https://www.iesabroad.org/IES/Programs/Spain/Salamanca/salamancaVideos.html
Yes, I'm in the video. Yes, the music is pretty cheesy. Yes, some of my classmates are kind of awkward. No, I hardly smile at all, yes, Janna smiles like a cheerleader. Very cute. haha
https://www.iesabroad.org/IES/Programs/Spain/Salamanca/Student_Profiles/salamancaCaseyFreedman.html
Kat Grant took that photo!!!! She deserves credit. And yes, that whole little profile is featured in the glossy booklets for IES Spain 09/10 and yes I look just as cute.
I swear, there will be posts about what it's like to adjust to being back in the US, at Bowdoin, all of that. Once I finish my homework. Oh, and apply for a job. Yep.
Lots of love,
-c-
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
June 16th, 2008
The time has come.
I have 5 hours until 15 hours of travel begin.
Walk with me...
Tomorrow (technically today, but oh well) morning, I wake up at 5am.
Julio and I head to the train station at 5:30am.
My train leaves for Madrid at 6am.
I get into Chamartin at 8:30.
I head down into the Metro and arrive at Terminal 4, Barajas Airport around 9:30, 9:45.
I check in, I drop off my extremely heavy (but hopefully not TOO heavy) bags, etc.
I kill time until 1:40.
My plane leaves at 1:40, Spain time, arrives in Logan Airport, Boston, at 3:30 US time, aka 9:30pm Spain time.
We get a bagel at Dunkin' Donuts on the way home and I arrive home probably around 4:30 US time, 10:30 Spain time, by which time my body will have traveled for about 15-16 hours.
It's gonna be a long day.
I miss Salamanca already...
so so so so so much love,
-Casey
p.s. this is by no means my last post!! keep an eye out....!
I have 5 hours until 15 hours of travel begin.
Walk with me...
Tomorrow (technically today, but oh well) morning, I wake up at 5am.
Julio and I head to the train station at 5:30am.
My train leaves for Madrid at 6am.
I get into Chamartin at 8:30.
I head down into the Metro and arrive at Terminal 4, Barajas Airport around 9:30, 9:45.
I check in, I drop off my extremely heavy (but hopefully not TOO heavy) bags, etc.
I kill time until 1:40.
My plane leaves at 1:40, Spain time, arrives in Logan Airport, Boston, at 3:30 US time, aka 9:30pm Spain time.
We get a bagel at Dunkin' Donuts on the way home and I arrive home probably around 4:30 US time, 10:30 Spain time, by which time my body will have traveled for about 15-16 hours.
It's gonna be a long day.
I miss Salamanca already...
so so so so so much love,
-Casey
p.s. this is by no means my last post!! keep an eye out....!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Some Anecdotes/Random Facts/Tidbits
Two nights to go...
I’ve been to 8 (technically 9) of the 17 Autonomous Communities: Castilla y León, Castilla y La Mancha, Madrid, Extremadura, Cataluña, Andalucia, Cantabria, País Vasco (and technically Asturias).
I’ve been to Spain, Italy and Portugal during my year abroad (okay, and the US).
I’ve been to the following towns/cities in Spain: Salamanca, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Córdoba, Llerena, Villafranca de Córdoba, Trujillo, Mérida, Bilbao, Santander, San Vicente de la Barquera, Laredo, Santillana del Mar, Santoña, Comillas, Zamora, Toro, Segovia, Valladolid, Ávila (plus a few more where the train has stopped but I haven't gotten off...I've been to them so many times though that it feels like they should count).
I’ve seen the bodies of water that surround the Iberian peninsula from ¾ sides (not the southern one).
There are many things that have happened this semester, especially in the second half, that I’ve never written about on here, partly because I forgot, because I didn’t know how to write about it or because it was written about in enough detail on my journal for me to feel like I had sufficiently covered the subject. Such as the momentous event on May 5th when the director of IES Salamanca and his wife, supposed director of housing etc. were fired (“resigned”, except not). Which was pretty much one of the best days of our lives, for IES Salamanca Spring 2008 and the dozen or 2 dozen semesters before us. Which means the guy in charge of student activities was technically in charge for almost 2 months and there were 3 staff members instead of 5, one of whom works part time, so really 2. Yeah. We met the vice president of IES from Chicago because he came here to make sure the directors actually and literally left the office THAT SAME DAY. Which was cool. He came here to the residencia with David and hung out, chatted us up, and even met with IES students to see what sorts of things would be good/important to change. And loved my suggestions. So there.
Janna and I actually met the NEW IES Salamanca program head (both, actually, one here and one in Chicago) yesterday. They came to visit the residencia to check it out and although it was a super confusing situation due to the incompetence of a certain IES staff member, mixups about who was who, and nobody knowing how good everyone’s Spanish skills were, the new Salamanca director seems AWESOME. Completely the opposite of the old one, I am not kidding. She is young, American (she has a brother in Sudbury, like next door to my town!) from Rhode Island, has lived here for 16 years, pretty, seems excited about the job, nice, etc. I already trust her more than I trusted the old director. Ack.
