More Thoughts on Study Abroad

After my last post I've been thinking even more about what I will get out of my stay here. Everyone told me that if nothing else I’d appreciate my life at home better. Generally, I think of myself as disillusioned with American society. This hasn’t changed; I still think my country is horribly plagued with huge problems that aren’t going to be mended by a simple change in administration.

Despite this it pisses me off when my roommates make fun of how many illiterate people there are in the US. (I think the reason for this is that there is no word for literate in Spanish so they think that Spain is higher than the US. They study physical education and aren’t Spain’s brightest future scholars. They have had a lot to do with why my experience has not been the greatest.) It still makes me angry when people here talk about stuff they don’t understand – especially when it is something I connect with. I’ve gotten ask if I lost weight here because I don’t eat fast food everyday like they assumed I did at home. In actuality, I gained weight and eat much healthier at home and can exercise without the fear of getting run over.

Connecting back to what I was saying earlier about appreciating my life in the US, I definitely do. My life at home is great. This I guess is a sacrifice people need to make. I’d rather have hot water in the morning than seeing Gaudí’s masterpieces on the way to class. I’ve always valued practicality over looks. I’m still not sure why IES treats us like we are in high school. IES has made me appreciate so much more how smoothly Macalester runs. After only two years, that institution makes up a huge part of how I define myself. I worked for Residential Life and it took coming here to understand why creating a community in the dorm space is so important. I used to complain about how many resources get wasted on international student, but now I really understand that people need to belong… something that I have yet to feel here. Maybe it was because I was here for such a short period of time, or because I didn’t really bond with too many people, or maybe I just came here with the wrong mind set. Whatever Macalester is doing there are doing something right. They can get students from all over the world to fall in love St. Paul, Minnesota, while IES cannot manage to do the same with Barcelona.

I just spent $334 changing my plane ticket home eight days earlier. When booking my flight to Barcelona I planned to stay in Europe for another month after classes ended. Now, I’m dying to get home and everyone is talking about how excited they are to leave, when I still have three weeks in Europe after they all go home. This time should be amazing traveling first with my family and then with high school friends. IES has left such a bad taste in my mouth, I just want to leave. I know I’m incredibly fortunate to have this experience, and I have done a lot of amazing things. An interesting concept is how we relate happiness to the value of an experience. I have learned so much and seen things that I have wanted to see all my life but, on a daily basis, I’m much happier at home. This I think has a lot to do with how big of part relationships play in my life. I hear people talking about leaving a significant other at home, while I can hardly handle a semester without my close friends. Often I’d rather spend the night talking to friends online than going out. This makes me more optimistic about my three weeks of traveling with familiar people after everyone else goes home.

Overall I have learned a lot in Spain, and can better appreciate my life at home. My major is international studies and I wonder what this will all mean. I have spent my college life learning about other places in the world dreaming of getting out of the Midwest and the first time I spent a significant amount of time outside my home state, I feel so disconnected I sometimes can’t stand it. Really, I think the people have a lot more to do with it than the place. I need good strong relationships with people and its takes me longer than four months to create them. I knew this about myself coming going into it, so I came the assumptions that I was going to be a loner for four months. Moreover when I got to IES no one really seemed worth getting know, reinforcing my assumption. The best moments I have in Europe are when I was with either Seva or Mandy.

How will I remember this experience? I’m almost positive one of two things will happen. The first option is that I will regret feeling so out of place, and just didn’t enjoy myself more. The second is that I will only remember the fun I had here and ignore all the anxiety I felt. Nonetheless, I hope I will come out of this experience with something positive that I did not have before, and at the end of the day that is what really matters.

Museum Madness and Random Thoughts on Spain

I the past few weeks I’ve been on a bit of museum kick. Part of the reason is that my free pass expires December seventh. Another reason is that my days in Barcelona are coming to an end and it be unfortunate to miss something. I'm still working on going to an FC Barcelona game, but I'm not sure if that is gonna happen. Leaving should be a little bittersweet, but there isn’t too much I think I’m going to miss about this place.

