país vasco.

Two weekends ago I took a trip to the Basque Country (País Vasco in Spanish) with my Peace and Conflict class. The Basque Country is an “autonomous community” in Spain, just like Madrid, Cataluña (where Barcelona is), Andalucia, Galicia, and others. When Spain was established as a democracy in the late 1970s, they chose to forgo the state system like we have in the United States and instead separated into autonomous communities. They essentially function as our states, with local governments as well as national representatives to the Spanish government. The only difference is that each autonomous community can choose what powers they want to have, and what powers the Spanish government can have. This means each community’s relationship with the state is different.

The Basque Country is an interesting case because of the history of the Basque peoples. Their culture and tradition dates back hundreds of years, and there are those that “feel Basque” rather than “feel Spanish”. Many of these people feel neglected because nobody asked them if they wanted to be a part of Spain, and now Spain’s laws are being forced upon them. (Part of the Basque Homeland is located in France, but in class we only referred to the area located in Spain). As a result of “not feeling Spanish”, the Basque Country has received almost total autonomy from the Spanish state in terms of laws and taxes.

However, there is still conflict. If you’ve heard of the terrorist group ETA, then you’ve heard of the Basque Country. ETA is a leftist-extremist group that wants to secede from Spain. While there are political parties that also support this secession, they do not condone violence from ETA. They would prefer to have a referendum and a country-wide vote to determine the fate of the Basque Country.

I could write about the arguments for and against this secession for days – in fact, we spent weeks on it in class. But instead of boring you with the details, I’ll let you read about it on Wikipedia instead.

On the trip, we got to speak to politicians from the Socialist party (PSOE) and the right wing party (PP, that is currently in power with Zapatero as president). The most interesting interview was definitely the last one, where we spoke to a man named Xavier who does not identify as Spanish at all – only as Basque. Although he speaks Spanish, he prefers the Basque language, Euskadi, and wants his children to speak it as well. Although he is not associated with ETA, he said that he understood how some people could feel as though violence was their only hope.

He was extremely clear in his explanation and his opinions, and was incredibly smart. But I couldn´t help but have the same feeling towards him that I had towards the two mainstream politicians – none of these people were willing to concede their point, or to even think about things in another manner. I take it for granted that, even in our tense and polarized political environment in the United States, Republicans and Democrats are still willing to work together on issues, and make compromises when necessary. Even though this sometimes leads to ineffective policy, they’re not ignorant to other opinions. I think we take our democracy for granted, complaining about partisan politics and bureaucracy and lobbyists, but compared to Spain we get a whole lot more accomplished by working together.

The rest of the trip was spent sightseeing and touring different Parliaments. We traveled to four different cities – Vitoria, Bilbao, Gernika, and San Sebastian. We went to the Guggenhem in Bilbao, saw the inspiration for Picasso’s Guernica painting, and walked along the beach in San Sebastian. (Sidenote: I highly recommend San Sebastian as a summer vacation – the beach was gorgeous, there was great shopping, the people were really friendly, and the food was AMAZING.)

First day in the Basque Country, overlooking the mountains

The path we walked to get to the mountain view - the fall colors were gorgeous

Loving the statue of Ken Follett - his book, Pillars of the Earth, brought a lot of tourism to Vittoria

We toured the ancient cathedral in Vittoria - the helmet is for security during the restoration

City center in Vittoria during the sunset

View outside of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao

Me, Haley, and Lineasha overlooking San Sebastian at night

Part of the conch shaped beach in San Sebastian

River view in San Sebastian

I was in Istanbul, Turkey this past weekend, so I’ll be updating about that with pictures soon. Thankfully the “Turkish toilet” that we had to deal with in Morocco has been replaced with Western toilets… I appreciated that.

morocco.

My World Economy class took a field trip to Morocco for 5 days to study the economics of a rapidly developing country. Immediately I noticed the juxtaposition of old and new within the city – the airport we landed at in Tangier was brand new and gorgeous, but the cars in the parking lot were pretty beaten up.

We started our adventure in Tangier, which is in the northern part of Morocco. Morocco is only 14 km (or roughly 10 miles) away from Spain, so many Moroccans migrate up to Tangier and wait around for the perfect opportunity to sneak into Spain.

Our first stop was a women’s center in Tangier called Darna. Even though Morocco is a fairly liberal Muslim country, women still have a difficult time living without the support of her family or a husband. Darna offers classes on computers, sewing, and French so women can enter the workforce. We ate lunch at Darna and met a few English-speaking Moroccan students who hung out with us for a few days. They were all really great and open to our questions about their culture and habits.

The view of Tangier from the roof of Darna

The view from the casbah in Tangier

Lauren, Jess, and I with Paul, our program director/professor at the casbah

Lauren, me, and Jess at the lighthouse to watch the sunset

After spending Wednesday night at a hotel in Tangier, we headed to our next location, Rabat – the capital of Morocco. On our way there, we made a few sightseeing stops. First up – the camels. We’re driving along, and all of a sudden our driver pulls of onto the side of the road. We look out the window and see an enormous stretch of beach and, a few Moroccan guys, and some camels. Yep – we took turns and rode camels along the beach. Sidenote – camels smell AWFUL and getting on/off is incredibly scary.

Camel riding!

My World Economy class pet

After the camels, we got back on the road and drove to Asilah. Asilah is a quiet, quaint little beach town that is a major tourist destination. We only spent a little bit of time there, but the view was gorgeous and the pastries were delicious.

