Valencia para Las Fallas (festival)

Admittedly, when I was junior in high school I distinctly remember a former student visiting my Spanish 4 class and explaining her adventures abroad in Spain. That was probably the defining moment as to why I chose a second major in Spanish and ultimately a semester in Spain. The one story in particular of hers was her description of Las Fallas: a very large festival in the city of Valencia in Spain that occurs in the spring. I wanted to go. Hence, I chose to study abroad in the spring. It also helped that I could travel in the following summer.

Fortunately as this was an event I had long anticipated, I began months early to plan such an adventure. This was incredibly necessary because more than a month out from the festival all of the hostels were booked. The unfortunate part was that the culminating night fell in the middle of the week this year and we were only able to attend the weekend portion. The festival lasts from March 15-19th every year.

¡LAS FALLAS! (the "torches")

This unique festival is famous even outside of Spain. It is a traditional celebration held in commemoration of Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia, which is one of Spain's largest cities behind Madrid and Barcelona. The term "fallas" refers to the celebration itself but also to constructed floats that range from small statues to several story tall demonstrations. Each neighborhood organizes their own group (called Casal faller) who spend a year constructing an elaborate falla that will be placed on display in the street of their neighborhood to be ultimately cast on fire the final night of the festival. The smaller fallas as referred to as ninots. These fallas can be described as "elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and paper-mâché artistic monument" (wikipedia).

The fallas themselves vary significantly. Although they may have once been religious icons, they are now most composed of humorous social and political commentary. One personal favorite chronicled the apple all the way from Adam and Eve to Isaac Newton to Steve Jobs.

Well, this is only the basis for the festival. Aside from the hundreds of fallas placed around the city streets there are thousands of people enjoying the street-vendor-sold churros, drinking merrily, marching bands, dancing at numerous street concerts, parades of traditional gowns, and launching firecrackers at their own free will. On more than one occasion my friends and I were briefly deafened by the sound of an exploding firecracker launching several feet away from us by young children. Parenting seemed much more lax in such circumstances.

Its interesting to note that although Valencia is in Spain, their native language is not Spanish. It is Valencian (valenciano), which is more-or-less of the Catalan language spoken in the Barcelona region. This language is very similar to Spanish in some instances and very different in others. This made street navigation difficult as sometimes the streets were in one language, and then the exact same street had a sign in the other language. Google maps struggles. Likewise, subway navigation was slightly more difficult than expected given the slight language barrier.

The line-up of events lasted all day at various parts of the city and in the meantime, there were festival celebrations occurring everywhere in between. Around 8 o'clock in the morning each day (following a very late night) La Desperta is a brass-band group that marches down the street blasting incredibly loud music with men following behind throwing firecrackers to start the new day of festivities. Following this each day is the Mascleta which is an event my friends and I attended twice, unsure the first time as to what was to happen. Thousands of people fill a large city plaza where in the center is a large fenced-in cage filled with explosives that all explode for several minutes of incredibly intense sound. It is a sound-display more than a visual-display. We were fortunate to make friends with some Valencian girls around us who explained much of the festival to us as we awaited the noise. The one girl gave me a flower clip-on  hair piece that conveniently matched my dress perfectly; she was very sweet. Following the sound display, your ears will need to recover.

One of my favorite parts to the festival was the nightly fireworks displays. I have never seen as spectacular of displays nor as long in my lifetime. What is with the obsession with explosives and fireworks in this city? Valencia is the pyrotechnic capital of the WORLD! They even had fireworks that, when oriented correctly, formed smilie faces in the sky. Just all around, their displays are unbelievable.

There is a religious undertow to the festivities, however, in recent years it appears to be more of a tradition than for true religious reasons. There is a large wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and one of the processionals through the streets consists of women in traditional clothing carrying flowers that they adore all around the base of the statue. Aside from this particular processional, all day there are processional of men, women, and children in traditional attire. For the women, their iconic hairstyle is reminiscent of Princess Lea from Star Wars. The children are beyond adorable.

We enjoyed some late nights out in the streets of Valencia and I thoroughly enjoyed the festival. I would love to return again in order to see the final night for the spectacular fire parade. As fire the symbolic spirit of the festival, this parade consists of even more explosions and fire displays. Then ultimately at midnight on the final night, the fallas, laden with fireworks, are burnt in massive bonfires while the entire city becomes an open-air dance party.

Valencia itself is a beautiful city. It is on the Mediterranean coast, so my friends and I were sure to visit the beach during our visit, although we did not spend a lot of time sight-seeing the city itself. Paella, the famous Spanish seafood-rice dish, is said to be the best in Valencia. I found it to be incredibly expensive, but it was delicious (though my host-mother perhaps makes it even more delicious). We were mostly concerned with the extravagant festivities all around us and so it looks like I will just have to return to Valencia one day to know the city as its usual self.

Roma, Italia and the Vatican

One of my main interests in choosing the API Program in Madrid was the included excursion to Rome. This is one city I wanted to see right, yet surely enough I could not see it all. I was there the weekend of March 1st-3rd: a brief period in time when Italy lacked both a reining Pope and a reining government. We all held our breath for the white smoke to appear during our visit, unfortunately it came a few weeks later.

Upon arrival into the airport in Rome, we launched immediately into a bus tour of the city. This was crucial in gaining one's bearings on the historical-overload that is such an impotent city. Bursting with excitement of sites to visit, we took to the streets at the hotel in an effort to cover as much ground in the remaining Friday evening.

This was my first adventure outside of Spain since my arrival in Europe. Immediately I recognized the similarities between Spanish and Italian, but also recognized the inherent differences between the two countries. The men were bigger and hairier. The fashion styles are bolder. However, Rome is a special place within Italy, so I'll save Italian observations for my subsequent trips to Italy.

