Programming Note

I've been terrible at updating but that will change soon! For now I leave you with the truly magical moment featured above.


TWO pugs in Cordoba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Musings

There is a neighbor who blasts “The shape of my heart” by the backstreet boys every day. Every day I ask myself: why? Why that song and why now?

The other day I saw a man trying to take water from the fountain in the park. He was putting the water into a plastic shopping back. Naturally, it was spilling out everywhere. What did this man hope to accomplish? Why was he taking this water and why was he using a shopping bag? Mysterious.

Its 78 degrees today. Why does everyone feel it’s necessary to put their dog in a sweater?

Cultural Differences Rant

One thing that really bothers me is rude behavior. I hate when people are rude and I judge them for it. One thing that I consider to be part of standard polite behavior is forming lines. Lines at stores, banks, bus stops, etc. This seems to be something Spanish people have trouble understanding.

The first hint of that occurred at the bus station in Cordoba. While Kelly and I were waiting to buy a bus ticket, not one, but TWO elderly women cut in front of us to buy tickets.

Second incidence: While patiently waiting on a loooooong line at the bank, a woman comes up to me. She asks if I’m last on line. When I say yes she asks me to hold her spot while she waits outside. Then another person does it. It was fine but honestly: how hard is it to wait in line? Everyone has to. Just deal with.

Worst line issue ever: In order to get back to Cordoba, we had to take a bus to the airport. It was at 3:45 am. So to start off I was not in the best of moods. When the bus arrived, a giant mob ran towards the bus. People pushed and shoved. People were literally scheming and plotting how to get people out of the way to get on the bus first. There were arguments. One woman actually tried to talk us into getting out of her way. I wanted to yell “IF EVERYONE JUST FORMED A LINE, THIS WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM. STOP PUSHING AND SHOVING LIKE ANIMALS. FIVE YEAR OLDS ARE BETTER AT THIS THAN YOU ARE!”

This is something that bothers me at the best of times. It made me feel murderous at ass o’clock in the morning.

The Picasso Museum

I thought it would be amazing. I never made it to the best part. I had to leave early because the first part upset me too much.

Unfortunately, the museum decided to open with his sketches including his La Celestina series (which served to remind me how much that book went over my head as nothing looked familiar. Arg medieval Spanish). The sketches were….disturbing. The majority were of naked women. That’s not what bothered me. Everyone is used to seeing naked women in art. It’s the way it was done. There always seemed to be a leering, lecherous man watching a women who either already naked or in the process of undressing. The best way to describe it is a predatory male gaze. The viewer was always looking down on these women whose legs were always spread open.

To say I was uncomfortable is an understatement. I was horrified. The message about women was clear: They are there for the taking; for the amusement of a man. Simply vessel s for a man’s sexual urges. They are not people but rather objects. Because they are objects, they don’t deserve respect. I would need to see the pictures again to describe this more clearly but there was an obvious attitude that while she is sexually available, she is despicable.

It reminded me of a specific part of Melissa McEwan’s definition of rape culture over at Shakesville: “Rape culture is pretending that non-physical sexual assaults, like peeping tomming, is totally unrelated to brutal and physical sexual assaults, rather than viewing them on a continuum of sexual assault.” And this part: “Rape culture is the objectification of women, which is part of a dehumanizing process that renders consent irrelevant. Rape culture is treating women's bodies like public property”. And this “Rape culture is the narrative that sex workers can't be raped. Rape culture is the assertion that wives can't be raped. Rape culture is the contention that only nice girls can be raped.”

The whole definition can be found here: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/10/rape-culture-101.html

I thought I would feel better once I made it past those sketchs. I did but only kind of. Then I entered “The Blue Period” area where there was a portrait of a man hitting a woman. It was time to leave.

I took a brief glimpse of the “Las Meninas” section. I wished I had been able to stay to take a closer look. It’s interesting that Picasso chose to deconstruct and play around with the Velasquez’s super creepy masterpiece. The fact that Picasso probably recognized the idealization of childish femininity in the automatous Meninas is ironic. Or maybe it’s just cohesive.

My favorite piece was “Portrait de Madame Benedetta Canals” (see above). The look on her face. She looks like she’s suspicious and distrustful of Picasso. As if she knows how he views women and wonders if he will live up to the promise of his portrait. Will he treat her the same as all the others: with disrespect and scorn. She isn’t sure. She’s wary but she thinks she can do something about it……

In a vain attempt to pick up that shattered pieces of my respect for Picasso as an artist, I purchased some postcard of my favorites. It hasn’t helped.

