Hey all,
So this past week a tragic thing happened, not. The television in my host families living room broke. Now to give you some background this TV was 20 years old. I had to get up to turn it on and off, to change the channels, and to turn the volume up. So yes mom I guess I learned what is like to get up to do all of the above. This morning a brand spaken new television was delivered a 26 inch Samsung HD TV. They hooked it up and weren't sure why they went from 6 channels to about 50. The wonders of modernization. I explained as well as I have access now to shows like Recess (ONE SATURDAY MORNING) in Spanish!
The more interesting bigger picture of this is the truly lack of care when it comes 'keeping up with the Jones'. Although my family was by far the worst out of all my friends here, no one had big flat HD televisions like in the United States. No one needs to have that brand or mark on their shirt. If you life with your family is happy that is all that seems to matter. It is interesting to see and I have come accustomed to while I have been in Spain and will most likely hit me quick the differences once I get home in exactly a month from today. Here are a few other things that I am come to find interesting.
Waste- They recycle everything. It is normal and isn't the 'tree huggers' who recycle here. Young, old, male, female, liberals, and right wingers all recycle. It is normal. In the supermarkets they almost always expect that you have your own bags with you that a reusable so you need to specifically ask for a plastic bag if you need one. But watch out if you do, you will most likely be charged and only given one or two! We think in the United States ideas like charging for bags (Ikea) and banning plastic bags (San Francisco) is strange, it is just normal here.
Los Chinos- I know how incredibly racist and weird this is but it is just normal here. The Asian populations have stores all throughout the area and most of them they call themselves the 'Tienda de chinos'. What it is, is really a store of everything made in China. Cheap is all I have to say. It is very much like a dollar store but sometimes a little more and a Euro but always cheap quality. I will miss them, but I most likely shouldn't considering my 2 euro umbrella just lasted me 1 rainstorm before breaking.
As for this weekend, tomorrow is Labor day and therefore a national holiday. My hope is that it eventually stops raining and warms up this weekend so I can head to the beach. We shall see. Have a good weekend all!
Luego!
Erika
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Basque Country
Hey all,
I just got back from my two day journey to the Basque country. We went to both San Sebastián and Bilbao. I feel like the only thing people in the United States know about the Basque people, if anything is their head terrorist group the ETA and their movement for separation from the rest of Spain. Yes that is true and the reason for their wanting separation is the Basque people have been unified for much longer than Spain, they have a set of laws and rules called fueros and believe nothing should be above those. Unfortunately Spanish law rules over their fueros which upsets most true blood Basque people. Although many locals wish they had some autonomy from Madrid and the national government really very, very few agree with much the ETA stands for.
The Basque people have 7 territories, 4 of them are in Spain, the others are located in France. Their language is called Euskara, it is actually one of 3 languages in the world that no one can find a root from which it came from, it has been spoken since Neolithic times. It is virtually impossible to learn and is considered a sense of local identity if you can speak Euskara. The pure blood Basque men are so proud of their heritage, many of them wear a beret to signify their full blood basque men. They have a union jack style flag that is green, red and white. Two famous Jesuit Saints are actually from Basque, St. Francis Xavier (yes which is where the University name comes from) and St. Ignatius of Loyola (which is also a University).
A fact I thought was interesting was most history books teach that Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the world, in reality he was killed half way through the journey, but a Basque man by the name of Juan Sabastán took over the boat and finished the journey.
We started yesterday in San Sabastián (Donostia in Euskara) we had the day to ourselves walking through the old part of the town. The city is really a beautiful beach town on the Atlantic Ocean. We climbed a mountain that outcrops into the ocean with a castle and of course, Jesus at the top. It was an incredible view from the top of the coast line and the city itself. Dinner was in a cider making place out in the country off of the city. We got a chance to try all the different ciders they make, although better than Asturias, I still don't like it. The food was amazing, steak, tortillas (egg, cod, and, potato), blood sausage and more!
Today we headed to Bilbao, walked around the Guggenheim which the building is incredible. It was built in 1997 so it is all crazy modern architecture and many people say more interesting that what is inside most of the time. For you Bond fans it is the building where the whole first sequence takes place in the last movie. We then walked around the old part of town, which is not very big and had some lunch at a local place and headed back to Oviedo.
Learning about the Basque people was definitely interesting and most at dinner last night honestly just wanted us to understand the real them and not the over glorified, what we see on television, ETA. It was nice to see there is more to the people and the place than their separation movement.
