Hola once
again! Happy new week!
I tend to
start off with explaining my weekend, so I’ll continue with this pattern. With
my program I went to Sevilla as a day trip on Saturday. What is Sevilla? Well
it’s a city in Spain that attracts tourists for some reason, but that’s about
it. The first place we went was la Plaza de España. I believe the historic importance of this
plaza is that it represents all of the provinces or something along those lines.
The only thing we students cared about this plaza was that the first Star Wars
was filmed there. The first as in when Darth Vader was kid- not the first one
filmed. I couldn’t tell you what scene(s) because it has been so long since
I’ve seen that movie.
Then we all
walked to La Catedral de Sevilla, which is the third largest cathedral in the
world. It is a beautifully designed building right in the heart of the city.
From there
we were allowed to roam the city. We were given a map on the bus, but we
decided to try our luck with exploring instead. We went straight to the river
first, then back tracked into the city. I’m not sure what we were expecting to
see or find, but I did what I thought was the most sensible thing and found a
heladeria to get a chocolate ice cream cone. The sun was shining, it was a
gorgeous day, we were walking around a picturesque city, and an ice cream cone
made the day complete. There is one thing that tends to annoy me when people go
to a new place; it’s that they never put their camera down. They’re too busy
taking pictures that they don’t soak in what they are seeing. They just have
pictures of a place later without emotion or meaning. They basically just know
the city through the pictures and not what they experienced. It’s quickly
becoming a pet peeve.
Interesting things I saw in Sevilla: a protest, cute kids, and a one man act. There was a
demonstration right at the beginning of our exploration. I’m not sure what they
were protest against in detail, bit their banner said “Ciudadano defendemos tus
derechos” which roughly translates to “We defend your citizen rights”. I was
still cool to see.
Next I saw
so many cute kids all over the city. I could like a huge creeper when I say
this, but I would have rather taken pictures of the kids rather than the
historic buildings. In my defense, the people of the city are just as important
to the cultural importance of the city as the landscape and monuments. However,
I constrained myself from taking pictures of the adorable children. The last
interesting thing I saw was a one man act. At first sight it looked like two
life sized puppet figures dancing together, but at the end a man stood up with
the dolls strapped to his back. His feet were the feet of the male and his arms
were the feet of the woman. I was so baffled until he stood up. The ways people
make money on the streets amaze me. People are so creative.
On Sunday,
we all went to a fútbol fame here in Granada. The stadium is about a 10-15 minute walk from my house,
so it was nice and convenient. There were a couple contrasts that I observed
about this live game versus live games in the US. One contrast that I noticed
right away was on the walk there. The pace was very laid back even as the crowd
became thicker. In the US people have to be first in and out even though there
are assigned seats. In Granada, there is no rush. You have your ticket, you
have your seat, and it’s all good. I think the reasoning for this is because
there is not parking so they avoid the hassle of traffic and getting a close
spot. Most people walk or take the bus. It was nice though having a relaxed
atmosphere. The game itself was a lot of fun. Granada beat Real Sociedad 4-1.
There was a successful wave that made it around the stadium 4 times in a row.
Another contrast to American sports is that smoking was permitted, but alcohol
was not. There wasn’t alcohol sold in the stadium and there were no vendors
walking up and down the sections. It was weird being at a live game without
having people drinking beer around me. Overall the game was so much fun! I
absolutely love sports and going to see them live. This game is one of the top
highlights so far. It would have been a little better if I was with more people
who knew the rules of fútbol or appreciated sports as much as I do, but it was still a lot of fun. Plus how
can I not go to a fútbol game in Spain?
Now that I
have talked about my weekend, I have a few thoughts that have crossed my mind
that I would like to address.
First, do
you ever get the feeling that someone speaking in another language is talking
about you? Yeah, that’s because they probably are. I don’t know how many times
I have spoken my opinions about someone or something right in front of them. I
can talk about questionable fashion statements, ugly items in stores, or the
manner of someone I’m observing. I think it’s really convenient that I can
speak freely and I hope it doesn’t turn into a bad habit when I get back in the
US. I haven’t come across someone that understands English- that I know of- but
I’ll probably get a dirty look when I do.
Right now
I’m listening to some American movie on tv that has voice overs. I didn’t even
have to look up to know it wasn’t a Spanish movie because all of the voice over
movies sound the same. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but they just have
the same tone or type of voice in every movie.
Speaking of
tv, I got Rick Rolled the other day. Gave me a chuckle.
I’m a very
competitive person by nature. The other day my señora asked why Roseanna and I had different
schedules. I explained to her that it’s because we are in different program
levels. She automatically assumed that I was in the higher level, which I am
not. Actually, Roseanna and I scored the a same on our placement test, but I
opted to be in Intensive to focus on the language aspect, while Roseanna needed
to be in Cultura for credit. My señora just assumed this because I’m the one that engages her in
conversation most of the time. This made me feel good because she assumed I was
better at Spanish. This may seem a little selfish, but I get satisfaction from
competition. It doesn’t matter who I compete with, I just have to be better.
Mom, I keep
forgetting to tell you this when we talk so I’m just going to write it here. I
had pizza with black olives, onions, green, yellow, and red peppers, and some
other unknown vegetables. Thought that would make you proud. =)
I’m
surprised at the amount of graffiti in English. The majority that I’ve seen
have been English words.
I finished
the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It’s a very innocent book until
the last chapter. Not quite sure what to think of it, but I liked it. That’s
book number 3, and next up is Angela’s Ashes.
Lastly, the
price for gas is really high here. It is almost 1.50 euros/liter. If I did the
conversion right, that comes out to be close to $8/gallon. It’s no wonder why
people walk or use public transportation to get around. Gas stations aren’t
even common to see in the city. With ridiculous prices like that it makes much
more sense to walk. Not to mention it’s a lot healthier for you and the
environment. Might not be a bad option for little things in the US. It’s a lot
less practical for the US, especially in Iowa. Everything is so spread out and
you need your car for groceries and what not, but when it is a possible option
it is the better option.
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