Picture that was supposed to be part of the last post

Gaudi in Barcelona

During the group tour I fell in love with Gaudi architecture. Antoni Gaudi was a famous Catalan architect whose style, Wikipedia informs me, is Modernist. His greatest inspiration was nature which can be seen in his work. His most famous work is La Sagrada Familia, which I visited the first time I was in Barcelona. Unfortunately, Gaudi died before completing it. La Sagrada Familia remains incomplete but the goal is to have it finished by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. Apparently, Gaudi’s blueprints were destroyed by anarchists during the Spanish Civil War so the final product will not be exactly as he envisioned. One of my goals for this trip was to see the other Gaudi sites that we didn’t hit on the PRESHCO tour.

The first was Palau Guell. Sadly, it was under renovation so we only got to see the basement. Disappointing. The basement was interesting but not amazing. The best part is the roof which has the beautiful chimneys in the picture on top (see above). Naturally, that was the part that was closed.

Second was Casa Milla, also known as La Pedrera. The outside is cool. And the roof was not closed! Amazing structures on the roof. Pictures on Facebook. Love it. I don’t really know how to describe it. One of the best parts of being on the roof was that La Sagrada Familia was visible in the distance. The inside was interesting but not incredible. I just wish we could have seen more of it. It’s enormous but only a small part seems to be open to the public.

Third was Casa Batllo. Blew me away. I had a feeling it would be my favorite because it has my favorite façade. It did not disappoint. It was amazing. The blue tiles on the inside were so vivid and perfectly arranged. Once again the roof structures stole the show. The top part is so beautiful. One part of it was constructed to look like a dragon’s back and it kind of did. That part was by far my favorite. I had the opportunity to learn more about this house than Gaudi’s other works because an audio tour was part of the entrance fee and not an extra expense. This was all fine and dandy until the grating style of their narrative hit a nerve. I couldn’t bear it and just decided to look. Which is probably what Gaudi would have wanted.

Barcelona

My first big journey away from Cordoba. Kind of a success. We got there and back. Barely. Traveling was a nightmare. The plan was to take a bus to Sevilla, The fly from Sevilla to an airport outside Barcelona. Take a bus to Barcelona.
First Mishap: The bus to Sevilla was 45 minutes late. We were flipping out. We almost missed our flight. We got to the airport with only minutes to spare. It was super stressful.

After that we got there okay. The flight was fine and the bus there was easy. Finding the hostel….should have been easy. There are two streets in Barcelona with the name Calle unio. We went to the wrong one first. That was probs my fault.
Second travel Mishap: On the way back home. We made it to Sevilla just fine. But the bus from the airport to the center of town was 45 minutes late. When we got into town, we had to walk to the station. Not so bad. We found out way thanks to Molly’s superb navigating skills. We arrived 10 minutes before our bus was supposed to leave. Sounds good, right? Wrong. The bus left early. And the woman who sold the tickets wouldn’t get off the phone to do her job. So we missed the bus. And had to wait four hours in the station until the next one. On three hours of sleep. And we had to pay to use the bathroom.

Besides the travel issues, Barcelona was fun. We toured it up all Saturday. We saw the Picasso museum and the Chocolate museum. We also made it to the Palau Guell and Casa Milla, two Gaudi sites. There was a quick stop at La Sagrada Familia in between. That night we had dinner by the water which was lovely. I had a delicious pizza and Sangria. Note: Sangria + lack of sleep+ inadequate hydration = drunkity drunk.

On Sunday, we awoke early and made it to the beach. We had a few hours of sun and enjoyed the lovely, clear water. Naturally, a got a small sunburn. Blerg. After that we hung around the hostel for awhile. Then we made our way to another Gaudi house Casa Batllo. The a few hours of sleep before we awoke at ass o’clock in the morning to return to Cordoba.

October

This is from a week ago:

I can’t believe it’s already October and that I have been in Spain for a month! Other things I can’t believe: 1) Its October and it was 90 degrees today 2) All the flowers are blooming (it’s October!).

I’m about to start my third week of class and I’ve only just got my schedule figured out. Everyone has to take three program classes and one class directly matriculated into the university. After my first week, I figured out which classes I wanted to take. I’m taking a grammar class, a phonetics class, and a music class. The grammar class is awesome. Basically we’re nit-picky and correcting our little grammar slip-ups. So necessary. My phonetics class only meets once a week because we have a practical application requirement. Instead of having a second class meeting, we volunteer with approved organizations. My music class is fun. We listen to great Spanish works and learn about the different styles.