We also met a media-PR sort of guy from IES Chicago a month or two ago who came and taped us individually talking about our experiences here, essentially making a “Come to Salamanca!” video that is supposed to be on the website by about August. I will post on here when that happens because it’s going to be hilarious. Eek.
Another thing I never wrote about, for example, would be the final IES Salamanca dinner we had like 5 weeks ago (haha yes, I am still here). It was a yummy dinner, I sat with cool kids like Janna and Kendra and my favorite Methodology professor (from Middlebury, too!) Noemí sat with us and we laughed and talked and just…had a blast. And then the drag queens came out! And danced for LITERALLY 2 hours. Oh and there was a belly-dancing girl, too. Snore. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life, if not the MOST surreal. You’re SO glad you weren’t there.
I’ve been reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett in SPANISH and I’m over 700 pages in. It’s 1300-ish pages long. I am amazing. The book is really good, and I’m glad my mom has it at home in English so I can finish it before going up to Bowdoin. It’s a little slow sometimes and certainly EPIC but for a book in Spanish I am moving along through it at a much faster pace than I expected. Well, I did read Part 1 of Don Quijote, La Celestina, Zaragoza, las Bizarrias de Belisa and Lazarillo del Tormes this semester, not to mention about 8 billion pages of photocopies for Methodology, articles and books for Surrealism papers and gender papers, so I had practice!
Last Friday Julio and I were at his house, trying to decide what to do for the night. He was finishing up a project on Depression which was a big wooden cube covered in sepia-tone photos with black frames nailed on each side with a sort of tube through the middle with a tiny dollhouse chair and lightbulb at the far end of the tunnel/tube. Hard to explain but it looked awesome and worked really well with the project. He was putting on a sort of lens over the mouth of the tunnel by nailing its frame onto the wooden cube…and then everything was done! We were so happy. Then he tried to turn the light on…and it didn’t work!! So we spent the next 2-3 hours (I was more stressed than he was, it was amazing, I was quite impressed with him) sawing a hole in the bottom of the cube, changing the lightbulb (a LOT harder than it sounds), checking the wires….etc. And I finally suggested that maybe it was the switch…and so we took off the plastic cover and discovered that yes, the wires were shot. So we fixed that, Julio’s brother shocked himself (Lola--his girlfriend--and I were a lot surprised it didn’t happen sooner), and after MUCH maneuvering and skilled techniques (like Julio holding the lightbulb with his left hand while I screwed on the socket with my right hand…without seeing what we were doing), it finally all came together. And then we switched the light on and discovered that the new lens on the front created some pretty awesome effects…
My brother is in New Orleans with 80 other kids from our high school building things and clearing lots and generally being a good kid. He turns 18 in 5 days.
Another thing I never wrote about was how last Tuesday (the day after finishing my exams) I went to Madrid with Julio, his parents, and his aunt (dad's sister). We drove to Julio's cousin's apartment (where Julio and I stayed during Semana Santa after my parents left and before Em came) to meet his (the cousin) new BABY, Daniel. Who was TWO WEEKS OLD. AH. Daniel has an older brother, Gerar, who is 2 and a half, I think. Julio's cousin Gerardo was super sweet to me because he knew I loved working with kids and even though Gerar was quite shy around me, he did tell me his colors in English (they start 'em early here) and gave me a kiss goodbye. We met the baby (SUCH A PEANUT. I ADORE BABIES.) and his mom, Pilar, who is potentially the most American-seeming Spanish woman I've ever met and yes that is a compliment, played Mario Kart Wii and Wii Baseball (Gerardo, Julio's cousin, destroyed me...awful), and ate dinner before heading back to Salamanca. I'm so glad I have Julio and Julio's family to take me places, introduce me to people, include me in family events. What a difference it makes!!!!
Last Saturday the Casa de las Conchas was turned into a sort of discoteca.
Three nights ago I saw Rufus Wainwright give a concert in the Plaza Mayor. He was dressed as a torero (!!) and said “For something so macho as bullfighting, this outfit is really gay. It doesn’t so much say ‘I’m gonna go kill bulls’ as ‘f%*k me in the ass’” which was hilarious, especially since only the Americans (okay, a lot of us) in the audience understood him.
Two nights ago I saw AWESOME fireworks down by the Puente Romano and said goodbye to Aquilino (will probably see him at Midd this summer, though) and gave him a friendship bracelet that he had asked me for. Crazy crazy man.
Last night I played Wii sports with Álvaro and Julio. Turns out I’m pretty good at bowling, suck at tennis, and am AWESOME at the target shooting game on Wii Play. Who knew!? I guess I have good hand-eye coordination when it comes to accuracy but I’m not that great at figuring out the Wii tennis deal. Oh, and I’m alright at baseball, which is disappointing. Luckily the boys didn’t give me a hard time…
Another thing I never wrote about was how we visited Julio's soon-to-be new apartment, soon as in like at least a year from now. It's outside of Salamanca in the sense that you really couldn't walk downtown like you can from Julio's current apartment but it's only like 5 minutes away by car.
It's on the top floor, a corner apartment, small but with a huuuuuge terrace. Wraparound. Pretty awesome.
And here is Julio in his "new" room!
