Hola Barcelona!!
So my hostel is a six minute walk from the BEAUTIFUL university of Barcelona campus, great gardens...so after walking around for about a half hour I finally fell right into place here. Its about 77 degrees and everyone is sitting outside and a beautiful day to walk up to strangers and ask them if they speak english!
Luckily I have found a few nice people (for those of you just tuning in know that I know this isn't a random sample by any means I am selecting college students in cities with experiences in foreign languages...I have to do what I can, it's not perfect, but I think it's still worth trying).
(some pictures of the garden to make the post more exciting--this is a terrible picture though...sorry)
#1
Gial is from Barcelona, he admitted that he knows english more or less and wanted to practice a little so his responses might sound simple but trust me he was trying really hard to get his point across. He said that he generally isn't very patriotic and that where you are born is just very random. He loves Barcelona because he is from Barcelona and he likes big capitals (cities), he said if he was born in Madrid he would love Madrid too. When I asked what his feelings were on being Spanish he said more or less that it was fine, he didn't have a strong identity to anything, even being European.
I asked about the laws the EU makes regarding things like energy and climate are effecting Spain and he said that he didn't really notice or pay attention to them.
Gial was interested in hearing more about my project and all of my readings. He agrees that I should be skeptical of people who think the EU is a cultural unit.
#2
Esther was great, she basically hit the nail on the head for Barcelona, I wonder if she will be the only one who feels this way. She was very excited to talk to me because her friend is finishing spending a year in Massachusetts playing basketball and her English is very very good. I started off explaining my project and I asked her how she felt about being Spanish "that's a good question, I don't feel Spanish. I am from Barcelona" She doesn't like Spanish politics and she really doesn't think of herself as part of the country. Then I asked if she felt European at all of just Catalonian "I feel more European than I do Spanish." I asked if she followed the political side of the EU a lot and she said no. But then I asked generally what she liked and didn't like about the EU and she said that it's too big it won't work people in the North are too different than the south. She described how even their day to day lives were different (even referencing how they eat dinner so much later in the south and the north doesn't understand that), so with differences so basic as that how can they try to make laws for the whole thing? (Valid point--sometimes I feel that way about the US). I asked if there was anything good or something that makes this organization worth it and she said "yeah, the nature laws are good" (I didn't even need to pay her to say that!) but with migration it isn't the same at all for countries and that doesn't make too much sense to have a law or regulation for that.*
*fun fact: I was listening to the news yesterday and heard the newest report that this year over 100,000 migrants have come to Europe with over 54,000 entering in Italy alone. Go back, read those numbers again. Just in the past few weeks Germany has sent a fleet of ships to start intervening in the dangerous and unsafe route of the refugees and the UK and Ireland are also stepping up and sending ships to the Mediterranean.
**Another fun fact for those of you who don't know me, in August I will start working in Atlanta as a English Second Language and Civics teacher for immigrant and refugee adults ranging from beginners to preparing for the citizenship test. So if you're wondering what my interest is in the European migrant crisis is, that might answer some of your questions.
there has never been a necessary coi pond #creepyfish
#3
Elisabeth is from Myorica (its close to Barcelona) and she was also figuring out the english thing but she was super nice and had great orange hair. I started with the question of the day "do you feel Spanish" She said no she did not she felt Catalan. When I asked why don't you feel Spanish she said that the government did not defend the traditions and customs of the Catalan people and she doesn't like the government.
She too feels more European than Spanish. She said that she is an independent and thinks it would be better to not be in the EU because things are so different, but that that is just one solution. She does think that it might be better for things like energy to have a common understandin, but generally the laws should not apply to everywhere.
