Cultural Reflections

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My mom told me the other day that I must have liked China better than Spain because my blogs weren’t as frequent or as long. Well, what I say is that I’m too busy living it up in Spain to have time to write! I absolutely love Spain! Granada, the lifestyle, the food, my classes are all great! (Well maybe not the classes). I’ve been so busy experiencing everything that I haven’t really been able to reflect on it. I’ve just been able to count all the things I’ve done. So that’s what I’m dedicating this blog to: my reflections. (And it gives me an opportunity to not have to use pictures that I don’t have).

One huge frustration I have been dealing with is my computer. Every time I start my computer, a sign pops up saying hard disk failure is imminent; back up your files now. Well I backed everything up, and it still hasn’t failed, but several things have stopped working. My audio went first, then my CD player, various applications stop working randomly, and the internet takes 15 minutes to load the first page. My parents bought me a new computer and sent it to me because they didn’t want me to have to spend three months without one. I’m of the same opinion, and am still waiting for my computer. We had a bit of an ordeal last week that added a ton of stress to my already stressed out mind.

Last week I had midterms. This was definitely a stressful time because I had four tests, and all of them were going to be in Spanish. I wasn’t worried about my grammar class or my oral and writing class, but civilization and literature was a different story. Our civ professor didn’t really tell us what to expect for the test, so I came in very ill prepared. I did go over my notes several times, but I had no clue what he was going to have us do. For test day, he handed out an article on abortion, some paper and told us to write. That’s it. Just write. The article explained a previous and the new abortion law in Spain. And we had to write. What, I don’t know. I guess our opinion? He didn’t give us a focus question or anything, so I just wrote what I thought and hoped for the best.

For my literature test, I was very unprepared. I probably didn’t study as much as I should have, but in my defense, it is very hard to explain literature and poems and concepts of modernism in Spanish. I knew the material, but I couldn’t bring all the details to mind when I needed them. And this is where the computer comes in. My brother emailed me Wednesday morning to tell me that my computer was in Spain, but they needed to contact me to get some information. Otherwise they would destroy my computer! Apparently they had tried to call me, but I didn’t answer (I remember getting a call from an unknown number, but I was in class so didn’t answer it). I was freaking out because I did not want my computer to be destroyed. My brother got a hold of UPS and they said they were going to call again soon. I had to keep my phone with me at all times because I did not want to miss that call. Well, I had my literature test that day, and when I should have been spending the last few hours focusing on that, I was worrying about my computer. I was distracted all through my test and couldn’t concentrate at all, so I don’t think I did well at all.

I’ve been comparing my two semesters abroad and have noticed a big difference in the way I handle it. In China, I barely missed my family at all—I missed the US more, whereas here, I miss my family so much more, but I don’t want to leave Spain. I am so much busier here than in China too: in China I was in class 15 hours a week, and in Spain, I have class 19 hours, plus more homework. In China, I only had to study the language, but here, it’s the language in addition to using the language to learn literature and culture. In China, I spoke English about 90%!o(MISSING)f the time, and here, I have to speak Spanish that much. My brain is exhausted by the end of the day from thinking Spanish all day long.

When I walked around in China, I noticed differences every few feet. I was constantly having to recognize and deal with changes in culture. Every meal I ate was an adjustment, the driving habits were significantly different, there were significantly less people who looked like me, and I had to get used to being stared at all the time. Here, I blend in reasonably well. I don't think I've been mistaken for being Spanish (unfortunately), but I at least could pass off as European. The food is different, but the difference is minimal. They still use the same basic ingredients we do in the US, just throw in a lot more olive oil. I would not describe myself as a picky eater at all, but I have become even less so here. My host mom served me little fried fishes, with tails, skin, and everything, and I had to eat them. If not, my host mom would think it was rude. It was actually good. And I eat beans now. Before you could not get me to eat any kind of beans except green. But two of my favorite dishes she makes here are garbonzo bean soup and lentil soup.