My directly matriculated class was …….a mess. I was deciding between two literature courses. I chose the one with the theater concentration because it did not conflict with anything else and the professor seemed really approachable and understanding. At the first class meeting we wrote a page about ourselves for the professor. At the second she read the out loud. Complete waste of time. The third class….she dropped the bomb. We need to get into groups and each group was going to read a work of theater and prepare a presentation. A 30 minute presentation. And my group only had 6 days to read a play that’s over 100 pages long. And by the end of the semester we need to have written a 30 page paper on it. But the examples she passed around were 100 pages long. She kept calling it a “tesis” meaning thesis. Once again we did nothing in class. Oh, and did I mention that not a single store in the city sells the works we had to read even though the professor insists they’re “muy famoso”. The professor also failed to be helpful concerning the books and understanding that this might be intimidating for someone who is not fluent in Spanish. I came to the realization that this class would be just like my SPN 251 class last semester: lots of work, no enjoyment. I got nothing out of Estela’s class. Hated nearly everything we did. Learned nothing about Spanish culture. Felt intimidated by the professor who was unhelpful and unnecessarily critical. It sucked all the enjoyment out of literature which really kills me.

So I talked to Esteban (our director) about it. I explained my feelings and he agreed that it was best to drop the class. I am taking a direct matriculation linguistics class instead. I decided on it without having been to a class. It means I’m taking two linguistics classes this semester which worried me. What if Smith didn’t accept that? Then I realized I have about 7 extra credits anyway so whatever. In this regard Esteban basically said “you learn by repetition anyway”. Couldn’t agree more. Went to the first class and it was lovely. Am relieved and happy.

Cultural observations

My roommate Irene (pronounces ee-ray-nah) and I are still getting to know each other. Our discussion about American and Spanish cultures have led to her expressing surprise about some things I had never considered could be seen as strange in American culture:

1) Shaking Hands. She was completely baffled by the idea that when Americans are introduced to someone new, they shake hands. In Spain everyone kisses on each cheek. The other preshcitas and I tried to explain that kissing on the cheek is usually reserved for family and friends if it happens at all. Irene also thought it was strange when I told her that I kiss my parents on the cheek when we say goodbye.

2) Breakfast. This morning I heated up left over Tortilla Espanola for breakfast. A tortilla Espanola contains eggs and potatoes. Completely acceptable breakfast food in America. Apparently, it is strange to eat eggs for breakfast in Spain.

3) She was shocked to hear that Michael Jackson’s music is not popular among those of our generation. My thoughts on the matter: our generation simply missed witnessing is height. His greatest musical moments occurred before we were born or before we were old enough to understand who he was. By the time we became aware of popular culture, his moment has passed. His public problems overshadowed the musical genius. I attempted to explain that in Spanish but it was rough. Apparently, Jackson’s popularity remains high and hasn’t faltered the way it did at home.

*** Awkward moment: Irene was listening to “Promiscuous girl” by Nelly Furtado and asked me to explain the lyrics. I was like “uh…she wants to have sex with him and he wants to have sex with her. They have sex with lots of people” in Spanish. And she was like “¿Como puta?” I was like “uh más or menos” ***

As time goes on I’m sure I will have more cultural issues to share.

Almodovar del Rio

On Saturday Kelly and I decided to take a trip to the town Almodovar del Rio which is half an hour away from Cordoba. The big draw is that there is magnificent castle on top a hill overlooking the town. We planned to take the 10 am bus and unfortunately missed it. We had to wait for the 1:30 pm bus. We enjoyed ourselves passing the time by eating churros and reading our guide books in the park.

We arrived on time and made the bus. Something on the bus made me feel nauseous. Have no idea what it was. Plus I got nervous about somehow missing our stop. Not the best bus ride but it was only half an hour. When we got to the town we got off at the second stop. We thought that was the last stop in Almodovar. We were wrong. We could have waited and gotten off right next to the hill the castle was on. Instead we had to walked across the entire town (which had plenty of steep road) to get to the hill the castle is on. Lesson number one: as the bus driver which stop is closest to your destination. So after making it through the town, we had to walk up the steep hill. It was about 80 degrees. We were both sweaty, panting messes by the time we reached the castle.

We only had about an hour until the next bus came to take us back to Cordoba because there is a reduced schedule on Saturdays. We set phone alarms and tried to move quickly. We had fun checking it all out and going up to the top of all the towers. I think we saw 85% of what was there. Will post photos on facebook. The views from the towers were lovely. There was lots of lovely, flat country surround the castle. The town was a clump of white buildings at the bottom of the hill. It kind of reminded me of the view of Toledo.

