Move Out!

     In just under a week, Sibley and I will move out of our dorm room and begin our last section of summer. After living here for a year, it feels strange to remove my posters and my belongings, packing them away to return home. Memories of the crazy adventures of the past year come flooding back to me. The weirdest part is that I know that during the next semester, I won’t bring most of these things and I will be creating totally new and different memories.  

   

A collage of 504 during various stages of the year. What a great year!

     As I was cleaning my desk and organizing my things, our roommate Jess went around the room and picked up various items that had become associated with my room.

"Are you going to take this with you to Spain?” She asked, pointing at a turtle pillow or a picture or a blanket.

    I laughed and kept cleaning, folding clothes and putting them in a suitcase. What will it be like, I wonder, living in another home, in another country? I am sure it will be strange and unfamiliar, but also thrilling and exciting.

 
    As I pack my things, I feel ready. I feel like I can adapt to the new culture in Spain and hopefully even become a part of it. Each day I find a new picture of a Spanish cathedral or museum and awe at the beauty of it. I am captivated by the great history of Spain and all that it has contributed to the world. I can’t wait to take it all in and experience it LIVE and in person! 

We're maybe a little excited.

A few days ago, I was sitting in the living room when I heard Amanda start yelling from her room.  “SIBLEY SIBLEY SIBLEY, check your email, CHECK YOUR EMAIL!” As she came bursting into the living room, I pulled up my email in order to learn why my normally calm and collected cousin was shouting at me and bouncing off the walls.

This is pretty much what she was doing.

Sure enough, I had an email from the study abroad office.  I opened it and saw that it contained our homestay assignment for this fall.  Amanda and I are going to be roommates! (Again!)  We had requested each other on our housing questionnaires, but that was no guarantee that we would be together, so I was excited and relieved to see that we will officially be living with the same family.

Even better, the email contained a letter from that family.  It was written in Spanish, which, while not unexpected, we still found really exciting.  They are a family of three—a couple and a son several years younger than us.  In the letter, they explained that they are a thirty minute walk or a fifteen minute bus ride from the university, and they are looking forward to helping us have una experiencia inolvidable en Espana, an unforgettable experience in Spain. 

Of course, after reading all of that, I was as excited as Amanda, so we bothered our other roommate and probably the residents of the room below us by dancing around the apartment like crazy people.  Now we’re working on a letter back to our host family, but it’s taking a while to figure out, in Spanish, how to express how much we are looking forward to meeting them and how much we appreciate them opening their home to us.

Summer seems to be flying by.  We leave six weeks from tomorrow!

Squires to the UCF Knight

A glass paint project I created this
 summer featuring the UCF Knight

      During the previous Fall semester, Sibley and I both participated as squires to the Knight through the UCF Equestrian Club. It is an incredibly exciting position that we will miss while we are in Spain. At the beginning of each UCF football game a fearless knight enters astride a gorgeous white stallion to lead in the band and begin the festivities of the game. They rear and bow as the crowd cheers and showcase the proud and elegant Spanish Walk.
           As squires, we were responsible for getting the Knight and Pegasus, the stallion, ready for their performance. We dressed them and prepared them, complete with gold glitter on the horse's hooves. We also had to act as guards, making sure people didn't run up behind the horse or out in front of him as we moved toward the field. Additionally, we always had to watch the clock so that the Knight would be ready at the designated time, heading out to pump up the crowd. And while we won't be at the Knight's side this fall, we will be able to see the ancestral home of our friend Pegasus during our time in Spain.

       Pegasus, or Maluso as we know him, is a beautiful Andalusion stallion, and a retired star of the famous Lipizzaner Tour Show which has a base in Central Florida, on loan to UCF as our mascot. The tour show is famous from its origins at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria.

A rider showcasing the classic Spanish Walk

     Spain is home to a comparable riding school, the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. Located in Jerez de la Frontera, it is famous for its Dancing Stallion show, showcasing the elegant and traditional grace of Spanish riding.  They provide tours of the grounds and stables and allow visitors to watch practices and tour the Museum. They provide education in many types of horsemanship and prepare many riders for international competition.

     As the time ticks down (less than 60 days!) until our trip, we are becoming more and more excited. Each day brings us closer to this fantastic journey. We will embrace every new experience in the coming semester with the courage and adventure of a noble knight as we expand our horizons and explore beautiful España! I can't wait!

Goooaallllllllllll!!!!!!

On Sunday, like most inhabitants of Spain and of Europe at large, I watched the Euro Cup final.  Naturally, I was rooting for Spain.  I tend to get anxious when watching important sporting events on television, so I was both excited and relieved to see two beautiful goals in just the first half.  This meant that during the second half, I could relax and enjoy the show as Spain dominated defensively, and just to be thorough, snuck in two more goals once Italy was a man down in the final portion of the game.  It was an impressive display of Spain’s characteristic finesse, and immediately after the game, sportscasters were already dubbing the Spanish team possibly the best national soccer team ever.

While I take a greater interest in soccer than your average American, I am still a casual fan, only watching full games when they’re important enough to be on TV.  Here in America, that means pretty much just the World Cup and the Euro Cup and occasionally the Olympics.  So even though I like soccer and I watch it when it’s on, I cannot begin to appreciate the significance of this win to an actual Spanish fan.  For the last few months, if Spain has been in the news, it has been mentioned in the same sentence as the word “bailout.”  Thanks to this team, when Spain has been mentioned on the news, it has been in the context of an unprecedented championship victory.

Considering that Spain is a country of enthusiastic fans at any time, I know that these difficult financial times make this win sweeter than a Super Bowl, World Series, and NBA title combined.  Congrats, España, and I’m hoping for more Spanish championships in the future!

