Why just a semester?

Chicos, many many thanks for all your contri- butions to this blog. You may recall that when we began this project I suggested it could be a useful forum for critical reflection. Congratulations: I have just been rereading your entries and find that, indeed, I encounter here a great deal of reflection based on keen observation. I've also noticed several expressions of gratitude for the opportunity you had this year. I can hardly imagine a healthier attitude. (And, in our case, this gratitude is quite "realistic", though that's not quite the word I'm looking for. Perhaps I'm referring to a degree of self-awareness regarding one's relatively privileged status in the world. To the extent that you acknowledge this status, you are being quite realistic...) Dickinson encourages us to, yes, engage the world. You have done so, and I believe all of you are quite aware of how this engagement is changing you. As you well know, so many people around the world can only dream of such an opportunity. I feel tremendously gratified in my confidence that you have all taken great advantage of this opportunity. For me this seminar has been a very positive and memorable experience, as has been the whole year. I feel grateful for having had the opportunity to work with you, to help you negotiate Málaga, and to accompany you in some of your adventures. I hope I've been able to teach you something; I've certainly learned a lot from all of you. The seminar is over, but I don't see why the blog should end. After all, you are going to have plenty to ponder as you get ready for your final year at Dickinson. Someone mentioned reverse culture shock. Why not write about it? Anyone want to suggest a new title for the blog? Or just leave it as is? So, I would be most happy to see this chain of reflection keep growing. I've grown quite fond of it. Un abrazo...

Malaga 2008-09

I just wanted to dedicate this last blog to the people that I´ve been able to experience Spain with over the course of nine months. The end has come and I can honestly say that this has been the best experience of my life. I remember asking some of the girls what has been the best thing that has stood out to them so far and noone could think of any ONE thing. To me, this is indicative of the many amazing, fascinating things that we have experienced here. From travelling across Spain, spending hours on a bus or mini-bus, visiting catedral after catedral, walking on the beach, having our routine escapades in El Centro, eating churros and paella and basically just having the time of our lives.

No one can deny that we have truly been blessed to have experienced this and it is something that would remain with us for the rest of our lives. I went for a run today wearing my Dickinson College T-shirt, and on my walk back, yes, walk, someone mentioned to me how great it must be to be a part of such a program. This was already evident when we sat down to have dinner with people like Pedro Aparicio, Antonio Soler, Juvenal Soto, Teodoro Leon Gross and Fernando Arcas, all celebrated names here in Malaga and throughout Spain, and all of whom came to our classroom to contribute to our learning experience. The fact that the program is indeed amazing, is not only evident in our interaction with these phenomenal people but also, among ourselves, how far we´ve come, how much we´ve learnt and how we all have fallen in love with this place that we called home for the past few months. When I first started out writing this I really wanted it to be nostagic and a great reminder of the things we´ve experienced. But since I´m still here in Malaga it´s a bit harder for me to face that it is really over and that someday I will have to return to the States and then Dickinson. For now, I just want to tell my fellow companions on this journey that you are all wonderful and that it has been a pleasure to have shared this with you.

Going back...

Today is the last day in Málaga for most of us, and since we have been here for so long it seems strange to return to the U.S. I have been thinking about what will happen once we are actually back home, living the lives we had before...but different. It is possible that we might experience "reverse culture shock" after being in Spain for 9 months, and I am interested to see what it is like. I'm also sure that the first phrase to come out of most of our friends' mouths will be, "How was Spain?" But to be honest, I have no idea how to answer that. There are so many experiences, moments, ideas, people, places, etc. that come to mind, that I feel that putting my reaction into a few sentences in English would never do Málaga justice.

The positive side to this, however, is that there are people who understand - we Dickinson students who have gone through all of it together, and will never forget the opportunities we had here. Now, we're ready to continue "engaging the world" with this experience under our belt, and hopefully return to Dickinson inspiring others to do the same.