Julio has gotten 3 matrículas de honor (out of his 5 classes, he doesn’t know the last 2 grades yet) which are like super honor roll grades (A++ or something) and means that he doesn’t have to pay for his classes next year. Pretty awesome!!! What a guy.
Another thing I never wrote about was how Julio was hanging out here one afternoon last week and we decided to go take a walk downtown. He got here at 7, we went outside at 9...and the passenger seat window of his car was totally smashed! And the radio was gone! We were quite shocked, it being pretty much total daylight, it being right next to the residencia, there being at least 20 people who passed while we waited for his parents to show up, the fact that the punks didn't touch ANYTHING else in the car, not the nice sunglasses, not the CDs, nothing. They came prepared, they broke the window, they knew how to take out the radio because there were barely any marks at all, and they just peaced out. Julio was very levelheaded but is still pretty bitter about the radio thing because it was a nice radio from his cousin and obviously he would have preferred to not have to buy another one...so we went to the police with his parents, they filed a report, etc etc. He got a new window the next day (paid by insurance, yay) and I'm happy to say he has a new radio now, too, so the story ends somewhat happily!
This summer aka in about a week I will be living in Brunswick Apartments N2 with Sammie Francis at Bowdoin and working 20 hours a week doing odd jobs and projects for the Psych department, working odd hours at the Bowdoin children’s center and regularly babysitting Alexei, ~2 years old, who was 4-7months old last time I saw him! I will have my car, I will be coming home for 2 concerts in the first weekend of August, I will be visiting Middlebury and hope to see at least these people this summer (if I forgot you, feel free to yell at me! And most of you guys are guarantees, anyway!): Sammie, Tommy, Austin, Joe, Jess, Erica, Julia, Jesse, Joey….and more. So be in touch, okay?!
I can’t wait to have full use of an oven again. Actually, I can’t wait to be within 20 feet of a WORKING OVEN again. So I will be trying out various muffin, cake, cupcake etc recipes this summer.
Aaaaaaaand now I’m going to make a list of reasons why I’m glad I stayed for the whole year. Oh, and eat breakfast. And finish some important things on my to do list.
Much love,
-c-
I’ve been to 8 (technically 9) of the 17 Autonomous Communities: Castilla y León, Castilla y La Mancha, Madrid, Extremadura, Cataluña, Andalucia, Cantabria, País Vasco (and technically Asturias).
I’ve been to Spain, Italy and Portugal during my year abroad (okay, and the US).
I’ve been to the following towns/cities in Spain: Salamanca, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Córdoba, Llerena, Villafranca de Córdoba, Trujillo, Mérida, Bilbao, Santander, San Vicente de la Barquera, Laredo, Santillana del Mar, Santoña, Comillas, Zamora, Toro, Segovia, Valladolid, Ávila (plus a few more where the train has stopped but I haven't gotten off...I've been to them so many times though that it feels like they should count).
I’ve seen the bodies of water that surround the Iberian peninsula from ¾ sides (not the southern one).
There are many things that have happened this semester, especially in the second half, that I’ve never written about on here, partly because I forgot, because I didn’t know how to write about it or because it was written about in enough detail on my journal for me to feel like I had sufficiently covered the subject. Such as the momentous event on May 5th when the director of IES Salamanca and his wife, supposed director of housing etc. were fired (“resigned”, except not). Which was pretty much one of the best days of our lives, for IES Salamanca Spring 2008 and the dozen or 2 dozen semesters before us. Which means the guy in charge of student activities was technically in charge for almost 2 months and there were 3 staff members instead of 5, one of whom works part time, so really 2. Yeah. We met the vice president of IES from Chicago because he came here to make sure the directors actually and literally left the office THAT SAME DAY. Which was cool. He came here to the residencia with David and hung out, chatted us up, and even met with IES students to see what sorts of things would be good/important to change. And loved my suggestions. So there.
Janna and I actually met the NEW IES Salamanca program head (both, actually, one here and one in Chicago) yesterday. They came to visit the residencia to check it out and although it was a super confusing situation due to the incompetence of a certain IES staff member, mixups about who was who, and nobody knowing how good everyone’s Spanish skills were, the new Salamanca director seems AWESOME. Completely the opposite of the old one, I am not kidding. She is young, American (she has a brother in Sudbury, like next door to my town!) from Rhode Island, has lived here for 16 years, pretty, seems excited about the job, nice, etc. I already trust her more than I trusted the old director. Ack.
We also met a media-PR sort of guy from IES Chicago a month or two ago who came and taped us individually talking about our experiences here, essentially making a “Come to Salamanca!” video that is supposed to be on the website by about August. I will post on here when that happens because it’s going to be hilarious. Eek.
Another thing I never wrote about, for example, would be the final IES Salamanca dinner we had like 5 weeks ago (haha yes, I am still here). It was a yummy dinner, I sat with cool kids like Janna and Kendra and my favorite Methodology professor (from Middlebury, too!) Noemí sat with us and we laughed and talked and just…had a blast. And then the drag queens came out! And danced for LITERALLY 2 hours. Oh and there was a belly-dancing girl, too. Snore. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life, if not the MOST surreal. You’re SO glad you weren’t there.
