July 10, 2007- Freedom without cost

Freedom without cost

In a park in Bilbao, some fellow students and I wandered around a huge fountain that exhibited a magnificent water display. As I posed for a picture around the fountain, I noticed a couple kissing passionately and gazing into each other’s eyes. Behind them in the grass was another couple lying down, one on top of the other, laughing and talking as if no one were around. It seemed as though neither of them cared if anyone was watching or that they even felt ashamed for touching and kissing passionately. In Spain, it seemed that the people didn’t care if the world was watching; they had an openness I had never been exposed to before this 3-week trip to the Iberian Peninsula.

A couple sitting on a bench in Bilbao, Photo taken by Sarah apolinar

It might not seem like a big deal, but why didn’t they kiss and touch in the privacy of their own homes? As the weeks in Spain went by, I started to find out that couples in every city all over Spain were always that passionate toward one another in public. It was sweet and cute at first, but sometimes I thought they went a little too far. If they didn’t see any problems with displaying their affection, why should I? I asked Gerardo, a student on the trip with me, what he thought about the Public Display of Affection, and he said, “It makes me miss my loved ones, and I know that I couldn’t do that in the U.S., because people are so reserved. The Spanish people are just more open. They don’t care.”

Living here in America, you don’t see people making out and touching in public every day, probably because you can get into trouble here more often. Almost always someone will make a comment or groan toward your PDA (Public Display of Affection). Some mother with her two kids might tap you on the back and say, “Get a room!” Americans have a different view of a lot of things and when something is out of the ordinary, frankly, we don’t like it.

For instance, the gay issue in America is a big deal. Many people oppose same-sex marriage or same-sex anything. Being gay or lesbian in America is often not respected, and it is looked down upon. Gay marriage is outlawed in most states, and many gay activists are trying to change the law. In 2005, Spain’s government passed two laws, one legalizing gay marriage and another that allows gay couples to adopt children. This year, Spain had over two million people from across the globe attend Europride, a gay/lesbian Pride celebration in Madrid. Spain hosts a gay/lesbian pride event every year, but this year was the official event for all of Europe. People, gay and straight, arrived in the city for a big party to celebrate diversity and have a good time.

Gary, our tour guide, is straight, and he was having the time of his life celebrating Europride. He wanted to take us to the hottest spots in town. He yelled, “I love this place! You can only do this in Madrid!” He waved his arms up in the air to the beat of the music. It was a great experience to be in the large crowd. It was like being in a Utopia. Everyone got along; it seemed. No gay hate groups ruined the event or started riots. Everyone, gay or straight, white, brown or black, had the time of their lives. It was like the whole country of Spain got together as a family to celebrate diversity.

After the gay pride event, I sat down in my hotel room talking to my mother about the night’s events. After some questions, she finally asked the one I had been waiting for, because it’s so typical of her. “Sarah, did you drink a lot?” Since I tell my mother everything without hesitation, I answered, “No, Mom. I had four beers is all."

My mother disliked the very thought that I could buy alcohol in Spain without any hassle. Spain’s drinking age is 18, yet when you go to a local bar or club you don’t see any 18 year olds there. In fact, the crowd is usually in their 20s to 30s. Sometimes I felt as if we were out of place when we walked into a club. It’s like it’s unheard of to be 19 and at a club or a bar. Drinking is not that big of deal, except at dinner and siesta time, when you want to enjoy your tapas. When I asked Krystal, a fellow classmate how she felt about being able to buy alcohol she replied, “It felt cool, because I’ve never been able to buy alcohol or drink at all.” In America, binge drinking is a concern, but Spain doesn’t seem to have that problem.

Whether it’s underage drinking, being openly gay, or showing passionate affectionate in public, some things will be different in Spain than in the U.S. Their differences may in fact be their strengths. You learn to embrace the differences and see everything in a new perspective and then you become different in your own way. I loved feeling free and being able to look at someone and not judge them by how they love someone. Spain offers you a way to view the world in a different light and to allow yourself to become a part of this wonderful Utopia.

Madrid

It's the hardest to describe and quite frankly I'm terrified that even the description won't be enough for you to really understand Euro Pride.

It's like walking into a giant party. As you walk the streets of Chueca you are greeted by the shrieking voices of people. You don't know any of these people but they all have smiles on their faces and you can only smile back.
Two-million people graced the streets for the biggest gay pride event, in Madrid. Of course I had to see and experience the event for myself so me and three people from our tour including our very own guide settled out to what would be the most exciting event of our whole trip.

Arm in arm with Erica and Gerardo we tried to keep with Gary as he took us through a maze of people. It was crowded, at some points we could not even walk and it took some football playing to fight through the crazy crowd. All around you can hear music and people yelling hysterically. Then we finally stopped in Gran Via where the party was supposed to be happening. There was a parade going on and the wide four lane street including sidewalks was packed to the brim. The only thing getting through the street easily was the eighteen-wheeler holding people on it. The floats were not your average floats, they were trucks with railing and loud music. Some people on the floats were naked or wearing close to nothing. But none of that mattered, they were having a good time dancing and getting the people down below hyped up. It was an amazing sight seeing so many people jumping and dancing with Sangria or beer cans in their hands. The first thing that came to mind was Fiesta San Antonio but then I knew that this event was bigger and louder and in better control.

