cultural immersion

A Spanish version of Happy Birthday is blasting outside of my window with the random Spanish additions at the end (new songlust?)  A tiring but fruitful Friday.  Last weekend I went to a bullfight.  Well, let the riots begin.  I was unsure about it but I suppose it’s some kind of cultural theatre.  Which basically sums up the experience in two words.  Lots of yellings of ‘ole’, dismemberment, lovely violence all around.  Well, that’s life.

I wish I could say more about it, but honestly I actually fell asleep at the 5th bull out of 6 because they were taking forever to off it and I just felt a mixture of pity/revulsion/boredom.  Some things I suppose I see only because I am a tourist- it’s like going to the US just to watch a NASCAR game.  Ok, no.  But still.

Last weekend we also went to Córdoba, where there is an insane Mezquita that got converted into a cathedral on some parts of the inside, making it effectively the craziest and only hybrid religious structure I have ever seen.

The Cathedral bits looked pretty much like all the other cathedral photos I’ve already posted.  Clearly, I am going to be a cathedral stalker in the future, regardless of my deep feelings on the matter.  Córdoba seemed very small from my visit, but it was partially because we were, once again, forced to go on a tour with our program.  I am not a huge fan of tours and they way they inevitably suck the soul out of you by forcing you to try not to fall asleep or wander away too obviously while someone who likely resents this job (or is too obsessed with it to be sane) blabs on about something I’d rather look at alone, in peace.  But now I’ve said my piece.  If a little brusquely.

This Tuesday we went to the contemporary museum of art in Sevilla.  It’s in a giant park where the expo of ’29 and ’92 were, which means there is plenty of empty space and weird sculptures.  I felt like I was in a strange video game- weird music drifting from various sculptures and all.  The inside was an old monastery, but we could go into all the little cloisters, which had been turned into places for installations for contemporary art.

I’ve begun to settle into my classes.  The problem is that while I wouldn’t mind taking 2 university classes I would prefer not to have NO class Th/Fr and 4 classes on M/W.  That’s just rough.  Right now I think I’m going to take 2 art history classes ( want to drop one of these but it’s on a Thursday/Tuesday schedule), Spanish film (maybe I will drop this), The Arabic World, and possibly one more Uni class if it is good enough.  We shall see.

Last night I went to the only original-voice movie theatre in the city to see Isabel Coixet’s Mapa de los sonidos de Tokio.  It was decent, although the cinematography was top-notch.  When we got back, we were talking to my Señora about the beautiful photography and she told us that her cousin was a cinematographer whose movie, Volver a empezar, won an Oscar in 1984!  He himself won a Goya, the Spanish equivalent.  Insanity- I only wish I had been able to meet him- he passed away  in the 90s.  Still, it’s nice to have some kind of cinematic connection.  In the cinema class I am currently in, we watched excerpts sometimes of English films…DUBBED in Spanish.  The. Pain.  El. Dolor.  It’s seriously unbearable, and I see no reason why a film class should have to do this, especially to fucking West Side Story.  I eagerly await the next massacre.

Today I went to a small mountain town called Ronda, which was glorious, tranquil, and beautiful.  Will update about that later.  For now, tomorrow, I must rise and shine early (yet again) to go on an overnight trip to Chiclana.  We will be stopping in Jerez and taking a bus tour (…….) through Cádiz.  Such is life!  Such is life.  Its been a busy week, but things are starting to come together, now that I’ve been here for a month and settled in.  Time to… start writing more…?  One can only hope.

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