Adios!
Erika
I just got back from my two day journey to the Basque country. We went to both San Sebastián and Bilbao. I feel like the only thing people in the United States know about the Basque people, if anything is their head terrorist group the ETA and their movement for separation from the rest of Spain. Yes that is true and the reason for their wanting separation is the Basque people have been unified for much longer than Spain, they have a set of laws and rules called fueros and believe nothing should be above those. Unfortunately Spanish law rules over their fueros which upsets most true blood Basque people. Although many locals wish they had some autonomy from Madrid and the national government really very, very few agree with much the ETA stands for.
The Basque people have 7 territories, 4 of them are in Spain, the others are located in France. Their language is called Euskara, it is actually one of 3 languages in the world that no one can find a root from which it came from, it has been spoken since Neolithic times. It is virtually impossible to learn and is considered a sense of local identity if you can speak Euskara. The pure blood Basque men are so proud of their heritage, many of them wear a beret to signify their full blood basque men. They have a union jack style flag that is green, red and white. Two famous Jesuit Saints are actually from Basque, St. Francis Xavier (yes which is where the University name comes from) and St. Ignatius of Loyola (which is also a University).
A fact I thought was interesting was most history books teach that Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the world, in reality he was killed half way through the journey, but a Basque man by the name of Juan Sabastán took over the boat and finished the journey.
We started yesterday in San Sabastián (Donostia in Euskara) we had the day to ourselves walking through the old part of the town. The city is really a beautiful beach town on the Atlantic Ocean. We climbed a mountain that outcrops into the ocean with a castle and of course, Jesus at the top. It was an incredible view from the top of the coast line and the city itself. Dinner was in a cider making place out in the country off of the city. We got a chance to try all the different ciders they make, although better than Asturias, I still don't like it. The food was amazing, steak, tortillas (egg, cod, and, potato), blood sausage and more!
Today we headed to Bilbao, walked around the Guggenheim which the building is incredible. It was built in 1997 so it is all crazy modern architecture and many people say more interesting that what is inside most of the time. For you Bond fans it is the building where the whole first sequence takes place in the last movie. We then walked around the old part of town, which is not very big and had some lunch at a local place and headed back to Oviedo.
Learning about the Basque people was definitely interesting and most at dinner last night honestly just wanted us to understand the real them and not the over glorified, what we see on television, ETA. It was nice to see there is more to the people and the place than their separation movement.
Adios!
Erika
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
La Nueva España
¡Hola todos!
Today as part of Culture week the journalism group took a trip to La Nueva España headquarters here in Oviedo. Our personal tour guide was the director of the overall group that owns both the newspaper and the publisher of books and other various things. After watching a video of the basic 101 of journalism and how they do things we got the opportunity to walk on the news room floor and walk around. Just a few interesting thoughts from the opportunity.
*They have the front covers of important editions hung up on one wall. There was 6 of them up on the wall. I was surprised they were missing the day Spain won the World Cup but what surprised me more was 2 of the 6 covers were American news stories, that were of global importance. They were the cover from Sept. 12th 2001 and the cover from the day Bush entered Afghanistan.
*A journalism student asked the director if journalism and newspapers here in Spain were dying similar to their counterparts in the United States. After much explanation we realized how far behind on the internet age Spain really is. He explained the internet has not negatively effected the business so far as people who want to read the news go to his website instead of buying the paper and their are paid advertisements on the website. Just wait a few more years, let everyone here become just as addicted to the internet as Americans have become, it will hit eventually.
*The papers they produce are made of 90% recycled paper! Yeah for Spain being so environmentally aware!
For photography today I walked through the park and shot some photographs on our nature theme. Tomorrow during class time to go shoot I think I am going to head to the beach. Figures but everyone else is going to the countryside so why not, it will not be the first time I have walked around the beach taking pictures, but it will be a first with my zoom lens!
Friday as a Temple group we are all going to Basque Country for a two day trip!
Adios for now!
-Erika
p.s.- 1 month till my 21st birthday! Not that it matters at all since the drinking age here might as well be 5.
Today as part of Culture week the journalism group took a trip to La Nueva España headquarters here in Oviedo. Our personal tour guide was the director of the overall group that owns both the newspaper and the publisher of books and other various things. After watching a video of the basic 101 of journalism and how they do things we got the opportunity to walk on the news room floor and walk around. Just a few interesting thoughts from the opportunity.
