Though originally built in the 9 th century AD as a small fortress, the structure we see today was designed by the Moorish Sultan Abdallah ibn al-Ahmar in the year 1238. La Alhambra is the famous Moorish palace that overlooks Granada in southern Spain. But I know there is no bottling the river of time-I know that it washes us downstream until we reach the ocean of our lives, and from there all our journeys are equally unknown and equally wondrous. I’m not sure which one is right, or if either of them is right. In English, time is a commodity, but in Spanish time flows over you like a river. The Spanish say pasar tiempo, to pass time: Pasalo bien (“Have a good time”) or Pasé un semestre en España. But the Spanish do not spend time-it would make no sense to say, Gasté tres meses en España. In English, we say that we spend time (I spent a summer here, or I spent the night doing this-“Time is money”). However, I think the most important observation I took away from this study abroad was the Spanish concept of time. I never mentioned the culture of bullfighting or futbol here, or how you buy stamps at the tobacco store, or how the Spanish seem incapable of walking in a straight line down the street (trust me, it’s true). I never talked about the famous tapas in the bars or the Spanish concept of tomar algo (“to take something,” usually a snack or merienda with your friends). What more is there to say, dear reader? There are many things that I neglected to tell you about this country. Ice-skating at the Palacio de Hielo with my friend Shuying and intercambio Andreea The classroom at the Tufts-Skidmore program center where we received the majority of our classes It was too late by the time I realized this at the Palacio de Hielo, but perhaps next time I’m in a Spanish-speaking country I won’t be so afraid of my limitations to new people or simply to have a short conversation with them. I wished I had been more outgoing, more extroverted I wished I had talked to more people and asked for their stories.
I began to regret my timidity in Spanish (a trait which doesn’t seem to exist in my English mind). I realized that my fear of saying something poorly or incorrectly had held me back from doing much more. I realized in that moment that there is no shame in falling, on the ice or in a language (anything really!). Watching the skaters fall, smile and get back on their feet reminded me of my own fears in speaking a language that I was neither fluent nor comfortable with. Before entering the rink, I had been terrified of falling or embarrassing myself, but looking around I saw that from time to time everyone fell, even some of the more adept skaters. And something happened to me while watching all the other people skate. But after hugging the wall for about twenty minutes, I began to get the hang of skating and actually enjoyed it! I wasn’t half-bad at it (I only fell three times, hah). It seemed impossible to me that people could glide so effortlessly over the cold white ice. Before I stepped onto the ice, I was absolutely terrified.
Perhaps funniest of all, however, I tried ice-skating for the first time (in a mall called Palacio de Hielo, palace of ice, of all places).
#Twain gentle reader abroad professional
And inside the tree… A too-bright photo of the Templo de Debod A professional photo of the temple, gracias a
The Christmas Tree at Puerta de Sol, the heart of Madrid. Even simple things, like buying castañas asadas (grilled chestnuts) and strolling the streets of Puerta de Sol to view the sea of beautiful Christmas lights (the Spanish are crazy for Christmas). I went to Plaza de España to see the Temple of Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple deconstructed in the 70s and brought to Spain to save it from being flooded by a hydroelectric project in Egypt. I attended a concert of classical music at the Teatro Real (the old, European-style opera house of Madrid) and got to see the Concierto de Aranjuez performed live, as well as a couple of phenomenal pieces by the Spanish violinist and composer Sarasate. I went to Aranjuez (inspiration for the famous Concierto de Aranjuez) and Toledo (the old capital of Spain) where the painter El Greco achieved success more than four centuries ago and where there is still a museum dedicated to him. In my last week, I tried to do all the things that I didn’t have time for during the busy semester. So here I am on the plane back to the United States (literally 30,000 feet in the air right now) writing this blog not with desires but with reflections.
Instead, I ended up doing so many things that I didn’t even have time to write the blog. I had wanted to write one more blog post about all the things I longed to do in Spain in my last week.
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