#4
Eric was getting ready to go take an exam but was very helpful in our short conversation, like very helpful and he had wonderful English skills even though he said "oh sorry I haven't practiced in a while" give me a break. You're so much better than most Americans. Anyways he started off by talking about the dualism in Barcelona (he is from a town right outside of here) and he thought that it was probably an interesting question to ask people from around here (don't I know it). That there is a sense of nationalism and patriotism in both, but sometimes it is bad to say you just feel Spanish becasue it comes with a negative connotation. But he said that he himself feels both Spanish and Catalan. He doesn't feel European though. He thinks the EU is okay, but he hates how the politics are so far to the right and that doesn't help people in Spain, it needs to be more left because they are not suffering with having these kinds of regulations instead of more left. He said that economically Spain is hurting from being in the EU and that is hurting the country as a whole. He said that environmental regulations are good in theory but you can even see it in the city that it is not enforced, there is pollution and some garbage and it doesn't seem to be working (you should see American cities, bud).
He got a laugh out of me trying to say good luck on your exam in Spanish. I was basically right, he probably just wasn't expecting me to be so good at Spanish and it caught him off guard.
~~break while I slowly use my perfect spanish to explain to an only spanish speaker that no i don't really need help I just want to talk to students for a paper/project--she seemed concerned but we left on good enough terms. Ciao is universially accepted~~
Greenhouse!
#5
Alejandro mostly just didn't want to talk to me, but he did. Right off the bat he said that he feels Catalan, Spanish and European. And I asked why and he said that is just who I am. Good. There is a big difference between Spain and Catalan. He said all of the governments are the same, disjointed and they do not care about the people they just do what they want. He seemed apathetic towards politics because they are apathetic towards him. Energy laws could be better at the EU level, but he also was like, but I don't really care what they do, its not going to impact me.
#6
Ileryia is from Italy but she has been living here for the past nine years and is studying here (as are most people besides this kid), so since she was ten years old. She said that she feels Italian but that is just because that is where she is from that is her nationality and where her family is and she visits two or three times a year. She does feel European though and she mostly attributes that to having lived in both Italy and Spain. She thinks that the EU is good but she didn't really have any reason to support that. She doesn't see any kind of unity between any of the countries. UK and Spain have nothing in common! She will always look at the EU as all of the different countries and not as one thing and they are all different and so laws shouldn't affect all of them. So she likes the EU but we don't know why, maybe its because she wants a conglomeration to place her self-identity.
a lot of trees, a lot of shade. Made for a great day to be walking around outside!
#7
Lorie is from Switzerland. For those of you who don't follow anything in Europe you should probably know that Switzerland is definitely not in the European Union. So Lorie seemed eager to help me and then she was like, I'm not from here I'm from Switzerland--roll with the punches, Amanda--so I asked her opinion anyways because nice people are great. She has been studying here for almost a year now and she says she almost already feels Catalan! That the culture just gets to you. But does not feel Spanish or European.
I asked about the whole Catalan and Spanish divide and if she knew anything about it and she said that she felt the current government is still influenced by Franco who was trying to get rid of Catalan as a whole and have only one language. Completely get rid of minority languages. She doesn't like that though, she said that she wished it was more accepted by the government like it is in Switzerland...where they have three national languages and every national document is printed in all three of those languages. But that feeling by the government is what fuels the need of Catalan to be patriotic, she thinks.
She said that she is very very proud of Switzerland for staying independent and protecting the Swiss Franc, its very sad to see how countries like Spain, Italy and Greece (EU south) are being so economically disadvantaged. She likes to visit the rest of Europe but would definitely not like to be a part of the EU.
Good to know, we always like fresh takes and if I'm going to make the effort to sit down next to you I'm just happy you're going to talk to me. But really though, I'm glad I talked to Lorie she was happy to talk about her experiences. It was something I had never even thought of.
~~side note: i don't know if you readers can feel the difference but I'm feeling great today. Earlier on I would feel so anxious talking to people, having to really build myself up before starting a conversation. I think finally having been in a social hostel really helped me come out of my shell and realllllly not care what people think of me. Enough people have said "no" to me that I don't fear it or take it personally. Maybe its becasue I'm no longer in the Western Europe where people seem to be more judgemental or something? Either way, I'm feeling good today about my project and I hope that's coming through for you guys.
Here is a picture of three cats I found lounging, which is weird because I've mostly only been seeing dogs. Like, a ton of dogs. They all have owners too! Dogs are great. The cat picture is for Alice mostly.
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