Los Montes

To be honest, I was a little unsure what to think when the idea of making a paella in the Montes first came up. With final exams and essays right around the corner, it seemed like a stressful day to take an afternoon trip. I also had the question of how in the world we were going to make this paella in the middle of the mountains. Despite my hesistations, the day was a wonderful escape that showed us a new side of Málaga. We have driven through the mountains numerous times on our trips, but we’ve never stopped to enjoy the peacefulness there. Living here in Málaga, I am used to the busy city filled with lots of people shopping and eating, settled between the gorgeous views that we have of the Mediterranean and the mountains. The recreation area with all of its walking trails where we enjoyed our afternoon is another dimension of Málaga that I never knew existed. Being from a small town where we have lots of open land and woods along with tons of greens, spending the afternoon in the Monte was like a breath of fresh air to me and made me love Málaga even more than I already do.

Swine Flu

The momentary scare that the H1N1 virus caused was unbelievable. The images that made the front page of every newspaper and ridiculous statistical predictions of how the virus would spread globally were fuel for the widespread panic. Students in my group were receiving phone calls from home with detailed instructions for any and all scenarios, none of which were likely. It reminded me of the family meetings people have in Florida when there is a hurricane or tropical storm approaching. Should the kids stay at school? Should I pick them up or should you? Should we evacuate? All viable questions when there is a hurricane approaching, but flu plans? Never heard of it.
After the initial bout of sensational journalism, the media is now jumping on the fact that the World Health Organization may not have been justified in raising the alert that it did, and that that may have been the cause of the irrational fear that has resulted in discrimination. Some measures allegedly taken to avoid the spread of the virus are now being called xenophobic, like the quarantine of dozens of Mexican travelers in China when there was only one confirmed case of the virus. Pigs are also being discriminated against. Egypt made a decision early on to slaughter all of the pigs in the country to avoid a flu outbreak even though there wasn’t even one confirmed case in the entire country.
They say that more people die from the regular strains of the flu virus every year than have died from the H1N1 virus. So how did this cause so much panic? How did it shut down an entire country and turn innocent piggies into victims of unjustified persecution? One thing I can say for Spain, when faced with the danger of swine flu, the media hubbub did not stop the consumption of pork as usual.

The End of A Chapter

I can hardly believe it, the time has come to say goodbye to Malaga and slowly close this chapter of life. Life I’ve said in some of my previous blogs this experience has been purely unforgettable in every sense of the word. It´s funny that the day that I feared, and have also been waiting for, has finally come but in the end I am ready to go back home. There are going to be a lot of things that I will take home with me about my experience here in Malaga. Nine months have passed since I first arrived here and I could not have asked for a better experience and a better way to spend my junior year of college. I only hope that I will never forget the many things I learned and observed while being here during this long amount of time.
Looking back to when I first arrived in Malaga I can now remember and recognize some little amount of culture shock that I experienced. The hardest thing that I had to get used to was the time schedule of when things get done here but as time went on it became easier to adjust. People here are a lot more open then I expected them to be and I am grateful to them for it. Practica allowed me to see how the Spanish work environment is and I have to say that it is definitely one of my favorites, but I did learn some things that I will never forget.
My host family has also taught me a lot and helped me greatly to improve my Spanish skills. They welcomed me into their house with open arms and now treat me as an adopted daughter and I will miss them dearly when I leave. I only hope they will remember me after I get on the plain to go back home to my family and friends. I have been given this amazing opportunity to live in another country for a year and I am eternally grateful for it and I will never forget it.
I would definitely recommend Malaga as an abroad destination because there is no other place like it.

European Identity

Due to Spain´s growth and the European Union´s increase to 27 members, Spain will soon play a different role in the EU. This is because the country will stop receiving funds from the EU, and begin contributing money to the new eastern European members. In addition, this effect could be exaggerated in the future with the possible entrance of Turkey. After guest speaker and ex-mayor Pedro Aparicio spoke to us about the EU and the European identity in Spain, I started wondering how it could be affected by these changes.

Although I am speculating, it makes sense that Spaniards would be more inclined to follow Spain´s participation in the EU—and thus, strengthening their European identity— because of the fact that their tax money would be funding economic development in other countries. While this correlation is not certain to occur, and is actually contrasted by a few countries such as England (i.e. big contributor with low European identity), all other things being equal, it is a logical conclusion. At the same time however, it may also lead Spaniards to be less happy with their new role as contributors. In any case, we will soon get a better idea once Spaniards feel the effects of their new role.

