Day Eleven

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Time is just getting shorter and shorter and today is basically my last day with the group and Cesar and Jennifer. It’s a little depressing when I think about it. To some extent this is like my home from home. I really don’t want to leave.

Today we started the day off by going to the Renia Sofia, the modern art museum. At first I did not really care to go to another museum after seeing a great one such as the Prado. In addition, on our itineraries it said free morning so I was a little upset. My mood quickly changed after two reasons. One, we could take pictures of the art, that is always a bonus and two Pablo Picasso was a prime artist there. It is so cool to have pictures of the great Picassos work on my camera. I know that may sound somewhat corny, but seriously how people have ever seen, let alone have a picture of his real work. The modern paintings were interesting with each different outlook on how to express oneself through the art. I really did not have a favorite in this museum, but there was one piece of art that was quite funny. It was like a figurine of a woman giving oral sex to man. When I saw that I was dying laughing. I think myself and the group enjoyed our time at the museum and it was nice to have our same tour guide again.

Later on we attended a lecture by Dale Fuchs. She is a journalist for the NY times and foreign correspondent for a UK paper. Her lecture was on the struggles and structure of being a foreign correspondent. The first thing she told us was when you are a foreign correspondent you cover everything in the area you are designated. Dale has all of Spain and Portugal. That is a lot for one person. It made a lot of sense though when she told us that you have to “cheat”. What she meant by this was that you have to the newspapers, news and other local sources to get the news you want or need. Her job seemed very hard and I do not know if I could handle what she does, including the fact that she is a parent. She might have been Super Women in disguise. Her job seemed really cool though as well. As a correspondent you have to decide what is newsworthy for the people that are reading your stories back at home. If I were to make a story for home to catch the reader’s attention about Spain, I would do a article on either the Pope coming to Spain in August or the national Economic crises. Many times Americans don’t realize how hard the economy has hit the world. Young people in Spain are struggling to get jobs. It is not that easy. I think a story like that would not only open Americans hearts, but their minds as well.

After our meeting we all headed, the group, Cesar, Jennifer and their kids, to a wine tasting and tapas. I was thinking this was going to be amazing, but honestly it was average. The only reason I said that is because all the food we had at dinner, I had throughout the trip, so it was of nothing new to me. The wine was delicious on the other side. After Spain, I have really got a taste for wine now. It is just a perfect asset to a meal. We all had a good time and afterwards Cesar and few of us went out for a drink and talked about communications a little bit. Not just saying this because he is my professor, but Cesar is one of the broadest viewed people I know. He looks at the entire world and tries to understand where we all come from in every aspect. That is what makes him such a great professor. He wants to form those bonds between his students and him and he does that with ease because he strives for it. But I am about to hit the hay, so I will talk to you for the last time tomorrow. That just sounds so weird. Eh, I am sad to be leaving.

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