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Published: November 13th 2007
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Hello everyone,
In response to everyone's e-mails regarding my recent excusion to the city of Toledo, I have decided that it will perhaps be easier and more convenient for me just to write about it on here, so that everyone may read and it will prevent me from having to monotonously type the same story multiple times :-).
On Sunday, I awoke around 8:00 am and made for the metro station, where I took the underground about 9 stops south to Estacion Sur de Autobuses (South Bus Station), where the majority of intercity, national, and even international busses depart from. After purchasing my tickets, my bus departed almost immediately, and I arrived in Toledo about an hour later.
I found Toledo to be a very intriguing little city. It, like Avila and Segovia, is very ancient and has much history to learn from. Ali and I purchased a guidebook about Toledo for only 5 euros, which described to us what every building was and even had a map so we could find our way around. Normally I would feel awkward carrying around such a book, but when I looked around and noticed everyone doing the same thing, I really didn't feel
out of place. Toledo is a very touristic city. I found the history of influences in Toledo to be very interesting. There was Jewish, Arabic, Christian, and Catholic influences in many of the buildings and churches, and some buildings even had gone through transformations during each of the influential periods.
Toledo was intriguing to me, but I'll admit that here in Spain so far I have seen a lot of ancient structures which are "man made". To be quite honest, what I found to be the most captivating part of the city was the landscape and views. I haven't had the opportunity to see many natural things here in Europe yet, which I almost find to be neater than man made structures. The hillsides and river were absolutely stunning; the rocks and boulders on the hillsides looked so ancient! I sat and stared at the view for so long it seemed, but it was just so great. I've attatched pictures of both the city and hillsides for everyone to view.
On a separate note, I've begun another college application for PSU in hopes that I may be granted in-state tuition since my daddy works in Portland! They ask questions about
parent employment in Oregon, and whether they have filed oregon taxes, which may put me in a rather fortunate position. I figure, what's the harm in trying? The worst that can happen is they'll deny me and I'll go to WSU Vancouver, which isn't much of a loss. Even if I do get accepted, I may choose to attend WSU Vancouver because of it's convenient location. I wish to continue studying Anthropology along with English, and the only reason why I'd want to attend PSU is because PSU has very good graduate programs, and if I were to begin attending now I could become known in the English and Anthropology departments and maybe have a better shot at getting some scholarships when I go on to get my master's and hopefully PhD. We'll see what happens.
I also just finished reading "The Jungle" by Uptain Sinclair. It was one of the best books I've read so far in my life. It was written in the early 1900's and describes really well the struggle of european immigrants and the working class. The book denounces the corrupt system of Capitalism and presents some thought provoking topics which I'll probably be thinking about
for quite some time now. The book depicts the working class struggle to overthrow the rich, selfish Capitalist minority who run the country, and how many people go about their every day life never giving a single care that they are a slave to low wages and poor working conditions in order to make someone at the top richer and able to roll around in their own self-indulgence. This is evident to my life right now, because Spain is a dominantly Socialist country, and it is kind of like the Socialist victory in Spain after dictator Franco's death in 1975. The reverse is occuring in Spain (mainly in Madrid) right now, as the Capitalist Fascists are trying to gain hold once again. "The Jungle", I believe was written at the peak of Socialism in America, after it was chewed and spit out to form a corrupt future of Captialist pigs, and now looked down upon as almost a "mental condition" which should be "treated". In other words, if you actually like to think intellectually about how bad you are being screwed over every day, by paying to see a doctor, by paying to go to college, and working long hours
in hope of one day somehow miraculously achieving this "American dream", then you aren't a good citizen: you should just learn to "be glad to be an American". I'm now determined to understand this thought process. This book has really provoked me to learn more about Economic systems and to become a more informed and thinking citizen of the world :-)
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