recortes y manifestaciones

The noticias have been buzzing with the austerity measures recently announced by the Spanish government and the coal miners' protests. More austerity measures have been announced to reduce Spain's budget deficit and everyone's talking about them... the sales tax is being increased, the unemployed will receive less benefits, bonuses will be suspended for the public sector, etc.  Needless to say, the rest of the EU is satisfied with these measures but not a single Spanish person is happy about any of the new policies. 

The situation of the coal miners, whose demonstration is perhaps not so coincidentally simultaneously occuring in Madrid, is quite devastating. The government cut back on subsidies (it's now around one-third of what it was before) for the coal mining industry, and many families are suffering. Hundreds of miners walked from northern Spain to Madrid to protest the cuts. 

You can read some more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18792427

June & July happenings

The last month has generally consisted of working on my thesis and the energy audit that we will present in the energy efficiency course in London, as well as fiestas and despedidas as many friends are leaving Valencia. 

out of town visitors

I was extremely excited to receive some out of town visitors! The first were two of my mom's college friends who came to Valencia for an applied mathematics conference. They were here on the day of my birthday so I showed them around the city and they also treated me to a nice birthday dinner. Later that week, my friend Liz from UCLA came down from Madrid, and it just happened to be a crazy weekend in Valencia. We managed to celebrate 3 birthdays, San Juan and the Spanish semifinal victory (not to mention see all the important sights in Valencia, go to the beach, and hear the racecars whiz by for the Formula 1). The next week, my friend Ishita from high school came as well! She was only here on a day-trip from Barcelona but it was great to see her and we also managed to see all the important sights in Valencia AND get her some vegetarian paella to try.  

Ishita and I at Plaza de la Virgen

Two California girls reunited at Valencia's beach

Independence Day

My fellow Ambassadorial Scholar held a 4th of July celebration in a very traditional and ambassadorial way which involved pigs in a blanket, chips and dip, mini hamburgers, ketchup and mustard (the American kind that you douse your food with, not the insanely strong and more authentic French kind) and a delicious red white and blue decorated lemon cake. We were the only two Americans there, along with friends from France, Serbia, Poland, Spain, Colombia, China, and other places around the world. Oddly enough, it's always when you're outside of your home country that you're feeling more patriotic and sentimental. 

delicious red white and blue cake

With my very glittery American flag

Eurocup 2012

"No hay 2 sin 3" was the anthem, as Spain has won the last 2 Eurocups (2008 and 2012) as well as the last Worldcup (2010). My friends (from Spain, Italy, and other countries as well) watched the game in the student area where there was quite a big Italian representation. Again, I think they were feeling much more Italian outside of Italy (although probably more so before the match than after). Here's some photos of the game and the celebration that followed.

Spanish pride

the 2nd out of 4 goals

Celebrating in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento

Festivals

Summer, just like almost any other time of year, is a time of many festivals in Spain. I'll start by explaining Noche de San Juan, which celebrates the shortest night of the year. Since this year it fell on a Saturday and on the same weekend as the Eurocup semifinal and the Formula 1, the beaches were full of people and bonfires and music throughout the night. There's many many traditions, but the most famous ones are to jump into the ocean at midnight and to jump over the 7 waves backwards. Other traditions include jumping over the bonfire twice and writing down three wishes and burning them in the bonfire, or writing down wishes and putting them under your pillow and burning them the next day. The Spanish tend to get quite creative.

¡Vamos España!

Jumping the flame

The next is the most famous fiesta in Spain... the San Fermines de Pamplona. The running of the bulls is the most well-known, but there's also concerts, parades, and other events throughout the city. It was incredible to see people from all over the world dressed in the San Fermin uniform of a white shirt and pants, with a red pañuelo or bandana scarf and red cinturón or belt. We saw some performances by Spanish punk bands, spontaneous percussion bands, constant parades through the narrow streets of Pamplona, and even joined the Basques in their traditional dance. (All of what I mentioned was fun, but I didn't expect to have so much fun dancing with the Basques!) 

Here's a link to the song we learned with the percussion band (quite easy to learn as we just sang along "Saaanchoooo, Quixote!": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F6ck6qZRjY

Unfortunately we overslept and didn't see the encierro which occurs at 8am. We were all very disappointed, but I definitely have San Fermin on my list for the next trip to Spain.

Ayuntamiento de Pamplona

A sea of red and white

Dancing with the Basques

A bit more laid-back was the Feria de Julio in Valencia, which lasts the entire month of July. It consisted of various concerts (free and not free), markets, and the most important day which was the Gran Nit in which we saw parades, more concerts, and performances. Museums stayed open until 2am, although the fireworks were cancelled because of budget cuts.

A performance of "The Blisters," a Spanish band that sang Beatles songs

The sparklers came out for "Hey Jude"

Huge inflatable monsters came marching down Calle de la Paz during el Gran Nit... the reason? I have no idea.

