Post 13 Granada

Hello everyone.

Social Life in Spain

I am finally starting to grasp some importartant ideas about Spanish Culture. Social life here in Spain something unique. I first realized this about a week ago: My Senora wished to introduce me to some girls that lived beneath us with another house mother. She brought me down to thier flat and left after a bit, so I assumed that It was alright to enter. I had coffee with them and left after about a half hour. When I told my Senora this later, she was stunned that I had entered the girl´s apartment. She told me that this was not the right thing to do; even though I had been invited into thier place. She told me that I probably should not return the next day as planned. This really confused me.

Next I began to observe how these people socialize. Where I am from in the U.S., most social happenings occur either in someone´s residence or at a restaurant. This occurs less frequently here, it is much more common to meet friends in the streets. It isnt rare to see normal children out at midnight. Whole Spanish families stay out late with thier friends in the plazas and streets. It seems that the home residence is a more private setting, which is very exclusive. As I realized this, I became aware that the architecture and city planning reflect this idea.

The typical Spanish city has many plazas (a plaza is an open space surrounded by restaurants and bars) : each neighborhood has thier own, and this is where everyone congregates. When I say everyone, this includes everyone from the age of 5 to 65. (Although it is much more common to see the older couples strolling along than congregating.) The extreme example of this is called a Botellón.

Botellón

A botellón (literally translated as ¨large bottle¨) was held in Granada this past weekend. The botellón is a large gathering of Spanish who desire to congregate and save money by purchasing thier alcohol in a store instead of a bar. The Granada newspaper reported that the particular Botellón we attended here in Granada was 15,000 people. The Botellón is really interesting social setting, and I was surprised to see that there was no violence or major rowdyness.

The older generation generally disaproves of the botellónes, and I hear that the police are starting to make more rules. The problem is that it is no small task to clean up after 15,000 people. Also the Botellónes arent good for sleeping citizens.

Mi amigo

I have a friend named Benedict from Germany who came with me to the Botellón. He is a beginner spanish speaker, but he tries really really hard to converse. (usually with sucess). I think many Spanish find his heavily accented spanish is pretty halarious. The german and Spanish languages dontreally sound at all alike. I got all of the botellon pics from his camera. But, he is returning to germany this week. Seeya Benedict!

Chicas Espanolas en Barcelona

Calatrava
Palacio Real (courtesty of Daniel Greenwald)

Semana Santa post 12

Semana Santa

is translated literally as the "week of the saints". It is mourning of Christs death and the celebration of his resurrection. It is a very important event for Christain Spain, and is celebrated all over Spain. The tradition is supposedly strongest in Sevilla, and is caractorized by various processions that celebrate various "vocations", or attributes of Christ and Mary the Virgin. The processions consist of the hooded "penitentes" (the american KKK copied these costumes), and others who carry the heavy float depicting christ or the virgen ( some weigh as much as 5000 lbs). Music is played by a sort of marching band (according to David Puente, Miles Davis´s Sketches of Spain is inspired by this music) We stayed the first two nights of our 9 day vacation in Granada viewing the processions. The picture above is taken from google because I forgot my camera both nights. Check out the end of the blog for all the trip technicalities.

Las FallasThis festival in Valencia, Spain happened to coincide with Semana Santa this year. My roomate and I planned this trip last moment, and we could not find a vacant hostel in Valencia. However, we still decided to go. We arrived in Valencia on Tuesday morning via bus from Granada. We gathered from Senora Pilars heavily accented Spanish that the festival´s theme was about fuego(=fire), but beside that, we had no idea what to expect. We stepped out of the bus station to what sounded like a warzone. We strolled into the crowded city center nervously while small unruly children ran through the streets throwing powerful firecrackers in all directions. I decided to buy some.

I asked for some cheap ones, and I was handed these with a smirk from the clerk. Some gradeschool aged kids were having a comptetion with whos firecrackers were the loudest. My firecrackers looked pretty big so I thought I would try my luck. I walked out into the middle of the street where the competition was held, and lit my firecracker. One of the boys gave me a respectful nod after witnessing the explosion my firecracker yielded. My three euros got me six wicked little firecrackers that rivaled what our artillery shells do.