Although one would expect a 2000 year old structure so have experienced some wear, I had not expected the iconic symbol of Imperial Rome to have been quite so "holey." Even after many centuries of earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum still stands mostly-strong today. I did not enter the structure, due to my lack of finances, however, in circling the building several times I had seen a large enough portion of the interior to be satisfied. It once held 80,000 spectators, which is more than the Lane Stadium of 21st century Virginia Tech!

Absolutely everything in Rome is historic for one reason or another, and for this, getting lost in Rome is not a pity in the least. Wandering around the streets only leads to more and more finds. There is a minor subway system in Rome, however, they are struggling to expand it since every time that they begin in a new tunnel, some major archaeological remains are found. The interesting thing about Rome is that the city was built literally upon itself. 10 meters (roughly 30 feet) below the modern city, much of Ancient Rome is still to be excavated.

For the first time, Friday night I had both gelato and real Italian pasta. It was strange to be able to order a bottle of wine to split with friends, as I am under-age in the United States. As much fun as it was to enjoy such a privilege, mostly I found that anything alcohol-related was far too expensive for me to blow my precious budget on drinks when I could buy a train ticket to another country. That being said, everything is delicious in Italy. The gelato is to die for. One day years from now I'm going to find myself pregnant and all I will be craving is Italian gelato. It's going to be an unfortunate craving. Its just simply delicious and beats regular ice cream several times over. Obviously, the pizza and pasta was equally unmatched.

On Saturday night, my girlfriends and I had a great time when we had a very flirty waiter who was "playfully" pursuing my friend Anna. This progressed throughout the night, and it was the classic example of flirtatious Italian men. As the night continued we eventually learned that he was engaged which is why he wore a silver ring (a European tradition for some men) and he showed Anna a video of him kissing his fiance. Everything is very open in Italy we had learned. He even gave her a kiss on the cheek goodbye when we politely turned down a trip out with him that night. All around it was a hilarious evening as the other four of us watched in on the interactions. The joke was that Anna had cheated everyone else by throwing extra coins into the Trevi Fountain earlier that day. The food was delicious as was the tiramisu.

All kinds of good stories came from the API trip to Rome. We were a group of around 50 students. Two kids found themselves lost in Rome, only to be offered a ride by an older couple in their car. Hesitantly they accepted the offer only to realize as they closed the door that the car doors were locked. The couple, who barely spoke English, immediately tried to explain "child-proof" locks. Thank goodness, no one was taken that night and these people were genuine. Another friend was "blessed" enough to become sick inside the Vatican. Fortunately, in a restroom and not in the Sistine Chapel.

Roman water is said to be quite good for the body. Fontanelle (little fountains) are placed all around the city for drinking water, which is one thing that Rome certainly does not have a shortage. After just recently recovering from my mono escapades, I decided that it may be best to not drink the water. I will just have to return to Rome. I threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain after all.

In attempting to do all of the "classic" Rome things, my friends and I also made our way to the Mouth of Truth, which by rumor was used as a lie-detector centuries ago as the mouth would close down on those who told a lie. We also sat on the Spanish Steps, walked down the streets of shops such as Burberry and Gucci, and journeyed along the Tiber River.

Perhaps another absolute must of any visit to Rome is a stop in the Vatican City. We were fortunate enough to enter the city the last day before it was closed in the decision process for the new Pope. Although, I am not catholic myself, from simply a historical as well as religious standpoint, the Vatican was interesting. It is first off not a part of Italy at all but rather an independent sovereign city-state with a total of 110 acres and a population of 840 people. Without even entering the city, the outside is truly remarkable.

St. Peters Dome is surely the most eye-catching of the Vatican City. It is the tallest dome in the world and was designed by Michelangelo himself. Like everything else in the Vatican, elaborate is to say the least of St. Peters. I found that the interior of St. Peter's Basilica was even more outstanding that the Sistine Chapel, which was surprising as it cost money to enter into the Sistine Chapel but not the Basilica. Gold and other fine metals and jewels are everywhere. It is truly an impressionable building inside and out.

Vatican City

To be completely honest, I was sickened by the Vatican, much as I was often sickened by many famous catholic cathedrals. It is nothing against Catholicism (as protestants were still united at such a point in history), but such wealth and spending is unimaginable in a world where peasants were likely to die of disease or starvation before they were 30 years old. The church seems to have had far too much greed. Today, we are blessed with impressive historic buildings as a result, however, at their time of construction the amount of resources necessary could have improved the lives of thousands of villages and millions of lives. In my trip to the Vatican I took with me an impression of the power of man to create and build unbelievably beautiful buildings and ornaments. I also took it as a prime example of the greed of the church in the early part of our history, and as a strong Christian myself, this was disappointing as it served as a strong tribute as to why many other religions despise us as a culture for our hypocrisy.

February Observations

So this blog is a little bit special. It consists of all of my random observations about Madrid, Spanish life, European products: things such as these that strike me as fascinating. And it also includes "memorable mentions" of unbelievable news stories or happenings around the city. Furthermore, as I live in the capital city, I've recently became friends with Spaniards but also with people from all over the world who have explained different aspects of their culture to me. Welcome to the melting-pot blog.

1.) Roommates: So I have realized that I never introduced the people who I live with. I do not currently have any pictures of my host family, but I will work on that. In summary I live with a middle-aged woman, Ana, with her 25-year old daughter, Marta, and 30-year old son, Guillermo, along with two other American girls and their golden retriever named Zar. Patty Sullivan is my actual roommate in that we share a bedroom. One of my first blogs has pictures of our adorable room and bathroom. She is a 22-year old senior studying geology at Oregon State University although she is from Chicago. Before I got very sick, her and I would often explore together as we both live so isolated from everyone else. Her school is on the quarter system (instead of semesters) and so she will be leaving during spring break. She goes to Complutense University here in Madrid, which is a giant public university. The other girl who lives with us is Ronni Marinez. She arrived in February, a month after Patty and me. She is a sophomore at Long Beach State University in California. She goes to Nebrija University here with me and likes to take lots of photos, so we often times "photo-shoot". Its great.

