Despedida. DIS 2008

¡Hola chicos!

Algunos de vosotros estareis ya volando a Estados Unidos para encontraros con vuestra familia y amigos, otros preparando la maleta para hacer algun recorrido por Europa…pero espero que todos ya esteis echando un poquito de menos Madrid, vuestras “familias postizas”, las clases de Nuria e Ignacio (bueno, eso quiza no tanto….), la Eurocopa…¡A ver si esta noche tenemos suerte y pasamos a la final! y el resto de vuestra experiencia en Madrid.

Ha sido un placer trabajar con y para vosotros, la idea del blog es estupenda porque hemos podido disfrutar leyendo vuestros comentarios sobre los diferentes lugares que habeis visitado, vuestras conversaciones con amigos, taxistas y familias españolas y el gran interes que habeis mostrado por todo lo relacionado con nuestra cultura. Espero que sigais mejorando vuestro español  y que si os quedasteis con ganas de más Madrid…..siempre podeis solicitar venir al programa de Duke in Madrid.

Un abrazo para todos, ¡Feliz verano!

Eva

Barcelona

As I said I would, I´m going to talk about my Barcelona experience. In two days, I don´t think we could have fit much more touristy stuff in (and it could not have been any hotter), but it was all worth it. If I had to describe Barcelona in one word, it would be: Gaudi. The way his art dominates the city of Barcelona is incredible. El Parque de Guell, la Pedrera, la Casa Mila, y, por supuesto, La Sagrada Familia. I have never truly experienced the ¨wow¨ factor until I saw this massive church. I can´t even comprehend how someone in the late 19th century and early 20th century could have come up with something so different, so grandiose. To give you an idea of its magnitude, it has been under construction since 1882 and will be under construction until 2030 (and they say it is only 50% finished). The most impressive thing about the building was that everywhere I looked, I saw something different and awe-inspiring. It´s obvious that this was his obsession.
The second thing I have to comment on is what we have learned all summer but have not been able to experience first-hand – la naturaleza independentista de Catalunya. On Sunday, we all wanted to go out and watch the soccer game, despite Ignacio´s warnings that it wouldn´t be as cool of an experience as we hoped. We went anyway, and he was COMPLETELY correct. We had to look 30 minutes for a bar with a television, and the few places that did have people watching the game was either too packed or crowded with Italy fans. We never found a place to watch the game, and we couldn´t experience the amazing finish to it. Then, when we were watching the news later, we saw the highlights and footage of the city of Madrid going absolutely crazy. I realized then, first-hand, that the people of Catalunya view the nation of Spain in a completely different way. There were plenty of Spain supporters out that night, but it didn´t even compare to Madrid. Barcelona is an intellectually advanced city that takes pride in their own culture and their own language, and only partly in their nation.
However, with a city as beautiful and as fun as Barcelona, who can blame them?
-Ryan

p.s. We hung out in the same place as Picasso and Hemingway, jealous?

Also, wordpress is not allowing me to put up pictures, so I´ll have to do it on Facebook.

SOMOS UNO

Después de regresar de Catalunya (aquí se deletrea en Catalán), tengo algunos reflexiones.  En primer lugar, pasé la mayoría del fin de semana con un buen amigo; de hecho, mi mejor amigo europeo.  A pesar de todo lo que hemos aprendido sobre la cultura española, las actitudes variadas, y el tumulto que España ha sufrido entre siglos, tengo que decir que al fin y al cabo, la gente es la misma gente; todo el mundo comparte los mismos sentimientos, dudas, y preocupaciones.  No se puede imponer estereotipos en cada aspecto de la vida.  Por ejemplo, obviamente la familia de mi amigo es catalana, pero no está opuesta a España, y al preguntarla sobre el deseo que se enseñe castellano en Cataluña como si fuera idioma extranjero, ellos me contaron muy profundamente que este no es lo que piensa la gente en la calle; de hecho, la madre de mi amigo prefiere castellano.  Por supuesto hay gente muy derechista o izquierdista, pero no represan la sociedad.

Así, no podemos confiarnos en un libro de texto para aprender la cultura de un país; está lleno de tendencias y generalizaciones.  Este es lo que crea ignorancia, y si no fuera tanto, tal vez el mundo se mejoraría.  Yo no creo que los españoles sean luchadores raros precisamente porque conozco a algunos, y los que me conocen saben que los americanos no son egoístas e ingenuos, o por lo menos la mayoría.  Me imagino que estas generalizaciones se desaparecerían con cada gente que se conoce por todo el mundo, aún de diferentes raíces, religiones, y fondos históricos.

Al fin y al cabo, todo el mundo es ser humano, que tiene más en común que no.  El mundo sí es tan variado; solo se tiene que ver a España para comprobar esta afirmación; aquí se mezclaban 3 religiones opuestas, idiomas regionales, y ideologías políticas de blanco y negro.  Lo que no se puede olvidar es que a pesar de todo lo que ha sucedido, a pesar de diferencias infinitivas,( y por el momento parece que estamos solos en el universo), somos uno.