At this point we still had no idea what to think of the situation here, so we walked around some more. We passed a parade of people dressed in mideval garb who were playing various intruments whilst drinking alcohol. The closer we got to the center of town the more it looked like a renniassance festival. We also noticed the large sculpures around. We later learned that the sculptures, which are about 30 feet high, are all burned down to the ground for some reason or another.At 1 a.m. the firework show commenced. It was by far the most impressive and definitely the loudest that I have witnessed. Daniel, my roomate said that It was better than anything he has seen in New York or D.C. During the show we were also showered by individual contributations to the fireworks. There were thousands upon thousands of people in the streets.

Since we had nowhere to stay here in Valencia, the name of the game was to stay awake until our bus departure at 9 am. to Barcelona. We walked down to the Oceanside and took a look at Santiago Calatrava´s (architect) city of science, which is a marvel.

Barcelona

We managed to catch our bus in the morning to Barcelona. Luckilly we found some accomidations in Barc. Barcelona is in a region of Spain called Catalalonia. The main language here is Catalan, which is more similiar to latin than Castillan Spanish. Barcelona is a pretty modern city with much diversity. It is something very different than the rest of Spain. For me, Barcelona was important because of her Archictecture. An architect named Antonio Gaudi is possilby the most popular figure in Catalonia. His work begins in the late 1800´s and culminates with the Sagrada Familia (cathedral) which was his obsession until his death in 1926. Gaudis work is very playful and accessible to everyone. And he is responsible for the four major tourist sites in the city. Guadi was killed by a tram whilst walking around Barcelona presumably pondering his obsession the Sagrada Familia. He had devoted all his money to the Cathedral and was dressed similiar to a transient. Apparently it took a while before the dead "bum" was recognized as Gaudi.

The Sagrada Familia was begun in 1882, and is currently half finished. Work is moving along nicely right now because over 2.5 million pay admission to view the Cathedral. Anyway this building one of the most ambitious building projects ever initiated, and is truely breathtaking. Probably the most amazing manmade creation I have seen. I wont post many pics of it or say much about it because it is something to experience. (below small section of the nave)

Gaudi also turned his hand to landscape architecture. Parc Guill is pretty neat also. (below) Gaudi was passionate about directly incorporating nature into his architecture, he also was very interested in building with shapes that occur naturally, such as the hyperboiloids and caternaries. The only bad thing about the trip was the cold snap, and overcast weather.Trip Planning and Costs

Bus ticket Granada to Valencia- 23 €

Bus ticket Valencia to Barcelona- 35€

Hostel 4 nights in Barcelona- 27 € per night

Ryan air ticket barcelona to Granada- 37€

Bus to get to Ryan air Terminal 12 €

Spending money Val+Barc- 100€ (supermaket food- admissions-drinks-restaurant- metro)

metro Barc- .70€ per journey

All told----------about 320 € for the week

Hostel in Barcelona

We stayed in the nights in a hostel in downtown Barcelona called Creative Youth Alternative Hostel. It is owned by this guy named Al from Iran who is really helpful. He speaks 7 languages! This is the best hostel I have stayed in. Exept one of the nights Danny and I had to share one of the small beds in a room full of spanish and german girls.

Granada week 2 post 11

hey, I´ve thrown a lot of stuff at you readers in the last few days, so take your time.

The Spanish Day

... isnt what I´m used to. The people have to be at work around 9 am. They eat a small breakfast of coffee and cereal. Around one or two p.m. all of the shops close and everyone walks home. They eat a large ´lunch´at two, and sleep and spend time with thier families until about 4ish. The shops open up at 5 and are open late. Spanish people stay out really late. ´supper´is at 9,10, or 11.

In spain, especially Andulucia (southern spain), the nightlife is important. Poeple go out a lot so everything is pretty cheap and free food (tapas) are served with every drink. A beer is about 1.50.

The week

At first I understood almost no coversation. People speak quickly with accents. Senora Pilar knows that we are pretty dumb so she speaks slowly, and I am now able to converse at about the toddler level of speech. Danny and I have fallen victom to the Siesta (midday nap)- we sleep about 3 hours, we find that most of our day is gone after we wake up. The siesta is addictive, and we are trying to kick the habit. School is going pretty good. Not much to say yet culturally, because I am still yet to understand many of the things that I am seeing. Weather is amazing.