The view while walking through the town of Asilah

The ocean view of Asilah

The town of Asilah

After Asilah, we headed to Rabat. In Rabat, we stayed with a Moroccan host family. We were in groups of three, and each family had at least one English speaker. Our family was fantastic, and Fatima, our 17-year old host sister, spoke perfect English. They were so nice and welcoming, and the food was amazing.

Fatima, me, Lauren and Jess chatting after dinner

Where we slept. Most Moroccan families have a room like this where guests stay

The main room of our house

On Friday afternoon, we visited a local Moroccan school in a bad part of Rabat. The school served the slum neighborhoods, which are full of poor immigrants who build shacks that may have electricity but no running water or indoor plumbing. The children are generally under-educated, and this school was started by a group of men who wanted to help this population. After they showed us around the school, they took us into one of their homes for some Moroccan pastries and a little dancing.

Lisa, me, Lauren and Jess at our Moroccan party

The hosts dressed Kamel up in traditional Moroccan wedding garb

One of our hosts - this guy could not stop singing!

On Saturday, we left Rabat for a smaller town called Chefchaouen. En route to Chefchaouen, we stopped in a tiny village and spoke with Mohammed about the growing industry in Morocco. Plants such as lavender and other medicinal herbs grow wild in Morocco, so small villages are learning how to use this to their advantage and make a profit.

Hiking around the hills of the village

We finally made it to Chefchaouen and spent the night there. We did some shopping in the markets, and then headed home Sunday morning. It was a great trip – I loved Morocco, but coming back to Madrid made me appreciate the Western world and it’s modern amenities a little bit more!

The view of Chefchaouen from the roof of our hotel, where our room was

la noche en blanco.

Every year, Madrid organizes La Noche en Blanco (The White Night/Night in White). It’s a giant cultural festivital and there are events located all over the city. The museums stay open, the Metro is open late, and there are people EVERYWHERE.

The girls at the beginning of La Noche en Blanco

We had planned on seeing a man tightrope walk between two buildings, but unfortunately he postponed his performance. The weather was awful – cold and windy – and I’m sure he was nervous a gust of wind would blow him over. Once we realized that it would be a while before he tried again, we decided to change locations and see something else.

After spending a LONG TIME searching for bathrooms for people, we end up walking to Chueca. Chueca is the trendy gay neighborhood in Madrid, and is also home to Madrid’s best tapas bar, El Tigre. Although the bar was packed, we managed to get some drinks and tapas. The drinks at El Tigre are enormous, and the plates of tapas are even bigger. For €6 I got a copa (large glass) of sangria and a big plate of potatoes and croquetas. I was starving, so it was perfect.

In large groups of people, like we were traveling with that night, people start to get antsy to leave and see something else. We head out of the bar and run into The Sun in the middle of the plaza.

The Sun in Chueca

The Sun was a collection of heat lamps. I’m sure there was some purpose to it, and the sun kept “rising and setting”, but on a cold night we couldn’t have cared less. We huddled in front of them like we were at the beach.

Lauren, Tara, and Jen in front of The Sun

There were people camped out in front of The Sun on lawn chairs, just having a beer and enjoying the warmth. While we were hanging out in the plaza, another group of Syracuse Madrid students met up with us, making us a group of about 20 Americans. You can imagine what that would have looked like when we all busted out singing along to some Journey.

Jim rocking out to some Don't Stop Believing

By this time, it was nearly 4:30 am. People started to get cranky and cold, and no one could decide where to go. Some people split up to go to an outdoor techno concert, and some people headed indoors to a bar. Jen and I chose to head home, which ended up being quite the adventure since there were NO AVAILABLE CABS. I think the general consensus of the evening was that it was fun, but we didn’t feel the need to do it again. I think it’s one of those events that you need to have 2 friends with you and a plan of action. All in all, I’m glad I went. It’s no secret that Madrid has quite the nightlife and I’ve definitely been out until 5 am before (and later), but it was crazy to see the city FULL of people at that hour!

La Noche en Blanco

segovia.

Every weekend my school offers day trips to different places in Spain. The first trip we took was to Segovia. Segovia is famous for its Roman aqueduct and its castle. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel lived in the castle. We were able to tour the castle and even saw the room where Christopher Columbus likely asked Queen Isabel for the ship that he used to ultimately discover America.

The Roman aqueduct

The Cathedral in the Plaza in Segovia

The outside of the castle

The view from the top of the castle - looks like a painting

futbol and bullfights.

The first week in Madrid was spent getting to know our host family and getting oriented in the city. We all have monthly Metro passes so we can travel using the bus and/or the subway. The public transportation here is great – efficient, clean and safe. I take a bus to school because it’s quick, but I could also take the subway if I wanted. Both options are located just steps outside my front door.

During the first week, we got to see a friendly match between Real Madrid and Lisbon. It was absolutely incredible. I wasn’t prepared for the magnitude of the stadium and the energy of the fans. It was just a practice game so the stadium wasn’t full, and I can’t wait to go back for a real game!

Before the game started

Kickoff!

Center of the action

That weekend, Max and Josh asked if I wanted to join them to watch a bullfight. They live near the bullfighting stadium, and the tickets only cost €10. I immediately agreed, not fully understanding what a bullfight entailed. I was so in the dark that I didn’t realize that the bullfighters KILLED the bull. As we were walking in, there were a few men holding up a banner advocating the fair treatment of the bulls. I felt conflicted, because I felt like I should be standing up for the bulls too!

Regardless, we grabbed some snacks and went in. Our seats were in the second row, but we didn’t realize that most of the action would take place on the opposite side of the ring. I guess it’s a good thing because I could barely watch as it was!

Opening ceremonies?

The matadors

And.... The End.