Yay, we have Spanish people coming to Coe!

For the first time ever we will have Spanish students at Coe. Their names are Carlos and Sara and they will be in Iowa for the fall semester. I was able to meet them and I was so proud to be able to represent Coe and tell them about all of the things that there are to do on campus (even though I did tell them that Cedar Rapids is way different from Castellon in many ways). They are both very nervous about getting all of their paperwork done for Coe and for UJI and getting their visas, but I assured them that in the end it will all work out and that it will be worth it.
I am so excited to have Spanish people at Coe. I will not be taking any Spanish courses next semester so having them there will give me a chance to keep up on what I have learned here. Plus, I am excited that they will have someone to know when they get there. I think that that is something very valuable, having someone there that you know who can make you feel more comfortable. I know that I would have liked to have known someone here before I came, someone who knew the city and could introduce me to people. I don't mind that I didn't have that, but it would have been nice. I cannot wait to show them around campus and help them with any problems that they have. I cannot wait to introduce them to all of my friends and make Spanish dinners with them. One of the other things that they are worried about is eating dinner so early since they eat dinner here around 9 or later and we eat dinner at 5. But I know that once they get there they will adjust, just like I did when I got here.
I know that they will have no problem getting adjusted to Coe and am glad that I have gotten to meet them. I know that there will be more meetings with them before August and I can't wait!

Two months in Spain!!

Wow, I can't believe that it has already been two months since I have been here! It feels like I got here not that long ago. I feel like right now this is the place I am supposed to be.
Last night I called my mom on skype and everyone was at home, so I got a chance to talk to everyone in my family. I just sat here laughing, imagining everyone passing the headset around so that they could get a chance to chat for a few minutes with me. It's odd to think that I have not seen them since January. It's odd to think that they are on the other side of the world right now. There have been a couple of times while I have been here that I have gotten a bit homesick, but it really hasn't been that different here. Of course there are things that are different and there are things that I have tried here that I would never think about trying at home, but it feels natural here, like this is where I was meant to be.
One of the things that I am still getting used to is having to chat with my family and friends at specific times. When I am in Iowa for the semester, or when I was in D.C., I could just pick up the phone any time and know that I could talk to my mom or my best friend, or that when ever I was online that there would be somone to talk to. Eight hour time difference makes it harder to schedule times to talk, especially when everyone has a bust schedule or is not near a computer. I miss just being able to pick up the phone and talk for hours with mom and friends, something that I have not done here.
I have come to realize since being here how important technology is in our lives. That eight hour time difference does not seem so bad when I can get one line and hear my mom's voice or send her a message instantly. I cannot image how different it would have been to study abroad 20 years ago, how different communication was. Not everyone had email, facebook did not exist, you had to send lettters to people, everything was not instantaneous. I feel like now everyone relies on technology so much that we would not know what to do if we did not have it. We would be completely lost without it. I know that when I first got here and did not have a cell phone that it was one of the strangest feelings, not having a means of communicating instantly when I was out. We feel naked when we leave the house without our cell phones, sometimes to the point where we rush home to get it or when we get home we frantically run to see if we have missed a call or have a message.
We live in such a different age of technology that we sometimes fail to stop and appreciate what is around us. I feel like being here in Spain has made me stop and notice things that I would otherwise just ignore. I feel like I have grown to appreciate things so much more since I have been here. I have grown to appreciate my family, friends, and just this amazing opportunity that I might never have again.