I’ve been reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett in SPANISH and I’m over 700 pages in. It’s 1300-ish pages long. I am amazing. The book is really good, and I’m glad my mom has it at home in English so I can finish it before going up to Bowdoin. It’s a little slow sometimes and certainly EPIC but for a book in Spanish I am moving along through it at a much faster pace than I expected. Well, I did read Part 1 of Don Quijote, La Celestina, Zaragoza, las Bizarrias de Belisa and Lazarillo del Tormes this semester, not to mention about 8 billion pages of photocopies for Methodology, articles and books for Surrealism papers and gender papers, so I had practice!
Last Friday Julio and I were at his house, trying to decide what to do for the night. He was finishing up a project on Depression which was a big wooden cube covered in sepia-tone photos with black frames nailed on each side with a sort of tube through the middle with a tiny dollhouse chair and lightbulb at the far end of the tunnel/tube. Hard to explain but it looked awesome and worked really well with the project. He was putting on a sort of lens over the mouth of the tunnel by nailing its frame onto the wooden cube…and then everything was done! We were so happy. Then he tried to turn the light on…and it didn’t work!! So we spent the next 2-3 hours (I was more stressed than he was, it was amazing, I was quite impressed with him) sawing a hole in the bottom of the cube, changing the lightbulb (a LOT harder than it sounds), checking the wires….etc. And I finally suggested that maybe it was the switch…and so we took off the plastic cover and discovered that yes, the wires were shot. So we fixed that, Julio’s brother shocked himself (Lola--his girlfriend--and I were a lot surprised it didn’t happen sooner), and after MUCH maneuvering and skilled techniques (like Julio holding the lightbulb with his left hand while I screwed on the socket with my right hand…without seeing what we were doing), it finally all came together. And then we switched the light on and discovered that the new lens on the front created some pretty awesome effects…
My brother is in New Orleans with 80 other kids from our high school building things and clearing lots and generally being a good kid. He turns 18 in 5 days.
Another thing I never wrote about was how last Tuesday (the day after finishing my exams) I went to Madrid with Julio, his parents, and his aunt (dad's sister). We drove to Julio's cousin's apartment (where Julio and I stayed during Semana Santa after my parents left and before Em came) to meet his (the cousin) new BABY, Daniel. Who was TWO WEEKS OLD. AH. Daniel has an older brother, Gerar, who is 2 and a half, I think. Julio's cousin Gerardo was super sweet to me because he knew I loved working with kids and even though Gerar was quite shy around me, he did tell me his colors in English (they start 'em early here) and gave me a kiss goodbye. We met the baby (SUCH A PEANUT. I ADORE BABIES.) and his mom, Pilar, who is potentially the most American-seeming Spanish woman I've ever met and yes that is a compliment, played Mario Kart Wii and Wii Baseball (Gerardo, Julio's cousin, destroyed me...awful), and ate dinner before heading back to Salamanca. I'm so glad I have Julio and Julio's family to take me places, introduce me to people, include me in family events. What a difference it makes!!!!
Last Saturday the Casa de las Conchas was turned into a sort of discoteca.
Three nights ago I saw Rufus Wainwright give a concert in the Plaza Mayor. He was dressed as a torero (!!) and said “For something so macho as bullfighting, this outfit is really gay. It doesn’t so much say ‘I’m gonna go kill bulls’ as ‘f%*k me in the ass’” which was hilarious, especially since only the Americans (okay, a lot of us) in the audience understood him.
Two nights ago I saw AWESOME fireworks down by the Puente Romano and said goodbye to Aquilino (will probably see him at Midd this summer, though) and gave him a friendship bracelet that he had asked me for. Crazy crazy man.
Last night I played Wii sports with Álvaro and Julio. Turns out I’m pretty good at bowling, suck at tennis, and am AWESOME at the target shooting game on Wii Play. Who knew!? I guess I have good hand-eye coordination when it comes to accuracy but I’m not that great at figuring out the Wii tennis deal. Oh, and I’m alright at baseball, which is disappointing. Luckily the boys didn’t give me a hard time…
Another thing I never wrote about was how we visited Julio's soon-to-be new apartment, soon as in like at least a year from now. It's outside of Salamanca in the sense that you really couldn't walk downtown like you can from Julio's current apartment but it's only like 5 minutes away by car.
It's on the top floor, a corner apartment, small but with a huuuuuge terrace. Wraparound. Pretty awesome.And here is Julio in his "new" room!
Julio has gotten 3 matrículas de honor (out of his 5 classes, he doesn’t know the last 2 grades yet) which are like super honor roll grades (A++ or something) and means that he doesn’t have to pay for his classes next year. Pretty awesome!!! What a guy.
Another thing I never wrote about was how Julio was hanging out here one afternoon last week and we decided to go take a walk downtown. He got here at 7, we went outside at 9...and the passenger seat window of his car was totally smashed! And the radio was gone! We were quite shocked, it being pretty much total daylight, it being right next to the residencia, there being at least 20 people who passed while we waited for his parents to show up, the fact that the punks didn't touch ANYTHING else in the car, not the nice sunglasses, not the CDs, nothing. They came prepared, they broke the window, they knew how to take out the radio because there were barely any marks at all, and they just peaced out. Julio was very levelheaded but is still pretty bitter about the radio thing because it was a nice radio from his cousin and obviously he would have preferred to not have to buy another one...so we went to the police with his parents, they filed a report, etc etc. He got a new window the next day (paid by insurance, yay) and I'm happy to say he has a new radio now, too, so the story ends somewhat happily!