Can I have a Visa Appointment with some Drama on the Side?

Go Butler Bulldogs? 

     On Tuesday, Sibley and I reunited to head to Miami for our visa appointment at the Spanish Consulate. We had planned for Sibley to meet at my house, and just before she left, she called with some news of her own. After asking for another admission letter from Alcala that would include her new passport number, she had only thought to check it for the correct number. However, upon checking her papers she realized that it read, “Sibley Brown, of ">Butler University>, has been accepted in the program.” What?! We didn't really know anything about Butler University, but we were sure of one thing: Sibley doesn't attend school there. Little did we know, that wouldn't be the biggest issue.

     Sibley made it to my house, carrying with her plenty of paperwork proving that she attended UCF, and we went on to Fort Lauderdale and then Miami in the morning. Faced with traffic, we still made it to the Consulate with twenty minutes to spare. I was extremely excited, wanting to take pictures of everything and put it down as a fun and smooth experience. We got to the waiting area, sat down, and waited. The excitement continued to grow, a wide smile never leaving my face. I kept watching the screen, waiting for my number to appear. Finally, I was just one number away.

     Then, like a reaction to a sudden clap of thunder, shock and and fright shuddered through me. I realized with a sickening pit in my stomach that I didn’t have my passport. I knew with absolute certainty that somehow, after my check, double check, and triple check, I had missed one of the most important parts of the whole visa application process. The excitement vanished and was replaced with panic. And just then, my number appeared and it was time to face it. I hurried into the room, fright evident on my face. I quickly explained the situation to the woman at the desk and begged for a solution. She listened, and with the patience of someone who deals with similar problems every day, she told me, “Don’t worry. Don’t worry. It will be okay. You can send it by post. Don’t worry.” I breathed a sigh of relief and she looked over the rest of my documents. These, I knew, should be okay.

     Yet, that was not all. We had thought that by showing that the program provided health insurance, and that we were indeed accepted into the program, that we would have sufficiently proved our coverage. However, we found out that we need something that clearly states our name and the fact that we will be covered. That shouldn’t be very difficult to obtain. We have already emailed Alcalá and asked for the appropriate documents.

     So, in the end, after my meticulous organization, I still managed to forget a huge part of the application. During the preparation process, both Sibley and I have had our fair share of passport, so I think we are due for a break, haha. 

Spanish Spanish

This map shows where Spanish is spoken today.  The darker the blue,
 the higher the percentage of Spanish-Speaking population.

The Spanish language is spoken in more than twenty countries across the Americas and the Caribbean in addition to its country of origin, Spain.  As a non-native speaker, it’s easy to assume that the language is pretty much the same everywhere you go.  When you think about it, though, there are significant variations in the way English is spoken just within the United States.  I am originally from Florida, and but my family moved to southwestern Virginia when I was eleven.  The thick Southern accents in my new town were so different that I found a lot of people hard to understand.

As I’ve gotten further along in my Spanish classes, I've learned that of course, Spanish is the same way.  Here in the United States, I’ve been taught Latin American Spanish.  Little emphasis is placed on the vosotros, the informal plural second person—essentially the Spanish equivalent of y’all—because it is not widely used.  At least, not widely used outside of Spain.  In Spain, it is commonplace.  So the vosotros and its corresponding verb forms are fairly unfamiliar to me, and that’s one piece of grammar I’m expecting to struggle with at first.

A Spanish tortilla!

Another way in which the Spanish language is distinct in Spain is called the seseo.  El seseo refers to how in Spain, many syllables that are spelled with s, c, or z are pronounced with what sounds like a soft th, such as in the English word “think.”  To an American, this sounds a bit like speaking with a lisp, but it is simply a part of the accent.  This means that in Spain, my name will probably be pronounced Theebley.

In addition to differences in grammar and pronunciation, vocabulary also varies between Latin America and Spain.  A word can mean two different things in each location. For instance, in Latin America, a tortilla is a flat food made of corn or flour.  In Spain, however, a tortilla is a lot closer to what we Americans would call an omelette, made with eggs and potatoes and cheese.  This Spanish tortilla sounds delicious, and I can’t wait to try it! 

If You Turn on the Radio, Love is 90 Percent of the Music.

     And with the above quote from Enrique Iglesias, I begin an introduction to the wonderful music of Spain. With strong connections to the foundations of classical guitar and flamenco music, Spain holds a rich musical heritage. However, to prepare for our trip abroad I have chosen to focus more on the popular music of the country.

                First, I must begin with Enrique Iglesias. While mostly Miami-based, this gorgeous singer was born in Madrid, Spain as the son of the famous singer Julio Iglesias.  He helped to introduce Spanish music to the United States, performing the first song in Spanish on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  He has also had success as a songwriter and has had some experience with acting. He appeared alongside Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp in Once Upon a Time in Mexico and appeared on Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother. Above is the music video for Cuando me Enamoro featuring Juan Luis Guerra.              

      Next, there is a hot new artist in Spain, Pablo Alborán.  He released his first album just over a year ago, and since then has had enormous success in Spain. Today, he has 2 hits on Spain’s Top 20 and was nominated for 3 awards at the 2011 Latin Grammys.  I think he has a very unique and interesting way of singing. Also he is muy, muy guapo! Here, he is singing Perdóname. 

               
      Finally, I will mention Juan Magán. His sound reminds me of Pitbull, and in many ways I think his contributions add a similar style to the music he creates. He has collaborated with many famous artists such as Selena, Juanes, and Nelly Furtado. With 3 songs in the Spanish Top 20, he is a major pop artist. I first came across his name when he worked with Venezuelan artist Carlos Baute, one of my favorite singers, on the song Amarte Bien.