Falllas

This past week, Valencia celebrated their festival of fallas. The festival was created in honor of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. In ancient times, carpenters would burn the wood that they had left over from projects as an offering to Saint Joseph for wealth in their business. It has become a festival where people spend all year building these amazing sculptures to have displayed for this festival that takes place from the 15 through the 19 of March. Master carpenters spend all year building these sculptures (no longer made out of wood for safety reasons) only to have them judged and the ones that do no win the first place prize and then burned on the last day of the festival at “La Crema.”
There are hundreds of sculpture build and they vary in size. They all have a common theme and they are judged in different categories based on size. Until this year there had been no restrictions on size, but this upcoming year there will be limits imposed on how tall the fallas can be and how much money people are allowed to spend to build them. People that want to build the best falla stop at no expense to build them, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build these amazing works of art. Since there are hundreds of fallas, they are located throughout the city and unless you spend all five days of the festival there, it is pretty much impossible to see all of them. The top ones are the ones that people are most interested in seeing, but it is amazing to see the other ones as well.
The city is crowded with people, both from the city and tourists, who gather to see these amazing works of art. Like Castellon during Magdalena, they also have mascletas and fireworks shows (fire and making noise I have learned is something that is popular in the Valencian Community). In addition to the fireworks and the fallas, there are also parades that take place, the most popular being the one where that falleras, the people who have commissioned a falla and are dressed in the traditional outfits, carry flowers to a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and create her dress out of the flowers.

The parade was ongoing, starting the first day with the junior fallera queen and ending the last day with the senior fallera queen, and is an amazing sight to see.
On the last day of the festival, La Creama takes place. The burning takes place at midnight on the last night of the festival and the falla in front of the Ayuntamiento (city hall) is traditionally the last to be burned. Fireworks are placed on the sculpture and lit and thus the falla is burned.
I was able to go down and see the festival on the 18th, the second to last day of the festival and was able to see tons of the fallas and get to experience the tradition that is known throughout Europe. Everywhere you went the streets were crowded with people, even though people did not have the day off. Friday, the entire Valencian Community had a day off and everyone goes down to Valencia to see the fallas so I can’t imagine how many more people were there since it was already super crowded when I was there. I went down with a friend who is from Chile and we walked around all day and tried to see as many of the fallas that we could see. We were able to meet up with friends that were from Valencia and they showed us some of the most popular fallas that we hadn’t seen during that day and there were completely amazing. We literally spend all day walking around the city; we arrived to Valencia at 10 a.m. and caught a train back at 2:50 a.m. and it was completely worth it just being able to see something that I might not be able to see again.

