Ok. So it’s a bus. And it may have left Madrid at 9pm. But
it’s midnight now, and I like that song!
Right, hello everyone, and welcome back to the boring bit of
Katie’s blog, where she talks about the week in between her travels and
adventures. (Please note, I don’t find the weeks boring, I actually really love
my classes, BUT I don’t quite have pictures of famous modernist architecture to
go with this blog post. Sorry. The next one will involve Lisbon, which is a
place I don’t think any of us have ever been, and if we have you haven’t told
me about it. So that’s on you.)
SO! Monday. Something I’ve noticed about Mondays is that no
matter where you are and what you were doing the day before, it is always hard
to get up on Mondays. Even if, for example, you spent four hours on a bus and
then came home and went to bed, the next morning is still a painful experience.
Alas.
But class was cool. We talked about the history of Spain and
the different architectural periods (OK, I interrupt this for a story about me
telling this story. So every week for Elena’s class we have to do a little
thing about something cultural in Spain. This weekend we had to write about a
sight we saw in Barcelona. So, I was sitting there, writing about the Casa Milà,
when I realized that I had been writing in English, and the assignment is due
in Spanish, and so I freaked out and started over (well, laughed really, I was
only a couple sentences in.) SO then, flash forward a few hours to me sitting
on this bus in Middle-of-Nowhere Spain, writing this blog, and about 3
paragraphs in, I realize I’ve written the whole thing in English and I need to
go back and fix it, because- oh, no, wait. I’m allowed to do this in English.
Whew. And that’s what it’s like in my head right now.)
Right! Architecture! So we talked about the differences
between Gothic and Roman(? I honestly am not sure how to translate that. I
think it’s “Roman” but who knows! Elena. Elena probably knows.) architectural
styles and the Camino de Santiago, and different parts of a Cathedral, which is
so useful, because I see a lot of cathedrals here, and I hear a lot of words
that describe them, and I have NO CLUE what any of them mean. And now, while I
may not know them in English, I at least know them in Spanish.
Then in Cine class we watched a movie that we don’t have to
write an essay on that took two class periods, which is the best kind of movie.
It is called “La Comunidad”, which means “The Community” but for some reason
the people who did subtitles translated as “The Commonwealth” which makes
absolutely no sense whatsoever, but then again, I hate translations of movie
titles. The Sound of Music, for example, in Spanish is called “Sonrisas y
lagrimas” which means “Smiles and Tears” which has nothing to do with anything,
so…. Also, Pan’s Labyrinth is a lie, the Spanish title isn’t Pan, and no
character called Pan appears in either version, just saying. And don’t even get
me started on “Sin Noticias del Dios.” That’s a case of poor translation with theological
implications.
So anyway, La Comunidad was made in 2000 and heavily
influenced by American cinema, especially Hitchcock and Tarantino, so it was a
fun, happy film, with lots of smiles and tears, right? Ha, haha. Ha. Actually,
it was interesting, if totally weird.
After class I did homework and blogged, and then went to
Elena’s class, where we talked about Guernica by Picasso, and then got a lesson
in Spanish texting slang, which, in case you were curious, is just as painful
as English texting slang. We also heard some bad pickup lines, which are always
fun.
That evening the chilling and the homework continued, and I
talked to people and wrote things and generally did stuff, but not a lot of
stuff.
The next day we had lit class, which was interesting. We had
gotten behind, and there was some confusion in the syllabus, and we were all
still pretty tired from Barcelona, and we hadn’t done the reading, and it was
just sort of all very confused. On the plus side, I am finding the class
fascinating. We talked about naturalism and the historical context of these
movements and what types of literature were popular when, and it’s a really
great context for a lot of the reading I’ve done in my life.
After class I went home and attempted to take a nap, which
only worked OK. When I was plenty awake, however, we went bowling as a group.
We got terribly lost on the way there, and we were the only ones in the bowling
alley, and the screen only worked if you tilted it one way, and the bowling
pins were messed up at one point, and I played horribly, and my team lost, and
we had an absolute ball. We were the only ones there, so we were as loud and
American as we wanted, just sort of screaming in English as things happened,
and laughing and making fun of how absolutely horrendous we were. I think the
highest score was in the 120s. That bad. But it was great, and it was relaxed,
and it was hilarious, and at some point my team (which lost) has to go out one
night dressed up in ridiculous and unattractive clothing.