We saw the dungeons which weren’t that creepy as they weren’t very dark. There were (naturally) two dolls lining the interior, depicting the torture methods that were favored at the time. Chains were popular. No word on waterboarding.
After that we tried to find a bathroom. As I was trying to get a hand dryer to work (unsuccessful), our phone alarms went off signifying that it was time to head to the bus stop. We were over heated and flustered as we left the castle and descended the hill. On the way down, we ate two pears that Kelly’s host mom, Tony, had packed (life saver). We were less than 5 minutes away from the bus stop when we saw the bus whizz by. It was 15 minutes early. We missed it. This was the most FML part of the trip. Lesson number two: leave 30 minutes early to get to the bus stop so that you have plenty of time just in case the bus arrives early.

We waited for a few minutes at the bus stop hoping in vain that we were mistaken. We weren’t. So we set off trying to find the tourism office so that we could ask about getting a taxi. We dutifully followed the signs to the tourism office. It either no longer exists or is protected by a secret keeper a la Grimmauld place because it was most definitely not labeled in any way, shape, or form. We were both feeling exhausted and frustrated by this point. It really sucked. I was also quite angry that the signs mislead us. We finally found a bar that was open. We went in to ask about a local taxi service. Luckily, the bartender was super nice. I think he could sense our distress. He called us a cab and in 15 minutes we were on our way back to Córdoba. The ride was quick and only cost 24 euros which really wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately I forgot to get a receipt so I cannot be reimbursed by PRESHCO. Lesson number three: always get a receipt.

Zoo

One of the many perks of the PRESHCO program is that every weekend is a three day weekend. No classes Friday. It’s glorious. It further reinforces the notion that this year is a vacation from Smith. I like to think of it as “recharging” before I resume my flustered existence in the stressful environs that is Smith college.

The plan for Friday afternoon was to check out the botanical garden. A group of us met up and I navigated us through an unfamiliar area of town. We achieved success after I accidentally led us too far and we had to turn back (oops). When we got there the garden was closed. Naturally the schedule I found on the internet was
wrong.

Luckily, the zoo is located across the street from the Garden. I wasn’t expecting a lot from the zoo. Maybe one or two “big draw” animals but it exceeded my expectations. The first exciting animal was the elephant who was throwing dust all over herself presumably to keep cool. She was beautiful but looked a little lonely all by herself in her pen. There was a mom lynx and a baby lynx. We got to watch them chase each other around their enclosure. Unfortunately there was an intense glare on the glass which made it difficult to get a decent photo.

Then there were some monkeys. One of whom clearly had some sort of nervous system disorder as he exhibited involuntary, nervous ticks. It was sad. Then there was a seemingly elder monkey who had a hilariously grouchy look. As I sat down to take a picture with him a female monkey ran up and jumped on the class. Apparently I was too close to her mate. She then proceeded to groom him while he wore a look on his face that said “I’m so sick of this”.

After the monkeys, were the big cats. There was a beautiful female tiger who (spellcheck tells me that using who is wrong but I think she deserves a “who” instead of “that” as she is not an inanimate object) came really close to the glass. Then jaguars. The male jaguar gave us quite the show. He stayed right next to the glass and seemed to be posing for us.

There were two brown bears next. They were on the top of the rocks in their enclosure, standing on their back legs to look through a window at the top. We think they were looking for food. One of then slipped a little and the zoo workers standing near us started to freak out. She caught herself and stood back up instead of plummeting to a premature death.
There were otters but we did not see any probably because they were keeping themselves cool in the shade. There were wolves as well but they too were hiding in the shade.

There was a hippo, zebras, swans, a peacock, goats, emus, wallabies, llamas, and wildebeests. There were ostriches as well; one of whom exhibited some peculiar behavior that I took a video of and hope to post on facebook. I still can’t tell if he was excited or agitated.

The next big animals were the lions. There were two females and a male. I got some good pictures of the females but unfortunately there is glare reflected in my pictures of the male.

That concluded that excursion which was luckily more fun than I expected.

From a few days ago

So I’ve been in Cordoba for more than a week now. At first I felt homesick and it was hard to adjust. We had a lot of free time so I tried to fill it up as much as possible so that I couldn’t dwell on my feelings. Now that classes are officially starting and I’m figuring out my real schedule, I feel much better. I also feel really excited for my classes .

I think part of what triggered most of my feelings of homesickness is the Spanish-all –the –time thing. I hate to admit it but it’s exhausting at times. And frustrating. I feel like a little child when I don’t know a word or when I stumble over a verb conjugation. It also makes everything that much harder. The cordobian accent is difficult for me to understand but I’m already getting used to it. Guani, the woman who owns our building and provides our meals, has such an accent. It seems like she swallows the ends of her words. Sometimes I have no idea what she’s saying but it’s getting better.

