Saturday, January 31, 2009
Reflectados d'Espanya
Sorry I haven't written anything in the last week, I've been staying pretty busy. The highlight of my week was going to the FC Barcelona game at Camp Nou. It was a religious experience for sure. I forgot my camera, but my roommate took a bunch of pictures, so I'm gonna get them from him and put up a post all about it later. For now, though, I'm going to write about some Exciting Culturual Learning Experiences and Observations. You know, the kind of stuff my parents think I had damn well better get out of this trip if they're going to be paying for it.
I went to see one of my spanish friends, Mark, play a concert with his band last night. The style is kind of hard to describe, the best way I can put it is as a Rumba/Ska hybrid. You absolutely could not listen to this music and not dance. All the lyrics were in catalan (Hola Nuria!), but I couldn't make out too much of it. I think I might like music even more when the lyrics are in a foreign language and I can't entirely understand them. It allows me to focus less on what's being said and more on the emotions invoked by the tonality and music itself. I really love the feel of spanish guitar. Speaking of which, Mark has graciously agreed to meet up with me sometime soon to teach me some of the basics of spanish rumba guitar, which I'm incredibly excited about.
After the concert was over, my roommate went to the bar with our spanish friend Maria, and some of her friends. We had quite the diverse group: Josh and I, the americans, Dave, an Irish guy, a Canadian girl named Chantal, and Maria and her spanish friends Klaudia and Ivan. I had a great time drinking a couple beers and talking about everything from (a lot) of music to martial arts to science and the existence of God. I'm so overjoyed that I'm getting to hang out with people from different cultures here. Getting schlitzed with other Americans is fun and all, but if that's all I wanted, why even come to Barcelona? So far, every aspect of this trip is an absolute dream come true and I couldn't be happier here.
I've also been working on learning my subjunctive verbs this week. The subjunctive is a verb tense notoriously difficult for gringos such as myself to learn, because there's really not much of an equivalent in english. The only example I can think of is when we say "I wish I were..." instead of "I wish I was...". You use the subjunctive to express opinions, wishes, desires, etc, but there's a little more to it than that. Like I said, its hard to explain, but you use it for things that are hypothetical or only touchable in your mind. My catalan teacher told me that to learn a language is to also learn a culture. I.e. the nuances of a language are a direct product of the culture that speaks it. I finally figured out what she was talking about today while I was eating lunch with my host mom.
My "mom" has a Ph.d. in spanish language/literature, so she has the grammar down perfectly and loves giving me little lessons at the house. We were discussing the subjunctive when I had my "revelation". The subjunctive tense reflects the openness and directness of spanish people. My experiences with spaniards have shown me that they are very straightforward people. They are not afraid to express their opinions and let you know what they are honestly thinking. As such, the subjunctive tense reflects their desire for their intentions to be known and easily understood. It is a simple, albeit difficult for foreigners, way to distinguish between the way things are, and the way things might be. It doesn't sound like much, I'm sure, but it was a moment of understanding that made me very happy.
On a related note, its really amazing to me how much better my spanish has gotten in the 10 or so days since I've been here. I'm having to think a lot less before I speak, and common topics of conversation and phrases are becoming almost second nature for me. For example, I no longer have to consider whether I want to say "dije que" (I said) or "dijo que" (he/she said). I can even understand the spanish news on TV more or less now, which is thrilling, because it sounded like complete gibberish the first week I was here. Anyway, that's enough
I went to see one of my spanish friends, Mark, play a concert with his band last night. The style is kind of hard to describe, the best way I can put it is as a Rumba/Ska hybrid. You absolutely could not listen to this music and not dance. All the lyrics were in catalan (Hola Nuria!), but I couldn't make out too much of it. I think I might like music even more when the lyrics are in a foreign language and I can't entirely understand them. It allows me to focus less on what's being said and more on the emotions invoked by the tonality and music itself. I really love the feel of spanish guitar. Speaking of which, Mark has graciously agreed to meet up with me sometime soon to teach me some of the basics of spanish rumba guitar, which I'm incredibly excited about.
After the concert was over, my roommate went to the bar with our spanish friend Maria, and some of her friends. We had quite the diverse group: Josh and I, the americans, Dave, an Irish guy, a Canadian girl named Chantal, and Maria and her spanish friends Klaudia and Ivan. I had a great time drinking a couple beers and talking about everything from (a lot) of music to martial arts to science and the existence of God. I'm so overjoyed that I'm getting to hang out with people from different cultures here. Getting schlitzed with other Americans is fun and all, but if that's all I wanted, why even come to Barcelona? So far, every aspect of this trip is an absolute dream come true and I couldn't be happier here.
I've also been working on learning my subjunctive verbs this week. The subjunctive is a verb tense notoriously difficult for gringos such as myself to learn, because there's really not much of an equivalent in english. The only example I can think of is when we say "I wish I were..." instead of "I wish I was...". You use the subjunctive to express opinions, wishes, desires, etc, but there's a little more to it than that. Like I said, its hard to explain, but you use it for things that are hypothetical or only touchable in your mind. My catalan teacher told me that to learn a language is to also learn a culture. I.e. the nuances of a language are a direct product of the culture that speaks it. I finally figured out what she was talking about today while I was eating lunch with my host mom.
My "mom" has a Ph.d. in spanish language/literature, so she has the grammar down perfectly and loves giving me little lessons at the house. We were discussing the subjunctive when I had my "revelation". The subjunctive tense reflects the openness and directness of spanish people. My experiences with spaniards have shown me that they are very straightforward people. They are not afraid to express their opinions and let you know what they are honestly thinking. As such, the subjunctive tense reflects their desire for their intentions to be known and easily understood. It is a simple, albeit difficult for foreigners, way to distinguish between the way things are, and the way things might be. It doesn't sound like much, I'm sure, but it was a moment of understanding that made me very happy.