2.) Beautiful people: Okay, when people say that Spaniards are gorgeous, they are not kidding. To an extent my perception is skewed by living in Madrid, one of the major fashion capitals of the world and a huge city where everyone walks to stay skinny, but even in smaller parts of Spain people are gorgeous. Heck, even their babies and toddlers are cuter. Honestly a huge portion of this can be attributed to a culture of tending to one's appearances. Americans can look gorgeous too if we put more effort into our appearances everyday all day, but that's just not our culture to do so. We might look go to go out at night, but our level of "going out" is the Madrid level of "go to work/school." All around, Madrid specifically contains an abnormally high percentage of beautiful people.

3.) Talk on top of one another: Nothing seems to be louder than a room full of Spaniards all carrying on different conversations. Its much more normal here to talk over the television, or even on top of your friends. They are just very social people. At times in the US I have to stop myself from talking over others as its a bad habit, but here it seems fairly acceptable. I hope I do not make it too habitual. The main issue is if Spanish is not your first language then not only are you expected to decipher what one person is saying but what someone else is saying at the same time. Mental overload.

4.) Wedding band hand: Yep. They wear their wedding band on their RIGHT ring finger. Ladies: if you're looking for a Spanish man, be sure to check the right hand ;) I guess that advice goes for men too. This is confusing because throughout Europe it changes. People from Cataluna, a region in Spain, for example, tend to wear their rings on their right hands. All around you are just kept on your guard.

5.) Engagement rings: Men sometimes wear engagement rings. It is not all of them. Sometimes the woman will gift the man a fancy wrist-watch following her acceptance of his ring. Other times, engagement rings are not exchanged at all. It is not as popular as in the US when every woman receives some sort of ring. Also, diamonds are not near as popular, though they are growing as a trend probably due to American movies. The concept of spending that much money on an engagement ring is not as excepted. 

6.) Older parents: Parents are noticeably older. The average is probably around mid-thirties with babies. Partly this is skewed by my life in a major city, but also I think its a trait that Spain in general possesses. There are several possible reasons for this. A lot of it can most likely be attributed to the economy. No one has money to have a kid meanwhile birth control and abortions are subsidized with their public health-care system. Another issue is that people do not get married until they are around 30 as they are living with their parents unable to become independent up till this point. Obviously it is not everyone, but it is incredibly common to live with your parents until you are well past college and there is also over 50% unemployment for those under 30. No one can afford a baby until they are much older. I haven't seen a single young couple with a baby. In the US, it would not be all that uncommon to find a high school student with a baby, but here I have yet to see a parent younger than 25 perhaps. Another oddity, is that there are noticeably more men out around the city pushing the baby stroller and holding hands with young kids. With the economy many men (who traditionally had higher end jobs) have lost their jobs and must fall back on their wife. I also wonder if men are just more willing to work nights and let their wives have the normal shift.

7.) Siesta: Reality or legend? That's still debatable. Some Spaniards tell me that its a myth as they themselves do not go home and nap, nor does anyone in their family. Siesta, which literally means "nap time," is more a break in their day for lunch nowadays, at least from my point-of-view. In the US, you would NEVER get a 2-3 hour lunch break. 

8.) Smoking: a very large percentage of their young population smokes. Just about every college student in Madrid smokes. I would say that the percentage is the reverse of that in the US, where only very few students smoke cigarettes. Some people roll their own to be cheaper, but it is still an expensive habit during such bad economic times. As I am allergic to smoke it annoys me a lot that people around me are smoking. At least you cannot smoke in restaurants, schools, bars, etc. Its a breath of fresh-air, but seriously.

9.) Metro: The metro (subway) is amazing. It is so fast, so easy to use, and so efficient. The train always comes from the your right as you stand on the platform, the metro map is clearly labeled as are the stations, and the timers announcing the next train are accurate. It is the 6th longest metro in the world, but the way the set it up, all the lines cross one another so you rarely every change trains more than once to get somewhere. The first line opened in 1919 and the stations served as air-raid shelters during the Spanish Civil War. With urban sprawl and such a rapidly growing population, the metro is changing significantly itself in recent decades. I live off of line 9 (the purple line) which was built in the early '80s. The metro itself is a game during rush hours. Everyone lines on the platform in the location that will directly lead them out to the exit that they wish to take when they get off the train. When your stop is next, people approach the door ready to jolt as soon as it opens. The escalators that navigate the system (thank goodness because my stop has 3 escalators worth of stairs journeying into the center of the Earth) have a set system: right side= standing, left side = walking/booking it. I'm in love with the metro system. I have never once felt threatened like you do in American subway systems.

10.) Girl's purse stuck in door: One of the craziest things that I've witnessed was when I young woman stepped out of the metro car and the doors closed on her purse, which was still inside. Immediately her face changed to panic. I froze but fortunately there were several men who jumped in to the rescue and started prying open the doors as soon as it happened. They were successful is opening the doors but it was a stressful minute. I'm sure it was worse for her.

11.) Milk: Okay, their milk is weird. It lacks flavor, comes in a box, and it's concerning that it lasts for 9 months if you don't open it. Turns out that Europe uses Ultra-high-temperature processing: "1–2 seconds, at a temperature exceeding 135°C (275°F)" whereas the US uses High-temperature-short-time processing: "temperatures of 71.5 °C (160 °F) to 74 °C (165 °F), for about 15 to 30 seconds." The downside of the European way is that you lose flavor, but the pro is that it lasts for a lot longer without spoiling. It is used in the US in McFlurries and airplane milk, but when it was introduced about 15 years ago, Americans did not take to the idea of boxed milk that lasts so many months.