Another thing that contributed to the homesickness was the feeling of insecurity in an unfamiliar city. It scary to walk by myself in a city I barely know. It’s getting easier and I’m less nervous about walking alone at night (when it’s only a 10 minute walk). It’s still dangerous for a woman to walk alone after 1 am so I try to avoid that. I miss smith in that way. I always feel safe there. I feel like I’m always on the alert or looking over my shoulder here. After Annie Le’s disappearance and death at Yale, I know it’s the best way to be but I can’t help but feel resentful that I even need to be so vigilant. The Annie Le case is not helping my paranoia. Tonight my suitemate Shannon was taking a while retrieving her dress from the clothes lines on the roof and I was convinced she had been captured by a serial rapist/murderer. I convinced my other suitemates to going looking for her with me. She was fine.

I also feel better now that I have my own sheets. I know it seems like a waste of money but the sheets that were on my bed smelled like dust. They were definitely triggering an allergic reaction. I purchased new sheets at El corte Ingles (fabulous department store like Macys except bigger with more departments). Much better.

Luckily, the food has not been difficult to adjust too. We have toast with jam or yogurt every morning. We have bread with olive oil at every lunch and dinner. It’s my new fav thing. Am addicted. I’ll discuss some of my other favorites. Papas fritas- French fries. I don’t know how Guani makes them but they are delicious. Tonight we have papas fritas with some sort of meet. Non of us could figure out what it was but it was scrumptdillyumptious. I am also quite fond of our salas which usually consist of lettuce, shredded carrots, and corn. Occasionally they include tuna and peppers (with a sprinkle of salt it’s perfect). The tortilla Espanola es como un sueno (like a dream). http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/ss/tortilla.htm

Classes begin for real this week. We are expected to take three classes offered by the program and one from the university. Last week we previewed the university classes. After much deliberation, I decided to take a modern literature class that focuses on theater. The professor is friendly, approachable, and patient. She’s also super excited about the material which always helps me maintain my enthusiasm. This week I’m “shopping” for my program classes. Today I went to three. The first was a class focusing on women’s rights in Spain and Latin America. Loved it. Second class was comparative political institutions with a focus on the U.S. and Spain. Liked it but not entirely sold. The third was a music class where we listen to great works of Spanish music and discuss them. The professor was like a bundle of excitement of energy. She’s very passionate about the material and also adorable. It’s going to be a tough decision.

Once I decide on my classes, I’ll be able to choose which organization I want to volunteer with. PRESHCO encourages volunteer experience and provides a list of possibilities. I’m considering three: a women’s rights organization, teaching English to immigrants, and a gay/lesbian/trans support organization. Tough choice.

Flamenco

The program took us to see Flamenco dancing. Here are the videos:

Cordoba!

What I wrote my first weekend here:

Finally here! We arrived at 7am and went straight to the dorm with Ramya, Emmalie, and Shannon. I thought we would be in a big dorm building but we are actually in an apartment in an apartment building. Our building is…okay. The apartment is old but what it lacks in décor it makes up for in charm. There are four bedrooms. Emmalie and Shannon are sharing one. One is a single for a Spanish girl. The three of them share a bathroom. Then there is a small kitchen with a fridge, toaster, and a washing machine. Then a dining room and living room area with a small table, two sofas, a coffee table, shelf, and television. I have a room that I will share with a Spanish girl who I have yet to meet. Ramya also has a room with a Spanish roommate. The four of us will share a bathroom.

It’s nice. I feel spoiled. We have a clean apartment and a really clean bathroom. We have someone who cooks for us. Even though we have a curfew, there’s no one checking up on us. Will take pictures soon.

Yesterday after lunch we went exploring and accidentally wandered into the sketchy area of town. We walked in silence over an hour. The whole time I was thinking “Oh, god. What did I get myself into? It’s a ghost town. The streets are dirty. The stores look gross and useless. There is nothing around here. The mall is trashy. I feel so deceived. Why didn’t anyone say anything? Kate’s facebook pictures look so nice. Bo and Kate made Cordoba sound amazing. WTF?!?!?!?!?” Then we found the nice area of town and were all relieved. Finally Shannon said something and we all admitted that we had been silently panicking. Looking back, it’s hilarious. We joke about it a lot now. The center of town we found had a big statue in the center and nice buildings surrounding it. It’s not the plaza but it’s clearly a central area. We saw an H&M, a claire’s, and a barclay’s bank. There were stores I recognize from Barcelona, Madrid, and Salamanca like Desigual, Zara, Mango, Café y te, el corte ingles (obviamente), and some underwear stores. That’s one thing I really like about Spain: lots of lingerie selection that is moderately priced. Sometimes it seems like all there is in the U.S. is Victoria’s Secret, department stores (which are usually a snore), or the rare small business. I have also noticed that there are ice cream stores everywhere. So many! And candy stores! My favorite is called Tutti Frutti (adorable).

