What to say, what to say...
Well chickadees and chickadudes, I am here in Madrid.
I am staying at a university dorm hall called Colegio Mayor Jaime del Amo, which incidentally is an all-boys dorm during the school year. There have been several Spaniards walking around the premise, and some have been very friendly. The freshmen boys of the hall have to go through a series of hazing, which I believe is a boarding school tradition. I don’t really know, as I never was part of anything close to that. I don’t know what it is about boys and their pleasure in watching other dudes in pain. The things the freshies have to do seem pretty harmless, so far. Us female Fulbright students have been marked as targets with theses hazes. Today, we were serenaded by one of the freshmen with the Macarena, complete with the dance and the Ole at the end. By the way, the two old men who sang that song were famous flamenco singers before. Go figure.
The students, senior researchers, and PhD candidates here for the Fulbright are here for amazing projects. There are so many interesting research topics, and I really want to know how it all turns out. There are history projects, like the African legacy in La Habana y Cartagena in Sevilla (JEALOUS! I talked to the guy who was doing this for his dissertation, and we were chatting forever and a half about Sevilla), and something as modern as constitutional law and gay marriage. Gay marriage just passed this year in Spain, and it’s a really interesting situation. (It’s surprising that a country with a national religion can deal with this, and certain “secular” countries can’t even stomach it.)
The last two days have been a whirl. Between orientation meetings, I’ve been squatting in the front hallway with my laptop furiously looking for an apartment. The dorm has wireless here (amaaazinggg!) and it only works for me near the front door. A bunch of us are down stairs staring at our respective screens, and I must admit, we look a little strange to the Spaniards. Easier target for the hazing.
This feels like freshman year in college, with the dorms, the cafeteria foods, meeting new people, talking to the new people for an hour past meal time in the cafeteria… dare I say, it makes me miss Pitzer a little bit. But, I figure this is the best version of freshman year at Pitzer, in a more grown-up situation.
I have yet to entertain you with a funny anecdote, as I’ve only been here for about 40 hours. I am still looking for that perfect apartment (with internet, a bratty request) with the perfect natural lighting and a balcony… I’m still hoping. We shall meet here again when I am settled in. My one fear right now is actually becoming homeless, but we all know that everything turns out okay in the end.
Un saludo y besitos.
P.S. Incidentally (I got that word from Rachel the Cheesy Ray), you can comment on this page without having a Blogspot account. I think there’s an option that says “guest” or something, and so you don’t have to go through the hassle of creating an account. In any case, this little tidbit is to encourage you all to leave me a little sumthin’ sumthin’.
I am staying at a university dorm hall called Colegio Mayor Jaime del Amo, which incidentally is an all-boys dorm during the school year. There have been several Spaniards walking around the premise, and some have been very friendly. The freshmen boys of the hall have to go through a series of hazing, which I believe is a boarding school tradition. I don’t really know, as I never was part of anything close to that. I don’t know what it is about boys and their pleasure in watching other dudes in pain. The things the freshies have to do seem pretty harmless, so far. Us female Fulbright students have been marked as targets with theses hazes. Today, we were serenaded by one of the freshmen with the Macarena, complete with the dance and the Ole at the end. By the way, the two old men who sang that song were famous flamenco singers before. Go figure.
The students, senior researchers, and PhD candidates here for the Fulbright are here for amazing projects. There are so many interesting research topics, and I really want to know how it all turns out. There are history projects, like the African legacy in La Habana y Cartagena in Sevilla (JEALOUS! I talked to the guy who was doing this for his dissertation, and we were chatting forever and a half about Sevilla), and something as modern as constitutional law and gay marriage. Gay marriage just passed this year in Spain, and it’s a really interesting situation. (It’s surprising that a country with a national religion can deal with this, and certain “secular” countries can’t even stomach it.)
The last two days have been a whirl. Between orientation meetings, I’ve been squatting in the front hallway with my laptop furiously looking for an apartment. The dorm has wireless here (amaaazinggg!) and it only works for me near the front door. A bunch of us are down stairs staring at our respective screens, and I must admit, we look a little strange to the Spaniards. Easier target for the hazing.
This feels like freshman year in college, with the dorms, the cafeteria foods, meeting new people, talking to the new people for an hour past meal time in the cafeteria… dare I say, it makes me miss Pitzer a little bit. But, I figure this is the best version of freshman year at Pitzer, in a more grown-up situation.
I have yet to entertain you with a funny anecdote, as I’ve only been here for about 40 hours. I am still looking for that perfect apartment (with internet, a bratty request) with the perfect natural lighting and a balcony… I’m still hoping. We shall meet here again when I am settled in. My one fear right now is actually becoming homeless, but we all know that everything turns out okay in the end.
Un saludo y besitos.
P.S. Incidentally (I got that word from Rachel the Cheesy Ray), you can comment on this page without having a Blogspot account. I think there’s an option that says “guest” or something, and so you don’t have to go through the hassle of creating an account. In any case, this little tidbit is to encourage you all to leave me a little sumthin’ sumthin’.
posted by Lisa at 4:01 PM
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