Hiking trip

I bought a topo map and planned a hiking trip into the mountains of friday night. My friend Benedict and Danny my roomate were going to come with, but they stayed out too late so I went exploring alone. Its better this way because I dont have to deal with complainers. The trip was pretty cool. The Sierra Nevadas are pretty arid, and are covered with pines. Some calves and their mother were on the trail. She had some pretty big horns so I tried to stay out of her way. There are these cattipillars that link together and search for a tree to spin thier silk in before they turn into moths. Thier little trains are all over the hills. The picture of me has Granada in the backround, I am at about 1800 meters here, Granada is 738.

Next week

Is a religous holiday in Spain called Semana Santa (Week of the Saints) so we have all of next week off of school. Danny and I just planned out a trip to a town called Valencia, which has thier festival called Fallas. After Valencia, we are going to Barcelona for 4 days. More on all this stuff next post. I am finally caught up!!!

Granada week 1 post 10

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Some history and Geography
It is about a five hour bus ride from Toledo to Granada. The countryside between the two towns is called Castile-La Mancha. This area is the setting of Cervantes´Don Quixote.

Granada, the city were I will be studying this spring, is about an hour from the Meditteranean Coast, and is very near the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Granada is well known because it is the site of the Moorish palace, The Alhambra. Granada was the last stronghold of the Moorish Kings (Northern African islams), who controlled much of Spain from 711 to 1492. They were expelled the by the Christain Monarchy Isabel and Ferdinand, who coincidently founded Christopher Columbus´ first voyage that same year.
Modern day Granada is a University town of about 300,000 people (The University has an enrollment of about 80,000 people). And is well known for it´s ¨bohemian presence¨ and gypsies. There is an area of town were the Architecture is Mediterranean (white stucoed cube shaped homes) , but as in all european towns, many styles have been blended throughout the ages.

Senora´s Casa (house)
We stepped of the bus and were greeted by our Senora (house mother) in Spain, it is traditional to give two pecks on each cheek when meeting others (not man to man though). Anyway our Senora´s name is Pilar, who is about 60 years. She is a short little woman who claims not to speak a word of English (I suspect she is lying), who works at a catholic school for girls. She is a strong Catholic (as is most of spain), she is really interested and accepting of all cultures. My roomate Danny is culturally Jewish, but still eats pretty much all meat. Senora assumes that he is a practicing Jew, so he gets almost no meat and has been craving protien. He bought a dozen eggs yesterday.
Most people in Granada live in apartments (pisos). The apartments here are different from the U.S. because they have no carpeting in the place. Every floor surface is stone (usually polished marble) and it is considered somewhat rude to walk around in bare feet or stalkings. This however makes sense to me because the stone is much more permanant and low maintenence than carpeting. The same idea translates to larger applications. For example, many of our houses and businesses in the U.S. are built using temporary materials such as wood, sheetrock, and plaster. We have a few brick houses, but they are expensive and rare. There are many more ´permanant´structures standing around.
Life in Pilars home is pretty similiar to what I am used to. I am told that the Spanish spend a larger proportion of thier income paying home utilities, so Pilar is pretty stict when it comes to shutting of lights and taking short showers.
My roomate is pretty cool. He is from Baltimore, and is majoring in Psychology and Digital Art. He also has a passion for music, and is into the ´American Folk Music´scene. He records a little music, and has some on his myspace: www.myspace.com/dannyisprettygnar . He doesnt speak much spanish so I had to help him barter for a Spanish Guitar. He is teaching now me how to play the harmonica a little.
Olive oil is the most important part of the Spanish diet. The Spanish use it heavily in everything they cook. And I am slowly getting used to the stuff, although I didnt think it too pleasant at first. Pork is the main dish here, but fish is also important.

my roomate

School
The first day we got into Granada we all tested for what level of Spanish we would be taking for the three months of class. There are 10 levels of Spanish total. The average age of our group is about 21 or 22, and the average level is about 200 or 300 level spanish at their home universities. The vast majority of students placed in level 3. Two of us placed in 4, two in 5. (myself in 4). From observing my group, I think that the UND spanish dept. is above average. We have class from 9 to 1 with a half hour break. Class is moday through friday.
Alpujarras trip

Our first weekend our group (ISA) took a trip to the Alpujarras which is the southern seawards area of the Sierra Nevadas. The area is historically known for it´s silk production. Small towns white towns are nestled up into the mountains, like you see on postcards. The small towns were pretty neat, one of them called Pampiniera (?) had a hippy comune of about 300 nearby. My roomate and I conversed with some of them who were from Albania, and bought some suff they were pedeling. Once we returned to Granada it felt more like home than before (I think this was craftilly planned by ISA). Pictures below are all from the Alpujarras. Note the small town in the coner of the mountains. Some typical constructions of houses.