We then came back and I did the
homework/blog/read/chill/chat thing, went to dinner, and then to bed.
Then Wednesday we talked more about architecture and
cathedrals, and I learned more and it was wonderful, and we watched more of the
crazy, poorly translated movie, which was also cool. After class I went to get
my ticket to Madrid, and sort of ran around doing general preparations for the
trip I’m currently on. I checked with the bus, and sent emails, and lay stuff
out, and all that jazz.
Then at 4 we met Juan Miguel, our Spanish Civ teacher at the
Museum of Fine Arts, which is just across the río. I thoroughly enjoyed the
trip. We saw some really cool stuff, paintings by El Greco (remember him from
Toledo) and Goya (I think I probably talked about him in the Toledo post too)
and this really cool courtyard designed by a guy obsessed with the Italian
Renaissance, who helped bring that aesthetic and those ideals to Spain, and
just lots of generally impressive things.
Something that was very interesting to me as I visited, and
I know that this is true in most museums of pre-20th century art,
but so much of what we saw was religious. For example, we saw a painting of
Francis of Asisi embracing Jesus while Jesus is on the cross, and we saw an
altarpiece (actually, there were a lot of altarpieces) that told all sorts of
stories from the bible, and all sorts of stuff. It’s such a different
experience to see all this religious art after a month in a country as Catholic
as Spain. I haven’t even gone to an actual Mass since Saint Vincent’s day, but
I don’t have to; Catholocism here isn’t like Protestantism over there, where
you’re religious if you believe and go to church, it’s an absolutely societal
thing. It is just part of the national identity. I don’t think I’ve seen a
non-Catholic church since I’ve been here. Not one. I’ve seen lots of nuns, lots
of paintings and sculptures and literature that references the bible. I’ve seen
seminaries, I’ve been in old seminaries. Dad and I were talking about it as I
was in this museum, that Catholicism was THE religion for so long, that I don’t
quite think that it can escape from its identity as a societal force.
Protestantism is very individualistic. You may worship with a community, but at
the end of the day it’s on you, whereas Catholocism here is only and inherently
a communal act, which makes me think I never really understood Catholocism
until I came to it’s playing field.
So then after that museum we went back home and Elena and
Alexz were very lovely and kind and gave me their guidebook and map and
Portuguese-English pocket dictionary for my trip to Lisbon. I’m already glad I
have those, and I’m not even there yet.
I continued with the frantic preparations for my
international journey, and then at 6:15 I headed off to the facultat (place
where I have my classes everyday) for the French Speed-Cafnet. This is the same
thing that we did the other week, but instead of practicing Spanish, we
practiced French, and I was the only one from our group there. It was really
interesting, and very good for me to practice my French, since it is NOT as
good as it should have been. It was also kind of strange, because since I’m an
exchange student, they gave me a ticket that was pretty much meant for French
people, so everyone was like “What’s your name?... Katie? That’s not very
French” (though it is SIGNIFICANTLY easier to pronounce in French than Spanish.
So much easier.) or “Where in France are you from?” and I had to explain in my
pitiful French that I was a fraud. But I did have a great time. I wound up at a
table with an actual French girl and a Spanish boy who could just speak French
well enough that they put him on our side of the table. I had a great time,
though, and met a lot of really cool people, in addition to practicing my French.
My favorite interaction, however, was probably when I wound up sitting across
from a girl from Bristol, UK, in Spain, speaking French. I love Europe, and the
girl was super nice too, and we had a lovely chat. Some of the conversations
were awkward and we had nothing to talk about, which was awful. But I’m really
glad I went, and I hope I’ll get to go again and work on my French.
I went home, did homework, went to bed.
This (Thursday) morning, I woke up about an hour earlier
than usual and worked on getting all my ducks in a row. I got stuff for the
train and bus ride, I got my things together, I checked weather. I went down to
breakfast way later than I should have, but we still made it to class on time.
Class today was fun, interesting, and much less awkward. We
talked about Blasco Ibàñez, a writer
Valenciano of the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th.