Magdalena, festa plena

So I have definitely been slacking way too much on keeping my blog updated. I have tons of updates for this blog since it has been more than two weeks since my last update! Last week was Las Fiestas de la Magdalena, the festival of Castellón de la Plana. It commemorates the origins of the city, after King James conquered the Moorish Kingdom of Valencia and was granted royal permission to relocate of the city from the hill of the Madeleine (Magdalena) to the fertile coastal plane in 1251. The festival takes place begins on the third Saturday of Lent and lasts for 9 days. According to folklore, the town was moved during the middle of the night, which is why one of the symbols of the celebration is a lantern (the other symbols are a round loaf of bread, the food that sustained them on their journey, and a cane, which helped support them as the walked from the hill to the plane)
The festival was nothing like I had ever seen before. To begin the festivities they have a “mascleta” which is basically a fireworks show during the day. The point of the show is not to show the fireworks but to make as much noise as possible. Every day (except Sunday and Monday) they had a show at one of the plazas in the city. After the show, everyone begins to celebrate throughout the city. Throughout the city there were various different places to celebrate the festivities where you could partake in food and beverages. There were three main “mesón” at various points in the city- mesón de vino, meson de tapas y cerveza and the mesón Asturiano. At the meson de vino you could order a bottle of wine, nothing else, but they along with the wine they would give you a plate of chorizo and peanuts. At the meson de tapas y cerveza you could buy a ticket that entitled you to a tapa and a beer or bottle of water. At the meson Asturiano you could buy a bottle of cider, which you had to pour distinctly so that you could add air to it, and you could also order different foods that are typically eaten in the region of Asturias, which is located in Northern Spain. They also had a "feria alternativa," which was an outdoor market where you could but different foods, mainly ethnic foods, and also handmade crafts and artesian cheeses and meats. On the first day everyone first goes to the wine. There are different vendor set up and they sell different bottles of wine but the kind that is most typically purchased is called Lambrusco, which is a sparkling red wine. If you go it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to buy a bottle of wine. Many people bring bottles with them and since they don’t serve food there, people also pack snacks to bring along with them to eat while they drink.
On Saturday they also started the different shows and concerts that would take place throughout the week. There was always something to do and somewhere to go. You could always find something happening at one of the plazas in town. There were also several parades that took place throughout the week.
Although Saturday was the start of the festivities, Sunday is the most important day of the festival. On Sunday after mass is over the entire city walked from the center of town, where everyone is given a cane, a hat and a ribbon, to the Magdalena, where there remains a church. Along the way it is almost obligatory to stop at Sant Roc de Canet, where people rest, have a snack and are supposed to say a prayer. Once the Magdalena is reached, everyone waits for their turn to ring the church bell. They have a giant paella waiting at the top and those that want to wait can have a plate. It is a day of tradition and a day that is meant to be celebrated with family. I went up with my host family and their friends. We packed a lunch and walked up together. Even though the weather turned out to be not that great (it began raining) we still had a good time and I was able to see what it was like to be a real Spaniard, a real Castellonense. Afterwards, we went to the meson de vino and had a good time just hanging out and drinking wine. It was definitely easier to get around the second day, compared to the first, since most people went home after walking down from the hill.
Although the weather wasn’t that great throughout the week, everyone still went out and took part in the festivities. It was amazing to see the city completely transformed- it looked like a whole different city and just had a totally different vibe, especially at night when everyone was out on the streets at one of the various free concerts that they had set up throughout the city. One of the things that still caught me off guard was how people stay out so late with their little children. It would be 2 a.m. and people would still be on the streets walking with a baby stroller or a toddler in hand. The idea of children here is totally different from the U.S. and it is sill something that I am getting used to.
There were a couple of other things that surprised me during the week. One being how many fireworks there were and just seeing little kids lighting fireworks everywhere. You would walk down the street and see a group of small children lighting fireworks as if were an everyday occurrence. I mean, these little kids could use a lighter better than I could, that is how different they view pyrotechnics here.
Although drinking is viewed completely different here than in the states, it was still something that surprised me during the week, in particular the amount of drinking and also seeing teenagers drink on the street. All week long, everyone drank everywhere especially since there were designated areas to buy drinks. And when you weren’t there, you were at a bar drinking or at a café drinking coffee with rum or cognac. I am not trying to say that that’s all that went on during the week, but it was a big part of what took place. I was also surprised to see teenagers drinking out in public. They could just go up and buy a beer as if it were nothing. It definitely shocked me to see someone who clearly was no more than 15 go up and buy a beer with no problem. I think that that was just something that was harder for me to get used to seeing. I guess in a sense it is better that way, for them to drink out in public and not drink excessively in private, but it was just something that surprised me.
Another thing that I was surprised to see during the week was the amount of P.D.A. that I saw. Although people here greet one another with a kiss, I had not really seen any sort of affection between people here until that week. It was something that I had noticed a couple of weeks ago, the lack of public affection, so seeing it so much during the week made me take notice even more so.
One of the things that I most enjoyed about the week was seeing people dressed in traditional clothing. Wherever you walked you would see women and girls dressed in beautiful dresses and men dressed in amazing outfits. The outfits are amazing and they are all custom made, there are no two outfits that are the same. The women also wear beautiful jewelry and combs in their hair. Just looking at them was like stepping back in time. It was funny though to see these people dressed in traditional outfits talk on cell phones or smoke a cigarette since that is not something that you would have seen people do when they originally wore these outfits.
Another of the things that I enjoyed seeing was the royal court of the festival. There was a queen and her court and junior queen and her court. They would be at many of the parades and shows and every day would be dressed in a different outfit. They don’t really get to enjoy the festival, but they get the satisfaction of knowing that they were the queens of the festival. Being the queen is one of the ultimate social status symbols in the city since it takes so much money to afford the expensive dresses and their families host dinners every night throughout the festival for special guests. The queen is basically chosen based on who has the most money, which is unfortunate but that’s the way it goes.
All in all, it was just an amazing week. I was able to experience something like nothing I ever have since we have nothing that comes close to it back home. Although by the end of the week I was tired and thought that 9 days was a long time for the festival, I enjoyed myself and would not have traded my week for anything. I was able to experience another unique part of Spain and Castellon and will never forget it.

