Then the program arrived. And it listed non-stop activities/events, including:
- an hour of opening speeches from the same people who have given us opening speeches 3 times already
- senior researcher presentations
- a talent show
- small group meetings to evaluate the work load
- side project presentations
- a 2.5 hour walking tour
- a cocktail party with ex-grantees from Spain
- small group discussions about the differences between Spain/Andorra (who knows where that is?!) and the U.S.A
- MORE side project presentations
- a 4 hour field trip to Fuendetodos (Population: 170)
I was also unsure about what to expect in regards to interactions with other Fulbrighters. I had spent 5 months essentially avoiding them, determined not to fall into a "click" of Fulbrighters. Thus, three days of small talk with about 100 of them didn't seem too appealing.
Last, but not least, I was extremely "encouraged" when I told one of the English teachers from Ramiro de Maeztu that I was going to Zaragoza for the weekend and she responded with, "Oh... Zaragoza. I don't think it's very beautiful."
Sounds like we have a stellar 3 days ahead of us, folks.
Definitely not very beautiful.
However, as you may have guessed, or at least hoped, my experience at the conference was overwhelmingly positive.
The conference started early for Napala, Dan, and I. We arrived on an earlier train than the rest of the group and took advantage of the time to "dar un paseo" through downtown Zaragoza.
A few brief comments on Zaragoza:
- There are TWO Spanish lisps in this city name. This meant that many people (cough, cough, Napala!) went great lengths to avoid saying the city's name.
- It's the 5th largest city in Spain (after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Sevilla). This means I've hit the top 5!
- The University was pretty excited to be hosting us. They even wrote an article about us, which I was interviewed for! If you speak Spanish, here's the link.
Making new friends
Napala and I with la Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar in the background. The churches in Zaragoza are another World Heritage Site because of their Mudéjar (influenced heavily by Moorish art/architecture) style.
The weather was gorgeous on Wednesday morning, which made up for the fact that it rained during our 2.5 hour walking tour the next day.
When we got back to the hotel, there was a bit of confusion about how the three of us had gotten there. One of our friends got confused and thought Fulbright didn't let us participate in the group train reservation. What really happened was that we wanted to take advantage of being North to go to Bilbao for the weekend, so we booked our own tickets.
Well this was all fine and dandy, but you may be wondering: What about the actual conference? I think I'll sum it up with this statement: The other Fulbrighters are impressive people.
People blew me away with their side projects and research projects. I learned about how the indigenous languages in the U.S. compare with the regional languages of Spain. I heard the best explanation of the economical crisis to date. I was enlightened about the mushroom hunting culture in Spain.
And, as some of you may remember from my orientation post, I learned a little bit about the Spanish siesta. So far, it seems likely that Spaniards base their short nap off of the ideas of Salvador Dali, who thought the initial stages of slumber provoked creativity. Newscientist explains his sleeping method:
He would sit with a key in one hand, poised above a metal plate placed
on the floor, and let sleep take him. As soon as he began to slumber in
earnest, the key would slip from his fingers and clang against the plate
– waking him immediately.
One of the Spaniards the Fulbrighter interviewed explained this process almost exactly, except for falling asleep with his fork in his hand instead of a key. That is definitely not my approach to a nap. I want to be in REM cycle... otherwise I'll just power on and try and catch a few extra z's during the night. But perhaps it does foster creativity. How else would you come up with the idea for so many melting clocks on beach?
Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory"
Throughout the three days, I also got a chance to talk to people that I hadn't talked to since I got here. It was interesting to hear how grantees had integrated themselves into different regions/countries and their varied interpretations of Spanish culture.
Particularly interesting to me was the discussion about how community is manifested in different ways in different countries. While the U.S. is typically seen as a patriotic country and its citizens take pride in being part of such an influential and developed country, my students are embarrassed about the image of Spain in the global context; they have little to no patriotism. It seems to me that they forget that the Spanish people are worth being proud of and that they are, in fact, part of a greater community. One great example of this is the Spanish locksmiths and firefighters who refused to evict people from their homes when they lost them to the banks. The firefighters argued that their job is to save people from danger, not put them into it. Talk about standing up for justice for your community members!
Overall, my conversations with the other Fulbrighters made me realize that they are doing a wide variety of amazing things. They inspired me to give my volunteering project another try and to learn about some new aspects of Spanish culture. I'm stoked about the next few months!
Last but not least... Fuendetodos. The field trip to Francisco Goya's birth town was the last activity of the conference. As I said earlier, the population is about 170 people. Luckily they some visitors, about 25,000 every year.
The museum there features many of Goya's Caprichos, or cartoons. The Caprichos show his interpretation of Spanish society, mostly criticisms. We also looked at a print series commenting on the disasters of war. It was really interesting, but also slightly depressing because of Goya's pessimistic interpretations of Spanish culture.
El sueño de la razón produce monstruos
The sleep of reason produces monsters
As I mentioned earlier, Napala, Dan, and I bought our own train tickets so that we could go to Bilbao after the conference. Thus, we headed to the bus station at 5:30 AM Saturday morning to take the next leg of our journey.
Once in Bilbao, we spent the morning enjoying our cafés con leche and sitting by the river, mostly because Napala's and my Airbnb hosts weren't home. So we moved around from plaza to park bench, homeless for a few hours.
Baggage and all
But, we can't complain. Because this is more or less what we were looking at...
The Guggenheim and el Río Nervión
After a while though, we decided to throw in the towel, check in at Dan's hostel, and head off to the beach. This was a "pretty good" consolation prize. (The original prize would've been being with almost my entire family in Ohio enjoying a Rogers-style staycation.)
My teacher didn't think Bilbao was very pretty either...
Last, but not least, we enjoyed Bilbao's pintxos. We managed to stumble upon the street of 40-50 year old hangouts, which meant we were eating some high qualitiy pintxos. Soooooo delicious.
Just three of the many artistic morsels we consumed on Saturday night.
All in all, mid-year was a success. It was a great reminder of the cultural exchange I am here to promote and a fun way to spend a few days out of Madrid! Next stop: Poland!
Much love,
Amber
