Carnival weekend in Lisbon

In Brazil and in many places in Europe, the days before Lent people celebrate Carnival. In the States the most comparable holiday is Mardi Gras. People partying, celebrating, and parading through the streets. The difference is that Carnival often insinuates costumes, much like what Americans might wear on Halloween.

Traditional Carnival costumes are quite elaborate and sophisticated as far as costumes go, and you're most likely to find the most traditional wear in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The best of the best for Carnival goers.

Costumes are not too elaborate in reality

I was lucky enough to spend the holiday weekend in Lisbon, Portugal where the weather was amazing. The costumes were not elaborate, not everyone was dressed in costume either, but the streets were filled with people. Although Tuesday is the biggest day for Carnival, we had to make it back to Spain for classes on Wednesday.

Upon our departure I learned a valuable lesson of traveling. In the airport, I handed over my passport to check in for my flight and the man working behind the counter told me he couldn't find any records of my name on any flights that day. Internally I was freaking out, my heart starting racing, and my palms started sweating. I was not about to get left behind in Portugal. After a mad search for internet in the airport, I was able to check my email to get my confirmation code. My heart dropped when I saw that I was the one who made the mistake.

I had booked a flight for 10:00 a.m. Thursday, and it was Tuesday. Same time, two days later. 50 euros later, I was able to get my flight changed to 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday. I spent about 4 extra hours in the airport than originally intended, but I learned a valuable lesson and I will never make that mistake again.

Made it back to Spain in one piece, learned a lesson, and had some fun celebrating Carnival. Tough life.

Maine? Donde?

The first day I arrived, I told my host mother I was from Maine, showed her on a map and even gave her a calendar of Maine and New Hampshire scenes from the White Mountains. There were just blank stares, I could have said Nebraska and it would have sounded the same to her.

To clarify where Maine was I said, north of Boston. Now the woman thinks I'm from Boston. When I come home after school she asks me if it's cold out, and I usually say no. She always replies with something like, "I bet it's colder in Boston!" "I bet it rains a lot in Boston too," or  "It probably snows a lot in Boston."

After the word Boston left my mouth, she thinks I'm from there. It's easy to generalize a geographical area when you've never been there, but to me it's very different to be from Boston compared to Maine or New Hampshire.

I told my host mom my boyfriend was coming to visit me, and next the time her daughter came over she told her daughter my boyfriend from Boston was coming to Bilbao. Her daughter said, "Oh Boston?" And I said, "no, north of Boston, it's not Boston." 

Hmmfff. It's all the same to them. One time someone once asked me if living in the States was like the movie American Pie? Are you kidding me? What do these people think about America? Too many generalizations.

The Basque Country is not what you think it is.

Mountains and ocean side by side

The Basque Country has a very unique culture, landscape, and language that does not compare to anything else I've seen in Spain. Besides the sheer difference in landscape with the mountains piling on top of on another sitting right at the bay, there are many other differences as well.

The Spanish language is not only spoken here, but Basque as well (or other wise known as Euskara). This is a very old language that does not sound like anything I've heard before. A month ago, when I was preparing to leave, I was under the impression the Basque Country had a different dialect, much like they do in Barcelona with the lispy "th" sound. Come to find out it's a completely different language and no one really knows it's origins and how it came to be because it goes back to times of prehistoric Europe.

The first label is Spanish, the second Basque

Euskara is considered an isolate language because it is not used outside the Basque Country, and is completely surrounded by modern world Romance Languages. Because of it's old history there are only theories of where the language originated. It is the last remaining languages in Western Europe that is considered prehistoric Europe, before the Indo-European languages.

My host mother has her theory on the origins, she explained to me she thinks it's language that stems from vikings, and the Nordic countries. In my opinion that makes sense because there are so many x's and t's in the language and there is a lack of vowels. For instance, Gexto is the name of the town I live in. You pronounce it as if you were trying to be slightly gangster and say "get your freak on" (aka: getcho ya freak onnn). In no way does it make sense that x and t next to each other makes a "ch" sound.

