time. It’s funny that the draw of an event so deeply cultural as feria can be almost countercultural in how much it attracts people of other cultures. I don’t know if this goes for feria, but I think semana santa is gaining the reputation in Spain for being an overwhelming, overcrowded mess of tourists blocking the streets. Many Spaniards of more recent generations, my senora included, take Semana Santa as a time to leave! That also might be because Spain isn’t as religious in principle as it is in tradition, but it is certainly a factor. Neverthess, Semana Santa and Feria are still decidedly Spanish and I am so glad that coming abroad in the spring has given me the opportunity to experience them.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
I'm back!
I have been gone the past week on my spring break trip and just got back to Sevilla yesterday! Details about my trip to Italy and Greece coming soon, but I wanted to talk first about the celebration that has been going on in Sevilla and other parts of Spain this past week. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the week leading up to Easter, and in Sevilla, they go all-out for it. It is a celebration that is only rivaled by Feria de Abril, the spring fair that will take place in two weeks (and for which we will get another week off of class!). The entire city transforms as it must work around las processiones, which are the identifying feature of Semana Santa. In Sevilla, there are around 60 brotherhoods that each identify with a specific church. During Semana Santa, the days consist of the different brotherhoods performing las processiones, or processions from the doors of their church to the cathedral and back. Each procession has an enormous wooden float (paso) depicting mary and jesus, and it is carried by costaleros, men from the brotherhood. The paso is preceded by lengthy lines of other men from the brotherhood, the nazarenos. Seeing the nazarenos takes some getting used to, because they wear capirotes, the same pointed cone-shaped hats that the KKK wear. During Semana Santa, the capirotes represent repentance and grief, so that men could traditionally hide their faces during penance. As an American, it requires a conscious effort to separate the religious significance from the hate that these costumes symbolize in the US. However, it is an incredible, reverent sight to see a procession. The processions can last up to 13 hours depending upon which brotherhood it is! The main streets of the city literally shut down as they are filled with these processions and all their spectators.
The biggest celebrations and processions happen on holy thursday and good friday, which I unfortunately was not here for. However, I arrived back in Sevilla yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, early enough that I could go watch the salida (the beginning of a procession, when the brotherhood exits their church) of a brotherhood that was happening right by my house. I have truly never seen anything like it. It took over an hour for the nazarenos to process out before the float - there easily were over 1000 of them. The float finally came out last, moving along at the pace of the costaleros' shuffling feet. It was covered in gold paint and had a huge image of mary at the top, adorned by lots of candles. When the float came out, the entire plaza fell silent. A woman came out onto a balcony of a building across from the church and began to sing, and the float shuffled along toward her, as it would do for the next six hours. I will post pictures of it soon; it was so cool.
Today is Easter Sunday, which isn't as big of a deal here as Good Friday, but it is still observed. I went to the Catedral for mass, and was delighted to discover organ music! It's my first mass I've been to here that has had music, and I have really missed it. City's pretty quiet otherwise; all the setup that began a good month before Semana Santa is being taken down, and it is a beautiful day. I took my time walking home and am going to go sit by the river soon and enjoy some sun!
My entry about Italy and Greece will probably be far longer than you will ever want to read, but even so - it's coming soon! Promise!
The biggest celebrations and processions happen on holy thursday and good friday, which I unfortunately was not here for. However, I arrived back in Sevilla yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, early enough that I could go watch the salida (the beginning of a procession, when the brotherhood exits their church) of a brotherhood that was happening right by my house. I have truly never seen anything like it. It took over an hour for the nazarenos to process out before the float - there easily were over 1000 of them. The float finally came out last, moving along at the pace of the costaleros' shuffling feet. It was covered in gold paint and had a huge image of mary at the top, adorned by lots of candles. When the float came out, the entire plaza fell silent. A woman came out onto a balcony of a building across from the church and began to sing, and the float shuffled along toward her, as it would do for the next six hours. I will post pictures of it soon; it was so cool.
Today is Easter Sunday, which isn't as big of a deal here as Good Friday, but it is still observed. I went to the Catedral for mass, and was delighted to discover organ music! It's my first mass I've been to here that has had music, and I have really missed it. City's pretty quiet otherwise; all the setup that began a good month before Semana Santa is being taken down, and it is a beautiful day. I took my time walking home and am going to go sit by the river soon and enjoy some sun!
My entry about Italy and Greece will probably be far longer than you will ever want to read, but even so - it's coming soon! Promise!
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