some more culture and observations

After living in Valencia for almost 5 months (ah!), sometimes I don't even notice these blatant cultural differences anymore. And at other times, I just think that something is so entirely weird/illogical/different that it will always remain that way to me. Anyways, here are some observations that I've made.

1. Dress: Spanish (and Europeans in general) dress way better on a day-to-day basis than Americans. Never have I EVER seen someone go to class in work out clothes, or, god forbid, pajamas. Actually, I never really see anyone in work out clothes (except people who are literally working out) or pajamas in public, whereas during finals week in Westwood there's definitely more people in pajamas than not. Americans are just more casual. Also, generally the 'soccer moms' of the U.S. are not considered very stylish or trendy (celebrities excluded) but here, the fact that they have children doesn't seem to prevent Spanish women from being trendy.

2. Self-image: Compared to Americans, Spanish (and I guess Europeans in general) seem to have a better self-image. From what I've seen, people tend to worry less about their weight, dieting, or a being a certain size. And from my limited surveying among my friends, of course there are peoples and especially adolescent girls with eating disorders in Europe but it doesn't seem to be as common as in the U.S. I saw this infographic and the fact is that Americans consume the most and spent the least amount of money, relatively, on food. Add our sprawling walking-unfriendly cities and Hollywood to the mix...

3. Customer service: Unfortunately, customer service is practically nonexistent here. The hours of service are inconvenient, the quantity is awful, and of course the quality is lacking.

Let me explain about my Bancaja experience. Every time I visit the branch of Bancaja where I opened my account, it amazes me how incompetent and unfriendly the bankers are. First of all, there is usually only 1 teller and there's a line of about 10 customers waiting. Secondly, each person working at Bancaja seems to tell me something different every time I go there (you do qualify for the under-26 account with no fees, you'll be charged maintenance fees until you get your residence card, you do not qualify for the under-26 account with no fees, etc). I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that I have to get myself prepped, mentally, for going to the bank because it can be a test of patience and determination. Another time, a customer was yelling at the teller and the teller yelled right back to him. It doesn't even matter who was right or wrong (in this case, both had their points) but this just shows that what is law in the U.S. -"The customer is always right"- does not exist in Spain.

Take another example- let's say a restaurant. Generally all over Europe tax and tip are included in your meal. The plus? You don't end up paying 30% on top of what your food cost. The minus? Horrible service. I don't mean that all waiters are rude, because I've had good experiences. But on the whole, the fact that tip is included means that there is no incentive to serve customers with respect or with even a smile.

4. Religion: For being so intensely Catholic in history, Spain is quite areligious- people (especially middle-aged and young people) seem on the whole indifferent about religion. It's just not something that concerns them, nor a topic that surfaces so much in politics. I guess that's because I'm used to the U.S., where we have much more diversity and extremes. Religion is extremely important to some people yet extremely unimportant to others, and despite of the Freedom of Religion we have a hard time agreeing on any issue where religion has influenced the way people think.

5. Racial diversity: What can I say, I miss the diversity of California! Sometimes I travel and the local people say, "Oh, my country is very diverse! There's quite a few people from X country and immigrants from Y." Yes, globalization is increasing racial diversity everywhere but it's hard for me to consider a place diverse when 90% of the population is of the same origin. I guess after living in Los Angeles for 4 years, it's hard for another city to compare. Also I do have to admit that even if Spain seems racially homogenous, Valencia itself has a 14% population of foreigners, the majority of which from Latin America but also others from the rest of Europe, Africa, and Asia. (Just for comparison, 40% of the population of Los Angeles doesn't have a US passport. In terms of diversity, that's not even counting the second and third generation that probably make up more than half of those who are considered American.)

Desfile de alta moda-

A couple weeks ago, I was invited by R.C. Valencia-Cid to Rotary Valencia's "Cena y desfile a beneficio de LORCA." In May 2011 the city of Lorca (which is located in the Comunitat Valenciana) suffered a 5.1 magnitude earthquake, which damaged many public buildings, homes, and the historic center. The event was organized by Rotary Club Valencia but members from all of the Rotary Clubs, as well as their friends, attended the event to support the cause.

At the event, we ate dinner and then there was a "fashion show" of winter coats (all of very high quality I'm sure but a bit disturbing to me as an American to see so much animal fur). All in all, it was a very pleasant evening and it was very nice to see the Rotarians very active and supportive of a local cause.

living and studying

After a few challenges and changes in my living situation, I've finally settled into a third flat. It's spacious, in a good location, and I like my flatmates. Also, my room has a ton of character- there's one wall that has a vintage wallpaper (some would call it ugly, some would call it vintage, tomato tomahto) and other walls that are painted blue, peach, and yellow. In the morning, I wake up to the retiree neighbors talking in the kitchen... at least it hasn't happened before 9am yet *knock on wood*.



Looks like the key to a castle, eh?


Also the bathroom is really quirky- there's handmade cutouts of sea creatures on the fixtures, and quotes written in sharpie on the walls.









And now some updates about school... the workload is definitely getting heavier. I have 1 exam on Monday, 1 quiz on Monday, another quiz on Tuesday, and a presentation to turn in on Tuesday. In every class there's also a project, which can be a group assignment or an individual simulation (for example, for Solar Energy we're designing a solar water heating installation).