This summer aka in about a week I will be living in Brunswick Apartments N2 with Sammie Francis at Bowdoin and working 20 hours a week doing odd jobs and projects for the Psych department, working odd hours at the Bowdoin children’s center and regularly babysitting Alexei, ~2 years old, who was 4-7months old last time I saw him! I will have my car, I will be coming home for 2 concerts in the first weekend of August, I will be visiting Middlebury and hope to see at least these people this summer (if I forgot you, feel free to yell at me! And most of you guys are guarantees, anyway!): Sammie, Tommy, Austin, Joe, Jess, Erica, Julia, Jesse, Joey….and more. So be in touch, okay?!
I can’t wait to have full use of an oven again. Actually, I can’t wait to be within 20 feet of a WORKING OVEN again. So I will be trying out various muffin, cake, cupcake etc recipes this summer.
Aaaaaaaand now I’m going to make a list of reasons why I’m glad I stayed for the whole year. Oh, and eat breakfast. And finish some important things on my to do list.
Much love,
-c-
Monday, June 2, 2008
Done!
Hi people!
Yes, it is true. The fateful day has finally come and the world is rejoicing again. AHHHHHHHH!
I'm done with my academics for junior yeaaaar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, my exams went well, I finished everything, etc etc everyone was happy. JOY JOY JOY!!! This is of course assuming I pass and get all the necessary credits to start my senior year but I got straight As in the fall so um. Anyway. I won't get into all the reasons this semester was harder etc etc blah blah but the point is, I'm pretty confident in myself right now. Academically.
Next stop? 2 free weeks in Salamanca, a short short week at home glorious home and then off to a summer in Brunswick N2 with Sammie at......
Yay!
More updates to come, probably with photos, as I tool around Salamanca for these next 2 weeks with NOTHING TO DO EXCEPT BE HAPPY!!!!!!! Well, and start to get all dramatic and sad and Salamanca-missing before I even leave. But more of the happiness. And enjoying of the city without ANY DISTRACTIONS!
Muuuuuuch love,
-c-
Yes, it is true. The fateful day has finally come and the world is rejoicing again. AHHHHHHHH!
I'm done with my academics for junior yeaaaar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, my exams went well, I finished everything, etc etc everyone was happy. JOY JOY JOY!!! This is of course assuming I pass and get all the necessary credits to start my senior year but I got straight As in the fall so um. Anyway. I won't get into all the reasons this semester was harder etc etc blah blah but the point is, I'm pretty confident in myself right now. Academically.
Next stop? 2 free weeks in Salamanca, a short short week at home glorious home and then off to a summer in Brunswick N2 with Sammie at......
Yay!
More updates to come, probably with photos, as I tool around Salamanca for these next 2 weeks with NOTHING TO DO EXCEPT BE HAPPY!!!!!!! Well, and start to get all dramatic and sad and Salamanca-missing before I even leave. But more of the happiness. And enjoying of the city without ANY DISTRACTIONS!
Muuuuuuch love,
-c-
Thursday, May 29, 2008
It’s Time to Say Goodbye… to everyone else
I think I’ve reached the turning point. I don’t think I’ve completely transitioned over yet, but I think I am finally finally at the point where I am able to honestly and truly see and appreciate the ways in which I am going to miss Salamanca. I have been taking note of these ways, both big and small, ever since I got here in September. Don’t let my recent whines, complaints and laments fool you—I’ve known all along that for every thing I feel for sure I won’t miss there are like 7 more things I WILL miss, many of which I won’t even realize until I’m back at home, or at Bowdoin, months from now, or even until I’m back here the next time, whenever that is.
I’m not totally sure about the precise reason or reasons why I have reached this point, but it probably has something to do with the fact that yesterday I said goodbye to 3 people, making the grand total of people to whom I have actually said/hugged goodbye since Cameron left like 8 years ago (okay, barely a week ago…wow) a whopping 6. Despite the fact that this semester the residencia seemed to be a much more popular destination for the homestay-ers of IES, living in the residencia you don’t actually run into many more people than you do when you’re in a homestay, at least not when you spend most of your time at the residencia in your own room or kitchen with Janna/Julio. What I mean to say is that while the grand exodus of the majority of IES students over the past week or so (most of them in homestays) has definitely been noted, it hasn’t been noted as much as I thought it would be. Until today, I suppose. Natalie has been gone for a few days now and yesterday afternoon Saúl left with Katie (and Janna didn’t get to say goodbye to Saúl, which was pretty heartbreaking for her, so I won’t get into it too much, but I know they will visit each other in LA in the fall!!) and Elizabeth left yesterday morning, too. Something about watching Saúl and Katie drag their 2 rolling suitcases and at least 1 backpack each down the hall of the residencia just made it all seem…so very final.