Finally, another post!

I never cease to be amazed at all that there is here, the different types of culture there are in Castellon. I experienced two different facets of culture this past weekend and both were different and interesting and amazing.Friday was the Fiesta de las Paellas, the paella festival. In case you aren’t familiar with it, paella is a typical rice dish from Spain. The dish usually contains rice, vegetables and some sort of protein. Sometimes the dish has seafood, but the one that is typical to Castellon has rice, judias, chicken, sausage and rabbit. It is a dish that is typically prepared by men and is eaten for the main mean on Sundays. It is usually made in a large skillet, similar to a wok but not as deep, and is made traditionally on top of firewood but now people also prepare it in their homes on the stove. The general idea behind the campus festival is to gather all of the students on campus and celebrate the beginning of a new semester. It is a way to gather the students with something that is traditionally Spanish, something that everyone is familiar with and has eaten all of their lives. People are given firewood and are on their own from there to make their dishes. The people that want to can make paella and enter a contest to see who makes the best paella, but it is not a requirement to make paella to join the festivities and other people grill meat and eat bocadillos. And everyone drinks. Pretty much, the way that would best describe the festival is Flunk Day, except you know when it is going to be, there are tons more people because it is open to not only the college students, everyone is grilling or making paella and the school does not provide you with beer- you have to provide your own alcohol. Everyone comes knowing that they are going to have a good time, regardless of the weather or what they eat. In typical Spanish style, everyone shares their food with everyone else. There is live music, the marching band is walking around the entrance of the area where the festival takes place, people playing games, and there are tons and tons of people everywhere. It is one big college party and the whole campus takes part in it, no matter who you are and if you want to get drunk or not. There are people everywhere, not everyone is grilling and people are just having an amazing time knowing that they are part of this amazingly crazy day.
After the festivities ended, I went with my host family and two of their friends to Antonio’s parents’ house in the mountains. The house used to belong to his maternal grandparents and was passed down to his mom after they died. It is in a cute little village called Xodos, away from everything. Although it is only about and hour and a half away, it feels like you have stepped into a completely different world, where time has stopped and things are the same way as they were decades ago. It is a sleepy town hidden in the mountains where the next closest town is a 20 minute drive. The house was pretty much freezing because no one is ever up there in the winter time, so it took almost all weekend for it to heat up. I felt to rustic, so Little House on the Prairie having to heat up the house using a fireplace. It was such a relaxing weekend. We went to a deserted town about an hour in and walked around there, then went on a hike after lunch. We walked around the town at night, which was one of the scariest things since it was windy and it just looked creepy in general. It was such a different lifestyle and it was amazing to see the people that lived there and know that there are still people that live that way. That not everyone wants to live in a city, big or small, and that they are satisfied knowing that the closet neighbor is down the mountains. It is just such a different lifestyle. You can’t just run to the grocery store, you make a trip to the little shops in the next town over. You can’t send a text whenever you want to because there is no reception. It’s amazing to think that there are places like that all over the world, but we fail to think about that when we are sitting at our laptops inside of Starbucks sipping our lattes while talking on our cell phones. It’s sad to think that these towns are slowly disappearing because people would rather move to large cities. I can see why people would want to live there, but I can also see why people would decide to move away from there.
I feel like more and more I see the contrast between cultures. I was able to see two totally different cultures in one weekend. I was also able to see how different they are from the culture that I am used to back at home. There are more similarities than differences, but the differences are so obvious for me as a foreigner since they are new to me. I love being able to experience new, things, no matter how small they are, every day :)