Here's some photos of campus (the walkway leading up to the main library, and the shiny cactus sculpture that I like):




Also, thanks to some well-planned "cenas de máster" the people in my class have gotten to know one another a lot better. So far we've had 2 cenas and they've been really fun. Basically after class (around 8:30) we get drinks, then we go to a restaurant for dinner around 10 or 10:30, and then we go out after that. In the first cena, one guy made everyone stand up and give a toast (some people were kind of nervous, but in the end it didn't matter at all since we cheered for any and everything).

Here's us with our tapas and pitchers of cerveza and sangria (which by the way get refilled during the entire dinner):

A long weekend in Castilla and Madrid

Last weekend was a four-day weekend, thanks to el Día de Todos Los Santos. To take advantage, I went to Castilla and Madrid with some friends in my master program. We went to Consuegra to follow the steps of Don Quixote...


The sunset and view were breathtaking.






Madrid was incredible, and the great atmosphere and weather only added to the beautiful sights. My favorite neighborhood in Madrid was definitely Malasaña, an artsy and hip area with small alleys, cafes, and playgrounds. Apparently this area is where the artists emerged after Franco's death in the 80s.




Stumbled across a jamón festival in Plaza Mayor:


I met up with Kirstie, my friend from UCLA, and we made the obligatory visit to Parque del Retiro, Madrid's greenspace analogous to Central Park in New York or the Englischer Garten in Munich:


Having tortilla española and tapas:


Here's Templo de Debod, an Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain for helping Egypt in the 1960s in relocation of Abu Simbel (an enormous rock temple that would've been drowned by the damming of the Nile River and the creation of Lake Nasser). So Spain (along with UNESCO and many other countries) helped Egypt relocate an entire rock temple, and in return Egypt donated an entire temple to Spain.



It was also interesting to see how Halloween is celebrated in Spain.. it is celebrated in that people go out and dress up at night but the commercialization is nowhere near the degree in the U.S. Trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, and eating sweets don't happen much.

A spin in the mountains

Finally, I got out of the city and explored the beautiful mountains and pueblos that are outside Valencia. My friends Sarka and Hannah and I took the train to Sagunt with bikes, and from there we biked through some tiny towns and into the mountains. We ended up quite high and had some great views of the surrounding towns and the ocean! (We also ended up on a narrow hiking trail and had to carry our bikes down the mountain for about 1.5 kilometers... I was definitely very very excited to see some bike-friendly asphalt!)

Rotary Club Valencia-Cid

Last week I visited another R.C. of Valencia, Rotary Club Valencia-Cid. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for the meeting, because I had to leave for class (we met at 2pm, lunch started around 2:45pm, and I had to leave at 3:45). The members were extremely welcoming and accomodating of my schedule; they've also invited me to a Rotary event next week which is a fashion show fundraiser. Sounds like fun!

Here I am with the members, at the Hotel Westin:


And here's some lunch:

Día de la Comunidad Valenciana- el Nou d'Octubre

Last Sunday was the Día de la Comunidad Valenciana, a commemoration of when Valencia entered the Spanish kingdom 800 years ago. Because of the holiday, there were various celebrations of traditional song and dance, as well as events that brought up modern issues in Valencia.

On Saturday morning, I tried to go to a gastronomic festival in a nearby town with Brianna, another Ambassadorial Scholar in Valencia. We had seen information online, and at the fair you could buy tickets for 1euro and sample different tapas. What ended up happening is that we went to a completely different town, asked a woman on the street where the gastronomic fair was, and she pointed us down the street. When we got there, we were in a large parking lot with 20+ large groups of people, each cooking their own paella! Still thinking that we were at the fair, we asked around about where we could buy tickets, and a very nice man told us there were no tickets but that he would give us paella for free. Very very kind.

Here's the paella being cooked with leña, firewood (we definitely smelled like leña afterwards!):




There were about 25 fallas, which are groups of friends that have kind of a clubhouse and hold different events (including paella competitions, I guess!). The most famous is Las Fallas in March, in which each falla makes a huge float that ridicules politics or some current event. Here's a falla:



Oh, he also gave us wine, "agua fuerte," and dessert! (The dessert would have been tastier if it weren't soaked in the "agua fuerte.")








That night Brianna and I went to a concert with her flatmates. The concert was called "Concert del BLOC JOVE en benefici de CA REVOLTA" and saw La Gossa Sorda, Orxata Sound System, and Aspencat. The best way I can describe the music, and the crowd, was ska (reminiscent of Sublime). Obviously, everything was in Valenciano so I didn't understand much, but no language was necessary to feel the Valencian pride. From what Brianna's friend explained, there is a movement to unite the languages of Catalan and Valenciano, which are basically the same. Yesterday my classmate's version of the story was that in the language of Catalan, there are 2 main dialects: Catalan Occidental (spoken in Valencia) and Catalan Oriente (spoken in Catalunya). He actually compared them to Texan English and Californian English. Anyways, now changing the name of the language is a matter of politics, history, and pride. What I can say is that in the city of Valencia, Valenciano isn't spoken that much but you hear much more often in the pueblos outside of the city. They definitely have a lot of pride in their language.





Sunday, the 9th of October, I went to the Barrio del Carmen (the old city in Valencia) with Brianna and her friend Maria and we saw a parade representing various groups of Cristianos y Moros (Christians and Moors). We stayed for 2 hours but didn't stay until the end... I imagine that the parade lasted about 3 hours!