Today we met up with Esteban (the program’s director) for lunch. After lunch he showed us around. We saw the largest hotel in Cordoba which is rather hideous and is apparently made fun of a lot. He said his friend called it King Kong’s cage because it appears to have a brown casing that looks like a cage. We saw the university which is in the old city, The old city has white-washed walls and narrow, cobblestone streets. There are lots of flowers on the walls. I will take pictures soon. Even though that area of town is really touristy, I like it. It’s charming. We saw the outside of La Mezquita as well as the ruins of a roman temple. We walked across bridge that’s hundreds of years old and saw the water of the river Guadalquivir. Near the bridge there’s an area of trees where pigeons and doves gather which looks really beautiful.

Now that I’m settled in to a permanent place, the eating schedule is easier to abide by. We eat breakfast around what I would consider late to mid morning. Then we had lunch around 2-3:30ish. Dinner is around 9 to 10. During the trip, it was difficult to adjust because we had heavy dinners right before bed. Even now, I’m not really that tired close to midnight. I think that will change when classes start.

Just because...

I fell in love with him. He was at a street vendor's stand in Las Ramblas. I wanted to take him with me and call him something like "Clover" or "Ernest".

Barcelona!

Barcelona

On the way to Barcelona we stopped at Zaragoza. Couldn’t enjoy it because it was the height of my sinus infection. I felt so awful. Even though I still felt like hell in Barcelona, I enjoyed it a lot more than Madrid. It’s hard to explain why. I felt like Barcelona was somehow more welcoming and easier to navigate. In Madrid it seemed like Spaniards were annoyed with us when we tried to use Spanish. They didn’t seem to appreciate it and wanted to speak English. In Barcelona they were more accommodating. When I made mistakes they didn’t seem irritated but instead usually smiled and tried to help. The commotion of Madrid was overwhelming. It seemed just as crowded and busy in Barcelona but somehow more relaxed.
The first day in Barcelona, we went on a tour. We saw a “panoramic” view of the city with a concentration on Gaudi’s work. We visited the park where he lived (I think he lived there at least). It was amazingly beautiful. Patterned tile everywhere. My favorite part was the benches and had an eclectic mix of tiled mosaics on the back. I will post my pictures on facebook. We saw the outside of La Sagrada Familia from across the street. I went back there the next day with a few Smithies to see it up close and on the inside. My favorite church by far. It’s more impressive to me just by the fact that it’s modern. It isn’t even finished yet and won’t be for 30 years. It’s amazing that to me that people still want to build churches when there are so many incredible ones that are hundreds of years old (I don’t really know how to fully explain this thought). I love the style of the church. It’s plainer on the inside with gorgeous stained glass windows. I was honestly sick of seeing cathedrals filled with marble and gold. It seems less pretentious that the others. Also no graphic depictions of Jesus’ death! Once again I will post pictures on facebook when I get better wireless.
We used the metro to get to La Sagrada familia and the bus to get to the beach. Public transportation there is amazing. Super clean and the lines are simple. Barcelona is now one of my favorite cities solely for that.
The beach was lovely. The sand was clean and soft; lacking the rough rocks that populate the beaches at home. People actually pick up after themselves and there are recycling can next to the trash cans. The water was a beautiful, vivid blue. And it wasn’t freezing. I only dipped my feet in because my bathing suit was in my big suitcase in Córdoba. I can’t wait to go to another Spanish beach and go in for real. I realized that the reason I’m not that fond of going in the water at beaches at home is because it’s always freezing and seems dirty. The beach was also tops optional which wasn’t as weird for me as I thought it would be. It didn’t seem all that foreign to me after spending so much time at Smith college.
Unfortunately, the last day there was kind of a lost day. We had the whole day free but the PRESHCO people neglected to tell us that it was a catalunya holiday so everything besides restaurants was closed. I had planned on going shopping so I was disappointed. Kelly and I desperately wanted to go to a book store so we could find our favorite books in Catalan. I really want to find a Dr. Suess book in Catalan. If I can’t, I’ll settle for a Harry Potter. We ended up walking around aimlessly and getting lost. On the opposite end of the city. Luckily, we found our way back to the hotel. We probably walked about five miles the whole day. At least we got our exercise.