12) Bread: Wow, their bread is good. There definitely is a benefit to buying your bread everyday from the local bread-shop. I have eaten an ungodly amount of bread from each dinner and I have no regrets. Wheat bread (pan integral) is not as much of a thing here as they do not think that it adds much of an additional benefit. Regardless, their bread is the bomb. Doesn't matter what type of bread you are getting: bocadillo, loaf, baguette, its all good.

13.) Ham obsession: Spaniards are literally OBSESSED with ham. They have many meat shops where the walls are completely covered with ham legs. Whenever you go out to eat, you can always order something with ham: may it be a ham sandwich or anything else with ham mixed in. If you are Jewish, it would be atrocious. They have two big types of ham: Iberian ham (jamon iberico), which is the more expensive type of pig and requires more care to raise the pig and then there is Serrano ham (jamon serrrano) which has more white to it and is less flavorful from what I can tell. Its very common to go into a bar and see a ham leg sitting ON the bar so that when they make your ham sandwich, they shave off some meat right in front of you. They are even so obsessed with ham that I saw an ad in a store window where you could buy a mattress and get a few ham leg.

14.) Tipping: It can be done, but most often times it is not. Waiters and waitresses receive a normal wage and taxi drivers the same. They probably just charge extra to pay their employees more.

15.) Taxes: When something says 5 euro, it is literally 5 euro. Taxes are included in every price so you never add on a percentage. This makes things easy when you go to a restaurant and the price on the menu is what you pay as you do not tip either.

16.) Separate checks: Restaurants oftentimes refuse to allow payment with separate checks. Perhaps its easier mental math as there is no need to include tax or tips, but if everyone has a 20 euro bill for their 9 euro meal things get tricky. For this reason I always try to break my bills down so that I can always pay my share exactly and be done.

17.) Salad during meal: Salads are treated differently here. They are not as commonly eaten as an appetizer but more as a supplement to one's meal. For our dinner, which I think is fairly common in most Spanish households, we eat salad during or after our meal. The idea is that if your meal doesn't fill you up then you can supplement with salad. I suppose that's one way to avoid over-eating. I'll eat salads more often here, but I'm still not the biggest fan.

18.) Very black Africans: As Spain is located just 8 miles across the sea from Morocco, Africa is close. This means that there are true Sahara-desert Africans in Spain. Oftentimes they do not speak great Spanish and are selling bootlegged merchandise for cheap prices. The Madrid police seem indifferent, but in other parts of Spain the police will chase after these vendors.  What is incredible is how incredibly black their skin is. I have never seen anything like it in person. They are a very good-looking people but also a very LARGE race of people. Many of the men tower over  me with their jacked muscles.  Many of these immigrants are from Senegal and surrounding countries. As it is dangerous to immigrate into the US, boatloads of people drown attempting to reach Spain.

19.) Italian novelist Tamaro: I have attended a language interchange (intercambio) several times where people from all around the world go to practice either English or Spanish. For some reasons, the intercambio that I have been attending has a lot of [beautiful] Italians. I asked them how to pronounce my last name and I'm saying it more or less correctly, but they make it sound better. What was interesting is that they pointed out that there is a famous novelist named Susanna Tamaro. Maybe we are related? She is from Trieste, Italy, so maybe one day I'll journey there to question about my last name.

20.) South Korea Mono: As I obviously was quite sick with mononucleosis when I first arrived here, it would be casually mentioned in conversations. One thing I learned while speaking to a girl from South Korea is that almost everyone gets mono as a small child because everyone shares plates. What is great is that they never get it again. To her it was hilarious that at 20 years old, a normal age in the States, I had this childhood illness. But it is not uncommon for visitors to South Korea to develop mono.

21.) Work day: Compared to the hardworking people of China or Japan, Spain is on the other end of the spectrum. It is not so much that they are not hardworking, it is more that they enjoy more social gatherings and breaks during the day. For this, Spaniards are in the office each day longer than the other European countries, but are also known to be some of the least productive. They oftentimes have a 2-hour lunch break and smoking breaks are incredibly common. This is nice. People enjoy life.  They are not stressed and are never rushing because they took on too much work like Americans are known. They can have more time with their families and develop more friends. Who's to say that one way of life is better than another?

23.) Soccer (futbol) mania: Much like the excitement that accompanies American football, futbol here is a HUGE deal. I live in Madrid: home of FOUR professional teams. From what I can tell, men are much more enthused by futbol than women, just because its only ever been mentioned to me by Spanish men, not women who oftentimes roll their eyes. Bars are packed on game nights, particularly those important games. People are so manic for futbol that when Real Madrid beat Barcelona a few weeks ago, I could her cheers and screams throughout the neighborhood, and surely it was the same throughout the entire city. Its a nice dose of excitement. I still have not been to a game, but I would like to try and find some cheap tickets just to witness the craziness one day. Men oftentimes base their styles off of those of professional players. They are the superheros and celebrities of Spain.

22.) Woman's tragic suicide: As I have mentioned in previous posts, the economy of Spain is VERY bad right now and the banks are only further screwing everyone over worse. Things were so bad for one woman in Madrid that she went into the Bank of Spain downtown, doused herself in gasoline, and set herself on fire: in the bank! She surely wanted to make a statement and she did it in a very tragic manner.

23.) Building floors: You would not think that this would be difficult, but it is. And actually their logic, for the most part, makes better sense. When you walk in from the street, you are on level 0. If you go down a level you are on level -1, etc. If you go up a level you are on level 1. The only exception to this is that some older buildings have an "anteplano" level, which is between 0 and 1. I'm not sure why its called that but it makes counting floors difficult if you are unsure if you are on level 2 or 1, etc. If you are on an elevator and you want to leave, you need to press 0, not 1 as Americans are used to.