A Wood

Reflecting on my time here

I don’t really have anything too profound to say, but when I first got here I was extremely nervous about being able to manage in a foreign country for six weeks. For one I am an only child (which means Im a big baby) and I’ve never been this far for this long. But looking back on the past six weeks…I truly had an AMAZING time. I loved my host family, loved the people and definitely the culture. Not to mention my spanish is pretty good . I spent the last few days studying for this final that was supposed to be a killer, but relaxing in the sun and bascing in my last few days in Spain has me feeling so relaxed and refreshed and ready for the hustle and bustle that is ahead of me back home. I had an amazing time!!! Thanks to all who made it wonderful….and im out

 

Arielle

 

A true catalan experience…

This weekend a bunch of us went to Barcelona and i can honestly say it was one of the best experiences i’ve ever had.  A friend of mine from Duke, Laura, has been interning in Geneva this summer and came to spend the weekend with me so that was an extra treat.  Unfortunately Laura and I ended up getting separated from the rest of the group in terms of the bus tour (we did the blue line on Saturday and the red line on Sunday, while the others did the opposite) however it did give us a chance to explore everything we wanted.

My two favorite experiences of the weekend were the Picasso Museum that we visited on Saturday and our lunch in Gracía on Sunday.  I really enjoyed the Picasso Museum because it showed a side of Picasso i’ve never seen before.  While the museum did contain several works that were uniquely Picasso, the majority of the museum was filled with his earlier works and even some from his early years in art school.  Laura and I were extremely intrigued by these works because they gave no indication that the were woks by Picasso, save the signature on the bottom.  Most of these paintings were oddly realistic and were dominated by rural scenes.  The museum was also particularly interesting because it displayed Picasso’s progression over time, from his very first works to some of his last.  I have to say one of the most interesting was his interpretation of Velazquez’s Las Meninas, especially because we had studied in in depth in class.

The other part of the weekend that I especially was our lunch at Cafe Nena in Gracía.  Laura and I got off the red line of the tour bus in the Gracía neighborhood because we hears it was really interesting and decided this would be the perfect place to have lunch.  We consulted our guide book and map and eventually decided on a tiny Morrocan cafe about 7 blocks away.  Unfortunately we found that the cafe no longer existed but during our search we ran across and even better find, Cafe Nena.  The cafe was definately a local favorite because Laura and I were certainly the only tourists and the only people that didn’t speak catalan there!  As we looked at the menu we realized that everything was in Catalan and had and interesting time trying to desipher what everything.  Between my Spanish and Laura’s French I though were doing a pretty good job but the waiter realized that we were obviously not for the area and proceeded to bring us the only menu the had in Castellano.  With the new menu were we surprised at how wrong we were about the different items!! Eventually we decided to order quiche (zhuccini for me and spinach for Laura) and let me say that it was the best meal i have had in Spain so far.  The quiche had just the right ratio of egg to cheese to vgetables and it came with an amazing side salad.  To top it off the entire meal only cost us 4.50 euros each!! It was perfect!

All in all it was an amazing weekend!

-Laura

Barcelona

I would like to continue the theme of Jessica’s post about Barcelona.  This was an amzaing weekend excursion, although it didn’t really feel like the other places in Spain we’ve visted at all.   Driving into the city, we passed passed the plaza de torros, which had advertisements for upcoming concerts and events to be held there instead of bullfights.  The city blocks, as we discussed in Nuria’s class, are not squared off, but rather hexagonal in the form of “manzanas”, creating an open, modern feel.  This drastically contrasted the narrow, winding streets of Toledo and Andalucia.  And although tourism is a major industry for all of Spain, it seemed to be especially prevalent in Barcelona.  So many more people were willing to speak english, which was very surprising coming from 5 weeks in Madrid.  But the most shockingly difference of all was the soccer game on Sunday.  We wanted to go to dinner at a restaurant with TVs so we could watch the game.  I think we encountered only 4 or 5 restaurants on practically the entire strip of la rambla that were showing the game, all of which had no more room.  Besides this, when Spain ended up winning in a very excting shoot out, there was merely distant screaming and honking, but no crazy fans like in Madrid.  La plaza de catalunya was particularly quiet.  When we found a TV later that night, highlights of the game flashed to plaza de Colon in Madrid, which was of course going insane.  It was such a clear contrast and a perfect example of how Cataluna sees itself as very separate from the rest of Spain.

Julie

Los madriellenos

Last week Ryan and I were fortunate enough to have lunch with one of Ryan’s family friends who spend part of her time in Miami and part in Madrid. Araceli has a home in both cities and was very excited when she heard that we wanted to study in Madrid. She works as a journalist (like me J ) so I think it’s really interesting to listen to her stories (and of course, she loves to tell them) She is very bright and has even written a book about the Castro’s dictatorship in Cuba. She is very sweet and even offered for us to stay at her house in the north of Spain during our stay- but we didn’t have enough time.