And one more try

the picture that was supposed to be in the Toledo post

Toledo

The view of Toledo was amazing. Just like the famous painting by El Greco except in daylight. I purchased some beautiful postcards. We got a tour of yet another Cathedral. The cathedral of Toledo to be exact. Was really over it at this point. The baroque and rococo (my absolute favorite word in Spanish) styles of ornate gold and marble. Also sick of seeing Jesus. I started thinking: What would Jesus think of how he is depicted in cathedrals? Would he be mortified to see such decadence dedicated to him? Seriously, why don’t people consider how the dead white men will feel about how they are immortalized (har,har,har) ? Once again we could not take pictures. There were several paintings by El Greco and I wanted to take a picture of the chorus area. There was a little section made of wood that had intricately carved representations of people. And some strange animal-esque faces. Believe me, El chupacabra was there.

We also saw one of El Greco’s most famous paintings, The burial of count Orgaz (see above picture). Was a bit dazed by this point in the tour so I don’t really remember it.

Even more catching up: Madrid edition

Madrid
Finally reached Madrid. The buildings are beautiful but in some parts the street seems so narrow it made me feel claustrophobic. I know they weren’t actually that narrow but it was strange for me. The city does seem like New York in terms of its bustling energy but it’s arranged less logically. Navigating is quite the task. It’s also very different how the buildings seem the narrow into corners.
We got a tour of the royal palace. We naturally only saw a small portion of it because there are over 5,000 rooms (unfathomable). Sadly, we were not permitted to take photos. As one would expect, it was ridiculously ornate. Luxurious carpeting and curtains. Intricate ceiling murals. The rooms get smaller as you go deeper into the center of the palace because fewer and fewer people had permission to enter the rooms. We saw the King’s eating rooms as well as his dressing room where he would spending about four hours dressing and undressing each day as some sort of ceremony. People were really lacking for entertainment. We saw the king’s office which was without a desk. I really had no idea what went on in there. I feel like I saw a separate “conferencing with dignitaries” room so maybe this was for secret negotiations, browbeating, intimidation, and generally illegal dealings. We also saw the king’s smoking room, decorated in an exoticized orientalist theme with far eastern stylings of nature and inaccurate portrayals of asian people. Will forgive as it was created hundreds of years ago before people knew any better. The last people to truly inhabit this absurd place were the current king’s grandparent. Lest one think the palace sits around a useless relic of times past, we were informed that it is still used for official meetings with foreign dignitaries and leaders. The tour guide kept pointing out where things would happen if Obama visited. Can’t remember if he already has. Like “here’s where they would take photos, or sign an agreement, or have a meeting”.
I went to el museo prado for free. Every Sunday after 5pm it’s free but it closes at 8pm. I raced through so I could see everything I could possibly see. More religious art. Too over it to be impressed. My favorites were the Patinir painting “crossing the river styx” and goya’s “Jupiter eating child” (mostly because I knew that one). I also enjoyed the Bosch paintings depicting “earthly pleasures” because they were over the top and crazy with lots of bright colors –my taste is so sophisticated (haha). I also saw the famous painting of Atalanta and Hippomenes though I can’t remember who did it. It was fun to see lots of Greek mythology I recognized (so I guess I should thank Ms. Goodman for making my experience at el museo prado more meaningful). Seeing the paintings in person is so different. They seem so realistic probably because the colors are so rich and vivid. Saw Las meninas which is damn creepy in real life. Las meninas look possessed by el Diablo.
I also went to La Reina sofia where they had more modern surrealist work. Saw some Dali- none of his really famous stuff. Saw Dali’s The Great Masturbator which I found to be disturbing and misogynistic. Saw a lot of lesser known (to me at least) Picasso like Minotauromaquia (my favorite of that set). The main event was Guernica. I had no idea that it was so large. It almost took up an entire wall. We were allowed to take pictures but mine are blurry at best. It was overwhelming in person. I also saw a lot of Joan Miro. I don’t know her work well enough to know what her most famous pieces are but my favorite (which I unfortunately didn’t take a picture of) was a really child-like painting with (I think) a giraffe and a rainbow. I thought it was charming and truly captured something childish in its representation. To me it reflected a child’s view and I feel that that is difficult to do as an adult. Another piece I really liked was Oskar Schlemmer’s Turkish Dancer which I don’t even know how to explain but I did take pictures of. See above picture.

More catching up....