24.) Elevators: They are very small here. Oftentimes they will be around 3ft by 3ft in floor space. To be honest I am unsure how anyone moves into a building because I have been told they must either use a crane or carry the furniture up the stairs. I live on the 11th floor.

25.) Graph paper: I am unsure why, but it is customary here to take notes on graph paper instead of the horizontal-lined paper that we use in the US. I am not used to this and so I write very small to fit in the graph paper. Its an odd size gap because I feel like one square tall is too small, but two squares is too big.

26.) Robberies: Everyone is well aware that you need to watch your stuff while in Europe due to pick-pocketers. This is their full-time job and they are good. My roommate, Patty, got her wallet stolen on night and we have no idea how it was possibly stolen as we were walking along the street and no one seemed to approach us. Fortunately for her, it was found the next day on the street with only the money gone. Most pick-pocketers are only after your cash or passport. They could care less about your credit cards for some reason. I got my metro pass stolen at a dance club one night and that was a wake-up experience that I cannot get lax and must always be aware of my stuff. Fortunately that was something I was able to replace the next day. I love putting my wallet in the zipper of my purse that lays against my leg and when I carry my ipod I always tuck it into the inner zipper inside my purse. When I'm in big crowds I keep my hand on my purse. Iphones are probably the #1 biggest theft among the Americans I know. Honestly, you should never, ever, bring one to a club, but I could list 8 names off the top of my head of people who's iphones have been stolen, most of them in clubs but not all. The one thing I've noticed is that I hear less and less about robberies which probably means that the other Americans, myself included, are starting to blend in as well as get smart. The problem I'm trying to convince myself is to never let down my guard because as soon as you do that is when it'll happen.

27.) German Shepard: I adore German Shepards ever since growing up with one. It always makes me so happy to see them around Madrid. I would say that they are one of the most popular breeds of dogs and I see them quite often. It makes me want to go buy a German Shepard puppy right now.

28.) Lunch: This is minor, but in Spain they say "comida" instead of "almuerzo." To them, "almuerzo," as it is called in Latin America, is something that their grandparents would say and is no longer used. This led me to find out that a lot of Latin American Spanish is older than the Spanish that they speak in Spain. Honestly, I would have guessed the opposite.

29.) Formalisms: In Spanish there are two ways to address "you." You can speak to someone formally (an older person, someone you just met, or a superior) or you can speak to them informally (like a friend). In Latin America it is very disrespectful to misuse the form of you, especially to someone older than you. In Spain, however, this concept of formality is rapidly losing its popularity and almost everyone solely uses the informal version. Children refer to their parents as "tu" which is unheard of in some Latin American homes. In fact, in Spain, it is almost rude to call someone "Ud" because it makes them feel old. I would have expected Spain to be more formal all around, but apparently not.

30.) Exit/enter signs: When I first arrived in the airport of Madrid, I remember seeing these little green, running-man signs and having no idea what they could signify. The few Americans that I met up with were equally clueless. Come to find out, that unlike in the US where exit signs are red, the exit signs here are green (as in green means go). So when there is red above a door it means that you cannot use it, but when there is green above it you can use it. I'm now accustomed to this and wonder if I will be slightly confused in the States. I don't look at the signs any longer than to differentiate the color.

Sevilla (Day 2 and 3)

Despite my bedtime of 4am the night before, I still decided to go on the free walking tour that our hostel offered in the morning...at 11am. I went alone as my friends slept, haha. It was a three hour tour that covered a lot of the city and was filled with the historical background that I love. The best part was that the tour was offered in both English as well as Spanish, so I went ahead and took the Spanish tour. I felt so cultured.

I had not realized was the importance of Sevilla during the colonial days. At this time, Sevilla was a very prosperous, wealthy city. Due to its geographic location 80 km from the Atlantic Ocean along the Guadalquivir River, Seville became the economic center of the Spanish Empire as its port monopolized the trans-oceanic trade and the House of Trade wielded its power, opening a Golden Age of arts and letters. Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon) himself is buried within the cathedral. In fact, my guide explained that as Columbus's origins remain unknown he may have actually been a Spaniard. Recent studies of his manuscripts have proven that he spoke perfect Catalán. This would imply that he may have been from the Barcelona region. Traditionally it has been believed that he was an Italian who simply went to the queen of Spain as he thought she was likely to fund his travels, as she did.

Located within Sevilla is the General Archive of the Indies, which is the repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Philippines. Kept in this building are original texts written by Spanish conquistadors of America.

To further prove that I was the American in the group, I had never heard of the Duchess of Alba, a woman who is apparently well-known all through-out Europe, not only in Spain. Although she has FORTY titles they can be shortened: Doña María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain. Her godmother was the Queen of Spain, Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg and that's not even the most impressive part. She herself holds more titles of nobility than the QUEEN OF ENGLAND. Should the Duchess of Alba walk into the same room as the Queen, the Queen who have to bow down to the Duchess as a sign of respect. For obvious reasons, the two have not seen each other since they were both girls. The duchess's fortune includes ancient palaces throughout Spain, paintings by the Spanish masters Velazquez and Goya, a first-edition copy of Cervantes's Don Quixote, letters written by Christopher Columbus, and huge tracts of land; her wealth is estimated at between €600 million and €3.5 billion.

One reason that she is currently so popular in Europe is a result of gossip magazines that surround her recent marriage in 2011 to a man 24 years younger than her. He has no claims to any of her wealth. So basically she is the female European Donald Trump. I recommend looking her up online.