I’m not gonna lie, there was a definite pang of jealousy as I watched them go, aching for (and dreading) the day that my suitcases make that rolling noise as I leave this building for the last time for a very long time and maybe ever in the cold dark of the very early morning of June 16th. Nevertheless, I thought to myself for the first time, “Whoa, they’re really leaving…it’s really almost over…” and it was pretty sad.
That might sound kind of trite and I know it is but I don’t really want to get into the whole drama of leaving, yet. As I said, I’m at the turning point or perhaps a bit past it, but I’m not fully there yet. I reserve those feelings for some point after 7pm on June 2nd, when I am a FREE WOMAN aka academically a senior. Zing!
Two nights ago was the main night of goodbyes for many people as they all went out to celebrate Taylor’s birthday with tapas and dancing and bar-hopping (a typical weekend night in Salamanca….or any night with no exams the next day, for that matter) and for many it was their last chance to say goodbye and make plans for visits in the future in the US. And I wasn’t there. And I think that’s okay. Maybe?? It’s too late now…Although part of my reasoning for moving into the residencia was that I wanted to get closer to IES kids, I don’t think it turned out the way I was hoping it would. Earlier on in this semester things went really well and I felt like I had found a mini group or at least a few kids in IES with whom I felt like I could spend considerable amounts of time with, trust, etc etc and then….and then we all discovered how hard it is to speak only Spanish and keep Julio integrated, and then those kids started moving apart from me because I never went out with them, and then I couldn’t figure out how to balance Julio and them, and then some of them lost my trust, and then it became clear that none of them really had loyalties to me anymore. Partly my fault because I didn’t go out with them except on the very very rare occasion, partly my fault because I chose to spend time with Julio, partly my fault because sometimes I’d just close my door when they were here because it was clear that they weren’t missing me, as they’d sort of moved on. Partly just because I haven’t yet learned how to easily bridge a language barrier and balance getting closer to other people while not making my boyfriend feel supremely left out and jealous. Not really anybody’s fault. Aaaaaanyway. I didn’t end up as close to IES people as I had initially wanted but I suppose…I suppose that’s just how things worked out?? And while I think it would have been nice to have more people to visit/be in touch with in the US, and to have more travel buddies, I think having Julio and Janna and then the teeny group of IES people from both semesters I miiiiiight actually ever see again is a perfect number. So.
I don’t really like goodbyes, because with the people I know I’m going to see again, keep in touch with, or really care about, I would rather just know that our last few days together were fun, relaxed, and memorable without doing the whole tragic “this is our last ____ together or in Spain, wah wah wah.” And then with the other people, the people I don’t know or care if I’m going to see again, I don’t want to waste time being fake, dramatic, and emotional and make “plans” to “definitely” see each other soon. Ick.
All of that being said, I know that the goodbyes with Janna and Julio are (OBVIOUSLY) going to be really, supremely hard. I don’t want to get into the whole what-is-going-to-happen-with-Julio thing but whatever ends up happening, I fervently hope he gets a chance to take his first ride on a commercial airplane (I kid you not) and use his brand new (well, since January) passport for the first time to come to the US, be it in a few months or a few years. And I know he does, too. I know Janna and I go to school and live across the country from each other but I hope that keeping in touch with her works out as best as it can, given that we’ve just spent a semester living and breathing in the same double, in some of the same classes and in the same city together.
I think the strangest part of saying goodbye to them both and then arriving at home will be realizing time and time again how important they both are to me, clearly in different ways, but particularly because they are 2 of very very few people (perhaps the only 2) who REALLY know what my year here was like. Becca never really knew, my homestay family never really knew, and I doubt much of anyone else at IES really ever knew, either. Which is sad, because I have only 2 other people to get me through the sure-to-be tumultuous and sort of neverending transition home. But there is Skype and there are postcards and there is Facebook and there are photos and airplanes and we will survive, together, apart.
Phew. This is getting dangerously close to a sad sad sad post and I’m not ready for that yet!!
Check out the Bilbao photos on Picasa if you haven’t yet.
Much much much love,
-Casey
I’m not totally sure about the precise reason or reasons why I have reached this point, but it probably has something to do with the fact that yesterday I said goodbye to 3 people, making the grand total of people to whom I have actually said/hugged goodbye since Cameron left like 8 years ago (okay, barely a week ago…wow) a whopping 6. Despite the fact that this semester the residencia seemed to be a much more popular destination for the homestay-ers of IES, living in the residencia you don’t actually run into many more people than you do when you’re in a homestay, at least not when you spend most of your time at the residencia in your own room or kitchen with Janna/Julio. What I mean to say is that while the grand exodus of the majority of IES students over the past week or so (most of them in homestays) has definitely been noted, it hasn’t been noted as much as I thought it would be. Until today, I suppose. Natalie has been gone for a few days now and yesterday afternoon Saúl left with Katie (and Janna didn’t get to say goodbye to Saúl, which was pretty heartbreaking for her, so I won’t get into it too much, but I know they will visit each other in LA in the fall!!) and Elizabeth left yesterday morning, too. Something about watching Saúl and Katie drag their 2 rolling suitcases and at least 1 backpack each down the hall of the residencia just made it all seem…so very final.