*They have the front covers of important editions hung up on one wall. There was 6 of them up on the wall. I was surprised they were missing the day Spain won the World Cup but what surprised me more was 2 of the 6 covers were American news stories, that were of global importance. They were the cover from Sept. 12th 2001 and the cover from the day Bush entered Afghanistan.
*A journalism student asked the director if journalism and newspapers here in Spain were dying similar to their counterparts in the United States. After much explanation we realized how far behind on the internet age Spain really is. He explained the internet has not negatively effected the business so far as people who want to read the news go to his website instead of buying the paper and their are paid advertisements on the website. Just wait a few more years, let everyone here become just as addicted to the internet as Americans have become, it will hit eventually.
*The papers they produce are made of 90% recycled paper! Yeah for Spain being so environmentally aware!
For photography today I walked through the park and shot some photographs on our nature theme. Tomorrow during class time to go shoot I think I am going to head to the beach. Figures but everyone else is going to the countryside so why not, it will not be the first time I have walked around the beach taking pictures, but it will be a first with my zoom lens!
Friday as a Temple group we are all going to Basque Country for a two day trip!
Adios for now!
-Erika
p.s.- 1 month till my 21st birthday! Not that it matters at all since the drinking age here might as well be 5.
Monday, April 20, 2009
a weekend of NOTHING
Hey all,
I am happy to report I did absolutely nothing this weekend. I sat in the apartment all weekend and happily slept in and relaxed. I know that sounds boring but considering for how long I have been on the move traveling for weekends it was wonderful. This week I don't have regular classes, it is actually 'Culture week'. We were able to choose/ be assigned two classes to take. Some of them being Video making, Dance, Theater, Photography, Photo Journalism,and Journalism. It should not be a surprise to anyone that I picked photography but my other choice I was left with was Journalism. It will be interesting because La Nueva España a major newspaper in Spain is actually based in Oviedo and we are getting the opportunity to go into their headquarters on Wednesday. I will let you know how Culture week goes and our presentation ceremony on Monday, but at the meantime it is 2am and I have class at 9am! Off to bed I go!
Adios!
I am happy to report I did absolutely nothing this weekend. I sat in the apartment all weekend and happily slept in and relaxed. I know that sounds boring but considering for how long I have been on the move traveling for weekends it was wonderful. This week I don't have regular classes, it is actually 'Culture week'. We were able to choose/ be assigned two classes to take. Some of them being Video making, Dance, Theater, Photography, Photo Journalism,and Journalism. It should not be a surprise to anyone that I picked photography but my other choice I was left with was Journalism. It will be interesting because La Nueva España a major newspaper in Spain is actually based in Oviedo and we are getting the opportunity to go into their headquarters on Wednesday. I will let you know how Culture week goes and our presentation ceremony on Monday, but at the meantime it is 2am and I have class at 9am! Off to bed I go!
Adios!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
IM HOME (kinda)
Hey all,
Sorry it has been an extremely long time since I last updated the blog. I just got back this morning from London and the rest of spring break. I had a total blast but my body really does not mind being back in Spain and being able to relax a little. I am going to update you as much as I can on Spring break a lot happened so I will try to remember as much as I can.
Budapest-post update
We ran into a huge political protest on day 2 of being there and of course no one spoke English to tell us what was going on. After a little research it turns out their Prime Minister about a year and a half ago admitted (while secretly being recorded) that his whole administration has lied to the public about almost everything. The public of course was not happy, and he the charmer he is did not apologize, but just told the public, all politicians do it all over the world. I am sure that made them feel better. He is finally stepping down from his position now not because of this reason but because he does not want his name tarnished with Hungrys failing economy that he helped send down the drain. They want a new leader, anybody with a brain it seems. I can't blame them for that.
Our last day in Budapest we decided to do as the locals do and go to a old Roman Thermal Bath. The thermal baths are natural water with a special chemical composition that comes out of the ground and different temperatures ranging from burning hot to freezing cold. We went in hung out in the many pools, saunas, and outdoor pools. Talk about a relaxing end of our stay in Budapest.