Subjective Identity

For many the question of personal identity is not necessarily linked to where they were born, where they spent most of their life, or where they are right now. Sometimes it’s a mix of the three, sometimes it’s where you feel comfortable and at home. A fellow worker at the tourism office made this point clear to me. Unlike her, I have lived the majority of my life in the same place that I was born. She was born in Velez-Malaga, but has spent time in the Balearic Islands, Cordoba, and now feels at home in Malaga. Her husband is from Malaga and she has spent her recent years here working in the tourism office. She explained to me that her personal identity is not based on where she was born since her childhood was divided between various places. She says that she identifies personally with Malaga, and calls herself a malagueña. Her love for her new home has driven her to write a children’s book, which was recently published, about the culture, heritage, and identity of Malaga. She later asked me if I felt the personal connection to Malaga, and if I identified as a pseudo- malagueña. After giving it thought I understood how personal identity could vary from person to person. In a basic sense, if it’s possible to have a “multi-identity,” I do feel a similar connection to the city of Malaga after living her for eight months.

Addicted or Connected?

One of the major culture shocks at the beginning of my time in Spain was the smoking. It seemed like everyone smoked cigarettes everywhere they wanted to. I never really did get used to the fact that smoking is allowed in most establishments and that the separation of smoking and non-smoking in restaurants is just for show. Since then I’ve discovered another addiction that seems just as widespread. The use of the telephone. When my host-mother is home she carries the house phone and her cell phone with her at all times and it’s a rare occasion that she isn’t talking on one of them. Other students in the group have confirmed that it is the same in their houses. After reading in the book for our Seminar class that cell phone use in Spain is more expensive than anywhere else I was even more surprised by how much the Spanish use their cell phones. Everywhere I go it seems like people are talking on their phones. At the beach, on the bus, in the park, while driving, in restaurants, in bars, even in the theater. And if they aren’t talking on it, they are texting or listening to music. Are cell phones just as addictive as cigarettes? Or are the Spanish just better connected with their friends and loved ones?

Spanish

This summer I have the opportunity to go to Honduras and work with a medical group in the province of Santa Barbara. After two semesters in Malaga I feel more confident with my Spanish abilities, but at the same time still wonder if it will hold up in other countries. I have had multiple conversations in Spain about the subject of the Spanish language. I have talked with people here that tell me that the best Spanish is spoken in Bolivia and Colombia. At the same time there are people that tell me that the only correct Spanish is from Spain. In Spain I still have a lot of difficulty understanding people on the street or in Spanish films. Obviously I have made great leaps and bounds in my language comprehension since I arrived here, but I’m still not a fluent speaker.

Recently I saw a documentary about the drug war on the boarder between the United States and Mexico. Although it was done in English, there were many parts where they used subtitles. I was able to understand about 95 percent of what was being said. These small triumphs really help a person learning a language want to continue. I hope that wherever I end up using my Spanish it will be understandable and coherent. Although we might not be as fluent as we want the year or semester that we stayed in Malaga built a foundation in our comprehension of the Spanish language that we can only keep adding too as time goes on.

Xenophobia towards Moroccans

During the section on xenophobia in one of my seminars this past week, I posed the question to the class: what are some stereotypes that they have here in Spain for foreigners? Immediately the classroom came to life with the shouts of various stereotypes. Once the class settled down a bit, I called on a few of the more vocal students to hear their specific examples. The first and most consistent stereotype directly related to the topic of my final paper: Moroccan immigrants in Spain. “Moroccans are bad drivers,” said one of the boys, to which the entire class burst into a laughter of agreement. Another boy was quick to add that women are also bad drives – a common stereotype in the United States as well – and as if it was Math class, one of the quick-witted boys promptly reasoned that Moroccan women were then in fact the worst drivers of all. There were other negative stereotypes made such as Moroccans are poor, beggars, or robbers; one girl even went as far as to say “terrorists.”

We began talking about the dangers of stereotypes and when asked if they knew all the Moroccan immigrants in the world, let alone all the Moroccans in Spain, they collectively shook their heads. But the following comment took me by surprise. One boy said that it didn’t matter because “they are all the same.” A silence fell over the room and not a single one of his classmates said anything to deny such a bold statement.

I’m not sure if the discussion that followed helped to change or open the mindsets of these youth, but their comments had certainly left an impression on me. The Spaniards’ xenophobic attitude towards Moroccans has been passed on to the country’s future generations.