 

An  Addam's Family performance, also during the Gran Nit

Valencia in June means...

spontaneous water gun fights in the River Turia!

new exhibits at the City of Arts and Sciences

the flowers are blooming

Eurocup madness

goodbyes

markets

religious festivities

beach

more reflections

Two weeks ago, I finished my last exam.  In a month, I expect to be pretty much done with my thesis. These last 8 months have really just flown by that it's hard to express my feelings... gratitude? relief? amazement? disappointment? joy? fear? I suppose all of the above. 

I'll start with the language. I'm still continuing to learn every single day. Some days I am amazed by my fluency and other days, at my lack thereof. Every day I discover new things about peninsular Spanish and the crazy colloquialisms (MANDAHUEVOS!). A few months ago I also reached the point where I need to translate a Spanish word or phrase into English, just because I'm so used to it, and I get frustrated because there isn't an English equivalent that has the same ring. This is a really odd feeling when it's not even your native language!

Another obvious yet still notable accomplishment is establishing friendships that are based solely in Spanish. I mean, I've had tons of hispanohablante friends, and when I traveled to Central America with Engineers Without Borders we only used Spanish. But, in the first case there was always English to fall back on and in the second case there was always somebody with a higher Spanish ability who could translate. Here I've made friends who are native Spanish speakers who speak nil English, native Spanish speakers who have a relatively high English level, and non-native speakers... but we always communicate in Spanish. It was only the other day when I brought an Australian couchsurfer to watch the Eurocup game with my friends that I realized how much I've taken the language for granted as the fact was that not only were my classmates from Spain literally incapable of communicating in English (they did understand our conversation, to a certain degree) but also that I've managed to socialize and work with them in solely their native language.

Next topic: my academic and professional pursuits. I'm several steps in the right direction towards my ever-evolving goal but I'm satisfied with everything so far. I really have struggled but learned a lot this year. Who thought that I would be able to learn engineering in Spanish? ELECTRICAL engineering, nonetheless? 

One of the biggest lifestyle changes I had was the bike. Started out with a reluctant, awkward relationship with the bike. Slowly I saw the advantages of biking in Valencia and I even started to enjoy using Valenbisi. The turning point came when I bought a bike... after that there was no turning back! Now I'm extremely dependent on my bike and it would be a tough adjustment to be without it.

Some things I really need to work on: being by myself and being ok with uncertainty. I always thought that growing up as an only child and being relatively mature for my age made me more independent. And it has. But being able to get around and take care of myself is way different from enjoying my own company all the time. I've realized that this happens to me because I'm generally very busy that I don't have time to realize it, but then I'll have some downtime and I'll feel quite alone. And about uncertainty... it's absolutely exciting and scary at the same time. Even if there isn't a specific person or entity pressuring me, I still feel the overall societal pressure to, well, succeed (however ambiguous that is). The biggest pressure is internal, as I know what I am capable of, I want to be challenged, and I want to make a difference. I'm proud to say that I remain an optimist and that things do turn out ok. 

Have I grown over these past 8 months? Absolutely. But I still remain (more or less) the same person, with (more or less) the same convictions and goals. I strong feel that my experiences in Valencia have given me a push in the right direction, brought me closer to and made me more sure of those goals.

l'albufera

 The latest bici excursion was last weekend to l'albufera. The Parque Nacional de la Albufera de Valencia is a protected region south of Valencia that is known for the freshwater lake, diverse wildlife, beach, and rice fields. It's also where paella was born!

There's a bike lane or path pretty much the entire way to the park as well as inside the park, which is extremely important in safety and comfort as I've learned from biking in the past months. The entire route is about 15 km or 9 miles (check out the here). The bike path took us under freeways, along the beach, across the freshwater lake, and through the small towns of l'albufera.

When we were pathing throuhg El Saler, a small problem occurred... Sarka got a flat tire. Turns out there's a thorn that is common to the area, and Sarka was not the only victim to its tire deflating properties. Anyways, we walked into the town and approach two abuelitos to ask where the nearest bike shop was. (They were chilling on a bench eating sunflower seeds, and it was obvious that they frequent the beach year-around.)  Apparently El Saler doesn't have any bike shops. But, as it turns out, one of the abuelitos had a magic Mary Poppins bag that was equipped with all kinds of bike-fixing tools! We were extremely lucky to have his help. He whipped out a bike pump, glue, tape, and other tools that I have never seen before and fixed the little tear! He explained that because of the thorns, flats are a very common occurrence - that's why he travels prepared.

After our break, we continued further south to the lake where we went on a boat tour and saw nesting birds and heard jumping fish around us.

With Johan (from Colombia) and Sarka (from the Czech Republic)

With the bike expert abuelito 

L'albufera boat tour 

The lake

At the end of the day, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

music makes the people come together

Thank you, Madonna, for the ever-appropriate song lyrics!