On a related note, its really amazing to me how much better my spanish has gotten in the 10 or so days since I've been here. I'm having to think a lot less before I speak, and common topics of conversation and phrases are becoming almost second nature for me. For example, I no longer have to consider whether I want to say "dije que" (I said) or "dijo que" (he/she said). I can even understand the spanish news on TV more or less now, which is thrilling, because it sounded like complete gibberish the first week I was here. Anyway, that's enough
Monday, January 26, 2009
The first round of pictures!
So, after much hassle trying to find a cable (that isn't even made anymore) for my camera, I discovered that my laptop has a port for my camera's memory card. D'oh! But, who cares, because now I can upload some pictures!
Because I'm really hungry, I'm starting with some of the food my mom and sisters made for the fiesta the other day! It was all amazing, lots of typical spanish fare like olives and jamon serrano (which is damn good, but I prefer chorizo). Speaking of my family, you'd probably like to see them, so here's me with the birthday girl, Adriana.
Here's me with my other sister, Marina, and my mom, Raquel
Now, some of you have expressed an interest in knowing what spanish clubs are like. I could describe it, but we all know what a picture is worth. I think this sums up the aftereffects nicely. (Aplogies to everyone pictured. Also, check out the death-stare from my third sister, Virginia, in the background.)
Also, there are huge open markets here that sell anything you can imagine. This is from one of the biggest, la Boqueria de Sant Josep.
Because I'm really hungry, I'm starting with some of the food my mom and sisters made for the fiesta the other day! It was all amazing, lots of typical spanish fare like olives and jamon serrano (which is damn good, but I prefer chorizo). Speaking of my family, you'd probably like to see them, so here's me with the birthday girl, Adriana.
Here's me with my other sister, Marina, and my mom, Raquel
Now, some of you have expressed an interest in knowing what spanish clubs are like. I could describe it, but we all know what a picture is worth. I think this sums up the aftereffects nicely. (Aplogies to everyone pictured. Also, check out the death-stare from my third sister, Virginia, in the background.)
Also, there are huge open markets here that sell anything you can imagine. This is from one of the biggest, la Boqueria de Sant Josep.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Aquest es la vida!
Hola amigos! I'm writing this from the living room of my apartment in Barcelona. I live with a single mom, Raquel, and one of her daughters, Marina. She has two other daughters, Adriana and Virginia. Virginia lives in Barcelona, but she's married, so she lives with her husband. Adriana is studying abroad in Rome, but is home for the weekend for her birthday. As far as the living situation goes, I'm pretty sure I won the lottery. My roommate, Josh, and I get along very well, and he's a spanish major, so he's serious about speaking spanish. We live in a very nice apartment in a very nice, central neighborhood. We have wireless internet, which, as I said before, is extremely rare for Spain.
Our mom is very happy that we want to use spanish a lot, and unless circumstances are dire, she won't speak to us in english. Everyone here speaks very quickly, so sometimes it is difficult to understand, but in only three days I have noticed a huge improvement. I bought a little notepad at the Bazaar de Xinos (kind of like the spanish Dollar General) and I'm writing down 5-10 words a day to learn. So far today I have "viento" (wind), and oler (to smell). There's a surprise party for Adriana's birthday tonight, so I'm very very excited about that! In the meantime, I'm going to hecharme una siesta (take a nap!). I've been taking lots of pictures, but I forgot to bring my camera cable, so later today or tomorrow I'm going to go find one at the corte ingles. Hasta luego!
Our mom is very happy that we want to use spanish a lot, and unless circumstances are dire, she won't speak to us in english. Everyone here speaks very quickly, so sometimes it is difficult to understand, but in only three days I have noticed a huge improvement. I bought a little notepad at the Bazaar de Xinos (kind of like the spanish Dollar General) and I'm writing down 5-10 words a day to learn. So far today I have "viento" (wind), and oler (to smell). There's a surprise party for Adriana's birthday tonight, so I'm very very excited about that! In the meantime, I'm going to hecharme una siesta (take a nap!). I've been taking lots of pictures, but I forgot to bring my camera cable, so later today or tomorrow I'm going to go find one at the corte ingles. Hasta luego!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Estoy Aqui!
Not much time for typing, but I wanted to let you guys know that I'm here and having an amazing time. Barcelona is a beautiful city and the people are quite nice. It turns out my host family (Oh yeah, I wound up being switched into another house, so ignore the previous details.) has internet, so I'll do a much better update tomorrow.
Fins Aviat!
Fins Aviat!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Important Logistical Details
Word up! I'm sure all of you are already pining away because I'm leaving today. Furthermore, I'm sure that all of you are waiting on baited breath to know how you can get in touch with me. Well, wait no longer! My phone situation probably won't allow for a lot of calls to or from Spain, so the best way to get in touch with me will either be via comment here or at my ufl.edu e-mail address (If you don't know it, check facebook.). I'm going to have Skype set up and I plan on spending some time at various internet cafes, so if you want to hear my voice, let me know.
I have no idea when I'll be on the internet again, which, really, isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Fins Aviat!
~Mike
I have no idea when I'll be on the internet again, which, really, isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Fins Aviat!
~Mike
Monday, December 15, 2008
Vaig a Començar
Since I´m fleeing the country to Barcelona in the near future, I decided this would be the best way to keep everyone updated on what I´m doing. I´ll try and update it frequently when I´m in Spain, with lots of pictures, of course.
Fins aviat!
Fins aviat!
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