Without a doubt, the most impressive building that I have seen in my life is the Plaza de España in Seville, Spain. Although I still need to backpack around Europe with Kevin, it is currently my favorite location in the world. The colorful tile-work is breathtaking, the shear massiveness is overwhelming, while the symmetry of the waterways connect the plaza into one magnificent Renaissance Revival piece of art. Located within the Maria Luisa Park, this plaza was built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. The purpose of the exposition was to improve relations between Spain and the countries in attendance, many of which were former Spanish colonies.The city of Seville had prepared for the Exposition over the course of 19 years. Many countries, including the United States and most of Latin America, had their own exhibits built in the city that are now either used as consulate offices or other government buildings. None could compete with Spain's exhibit of the Plaza de Espana, however, Ronni and I went exhibit hunting on Sunday morning and were blown-away by how ornate all these buildings were considering they were only built for one exhibition. I recommend looking up the others as well.

The Plaza de España complex is a huge half-circle with buildings continually running around the edge accessible over the moat by numerous beautiful bridge. All of this surrounds a gorgeous fountain in the middle of the plaza. The semi-elliptical building faces due west to symbolize a hug to Spain's past colonies. Although its sort of a slap in the face at the same time because their exhibit is 10x grander than those of Latin America for the exhibition. By the walls of the Plaza are many tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. Each of these alcoves include a map of the region along with tiled art depicting a historical event from that region or a famous attribute of that region. It is very specific to each province.

The plaza was used to film scenes of Naboo in Star Wars episodes I and II as well as to film scenes in The Dictator in 2012.

As all of us were greatly enthused with this plaza, we spent a large portion of our day on Saturday walking to the plaza from the complete opposite side of the city. It was over an hour of walking but at least we got to see some sights, like some random stretches of what I assume to be Roman walls or on the other extreme, the more modern architecture of the city. All around Sevilla is one of the most gorgeous cities that I have visited. Between the constant palm trees and orange trees (NOTE: you cannot eat the oranges in Sevilla) its also easy to think that you're in paradise. Though supposedly during the summer, the heat is almost unbearable.

On Saturday night I was not feeling as well as I had been feeling as so I did not want to go out for very late, which is a hard accomplishment when people do not go out until at least midnight. We ended up going bar-hopping on Beta Street in Triana, which supposedly is a popular thing to do for college-age students. We saw a lot. I had a lot of fun because it gave me a solid opportunity to actually talk with (and hear) some Spaniards, as well as have fun with some friends for a couple hours.

In our hostel we took some nice siestas, but I made sure to be awake for sunset on Saturday night over the river. It was worth waking up. 

Sevilla (Day 1)

Unfortunately, I am rather far behind on blogging and will attempt to catch-up what I am able before my spring break extravaganza in Morocco this upcoming week.

The weekend after I was released from the hospital in January many of the kids in my program went to Sevilla (Seville) for the five-day weekend. Needless to say, I was mildly depressed that I was so sick and because I was missing out on even more adventures in Europe. As soon as I was healthy enough to travel, I started making plans left and right for the upcoming weekends. One of these trips was the weekend of February 22nd-24th to Sevilla: a chance to make up for some lost time.

Unfortunately we chose a rain-filled weekend and so rain storms came in and out throughout the day. It was a blessing however that we were so far south as Sevilla was much warmer than the Madrid chill we had grown accustomed. This did not stop us from exploring. One place we could not miss, literally, was the Seville Cathedral accompanied by its famous 343 ft tower known as La Giralda (the most well known symbol of the city). The cathedral itself is the largest Gothic cathedral and fourth largest cathedral in the world. It is built upon an ancient Muslim mosque and still contains various elements of Muslim influence, as is common in southern Spain.

Seville Cathedral

Upon arriving in the bus station in Sevilla, Ronni and I found ourselves in a dimmly-lit open ware-house contained only a few buses, where the night outside consisted of the pouring rain. Fortunately we had had some wifi on the bus and so we were able to determine the route from our current location to the hostel. I have a greater appreciation for internet in the United States now, and I do not even have a smartphone. Wifi is everywhere.

Among the horse-drawn carriages, towering cathedrals, and cobblestone streets it was easy to lose oneself in time, only to be jolted back into the present with the sound of a loud BANG. In the United States, a loud unexplained bang would be sufficient for people to hit the deck for fear of terrorism or a stray hunter or any number of things. In Spain, however, people are very nonchalant about everything. So as we ask some surrounding locals what was the source of the sound, they were indifferent and simply said that the were not sure. Turns out it was a protest. These are pretty common in Madrid and apparently common in other parts of Spain as well, particularly with government workers. After realizing this, the subsequent random noises became average to us as well and we ceased to notice them. This is probably danger waiting to happen but Spaniards just go with the flow.

We did not enter the cathedral as we are cheap college students who'd rather spend money traveling to other cities, but at the entrance of the church two old women holding rosemary leafs approached us. As I am an naive American wanting to practice Spanish I stopped to listen to the women thinking she was about to tell me about Catholicism. She then proceeded to take my hand and start telling me that I was going to have a bright future, I would marry a wonderful man, and that I have a strong heart. About then was when I realized my generic future meant that she was a palm-reading gypsy and not a little old church lady. As I pulled my hand away and she said "5 euro," this was further proven to me. Obviously I was not able to give her 5 euro for a 30 second accidental palm-read, but I gave her a euro despite her pleas about her pregnancy (this lady was old...) and grabbed my friend Ronni who was dealing with another gypsy. Natalie was the only one who was smart enough from the start to stay away. You live, you learn. 

Madrid doesn't have many gypsies that I have seen, but other parts of Spain have many. I will admit, I am completely fascinated by the gitano culture so I have since investigated further. Known as the Romani people, they originally emigrated from Northern India as early as 1000 AD and now compose 2% of Spain's population. This ethnicity is also found in Portugal, Morocco, and southern France. 