Basque Country in red

To my surprise this language is far from dead, about 22% of the population in the Basque region speak Euskara. They teach it to the kids in school, and everything is printed in both Spanish and Euskara. All street signs, directions, and food labels are all printed with both. I've wondered in the mornings as I eat cereal, where are they printing every last one of theses labels specifically for the Basque people? No where else in Spain will you find this language on every street corner. It's amazing how it still lives.

Damn pop music

Because the weekend is here, I thought it was fitting to share the most popular pop song I´ve heard here in Spain. It´s the European equivilent to Justin Beber, chatchy but just plain awful.
Never thought I would be saying this (and don´t tell my boyfriend) but I miss hearing super intense, super ghetto rap music at parties.


Here is another poplar electronica song

Bonds between language

Me with new friends. Photo credit Lauren Fisher

In a foreign country, the importance of bilingualism (or multilingualism) quickly becomes evident. Even with the Spanish I've learned for the past six years, it's still overwhelming at times to hear these foreign sounds every day. The good news is that communication is becoming smoother by the day. I thought I was doing well by mastering one language, however in just two hours on a plane I'm back to the drawing board and left wondering why I haven't learned to speak more than two languages. 

This past weekend I traveled to Brussels, Belgium with two other girls from my school. It didn't occur to me communication might be struggle until I was already up to my eye balls in a language I don't understand. French. I couldn't even rack my brain of simple phrases like "thank you" or "good bye."

It's not surprising that in a foreign country people will bond over a shared language. Or rather lacking the knowledge of the respective native language. I saw this back in high school at Fryeburg Academy with the many international students coming from places in both Europe and Asia. Nationalities seemed to band together and form cliques. It's really no different in my case. My friends are Americans, I travel with Americans, and in turn I meet more traveling Americans.

Lauren and I with our two new American friends.

On the way to Brussels another group of Americans was on the same bus ride from the airport to the center of the city. They heard us speaking English and quickly made their way to the back of the bus to converse with us. As it turned out they were all students from America, studying in Bilbao (through another program), and spending the weekend in Brussels. Ironically enough we were even at the same hotel.

The entire weekend including all travel time back to Bilbao was spent by their side as a team. Bonding occurred purely due to the fact we all spoke the English language. This is what my new friend, Lauren calls "hyper-bonding," she describes it as friendship on high speed.

Humans are products of their own cultures, so it's only natural we gravitate to those who share the same background. Travelers may try to blend in and be seen as one of them because that seems like the right thing to do, but in the end people bond over commonalities, and here that starts with language.

Crazy ****ing Americans

The differences between Spain and back in the United States have really taken me by surprise! I find myself in a unique situation were I'm not yet acclimated enough to consider myself blended into the culture, but I feel more comfortable than just your average tourist. Spending time here in Bilbao, day after day I have had plenty of time to take mental notes and make observations on their culture.

If I could take one thing back home to my American friends, I would share the European mentality on social life and drinking. Firstly, house parties are nonexistent here, people gather in the streets, restaurants, and bars. Having guests over for tea or dinner is not uncommon, but to host a party in someone's house is absolutely unheard of.

Another thing I've quickly picked up on is that when my friends and I are out on the weekends the Americans are the ones acting the most insane and making drunk fools of themselves. Spaniards definitely love dancing until the sun rises, but I've found leaving the clubs at 5 a.m. hardly anyone is overtly intoxicated. If anyone, I find it's the Americans who are the ones wasted and foolish at the odd hours of the morning.

In Europe friends get together for the sake of spending time with people they sincerely enjoy. Back in the States more often than not, friends get together with the common goal of "getting wasted" or "getting fucked up." In Spain and all over Europe getting drunk is never the goal, that is not to say people are not getting wasted in Europe, it's just not the original intent. The difference here is, getting drunk seems to be the consequence of a really good time with your friends, not the goal.

With that said, I wonder if the drinking age being 21 in America effects this type of mentality?