Berlin-
So I won't lie I had some preconceived curiosity of Germany before I got there. A little background information, here in Spain it is semi-normal when you see graffiti for it to be Nazi related or fascist related, over time I have noticed the same in Italy. I was wondering honestly if there would still be that strong idea in Germany, I came to realize that most there realize they went too far and our very proud of their democratic government now-a-days. Plus drawing a symbol of that sort,doing the salute or anything related can land you in a German prison for up to 2 years.
Anyways, Berlin itself is a very young city people wise. It seems to me that many people left after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and now the city has a huge influx of immigrants and young students and post graduates from all over the wall. The city is so reasonably cheap which is understandable why so many people have flocked there. Most of the buildings are very young since the destruction from the wars and the areas where the walls once stood are only finally being built back up again. Speaking of the walls, I was disappointed but then again couldn't blame the people, there is really almost nothing left of the Berlin wall and what is left now is protected by the government as a reminder of what once happened there.
We also decided to take a day trip outside of Berlin to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was completely heart breaking to see what is left of this camp to walk around it and to hear about the history of the camp. Although, I am honestly glad I did it. It was a complete educational experience and I really learned a lot. To be honest I have not one picture of the entire day. For those of you who know me and the almost 500 pictures I took over spring break it was an interesting thing for me not to take out my camera. I honestly felt the same as people who take pictures of Ground Zero in New York.
The last day in Berlin I wondered around the city on my own. I got to see the Olympic stadium where not only the Olympics took place but also the 2006 World Cup (the world famous head-butt) but more importantly Italys World Championship. I got to go into the Reichstag or the equivalent of the German congress and look down on the seats of their representatives. I also saw Check point Charlie although not the original, but more importantly next door the old cafe where Ian Fleming sat and wrote day after day spying on the spies and writing the Bond series!
Finally off to London!
First off it was a weird experience being in a country where everyone spoke English. In fact it was so weird we kept responding to people in Spanish. Who knows what I am going to do when I am back in the USA, at least in NY I can go to the supermarket and find someone to speak Spanish too! We did all the super touristy things, Big Ben, Shakespeare's Globe, Harrods! ect. Since it has only been almost 6 months since I was last in London most of it was not new to me, but I have fun showing the city off to Mary who had never been there. My highlight of it all was Easter Sunday. I decided to go to church at Westminster Abbey. I will admit, I figured to see hats, all I found were tourists. I would also like to know where the hats on Easter idea came from, because the locals all thought it was weird when I asked about the Queens Easter hat. I will tell you I walked around all day on Sunday and saw no Easter bonnets. Sad I know.
So I am currently back in Spain there is only a month and a half left of my time here. Although I would have loved to see more of Europe and keep going my feet and legs are beyond glad to be back here and relax this weekend. This will be the first weekend in 5 straight weeks that I can sleep in and I am not traveling. As for pictures of this trip, I promise I will get them up soon enough, like I said I have about 500 from the past 10 days that I need to sort through and upload as well as pictures from Barcelona I still need to upload.
Adios for now!
-Erika
Sorry it has been an extremely long time since I last updated the blog. I just got back this morning from London and the rest of spring break. I had a total blast but my body really does not mind being back in Spain and being able to relax a little. I am going to update you as much as I can on Spring break a lot happened so I will try to remember as much as I can.
Budapest-post update
We ran into a huge political protest on day 2 of being there and of course no one spoke English to tell us what was going on. After a little research it turns out their Prime Minister about a year and a half ago admitted (while secretly being recorded) that his whole administration has lied to the public about almost everything. The public of course was not happy, and he the charmer he is did not apologize, but just told the public, all politicians do it all over the world. I am sure that made them feel better. He is finally stepping down from his position now not because of this reason but because he does not want his name tarnished with Hungrys failing economy that he helped send down the drain. They want a new leader, anybody with a brain it seems. I can't blame them for that.
Our last day in Budapest we decided to do as the locals do and go to a old Roman Thermal Bath. The thermal baths are natural water with a special chemical composition that comes out of the ground and different temperatures ranging from burning hot to freezing cold. We went in hung out in the many pools, saunas, and outdoor pools. Talk about a relaxing end of our stay in Budapest.
Berlin-
So I won't lie I had some preconceived curiosity of Germany before I got there. A little background information, here in Spain it is semi-normal when you see graffiti for it to be Nazi related or fascist related, over time I have noticed the same in Italy. I was wondering honestly if there would still be that strong idea in Germany, I came to realize that most there realize they went too far and our very proud of their democratic government now-a-days. Plus drawing a symbol of that sort,doing the salute or anything related can land you in a German prison for up to 2 years.