I’m not gonna lie, there was a definite pang of jealousy as I watched them go, aching for (and dreading) the day that my suitcases make that rolling noise as I leave this building for the last time for a very long time and maybe ever in the cold dark of the very early morning of June 16th. Nevertheless, I thought to myself for the first time, “Whoa, they’re really leaving…it’s really almost over…” and it was pretty sad.
That might sound kind of trite and I know it is but I don’t really want to get into the whole drama of leaving, yet. As I said, I’m at the turning point or perhaps a bit past it, but I’m not fully there yet. I reserve those feelings for some point after 7pm on June 2nd, when I am a FREE WOMAN aka academically a senior. Zing!
Two nights ago was the main night of goodbyes for many people as they all went out to celebrate Taylor’s birthday with tapas and dancing and bar-hopping (a typical weekend night in Salamanca….or any night with no exams the next day, for that matter) and for many it was their last chance to say goodbye and make plans for visits in the future in the US. And I wasn’t there. And I think that’s okay. Maybe?? It’s too late now…Although part of my reasoning for moving into the residencia was that I wanted to get closer to IES kids, I don’t think it turned out the way I was hoping it would. Earlier on in this semester things went really well and I felt like I had found a mini group or at least a few kids in IES with whom I felt like I could spend considerable amounts of time with, trust, etc etc and then….and then we all discovered how hard it is to speak only Spanish and keep Julio integrated, and then those kids started moving apart from me because I never went out with them, and then I couldn’t figure out how to balance Julio and them, and then some of them lost my trust, and then it became clear that none of them really had loyalties to me anymore. Partly my fault because I didn’t go out with them except on the very very rare occasion, partly my fault because I chose to spend time with Julio, partly my fault because sometimes I’d just close my door when they were here because it was clear that they weren’t missing me, as they’d sort of moved on. Partly just because I haven’t yet learned how to easily bridge a language barrier and balance getting closer to other people while not making my boyfriend feel supremely left out and jealous. Not really anybody’s fault. Aaaaaanyway. I didn’t end up as close to IES people as I had initially wanted but I suppose…I suppose that’s just how things worked out?? And while I think it would have been nice to have more people to visit/be in touch with in the US, and to have more travel buddies, I think having Julio and Janna and then the teeny group of IES people from both semesters I miiiiiight actually ever see again is a perfect number. So.
I don’t really like goodbyes, because with the people I know I’m going to see again, keep in touch with, or really care about, I would rather just know that our last few days together were fun, relaxed, and memorable without doing the whole tragic “this is our last ____ together or in Spain, wah wah wah.” And then with the other people, the people I don’t know or care if I’m going to see again, I don’t want to waste time being fake, dramatic, and emotional and make “plans” to “definitely” see each other soon. Ick.
All of that being said, I know that the goodbyes with Janna and Julio are (OBVIOUSLY) going to be really, supremely hard. I don’t want to get into the whole what-is-going-to-happen-with-Julio thing but whatever ends up happening, I fervently hope he gets a chance to take his first ride on a commercial airplane (I kid you not) and use his brand new (well, since January) passport for the first time to come to the US, be it in a few months or a few years. And I know he does, too. I know Janna and I go to school and live across the country from each other but I hope that keeping in touch with her works out as best as it can, given that we’ve just spent a semester living and breathing in the same double, in some of the same classes and in the same city together.
I think the strangest part of saying goodbye to them both and then arriving at home will be realizing time and time again how important they both are to me, clearly in different ways, but particularly because they are 2 of very very few people (perhaps the only 2) who REALLY know what my year here was like. Becca never really knew, my homestay family never really knew, and I doubt much of anyone else at IES really ever knew, either. Which is sad, because I have only 2 other people to get me through the sure-to-be tumultuous and sort of neverending transition home. But there is Skype and there are postcards and there is Facebook and there are photos and airplanes and we will survive, together, apart.
Phew. This is getting dangerously close to a sad sad sad post and I’m not ready for that yet!!
Check out the Bilbao photos on Picasa if you haven’t yet.
Much much much love,
-Casey
Monday, May 26, 2008
Bilbao!
Hi friends!
Julio and I got back from Bilbao on Saturday. We went to the Casco Viejo, Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, in addition to various plazas and plazuelas around the city. It's a cute city, easily walkable but much more modern than Salamanca. There were way more people from outside of Spain than we had expected, especially in the sketchy neighborhood around our hostel which was really a residencia, just like the one I live in here in Salamanca. We had a great time, it only rained while we were in the Guggenheim and on our last morning, and we bought groceries which kept us full on a cheap budget. Score! I did not take this photo, but it gives you a good idea of how epic the Guggenheim is! It's cool inside, too, but it's more....freaky strange cool than like "ooh wowwww" cool. If that makes sense.
I DID take this photo, however. This is us outside the Guggenheim, I tried to take photos of us plus the museum but it's harder than you think.
So here are the photos I took from this weekend!
http://picasaweb.google.com/onyourmind/BilbaoMay2008
Check them out.