Palm reading

"They tend to speak Caló, which basically encompasses a range of regional dialects of Spanish with numerous Romani loan words and mannerisms. Nevertheless, to varying degrees, they identify with Andalusian culture and music due to the large gitano population present in that region. They are typically Roman Catholic but they are not regular churchgoers. They participate fully in Spain's state-supported medical system. Gitano" word come from "Egipciano" that is the Spanish for "Egyptian". Like in the word "Gypsy", which come from "Egyptian", is due to a medieval belief that the Romani people came from Egypt. The term "gitano" has also acquired among many a negative socio-economic connotation (much as the term quinqui) referring to the lowest strata of society, sometimes linking it to crime and marginality and even being used as a term of abuse. In this, one can be Gitano "by degree" according to how much one fits into pre-conceived stereotypes or social stigmas. During the Spanish Civil War, gitanos were not persecuted for their ethnicity by either side. Under Franco, Gitanos were often harassed or simply ignored, although their children were educated, sometimes forcibly."

Flemenco music and dance, which is popular in Andalucia (southern Spain) is not originally a gypsy dance but has been strongly influenced by their culture and is now commonly associated with the gypsies. From speaking to Spaniards about the culture, I have come to learn that these people tend to marry among themselves and oftentimes the father selects the groom for his daughter. Apparently there are some gitanos in my neighborhood and for whatever reason they prefer to bathe in the pond of our park in the summertime. This is something I have yet to witness. I did find out that there are a lot of gypsies in Sevilla because across the river in the town called Triana the gypsies were kept for hundreds of years. There was not a bridge across the two towns until 1854! This was to prevent the "slums" of the gypsies from spreading into the prominent trading town of Sevilla. Conveniently, now Flamenco is very popular in Sevilla, though I still have not yet paid to see a flamenco show. History <3

Continuing on the with trip, I liked the Spot Central Hostel a lot. It was plain but very trendy in its furnishings and it was also a great location within the city. We could walk to all of the major sites, the cathedral was a 5 minute walk and the river was also a 5 minute walk. I would recommend it because the staff was very helpful and they had activities such a bar crawls, bike tours, and free walking tours. One recommendation that the staff gave us was La Colonial, which was a three-story tapas bar with some of the best tapas I have ever eaten. We ate there several times during the weekend. For the first time I had patatas bravas, which is a Spanish favorite that I knew I needed to try soon.

That first night we decided to go out with some girls that Natalie knew from her sorority in the US who were studying in Sevilla for the semester. They lived in an odd mix of a residencia and a host family, but I thought it was awesome because they had so many international kids from all over Europe who were studying in Sevilla on Erasmus (the EU version of "study abroad") like some from Holland, Germany, and of course, Spain. What was interesting was that a family lived in the house and some of them that were doing "home-stay" would live upstairs and eat with the family, but downstairs was more like apartments that shared a kitchen and they fended for themselves under minor watch from the family. All I know is that the family apparently owns a restaurant and so they eat their from time to time with the family and get paella, all kinds of delicious meals, and whatever they order! Such a solid deal.

Prior to going over to their residencia, we, being poor college students, decided to split a bottle of cheap wine as clubs are just outrageously expensive. The problem is that you cannot sell alcohol after 10pm in Spain. That is unless you find a chino which is a convenience store, typically run by Chinese, that sells just about everything and is known for selling alcohol at all hours of the night. The signs always say "Alimentacion" which refers to snacks. We went to several bars and just tried to a buy a bottle there but they wouldn't let us take it unless we drank it there. So we saw some kids sketchily drinking out of bags and decided they were the ones we needed to talk to. The one kid told us there was a chino right next door, but when we went it was closed. He then proceeded to go up to the bars and yell "JUAN!" until a Chinese man appeared, let us into the store, and stood by the door while we shopped. At least it was cheap.

That night we went to a discoteca called Abril Sevilla. I think that this was my favorite discoteca in Spain. I had a lot of fun that night. It was free to get in if we got in by a certain time, but apparently we needed to know someone. Somehow we just slid in with another group and it was fine despite the massive line of 100+ people who were unable to enter the club. That was nifty. I like Spanish clubs because no one grinds. It just fun, (mainly) innocent dancing. We met some really cool people from all over. Some guys were sketchy but you'll find that everywhere. The one thing I noticed in comparison with Madrid is that people were not as beautiful in Sevilla. This worked in two ways: for once not every single woman was stunning but also the guys were not as attractive either. (Let's see if Kevin actually reads this). Obviously I was not looking for anyone, but it was shocking how much better looking people are in Madrid clubs. This club played a good mix of Spanish and American music, while most clubs only play American music so I enjoyed this. "Te pintaron pajaritos" and "Los rayos del sol" are two of my favorites. I love dancing.

That night we had an interesting walk home. It was supposed to be a 30 minutes walk, the metro was closed, and we didn't want to pay for a taxi. But it was raining. Fortunately I wore a waterproof coat, but I cannot say the same for my friends. They were freezing and their feet were dying from the heels. [I can proudly say that I am starting to master my heels!] What made things more interesting besides merely walking in the direction we knew we needed to go was that we asked a guy for directions who then proceeded to walk with us the rest of the time. I kept telling him, "Thank you, we're fine now. I can get us back." But he kept insisting he was going close to there anyways [one of my friends told him what street and hostel we were going to, I had only asked him where the famous landmarks were so I could navigate from there, haha]. After a while my friends were too miserable and although I was fairly sure we had to be getting close and as badly as I wasn't wanting to pay for a cab, we decided that we were not certain where we were or if this guy had any idea what he was doing and we caught one and said goodbye to our stalker friend. The problem was that LITERALLY the next street over was the street of the cathedral and we immediately knew where we were. So we tried to get out of the cab immediately but then he reminded us that we have to pay a minimum fare of 7 euro. So we rode it home, all of 3 minutes. We were so close.