After dancing around and meeting new people we decided to retreat back to Chueca were there was performances taking place. Now this was a beautiful sight to see as well. The buildings surrounding you in this square were brightly decorated with the colors of the rainbow and people were singing from their balcony's. Full grown men were dressed like beautiful women and the whole crowd was going crazy for them to perform. Finally after waiting a couple minutes they started singing a song that I didn't know and everyone else did. Everyone's beers and hands went up in the air and they began singing at the top of their lungs just like we sing the National anthem at the Super Bowl. As you stand in the crowd and look around you have no time to think only gaze in astonishment at how the crowd reacts. So being that you don't want to be different you fall into this trans and do what everyone else is doing. You feel just as happy as they do and even though you don't know the song, after the third time you hear the chorus your singing it to.

Chapter 3 Medieval Spain

The Visigoths were people that ruled Spain for more than three centuries and oddly in Toledo the remains of them are not present at all.

The Visigoths had the largest and strongest kingdom in Western Europe. This invasion marked Spain's first attempt to becoming a unified nation. The Visigoths brought large scale herding, the horseshoe arch and some Germanic words that later entered the Spanish and English languages. Their greatest impact was settling in Roman Toletum ( Toledo) where for the first time the advanced coastal region looked to the interior for power.


The Goths and the Romans lived together when the Goths took over in 476. The Goths used Roman coins and lived in Roman cities because there were not any Goth ones. The Goths although they were abundant and ruled they still were very intimidated by the last rulers. A major difference of the two people was religion. The Goths practiced Christianity while the Romans practiced " Roman religion" later known as Catholic.

In 675, the Moors would come and try their hand at conquering the land but in the end fail. But later after successfully taking over the Moors would rewrite Spanish history and make Spain different again. They were Berber or Arab people which refers to all Muslims. The Moors brought new religion and culture. After Tariq took over he took some Goths and cut them in pieces so that they could be boiled in cauldrons. Ironically Tariq spent the rest of his winter in Toledo, the old Visigoth capital.
The Moors took over Spain easily, the Visigoths were weak and the Romans didn't like their Germanic rulers. The Moors would soon that conquering was not easy, they became entangled in Arab rivals. It was Pelayo who led some Asturians and surviving Goths to the first Christain victory. A new dynasty then came when Abd-er-Rahman came into power. Al- andalus became very wealthy with it's farms and commerce and culture. The Great Mosque became the Moors notable accomplishments as it was their legacy. Another thing that was important during this time was the fact that there was three distinct religions that separated everyone. You were either Jew, Muslim, or Christian and this in turn made the social ladder to position a way of thinking.

7/4/07 San Antonio

It was a relief to see my family and friends waiting for me at the airport. I was so excited to be home but sad that the trip had come to it's final end.

I'll never forget Spain and now as I show pictures and talk about all the wonderful places we visited it makes me kind of sad to know that I don't know when I will be going back. But one thing is for sure, I have to go back.


This trip made me realize a lot of things about myself and also the culture and the very different world I never new till now. A major thing I learned about myself when we were traveling around Spain is that I wasn't responsible. You know being at home is different and I thought that I was pretty good at managing time and being able to keep up with work, but as the first days went by I could see that I was awful at being on time. Then I hardly ever wanted to do the readings. I mean it was my first time in Spain and all that I wanted to do was do my own thing and not worry about school work. But I changed my mind set immediately when I was warned of the consequences of not being on time and not reading and doing the work.

Usually on the bus we had our class sessions and Mariana and Denise were always in good spirits talking about what we were supposed to read and how our learning's would help us with blog writing and knowing where we were and how it would give us a little insight of the places we would see. That helped us tremendously throughout the whole trip, I felt like I was always one step ahead of the Alaskan group because we were always given so much information ahead of time. If you did not read the readings then it was like you were always behind and didn't know what was going on and lucky for me I found out early on that the work was beneficial and not something to blow off. As for being on time, I really want to make sure that I am ahead of the game then behind everyone and being looked at. This trip taught me the importance of time, and how much that it not only affects you and makes you look bad but it hurts everyone on the trip.

Since were in the year 2007 I always thought the world was up to beat with all the new technology and new advances that have broken through. But being in Spain changed my mind dramatically. There are so many things that are different there that they have and don't have. I wonder what it would be like if Spain underwent an American intervention project. Where we stepped in and built larger roads and increased American food places and made everything less expensive. In the North for example like Bilbao and Pamplona it seems as if they are old ancient towns that refuse to develop. They are beautiful small cities, but they just don't look advanced. No huge tall buildings of economic importance, or sub divisions of housing. I wondered where the town lives at times. It's just a different culture all together and these places looked so homely and secure but small and out of reach with the world at the same time.

Spain is different and it will always be that way. I loved the towns we visited and the journey all over Spain I must say was a wonderful adventure that never really ends. I can't describe to you what it's like because you have to really experience it for your self to understand and see a culture that is amazing and full of tradition. This experience will never be forgotten and I hope that everyone in their lifetime gets the chance to see and experience all that I had the chance to.