Much love,
-c-
Julio and I got back from Bilbao on Saturday. We went to the Casco Viejo, Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, in addition to various plazas and plazuelas around the city. It's a cute city, easily walkable but much more modern than Salamanca. There were way more people from outside of Spain than we had expected, especially in the sketchy neighborhood around our hostel which was really a residencia, just like the one I live in here in Salamanca. We had a great time, it only rained while we were in the Guggenheim and on our last morning, and we bought groceries which kept us full on a cheap budget. Score! I did not take this photo, but it gives you a good idea of how epic the Guggenheim is! It's cool inside, too, but it's more....freaky strange cool than like "ooh wowwww" cool. If that makes sense.
I DID take this photo, however. This is us outside the Guggenheim, I tried to take photos of us plus the museum but it's harder than you think.
So here are the photos I took from this weekend!
http://picasaweb.google.com/onyourmind/BilbaoMay2008
Check them out.
Much love,
-c-
Thursday, May 22, 2008
My half birthday party!!!!!
I love my friends here. It is official, I do!!!!!!! We've already known that but lately they've done a supremely amazing job at making me feel at home, loved, appreciated, and giggly.
Janna threw me a half-birthday party on Tuesday because my actual 20th birthday was so crappy. Yes, Julio and I went out to dinner, but it was still kind of early in our relationship and we barely talked! It was a good silence, but not what I was expecting or hoping for on my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY, of all things. Janna and friends in the fall figured that Julio would take care of me for my birthday but his passport that he got over christmas break ended up being my birthday present. Which is great, but I decided that could be my present so he didn't feel bad about making me anything, like I did for his in early October.
Janna felt pretty bad about the whole thing, and even worse when she found out about the package I opened on my birthday that had some extremely emotionally intense contents. My parents did send me an AWESOME fabric mobile of gingko leaves, one of my favorite trees, which hung on my closet rod until the end of the semester. It was a rainy, rainy day, and my host family almost forgot about my birthday, as admitted by my host mom. They did write me a really sweet card and gave me some yummy coconut macaroons...but when I tried one, it was literally chemical-testing and truly awful. I have no idea if something in them went wrong or who knows what but I had to spit it out. Bad news.
So all in all, this half birthday was going to be better than my real birthday because it was going to have cake, for starters, but it really did end up being FABULOUS!!!
Janna got me a Mickey and Minnie cake (hilarious) with a question mark candle because how old was I really?! There was tiramisu ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, SPRINKLES (!!!!!!!!), and even Champagne!! There were adorable cards from Kendra and Janna (THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that made me glad I'd stayed the whole year all over again so I could stay friends with them. I got a RAINBOW KITE that is missing one important part but will soon be fixed (and I can bring it home!!) and STICKERS. Does Janna know me, or what?!?!
Cameron, Miles, Simonne, Kendra, Saúl, Janna and Julio came and SURPRISED ME!!!! Such tricky kids. We laughed, we told stories about IES professors that are crazy, and all in all relaxed and enjoyed our sugar highs. It was amazing.
I'm off to Bilbao with Julio and will be back on Saturday. You can expect 6 billion photos to be posted ASAP!!!
Much love,
-Casey
Janna threw me a half-birthday party on Tuesday because my actual 20th birthday was so crappy. Yes, Julio and I went out to dinner, but it was still kind of early in our relationship and we barely talked! It was a good silence, but not what I was expecting or hoping for on my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY, of all things. Janna and friends in the fall figured that Julio would take care of me for my birthday but his passport that he got over christmas break ended up being my birthday present. Which is great, but I decided that could be my present so he didn't feel bad about making me anything, like I did for his in early October.
Janna felt pretty bad about the whole thing, and even worse when she found out about the package I opened on my birthday that had some extremely emotionally intense contents. My parents did send me an AWESOME fabric mobile of gingko leaves, one of my favorite trees, which hung on my closet rod until the end of the semester. It was a rainy, rainy day, and my host family almost forgot about my birthday, as admitted by my host mom. They did write me a really sweet card and gave me some yummy coconut macaroons...but when I tried one, it was literally chemical-testing and truly awful. I have no idea if something in them went wrong or who knows what but I had to spit it out. Bad news.
So all in all, this half birthday was going to be better than my real birthday because it was going to have cake, for starters, but it really did end up being FABULOUS!!!
Janna got me a Mickey and Minnie cake (hilarious) with a question mark candle because how old was I really?! There was tiramisu ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, SPRINKLES (!!!!!!!!), and even Champagne!! There were adorable cards from Kendra and Janna (THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that made me glad I'd stayed the whole year all over again so I could stay friends with them. I got a RAINBOW KITE that is missing one important part but will soon be fixed (and I can bring it home!!) and STICKERS. Does Janna know me, or what?!?!
Cameron, Miles, Simonne, Kendra, Saúl, Janna and Julio came and SURPRISED ME!!!! Such tricky kids. We laughed, we told stories about IES professors that are crazy, and all in all relaxed and enjoyed our sugar highs. It was amazing.
I'm off to Bilbao with Julio and will be back on Saturday. You can expect 6 billion photos to be posted ASAP!!!Much love,
-Casey
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