Salamanca, España (Day 2 and 3)

THE CATHEDRAL:
The first thing that strikes you when you enter Salamanca is the golden glow of the city because it was built almost exclusively in sandstone. Unlike southern Spanish towns in Andalucia that are vibrant with colors, the Castile region of Spain appears more as an antique.

The cathedral is composed of a new and an old part. The old part began construction in the 12th century while the "new" cathedral is significantly larger and was begun in the 16th century. Cathedrals expand any imagination one may have about castles and medieval architectures. I was fortunate enough to climb to the top of the cathedral and overlook the city and be blown away by the architecture that was achieved with such little technology of the day.

The exterior of the cathedral is ever changing. During my stay in Salamanca, the tallest tower was surrounded by scaffolding in effort to continually restore the building to its past magnificence. Weather and pollution can greatly damage such precious buildings over time. As it is traditional of cathedral restorers to include a contemporary symbol on the building, during the 1992 restoration, an astronaut was added to the building as well as a demon licking an ice cream cone. As is life, little features can go unnoticed if one doesn't fully embrace their surroundings and absorbs all that they can until their senses reach an overload. [I basically live in a constant state of overload]

Astronaut on the cathedral

The interior of the cathedral is an astounding as its accompanying exterior front, although I am afraid that pictures simply cannot do justice. As an engineer, however, I am baffled by how they are able to secure the structural integrity of the cathedral after almost 900 years. The Lisbon (note: Portugal) earthquake in 1755 took its toll on the cathedral in Salamanca leaving cracks and broken windows to their day, despite efforts to repair the building. I spent a good part of my day climbing small staircases to the top of these towers putting my trust in architects from hundreds of years ago. Yet, these great architectural achievements like the Coliseum or St. Peter's Basilica may possibly outlive some of our best buildings of this century despite all of our technical AutoCAD simulations.

THE UNIVERISTY:
The University of Salamanca was founded in 1134 and chartered in 1218. It is claimed to be of the same age as Oxford University in England and is the oldest university in Spain. As Salamanca is still a major university, it was great to see a majority of young people on the streets. As most college-towns, this city is aimed for the youth. Back in the 15th century, Colombus (Cristóbal Colón) came to the University of Salamanca to speak about his ideas of voyaging around the world to the Indies. Although this was blasphemous talk in the day, the University of Salamanca was known for being one of the most open-minded universities and they studied his ideas. Although his origin is unclear (originally believed to be from Italy, now it appears he is from Cataluna near Barcelona), it was the Spanish Queen Isabel I de Castilla who eventually granted his wish. 

Intricate facade of the university

One interesting feature of the university is the fading red markings that should not be confused with graffiti  The walls are marked with the legacies of past students, who, upon graduation, have written their initials in an ink made from bull’s blood, olive oil, and herbs. As it used to be incredibly difficult to graduate from the university (only around a 15% graduation rate), those who were fortunate enough to succeed were granted the privilege to write their name on the university as a form of advertising their achievement. This student then proceeded to pay for their own celebration afterwards where they would treat all of the faculty of the university. This tradition stopped over two hundred years ago.

 Previously I had never seen one in real life, but Salamanca, at least in mid-winter, is home to several STORK nests. Each year the same stork will come back and rebuild its giant nest in the same location. These are most commonly seen on bell towers and church steeples. I cannot believe how huge these birds truly are! And this leaves me to the question of who brings the baby storks...?

 Another oddity of Salamanca is the California Redwood Tree that is found in a courtyard. This was a gift of some sort from the United States. The tree is about 137 years ago, so still has a lot of growing ahead of itself.

Last of the oddities is the "House of the Conch-shells" (La casa de las conchas). It is just a huge building covered in sandstone conch-shells. The story is that a man married a wealthy woman who's family's symbol was this shell, so as to advertise (they didn't have internet then) his marriage he covered their home with them. Its little quirky places like that that provide such character to the city.

So maybe Mr. Cozart from sophomore year of high school instilled it in me (along with a love of the Mongols), but the Roman Empire was legit! Not only did they unite lands and cultures that had previously remained isolated, but they revolutionized government as we know it. Salamanca was including in a Roman road, known as the Vía de la Plata. Today there is a walking bridge that dates from the 1st century that was once a Roman bridge on this road.

I walked almost for an entire day straight around Salamanca and achieved great coverage of the city. I had to have walked over 30 miles. No wonder all my clothes are getting loose, I may actually be "working out" more than I did a year ago when I'd "work-out" with running five miles and then lifting weights for an hour. I need to slow down the pace. I can't afford any more food than I'm buying already! (College life)

One more note on Salamanca: the bars and clubs are CHEAP. Actually, just everything is cheaper than it is in Madrid. Whereas Madrid is a giant-metropolis of a city, Salamanca is a college town catered to college students. I enjoyed this. We found a small tapas bar to eat dinner one night where a glass of wine and two tapas was only 4 euro. And this was a satisfying Spanish dinner. For the first time I tried ham and cheese INSIDE my Spanish omelette. I recommend this. While in Spain I might as well embrace their obsession with all things ham and enjoy it. In terms of going out, in Madrid you almost always have to pay a cover just to get into a dance club, but in Salamanca they all seemed to be free. They were smaller, but still a lot of fun. Its a great opportunity to talk to some Spaniards (work on some of that Espanol) and in general, I just really like to dance. And unlike American college parties, people actually dance here. I LOVE it! And I'm starting to just all-around love Spanish club music. Side note: the night life is a little more manageable in Salamanca because unlike Madrid where the party lasts till 7am, things slow down a LITTLE more around 4am. Regardless, if you want to be out all night, Spain is the place to go.

On Sunday we checked our from the hotel and left. I just slept in and did not go around the city that morning, but we were back in Madrid around 3pm, so I decided to go Salsa Dancing in Madrid later that night.