Anyways, Berlin itself is a very young city people wise. It seems to me that many people left after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and now the city has a huge influx of immigrants and young students and post graduates from all over the wall. The city is so reasonably cheap which is understandable why so many people have flocked there. Most of the buildings are very young since the destruction from the wars and the areas where the walls once stood are only finally being built back up again. Speaking of the walls, I was disappointed but then again couldn't blame the people, there is really almost nothing left of the Berlin wall and what is left now is protected by the government as a reminder of what once happened there.
We also decided to take a day trip outside of Berlin to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was completely heart breaking to see what is left of this camp to walk around it and to hear about the history of the camp. Although, I am honestly glad I did it. It was a complete educational experience and I really learned a lot. To be honest I have not one picture of the entire day. For those of you who know me and the almost 500 pictures I took over spring break it was an interesting thing for me not to take out my camera. I honestly felt the same as people who take pictures of Ground Zero in New York.
The last day in Berlin I wondered around the city on my own. I got to see the Olympic stadium where not only the Olympics took place but also the 2006 World Cup (the world famous head-butt) but more importantly Italys World Championship. I got to go into the Reichstag or the equivalent of the German congress and look down on the seats of their representatives. I also saw Check point Charlie although not the original, but more importantly next door the old cafe where Ian Fleming sat and wrote day after day spying on the spies and writing the Bond series!
Finally off to London!
First off it was a weird experience being in a country where everyone spoke English. In fact it was so weird we kept responding to people in Spanish. Who knows what I am going to do when I am back in the USA, at least in NY I can go to the supermarket and find someone to speak Spanish too! We did all the super touristy things, Big Ben, Shakespeare's Globe, Harrods! ect. Since it has only been almost 6 months since I was last in London most of it was not new to me, but I have fun showing the city off to Mary who had never been there. My highlight of it all was Easter Sunday. I decided to go to church at Westminster Abbey. I will admit, I figured to see hats, all I found were tourists. I would also like to know where the hats on Easter idea came from, because the locals all thought it was weird when I asked about the Queens Easter hat. I will tell you I walked around all day on Sunday and saw no Easter bonnets. Sad I know.
So I am currently back in Spain there is only a month and a half left of my time here. Although I would have loved to see more of Europe and keep going my feet and legs are beyond glad to be back here and relax this weekend. This will be the first weekend in 5 straight weeks that I can sleep in and I am not traveling. As for pictures of this trip, I promise I will get them up soon enough, like I said I have about 500 from the past 10 days that I need to sort through and upload as well as pictures from Barcelona I still need to upload.
Adios for now!
-Erika
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Budapest
Hey all,
I am currently in Budapest. Sorry for the extremely long delay in updating, my internet was sporadic. Yesterday our first day in Budapest. The city is two different parts being, Buda and Pest. Yesterday we explored the castle (one of the most recognized things in Budapest) the old bridge and other things on the Buda side.
The money is taking us forever to figure out and we as most of the Americans here have decided its monopoly money and we have no idea what we are spending. Thank goodness overall Budapest is cheap so even if they rip you off it is still reasonable. The exchange rate is about 300 forints to 1 US dollar. This means we end up walking around with bills that are like 10,000 or 20,000 forints. So interesting. Yesterday a full lunch cost the 3 of us together the equivalent of about 15 USD for a sandwich drinks and all that in the middle of a high tourist area.
That is all for now. I will update soon.
With Love from Pest,
Erika
I am currently in Budapest. Sorry for the extremely long delay in updating, my internet was sporadic. Yesterday our first day in Budapest. The city is two different parts being, Buda and Pest. Yesterday we explored the castle (one of the most recognized things in Budapest) the old bridge and other things on the Buda side.
The money is taking us forever to figure out and we as most of the Americans here have decided its monopoly money and we have no idea what we are spending. Thank goodness overall Budapest is cheap so even if they rip you off it is still reasonable. The exchange rate is about 300 forints to 1 US dollar. This means we end up walking around with bills that are like 10,000 or 20,000 forints. So interesting. Yesterday a full lunch cost the 3 of us together the equivalent of about 15 USD for a sandwich drinks and all that in the middle of a high tourist area.
That is all for now. I will update soon.
With Love from Pest,
Erika
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