Her brother lives in Madrid with his wife and their son, so we met them all for lunch. At first, I was nervous because I knew it might be difficult to understand them, but once we met them, they were so warm and were genuinely excited to meet us. It was fun to see how they interacted with each other. We talked about the history of Spain, U.S. politics (which they were very excited/interested about) among other things. They seemed really interested in how we will use Spanish when we leave Madrid, if we would want to come back (Of course!) and our travels while in Madrid. The wife mentioned several times that when we come back, she is always available to help us.

The food was incredible. We ate this fabulous Galician restaurant near their home, which is very close to Retiro. They ordered for us and I got a chance to try octopus. It was actually very tasty and I had the most out of everyone. The fish was really good too. And finally, the dessert was my favorite part of course. Ryan and I split a chocolate and cream crepe. I had such a good time and it was really wonderful to spend time with Araceli and her family.

-Hanna

And somehow the end is upon us

After returning from Barcelona I realized that my trip is about to come to an end.  Last night was my last dinner with my senora (she plays poker with her friends tonight and Wednesday is the group dinner).  This realization shocked me because it feels like simply yesterday that I was meeting Nena for the first time.

My trip to Spain has been incredible.  It has allowed me to revisit childhood memories and create new ones as well.  I also think that the program has improved my Spanish immensely and I feel so much more confident about my speaking skills, which will be great because when I go home and speak to my grandparents in Spanish I will no longer feel like my vocabulary is that of a 5 year old.

The odd thing is for some reason I feel like once I go away that time in Spain should stand still.  However there is no such thing and I am glad that I was able to be a part of the day to day life of this country another time.

-Rachel

Gaudi, like Barcelona, is different

Out of all of the cities we have visited in Spain, I would have to say that Barcelona appears to be the least Spanish. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the city—this weekend was probably the best excursion of the trip for me—but that Barcelona has particular characteristics that distinguish it from the rest.

The architecture alone illustrates this divide. Gaudi’s work is a hallmark of Barcelona and is entirely different from all of the other types of architecture we have seen. His structures incorporate Gothic, Islamic as well as natural elements, in addition to exhibiting curvature and intricacy. In contrast to the other types of structures we have seen, Gaudi’s work doesn’t seem to represent a particular era; it seems to stand alone. The Cathedrals in Toledo and Sevilla that we saw, for example, employed Gothic architecture and were clearly created in a certain time period. Likewise, the Segovian Aqueduct, designed to have form serve function, is a paradigm of the achievements of the Roman empire. The Alhambra of Granada represents the epoch of Arabic rule and the Palacio Real represents the types of structures that were created during the reign of the Borbones.

Although Gaudi was part of the generation of 98, you couldn’t say that his work exemplifies the type of architecture created during this movement. His style is highly original and his structures varied, with his most famous including an unfinished yet awe-inspiring cathedral and a giant lizard at an entrance to a park. Gaudi’s works do not really reflect Spain’s culture or history; like Barcelona, they stand apart from what is traditionally Spanish.

-Jessica Lichter

Barcelona!!

La Sagrada Familia

This past weekend was one of the most special and exciting experiences I have had this summer with Duke in Spain. A small group of us went to Barcelona for the long weekend. I absolutely loved every minute of it. Barcelona is so goregous. It was really a special treat to see the famous sites we learned about in class. Although it is very touristy, you can tell there is a lot of history to the city as well.

We took a Barcelona bus tour for 2 days that took us around to all of the famous and important sites, and allowed us to get off and explore each site individually. The bus was similar to “Madrid Vision,” as it explained each site, the history and other interesting facts. We definitely took advantage of the bus and rode three lines (red, blue and green) to the end. We stopped off at the 2 Gaudi Houses, La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Botanical Gardens and the 1992 Olympic area, just to name a few. It was definitely worth it and also served as transportation for 2 days–you can hop on and off the bus at any stop, and the next one comes in 5 minutes.

One of the most awe-inspiring sites was “La Sagrada Familia” by Gaudi. It is so unique and completely unlike any cathedral or church I have ever been to. The magnitude of the cathedral alone is a spectacle, but the tiny details are also impeccable. No wonder Gaudi became so obsessed with it towards the end of his life. Gaudi used lots of letters and words around the cathedral– there is even a door that has carved  Biblical sayings at the entrance. The photos can’t even do it justice. The huge pointed towers represent the apostles, Mary Mother of Christ, among others saints (although all 18 have not yet been completed.) The figure of Jesus Christ on the cross on the outside of the building caught my eye. It looked very stiff and boxy, but at the same time had curved lines and a smooth finish.

We paid the entrance fee and wandered through the cathedral. Afterward, we walked through the museum and learned what the finished product is supposed to look like. A gigantic cross will sit atop the cathedral and shine light out through the sides. I wonder what it would have been like to go on a weekday when the construction workers are present. There were tons of people all around, admiring the unfinished work of Gaudi. I also found it interesting that is financed solely by individual contributions, ( i.e. ticket sales) It is still under construction as we learned and is supposed to be done in 2030. I hope I am able to return to see the finished product.

-Hanna