(Yes, I know that sentence is awkward, but I had to translate in my head and I
am too tired to fix it. It could have been worse. I almost write 19th
Siglo.) So I read the story he assigned us by Blasco last night, and it was
really good. I sometimes forget it because I speak it and have been learning it
for so long, but Spanish is a truly lovely language, and good stories and poems
with words that taste good are things that exist in Spanish too, and I’m
reading a lot of them in this lit class. The particular story we read was a
nice folktale style story about the stuffed alligator that was in a church in
Valencia, and how it was actually a dragon that had terrorized the city until
someone came and killed it.
Then in class we talked about Blasco’s life and all the
different things he did. He also was a huge success in the US, especially with
the book The Four Horsemen of the Apocoplyse, about Argentines and WWI.
By the way, we’re at the 100th anniversary of
WWI. It’s not in full swing here, especially since Spain wasn’t a part of
either world war, but I feel like I’m going to see a lot about that this
summer, whereas I don’t think I heard a thing about it in the US. We tend to
forget about it over there, and that kind of saddens me.
So after we talked about that we ended class early, and we
all caught a bus with our professor down to the beach. Seriously. Blasco Ibàñez’s house is restored
and right on the beach, so we went on a field trip to that, and then after we
walked through it, the professor left us and we chilled on the beach for a
while. It was really nice.
I mean, there are just days that are perfect for the beach
and this was one of them. It was 24 degrees (I still can’t translate, that
means warm, but not into hot or uncomfortable. Basically, perfect) and sunny,
with just a hint of wind. The water was absolutely freezing, so we just chilled
on the beach and stared at the beautiful blue water. I sat in the sun facing
the waves and read some, and the others played volleyball and climbed a thing
that they had there, and it was just that kind of wonderful, relaxed and
gorgeous day at the beach. It made me really want to go back sometime.
BUT I had to go to Portugal! So I took the bus back with a
few others and we came back to the city center and I got all packed up for my
trip. I also got a very cool email. So some of my many emails I sent this week
were to English Professors at the University of Valencia who needed young
native English speakers to help with various things, and after I went to the
beach, one of them emailed me back, and told me that I could come TA his
English class! So that is really, really exciting for me. I want to teach
English abroad at University, preferably in Europe, and this is a great way to
get into a classroom and get some good experience. I start Monday, so I’m
really excited and can’t wait to actually get started! And then I facetimed my
parents and we were happy about this news for a little while.
And then I went to the train station and got on a train to
Madrid. After a train ride that was pleasant (as usual), I arrived in Madrid
and set off for the bus station where I would catch my bus to Lisbon. After a
little bit of self-doubt and confusion that turned out to be unwarranted, I
arrived at the bus station safely. I had a nice Döner for dinner, which is… the
things they sell at Keba. German-Turkish sandwich-thing. Which was nice,
because I hadn’t had one in a while.
And then I got on my bus. It wasn’t too crowded, and I have
the pair of seats all to myself, which is GREAT. There isn’t wifi or outlets,
but I’m getting along just fine, and with my travel pillow I’ve even managed to
sleep a little, which is good, because this bus gets into Lisbon at 3:45 am.
But, you know, by the time I get there I will have crossed the ENTIRETY of the
Iberian Peninsula in 12 hours (I was at the Mediterranean this afternoon, and
in about an hour I’ll be almost to the Atlantic.) So that’s crazy.
The bus has stopped a couple of times, but we’re in Portugal
now, and I think it’s a pretty straight shot to Lisbon, or Lisboa, as they call
it on this Peninsula. My favorite stop though, was at a rest stop in middle-of-nowhere
Spain, province of Extremadura, and we got out of the bus to stretch our legs
and go to the bathroom and such, and it was so absolutely dark. The rest stop
was the only rest stop for miles around, and it was rainy, so there weren’t
even stars, just darkness. It was imposing and amazing, and quite a different
image of Spain than I have seen so far, but I like it. It was nice.
Well, that was Katie’s 2am ramblings (they started at
midnight, but I took a nap in between sections) about this week, so hopefully
next post will be both more exiting and more coherent.
Buenas noches! I’m gonna go take a nap! And then when I get
to my hostel, I’m going to go to sleep!
And then I’m going to wake up at a reasonable hour and
actually go see the city I tried so hard to get to. But I think tomorrow is
going to be the more chill day I have in Lisbon.
PS from a slightly more awake Katie the next morning. I got
here just fine, it’s a lovely city, I’m gonna go out and see it!
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