One interesting thing about the Spanish--their PDA is through the roof! In every park or plaza, you can find at least one couple making out on a bench in plain site. I have seen several girls sitting on their boyfriends laps straddling them in the park where I do my homework. I guess it's great they don't care what people think, but I won't be adopting that custom any time soon.

While I'm on Spanish culture, I have two more topics from Granada Seminar. Last Tuesday, we learned a bit about the political system of Spain. Spain has a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. It is considered a decentralized unitary state, which means that it is made up of autonomies. These autonomies differ in several aspects from our federal states. Autonomies can organize their own self-government institutions and have their own presidents, parliaments, and courts. They can have their own language, are in charge of their own agriculture and livestock, and environment protection, museums and libraries, tourism, and sanity and hygiene are funded by the state. In contrast, federal states can choose their own monetary system, laws for immigration and rights of asylum, international relations, and defense and armed forces. Due to my limited knowledge of these things, I'm just going to move on to the next topic, and if you're interested in learning more about the different governing systems, you can Google it.

This week, we learned about Semana Santa, as that is starting on Sunday. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is the week preceding Easter. There are three important events leading up to Easter in Spain. The first is Carnaval, which is kind of like our Mardi Gras. The word "carnaval" comes from the Latin carneleverium, and means to 'remove meat'. This alludes to the 40 days of Lent that follow when you must abstain from eating meat. So Carnaval is the big party to do everything you can't do during the next 40 days. Next comes the Cuaresma, or Lent. (It comes from cuarenta meaning 'forty'.) After Lent is Semana Santa; it coincides with the spring equinox, so it is an explosion of color, decorations, and taking to the streets. The celebration is a mix of party and religious respect. Semana Santa was also made in response to the Reformation as a kind of 'take that' to the Protestants. Martin Luther said you shouldn't make images of Christ, so the Catholic church's response was to take all their images to the streets.

Semana Santa would not happen without the cofradías or hermandades, brotherhoods. These are the groups that make the images and floats and carry them throughout the streets of the city for Semana Santa. The cofradías are kind of like fraternities; they pride themselves in their history and are sometimes very exclusive. The images themselves are always of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. The images of Mary consist of a frame covered by a mantle with only the hands and face showing. She is always under a canopy. The images of Christ show different moments leading up to the crucifixion and after. The processions always start with the float of Christ surrounded by the Nazarenos, which are penitents, and followed by a band that plays a specific, serious march of Semana Santa. The floats are carried on the shoulders of men who stand under it. They can't see where they are going, so there is a person in front of the float called the capataz with a hammer to signal with a different number of strokes to stop, rest, and walk. Following the Christ float is the float for the Virgin. The music for this float is always a lively military march. The penitents that surround the floats as they progress are dressed up in outfits that remind you of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK actually took this idea from the medieval times when believers would don these cloaks when a prayer had been answered. Usually when they asked for something, they would promise to do something in return, like walk to the next village barefoot, and wear these cloaks for anonymity.

Semana Santa is not celebrated the same in every part of Spain. In Cataluña, the celebration is serious, mystical, and silent. Andalucía is the only region in Spain that has such a lively, colorful celebration. Sevilla and Granada are the two best cities to see the celebrations. Every day, there are at least three processions a day in the city. Along with all these cool processions going on, I have another reason to be excited for Semana Santa: no school! This is Spain's spring break, so I have a whole week off from classes! I'm going to London the fifth through the eighth, but the first six days I'm here in Granada to see the festivities. I'm pretty excited for it, except for the fact that I will basically be out of money after London. Kind of wishing I hadn't agreed to go with Amber on this trip because it will be a $600 trip. I could have spent the whole week going to the beach and spent less than $100. Oh well, I guess it will be interesting.



Oh and I now have pictures up for Paris, courtesy of the wonderful photography skills of Emma Putnam!

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