Thoughts about politics.

Ever since Berlin, I have been analysing politics from the lense of Economic systems (capitalism, socialiam, monarchy,´communism´) . I think it is interesting how the smallest unit of goverment- the family- is communistic. All the income is put into one pot and distributed ´equally amonst all´and I think this is pretty efficient and effective. But is is easy to observe the failure of ´communism´on the national scale. Likewise capitalism works pretty smoothly, but accomidates the massive corporations that many think malicious. Everywhere I travel I talk to people who have different opinions which system should be adopted. I think that all of these systems can work in thier own context. Why is it that a central government cannot create a system in which each region chooses thier own system of governement and economy? For example, why cant vermont be completely socialiazed, and Texas operate under laissez faire? Why cant New Hampshire ban abortion while South Dakota accomidate for it? I dont think one should be so quick to denounce socialism or capitalism. I think if more decisions were up to the smaller communties, they would make laws that are more pertinant to their area, while not having to step on the ideas and beliefs of other communites.

Costs

beer- 1.50

tapas-free!

Some more politics

From Ronpaul2008.com

Today’s news that gold hit $1,000 an ounce showcases the dollar’s continuing decline. In April, 2006, Dr. Paul took to the floor of the House of Representatives and gave a speech entitled “What the Price of Gold is Telling Us.” At that time, gold was just over $600 an ounce. The numbers may have changed since then, but the arguments given and principles presented may be more relevant now than ever before.
Here’s an excerpt:
"One of the characteristics of commodity money-- one that originated naturally in the marketplace-- is that it must serve as a store of value. Gold and silver meet that test-- paper does not. Because of this profound difference, the incentive and wisdom of holding emergency funds in the form of gold becomes attractive when the official currency is being devalued. It’s more attractive than trying to save wealth in the form of a fiat currency, even when earning some nominal interest. The lack of earned interest on gold is not a problem once people realize the purchasing power of their currency is declining faster than the interest rates they might earn. The purchasing power of gold can rise even faster than increases in the cost of living.
The point is that most who buy gold do so to protect against a depreciating currency rather than as an investment in the classical sense. Americans understand this less than citizens of other countries; some nations have suffered from severe monetary inflation that literally led to the destruction of their national currency. Though our inflation-- i.e. the depreciation of the U.S. dollar-- has been insidious, average Americans are unaware of how this occurs. For instance, few Americans know nor seem concerned that the 1913 pre-Federal Reserve dollar is now worth only four cents. Officially, our central bankers and our politicians express no fear that the course on which we are set is fraught with great danger to our economy and our political system. The belief that money created out of thin air can work economic miracles, if only properly 'managed,' is pervasive in D.C."

Madrid and Toldedo post 9

Madrid day 1 and 2

Caught a bus from the frankfurt rail station to Hahn Airport which is accually about 100 km away from the city center. Boarded the plane and stepped off in Madrid Spain about three hours later 18:00. I did not spend my two previous days in Frankfurt wisely, as I had only the location of a hostal, and no booking arranged. I assumed that I could just show up and be let in as I had done previously in Germany. Immediatly after my plane arrival I found the metro and proceeded to find my unbooked hostal. The metro system in madrid was absolutely packed that evening, and you can imagine how much fun it was to have a pack the size of a Saint Bernard on my back as I navigated the metro.
There were a few moments that I took to look at my map, and on several occasions Spaniards would go out of their way to help me out. I found my hostal in the rain, but was not let in when I buzzed them. I then found a large street (Gran Via) and located a hostal which I paid mucho dinero for. I learned that restaurants are much different in Spain than they are in North Dakota. I took a look at the restaurants menu, and concluded that a meal cost about 10 €. I think that I was a bit underdressed for the occasion, because the host stood and looked at me for a few seconds before realizing that I wanted to eat. I got a funny look when I ordered only a water and an entree (my 10 € meal). Upon further study of the menu, I realized that the customers always order each course separatly, and make about a three hour ordeal out of dinner. Anyway I got my meal- it was black ravioli with some sort of thick seafood paste inside and no sauce. The waitress felt sorry for me and gave me a girly orange sorbet drink in a little champagne glass (thanks) on the house. People usually tip only a few coins in spain, but I gave her 3€ which seemed to please her.
The next day I spent exploring the area, and the area where I was to meet up with my Study abroad Organization ISA. I found the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day, before meeting the group. The group was made up of 12 american students from various Universities. It was pretty funny watching all of the jetlagged students trying to sit through various meetings. We then took a short bus tour of the city to keep the tortured jetlagging students awake. Our ISA organizer was pretty knowlegeable and eager to teach. Most of us American Students then went our own ways around the city.

