mi vida en españa

Hola hola, que tal todos? Time is flying by here in Madrid... I've been so busy! My dad and Terri have been here for almost a week now - I have had a great time showing them around the city. It's a lot of fun being able to show people what I've been falling in love with for the past couple months... we've done a lot of touristy things, but also have just been walking around and seeing different neighborhoods. I took them to meet my señora, which was a lot of fun. She doesn't know any english, so it was mostly me translating. Terri knows a bit of Spanish, so she was able to talk to my señora about how she had made the apple dessert for us :) It has also been nice having them here because we've been able to go out and try some restaurants! I'm not much help because I haven't been out to eat much, but it has been a lot of fun to go out and try some places. We've found a few really great places (with vegetarian options!) It's also been good timing to have them here because I was just starting to get a bit homesick, so to have some people I care about here is nice :)

My classes are all going great - I have two midterms next week, but they shouldn't be too bad. I'm starting to think about what to do for the few final papers that I have to do. One of them is going to be comparing the syntax of "The Little Prince" in Spanish and English, which has been fun to work on because I just love that story. Another is for my class on Islam in Spain, and I'm thinking on writing it about the concept of cleanliness and purity in Islam compared to in Christianity. My third paper is going to be about some work of art in the Prado art museum. I'm still not sure which I'm going to do, but I'm thinking about doing Velázquez's Las Meninas, and then focusing on how Picasso did a whole series of his own versions of it. We'll see what ends up happening!

My dad, Terri and I are heading to Barcelona this weekend! I went a bit ago with friends from my program and absolutely fell in love with the city. It is a very modern place with a young vibe, yet still a rich history. Barcelona is the center of Catalunya, the north-east region of Spain that is a quite different culture. The Catalans don't typically identify with Spanish culture - there is no bull fighting or flamenco dancing there. It all brings up interesting thoughts (or heated discussions) about a people belonging to a nation that they do not identify with... there is some talk of trying to secede from Spain, but who knows how realistic that is. It was quite interesting though to learn about the history of Catalunya's fight against Franco (and what he represented) - and also about the long history of the football rivalry FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. I'm looking forward to going back to try to learn a bit more.

Barcelona was the home of Picasso and Antoní Gaudí, a modernist architect. His famous building La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral still in construction, is right in Barcelona. You should look up pictures of it - it is just crazy. Construction of the cathedral started around 1880, and they're expecting to finish in 15 or 20 years. Although there are some strange details in the sculptures (like bunches of fruit), I loved the use of geometric forms and creative lighting. One really neat thing is that on one of the [three] facades, there are sculptures of saints surrounding the entrance (like a typical big cathedral) except the sculptures are done in cubist style. It was all really neat to take in - and to think that this is a building that has been in construction since far before WWI... since when the light bulb was invented! Apparently, construction workers will go work on La Sagrada Familia for a few years before retirement. The whole project is funded by the money that they make from tourists... hopefully this weekend we can continue to fund the project and see it again!

I went to the Picasso Museum also, which has thousands of works (donated by him) from his early career. I'm becoming more and more interested in art history, especially learning about the careers of artists. I really like museums of just one artist so that you can see his/her evolution and how the art has changed with the times. My other favorite part of Barcelona was the BEACH. Early Sunday morning, I woke up and walked down to the beach to watch the sun rise over the Mediterranean. This was one of the most peaceful sights that I have seen in the past 2 months... Just thinking that this is the Mediterranean Sea that I've learned about so many times, that Odysseus sailed on, that borders Egypt. I LOVE all of the history I feel everywhere I am here!

Feeling so connected to the history of this continent is great, but also makes me sad that I am not connected to the history of my land. Sure, I would say that I am to the east coast and the south, but not as much to the history of Minnesota. A lot of that is due to the fact that I hardly learned anything in school about the native Americans who lived there before the northern Europeans arrived. This is making me really wanted to take a class in the American Indian department next year - I should be able to fit it in! Speaking of classes, I have to start thinking about what I'm taking next fall! I'll register in a few weeks here. I have a flexible schedule next year, and basically have a list of about 10 classes that I really want to take. I can take 2 or 3 electives each semester, which is great... but I also am thinking I may want to only take 4 classes in the fall to be less stressed out and to be able to enjoy being back in Madison (as well as try to figure out my life after graduation..ah.) As for this summer, I'm still hoping to go to Uganda, but am waiting now to hear back from the EDGE Project on dates of travel and on more details with the missionaries who receive us on the island. Ideally, I will leave Spain around June 24 or 25, go to Uganda for 30 days, and then head back to the States around July 25. I'm thinking of trying to fly into Chicago first to see Sylvia, who will be working there for the summer. I then will have a few weeks off before moving into my apartment in Madison, but I have a feeling they will be filled with things such as camping, spending time at Tim/Tara/Addie's, or going to my friend Gunnar's cabin. Anyways, at this rate, the summer is going to come before I know it!

With my dad and Terri here, I've realized that there are some cultural differences that stick out quite quickly that I may not have noted on my blog yet. One of them is smoking cigarettes... I swear at least half of the people I know here smoke. It is now illegal to smoke in the metro and the busses, but people still smoke in restaurants, in the university buildings and of course in the bars. A few weeks ago I saw a girl who must have been 12 or 13 walking with her mom... and the girl was smoking. Imagine how different a society must be for a 13-year-old to be smoking a cigarette in public while hanging out with her mom. The cigarette packs here say in large type "Fumar puede matar," which is literally "smoking can kill." One other cultural difference which I am not too fond of is PDA - public displays of affection. It seems that in almost any public place, it is acceptable for a couple to constantly kiss - and passionately. The craziest thing for me is riding the metro at night and seeing couples who must be at least 50 years old just making out like there wasn't anybody else around... like they weren't in the dirty metro stop, haha. I recently made a list of other cultural observations that I'm going to start including in my blog to help give you a sense of the daily things that I see.

Everything is going great for me... I really love my apartment, I'm feeling confident about my Spanish, and the weather is finally getting better! I had a really good Spanish day today - I have my on-days and my off-days, but the on-days are becoming more frequent. Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's day, so I'm going to an Irish Pub with my intercambio and her friends - a good chance for me to help them with their English :) Other than that, there are a few more things I want to show my dad and Terri before we head off to Barcelona for the weekend. They leave next Tuesday, and then I leave for Italy next Thursday! I will update before then to let you know more details about what I will be doing in Italy. As you may have noticed, I hardly ever post any pictures - and that is because I am so bad at taking them. I always try to take pictures and so I bring my camera, but then the few that I do end up taking just don't really fit with what I've seen. Luckily, I can easily access photos that my friends have taken, it is just a matter of downloading and compiling them so that I have them myself.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Love, Bonnie