Here's my post about Segovia and El Escorial:

Long day. Left Salamanca early and went to El Escorial. We got a guided tour en espanol. Sometimes I just didn’t understand the Spanish and sometimes I just plain couldn’t hear the guy. El Escorial is a really really old palace that isn’t that grand an abode but it boasts a rather extensive tomb area. I’m not kidding. We saw a circular room that had marble everywhere that housed marble tombs for kings. There was a gigantic chandelier and creepy marble cherubs on the wall. The tombs held former kings and the wives who bore sons. I can’t imagine knowing that my body would be put there when I died. It does not seem like a peaceful resting place as there is a constant stream of tourist parading through. Or maybe this appeals to the vanity of the royals. There were many other rooms with tombs that were made out of marble but they were less fancy. There was also a “rotting room” where the kings decompose so that their bones can go in the ornate tomb cherub room. There was the tomb of a queen whose name I can’t remember. When her husband, the king, was courting her, he made a quite tomb for the both of them to prove his everlasting devotion (betting that strategy would not work today). She married him. Then he took on a second wife and now she is alone in her tomb and according to our guide “comfortable”. There was also a room of tombs for royal children who died before the age of eight. Sad.
After El Escorial, I we went to Segovia where we saw the roman aqueduct which was quite rand and enormous. We also saw the castle that inspired the Disney logo. It is lovely but I would certainly not consider it a comfortable place to be. There was definite Muslim influence in the tiling inside the castle. I tried to take a picture but it didn’t really work out with an average Nikon camera. There was a bizarre room that had statues of kings and queens lining the ceiling. They were probably over 10 off the ground presumably so no one could touch them and ruin them. Each statue looked about 1.5 feet tall and was brightly painted. Each stature also had a description of the person it honored underneath it. There was also a little iglesia in the castle. I really don’t know what to call it- worship room? More paintings and statues of Jesus and Mary. And a graphic (and somewhat racist) tapestry depicting the crusades. It showed a Christian soldier on horseback with a sword. Dark, severed heads littered the ground beneath him. Speaking of racism, while traversing the narrow, quaint streets of Segovia I spotted an electronics store that was called “The Japanese Store”. The image on the sign was of a large, smiling face with slanted eyes. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. I was shocked. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Catching up on posts....

Here's what I wrote about Salamanca when I didn't have internet access:

Arrived in one piece. Spent two days in Salamanca. Thought the bus ride to Salamanca would never end. When I heard “gangster’s paradise” coming from the radio on the bus, I thought I was hallucinating. Salamanca is beautiful. Am experiencing the perfect summer weather New England didn’t have this year.

The whole group went on a tour of the historic sites: two cathedrals and the Universidad de Salamanca. The cathedral we went in was gorgeous. It’s delicate intricacy revealed an unfathomable level of devotion. I would have put down the chisel and walked away when I thought no one was looking. Saw tremendous statue of Mary while holding Jesus as he bled out. Thought it was stone but it was made out of wood. Very shiny wood. We awkwardly interrupted a wedding and hurried out the door right before the bride made her grand entrance. Not socially acceptable. At least we didn’t disturb her entrance, we just delayed it. Her dress was stunning. Lots of lace but still sleek. It seemed like it could be a dress that has been passed down. According to the tour guide, only the members of high society can marry there. Not sure what makes one a member of high society. Is it just money or is it more than that? Lineage? I think it’s somewhat disturbing to marry in a place with such frequent depiction of death in its artwork.

Then we looked at another cathedral thing that had a carving of King Ferdinand (looking smug) and Queen Isabella on the outside of it. There were also carvings of greek gods and goddesses. Naturally they represented evil. Throughout the day we noticed frogs on all the souvenirs- shirts, keychains, etc. The guide pointed out a carving of a small frog on the head of a (stone) skull on the cathedral. Apparently seeing frogs in this city signifies good luck but seeing it else ware is bad luck. Across from this display is the portion of the university where Queen Isabella’s doctor lived. It was a religious academy where graduates wrote their names in blood on the outside of the walls. Too much blood to be their own. Suspect pig’s blood mixed with something else.

The streets in Salamanca are narrow and most are cobblestone. There are many round-abouts. I walked around and checked out the stores. Saw an H&M and a claire’s. Stores look classier here. The claire’s actually looked respectable instead of a massive heap of cheap, plastic trash in an ugly store with a sewage leak problem (see Walt Whitman mall). Saw lots of ice cream places and candy stores. I was struck by the amount of graffiti. As mi amiga Kelly noted “There is a Debra who seems to be quite popular in this area.” Lesson: the juvenile and idiotic are not limited to America. One interesting graffiti: “E.E. U.U. Eres el asesino!” (America, you are the murderer). The American invasion of Iraq did not go down well here.

Departing on Wednesday

Test posting. I will be leaving on Wednesday evening from Newark. Am a bundle of nerves.