Costs
12€ Bus ticket Frankfurt to Hahn
25€ Airplane ticket Frankfurt to Madrid
1€ Metro pass one way
45€ hostal
125€ Leather Jacket



my group











Madrid day 3

The whole day was used to visit two of Madrid´s most famous sites, the Prado museum and Palaicio Real. The Prado is the home of many of Spain´s most famous artwork, including extensive collections of Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. I wont go into many details but the Prado is a must if you are in Madrid. I learned alot about the history of Spain here. Try to arrange a tourguide though.
Next was the Palacio Real, which is a the house of the bourbon kings of Spain. The way it sounds, the house of Bourbon was brought to Spain at the very beginning of the nineteenth century by Napolean and his armies. The bourbons were french kings, and the architecture of the Palacio real reflects this. The palace is to me is an abomination. Every square inch of the elaborate palace is constructed to reinforce how heinously rich the monarchy was at that time. I do not deny that the amount of skilled craftsmanship here is the superior of what I have ever seen. But I got the same effect from visiting the palace as I would if I crammed four packeges of gummy worms into my mouth and washed them down them with a gallon of syrup. It is just too much. I wonder how many families could have been fed in place of constructing this huge impractical palace that is inhabited solely by the monarch and his inner circle. Another night of fun with our large American group. The people of Madrid eat a lot of ham, and take pride in thier hamtasting.
















Madrid day 4

The final day in Madrid was my favorite. Our first stop was the Valley of the Fallen, where Franco (spain´s dictator following the spanish civil war and during WW2) constructed a huge catholic monument to solidify the dictators union with the church. (over 90% of spain is catholic) Franco used convict labor to build the structure, and the basilica within the mountain remains controversial. The cross above the entrance to the basilica is the worlds largest memorial cross. It is constructed exclusivly from granite and is over 500 feet from base to cap. The dimensions of the basilica which are entirely dug out of the mountain, are larger the Saint Peter´s Basilica in Rome. The interior is art deco, and pretty imposing to the visitor. A must see.

Next was the old Hapsburg palace of Escorial. The Escorial was my favorite destination in Madrid.

escorial












Toledo

Toledo is an old walled city south of Madrid that has founded by the Romans. Toledo is the best example of a historically preserved city that I have seen. Toledo was also interesting to me because it is the site of centuries of cultural overlap. Romans, Muslims, Christians, and Jews all have had a presence here, and all built in thier own styles. El Greco´s masterpiece remains in Toledo (The Burial of the Count of Orgaz). Anyone who is interested in religious artwork should definitly check out El Greco ( his stuff really strikes me). Contained within the walls is the cathedral which is probly worth a look. The coolest thing about Toledo is getting lost in the city walls and observing all of the ancient buildings crowded around.



here are my two buddies Jason from Kentucky and Dani from Maryland

Frankfurt post 8

Many say that Frankfurt is the most Americanized city in Europe, the city itself is a major transport hub. Beside the visiting the "cathedral", actualy a basillica, the city was uninteresting, and I would only recomend one day at best for an american tourist.
I did get to talk to some Australians, who in my opinion are some of the most interesting people out there. I had some good discussions about the capitalism-socialism struggle as it pertained to Berlin.

20 € hostal

I have found that If you are planning a trip impromptu it is a good idea to find a hostel next to the train station. One can usually find them in these locations. Im kinda angry because this computer is not allowing me to use the parenthesis.