Let’s see … there is the weather. I am not looking forward to going home to the cold, but snow should be nice. People knew what they were doing when they settled the Mediterranean. I guess that also explains why so many people live in southern California as well. Quality public transportation is really nice, but on the other hand there is something about driving that gives you a sense of control. My roommates are convinced that I’m one of those Americans who thinks the only place worth being in is the US. I try to convince them that Spain is different from Europe in a lot of ways, and being home sick to some extent is legitimate. Moreover, things are just so much easier in the US. Being obsessed with the bottom line has a lot of advantages – primarily customer service. Spaniards work longer hours than other European counties, but are notoriously inefficient. Obviously, I support the welfare state, but that doesn’t mean that you need to go to the hospital the day you have a cough. I have heard people say that they go to the doctor as a “pasa tiempo.” Compared to the rest of Europe the welfare state is relatively new and Spaniards are still getting use how to use these services properly.

My RA and I have bounded in recent weeks, because my roommates have been pissing me off. He is really well informed in global issues and is also quite critical of the Spanish government. He has taught me a lot about his country from his own biased standpoint. He always says “Europa acaba en los Pirineos” or “Europe ends at the Pyrenees.” Thanks to the thirty plus year dictatorship, this is still true even despite incredibly rapid modernization funded by the north. I’m really looking forward to seeing northern Europe and how it differs from Spain. Don’t get me wrong; Spain is good; it just is in a really precarious position compared to the rest of Europe - especially now that is not the poorest part of the EU. Every day, I see how this country has no idea how to deal with the ridiculously high rate of immigration, because it has never had it before. Basically, what I’m getting at is that is summed up well by another Spanish idiom – “España es diferente.” I feel like my option of Europe might be more meaningful than that of other Americans, because, if you are reading this you probably know, I’m quite critical of the US, and just about everything else as well. Well, that is enough rambling for now.

Back to what I intended to write about: the museums. Since I last wrote I went to four museums/galleries. The first was the Fundació Antoni Tàpies – a gallery designated to the Barcelona’s own (along with Joan Miro) superstar in contemporary art. I’m not a huge fan of this style but it was interesting to see the photography exposition by Bahman Jalali, an Iranian who documented Iranian history, through photography, focusing on the Revolution.

Next was the Dalí museum in Figueres, the artist’s hometown. It meant taking an hour and a half train ride outside the city. It was nice to see a small Catalonian city and get out of the hustle and bustle of the big city. The museum itself was crazy because as you may have guess, it was designed by the loco himself. The artwork was awe-inspiring, but his most famous works are scattered around the world.

Then we have the MACBA or Barcelona’s contemporary art museum. There were three exhibits. The first one on the suggested itinerary was by far the best. It recounted how during the Second World War, the modern art capital of the world moved from across the Atlantic from Paris to New York. The exhibit did an excellent job of mixing European and North American works to show the devastation of the war, as well as the somber state that followed. The other exposition focused on New York based performance artist: Joan Jonas. I didn’t get it, but talked a Spanish art major who felt the same way and said that even he needed to do a lot of background research in order to appreciate it. I pretty much felt the same way about the permanent exhibit and felt like it was lacking any type of theme or organization – but as an IS major what do I know.

The last of them was the National Museum of Catalan Art. This is a huge, gorgeous building that has been immaculately well maintained. It argues having over 1000 years of art, but as the name implies, only really has Catalonian art. It was interesting, but way too much to see in one day. This was really my only encounter with pre-Renaissance art, besides quickly glazing over some at the Louvre.

I am probably going to take a break from art museums for a while. This way I will be reinvigorated to see the Prado and Reina Sofía in Madrid. On the other hand it is the last free day at the Museum of the City before I leave so I’m probably going to head to that this afternoon. I has has excavated Roman ruins that lie under the city.

As a closing note, opposed to Mac my finals are pretty test based this semester. I have two papers left – both of which are well on their way. But after that, I have five exams in a week. I haven’t done that since high school. I don’t think that they will be difficult, but five is a lot. There is still no doubt that there it is nothing compared to what I’m used to at Macalester, but I’m still not looking forward to it and am not quite sure how to really prepare for it. On that note, good luck to you all on your finals and papers as the semester winds down. I hear it is suppose to snow today in Minnesota and I want to see pictures. Keep up the good work, only three weeks left.