Two weeks ago, UPV's architecture school celebrated a week of culture. I wasn't really aware of what was going on, but through a friend I found out that there was a piano in the school of architecture, free for anyone to play. So on Friday afternoon, I managed to find this piano at the end of a long hallway. There were two girls there and I found out that one of them, Belen, was the organizer of it all! It was great to see her passion for bringing music to UPV and she told me a little about the challenges she went through. She also designed this great poster that has a figure playing the piano with the caption: "Tócame, soy tuyo." (If you don't get it, it's a double-meaning since it means "Play me, I'm yours".)  Anyways they had to leave shortly after, so I started playing by myself, and after fifteen minutes another girl came to listen and we started chatting. Music really was a starting point for conversation, and we chatted for quite awhile. I found out that the entire week, passers-by were drawn to the piano as if it were a magnet. It was also pleasant just to chat with a stranger and have a glimpse into her world- she sings in a band, has always wanted to play piano, studies architecture because she used to spend hours drawing, and is going to Graz on Erasmus next year. Later some of her classmates arrived (with Amstel in hand, of course) and we sat around discussing music and architecture and taking turns playing the piano as well. Both the other guy playing and I were extremely rusty, but it didn't matter at all. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better Friday afternoon.

So that same weekend, Valencia was celebrating the Día de la Virgen de los Desamparados (Lady of the Foresaken) or Día de Mare de Deus (Mother of God). The biggest event is on Sunday, when they bring out the statue of the Virgen and huge crowds form near the Cathedral in an attempt to touch her. That sounds weird, but it's the best way I can describe the event. On Saturday night, I went with a friend to the Plaza de la Virgen where there was traditional dance and music. Unfortunately the fireworks were cancelled but we did see the concert from the Banda de Valencia. The first part was nice, classical music, but nothing spectacular. The most special part was in the last 5 minutes in which they played a song that was something like the national anthem of Valencia. (Here is a link to the song I'm referring to, and the better part is around minute 10 and 11.) The entire crowd was singing with tons of enthusiasm and emotion. Just another reminder of how important music is, whether you're sharing your love of an instrument or celebrating your cultural heritage.

tesis/tesina/trabajo fin de máster/proyecto final... and London!

As that September deadline slowly creeps up, I have finally established a topic and started working on my master's thesis. Despite having been exposed to so many new ideas and such a wide variety of fields in the master, it was extremely difficult to find a project that satisfied my criteria: interesting, do-able by September, and useful in some way. I'll have to admit that at first, my biggest concern was the timing and being able to submit the thesis by the September deadline. I talked to A, one of the professors of the master, and I started doing research on the topic of cost projections for electricity generation in California. The problem? The topic was extremely open-ended and was purely for my own benefit; my (supposedly 300) hours spent would not contribute the slightest to any current project nor any future project. I understand that a master's thesis is not nearly as extensive as a doctoral thesis, and I'm not trying to make any huge steps for mankind while writing it, but it would be nice to know that my work has an application outside of my own education. When I expressed these concerns to A, he told me with all frankness that the only other people (other than the two of us) who would read my thesis would be the three professors on the master's defense 'tribunal.' 

This brings me to the second part of the post title. Last week, I found out that I was selected to receive a scholarship to attend USE Efficiency Summer School, a university energy efficiency course that is held annually. There are 11 participating universities from around the EU and each sends three students to the course; during the course, teams are formed to perform energy audits and, of course, the idea is that bringing together students from different cultural and academic backgrounds will allow for knowledge exchange and so-on. Last year, the course was held in Valencia and this year, it will be held in London to coincide with the Olympics! The details are still a bit fuzzy, but before the course the three of us from UPV will put together an energy audit and during the course, we will also perform an energy audit of an Olympic building or facility. Needless to say, I am extremely thankful for this opportunity and I really plan to make the most of the course! (I should also mention that the two groups who received the highest grades on the energy audit project were interviewed for the scholarship to 'test' their English. Since there are students from all over participating in the course it is conducted in English, and a big part in taking full advantage of the course is being able to communicate well in English. Luckily I scored a 9.5 out of 10 on that part.)

So you're probably wondering what these two unrelated topics have to do with each other. I ended up changing my thesis topic and working with a different professor C on a completely different project both of which are related to the energy efficiency topic of London. My new project is developing a methodology for the measurement and verification after an energy audit is performed (for example, how do you measure the savings after you install energy-saving lightbulbs? it doesn't just improve your electricity bill but also your air-conditioning bill since it produces less sensible heat.) as well as the results of demand response improvements (what are the savings on cost and emissions if you run your washing machine in off-peak hours -in the night for example- rather than in peak hours?). Part of the project is also making a proposal for developing an organization and course that would be analogous to USE Efficiency but for UC Berkeley, where my advisor is collaborating. Anyways, this topic is much more interesting and I do enjoy the fact that a) my work is useful in the very immediate future and b) being a native Californian and also having studied in California, I can provide some unique insights and experiences. Furthermore, my thesis work will help me in London and I'm sure I'll also pick up ideas there as well. 

Looks like it's all starting to come together.