Spain Summary

I compiled all my footage, all of my photos, and all of my friends' photos to create the best-of-the-best for a summary of the 2010 semester abroad.

There are some bits from Alicante, Valencia, Granada, Elche (where I took a day trip with Scott), and even some footage of my internship.

Enjoy!

Tenth Radio Broadcast!

I felt like the Spanish never enforced the law. Either that, or they didn't have laws. They drink in the streets, the kids don't have curfew, the cops don't enforce drug laws, etc etc.

This broadcast talks all about law.

Song: "I fought the Law"--The Clash

Ninth Radio Broadcast!

Living with Lola the dog was something new for sure, since I never had a pet in my life. The way Spaniards treat their dogs and how they walk them around without leashes inspired my ninth show on pets...which are called "Mascotas."

I have a couple interesting things to say about this broadcast...

You would wonder what they call mascots...they call them "mascotas" also. Although, mascots truly are an American concoction since their sports really don't have mascots.

The song used is "The Underdog" by Spoon. They don't have a translation for an underdog because it really doesn't exist. They don't have that cultural idea of surpassing mediocrity to get to greatness. That's an American concept.

Eighth Radio Broadcast!

Clearly schooling was different in Spain. Not just the education, but the culture of how to address teachers, how to dress in class, or whether or not it's okay to eat!

Here is my 8th radio broadcast on schools.

The song is "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard" by Paul Simon (one of my faves!).

Seventh Radio Broadcast!

I finally got around to uploading more of my radio shows. Not all of them are up yet, but at least I got to number 10!

Loly (the radio director) suggested I do one about women, since it was women's month in March. So here is my 7th broadcast, on women.

The song is "Just a Girl" by No Doubt.

Recording my Radio Show

Here is what the studio looks like, and here is me recording my final segment.

This is out of order because I plan to post the rest of my radio shows on here for you to hear.

However, I didn't want to forget that I had this clip, so here you go...

Final Generation Y broadcast!!!

Listen to it live at 1pm Chicago time TODAY (wednesday) at www.radiosanvicente.com.

Go to the site and click "escuchanos" to stream it live!


THIS IS MY LAST ONE!!!

Preview of my broadcast this week

Being my final week working at the radio station, my little cultural program (that broadcasts on Thursdays at 6:40am Chicago time) will be a little different than usual. Instead of focusing on one thing in particular, I do a little summary of my entire experience. I wrote it in a pro-con style list (and I will write a blog entry about this too), comparing what I will be going back to, but also what I will be leaving behind here in Spain.


Needless to say, it's a tearjerker!

Generación Y Radio program

My radio program will be on TODAY, Wednesday, at 1pm Chicago time, once again.

be sure to tune in at www.radiosanvicente.com and click on "escúchanos"

Sixth Radio Broadcast!

Perfectly in time for earth day, I have uploaded my week six broadcast of my radio show (this was from over 6 weeks ago!) on the topic of the environment. It's so old, that when I uploaded it I cringed at how American my accent sounds. I think I improved...or so I hope.

I used TV on the Radio's song "Staring at the Sun."

Interview with ME

Usually they do interviews with other people, but Tomorrow, Wednesday March 17th, I will have a 10 min. interview on the radio about studying abroad.

It airs Tomorrow (WEDNESDAY) at 1:15ish pm Chicago time, at www.radiosanvicente.com and click "escuchanos."

All you need to know about me on the Radio.

Sorry I forgot to tell you all that I was on the radio again today at 1pm Chicago time.

I think you should get to know the schedule by now...


Wednesdays at 1pm Chicago time---Generacion Y (round table discussion...usually in first 30 min. of program) I am unable to record this because it is recorded as one long hour program...so I can't just cut the excerpt that I am in.

Thursdays at 6:40am-7:00am Chicago time---the program I write about cultural differences, which I post later online. It's only 7 minutes long usually, but it can float around somewhere in this time slot.

To listen to it, go to www.radiosanvicente.com and click "escuchanos" to open the live streaming player.

How does one translate "superfly"?

One of the technicians I work with at the radio station is younger, in his late 20s, and recently asked me to help him understand the lyrics of one of his favorite songs. Thing is, the song was "Pusherman" by Curtis Mayfield. Super 70s, super slang, and super hard to translate.


i'm your mamma, i'm your daddy
i'm that nigga in the alley
i'm your doctor, when in need
want some coke, have some weed
you know me, i'm your friend
your main boy, thick and thin
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman

First I had to explain that the n-word should never EVER be repeated. He didn't understand why, and I just had to say it was very degrading to black people to be called such a thing. He was like "I thought it was the same as 'black'" and I was like " NO NO NO NO NO! Please oh please never call someone this. Please. It's very bad."
I also had to look up what exactly IS a pusherman. It is a person who pushes drugs, or something like that.
Then I had to explain thick and thin, and how it means that it means good and bad, and that this (unlike many slang words you will see in this song) is still acceptable to use in everyday conversation.




haha

ain't i clean, bad machine
super cool, super mean
feelin' good, for the man
Superfly, here i stand
secret stash, heavy bread
baddest bitches, in the bed

I completely ignored his request for translating superfly...I just said it meant cool or something. I also said "you will sound silly using this in every day language".
"What is 'stash'?" I explained it meant something you meant to hide...usually drugs or money. He was like "is it the same as 'stuff?'" No, no it is not.
He understood the last line...so we moved on.



i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman

solid life, of crime
a man of odd circumstance
a victim of ghetto demands
feed me money for [style]
and i'll let you trip for a while
insecure from the past
how long can a good thing last?
woo-hoo, no
got to be mellow, y'all
gotta get mellow now
pusherman gettin' mellow y'all

"'Feed me money?' what does that mean?" It means get money...and a lot of it.
Trip was also an interesting translation. "No, not viaje, not travel" i said, but more like something with drugs. He thought it meant stoned, but I clarified that trip referred to more LSD type drugs.
I also threw in the phrase "you be trippin'" as a way to say someone is being crazy.



heavy mind, have you signed?
makin' money all the time
my [LD] entrusts me
for all junkies to see
ghetto prince is my thing
makin' love's how i swing
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman
huh

too bad, [Splee]
for a generous fee
make your world what you want it to be
got a woman i love desperately
wanna give her something better than me
been told i can't be nothin' else
just a hustler in spite of myself
i know i can rake it
this life just don't make it
lord, lord
got to get mellow now
gotta be mellow, y'all
got to get mellow now

"Andres," I said, "Rake in this case refers to receiving lots of cash."

i'm your mamma, i'm your daddy
i'm that nigga in the alley
i'm your doctor, when in need
want some coke, have some weed
you know me, i'm your friend
your man boy, thick and thin
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman

TODAY! RADIO! ME!

Listen to me on the radio! Today on Generation Y (a university student program about stuff we're interested in), we talk about childhood obesity. Of course I mention the obesity of America. GOOOO AMERICA!


(listen live at 1pm Chicago time TODAY MARCH 3RD at www.radiosanvicente.com under "eschucanos"...my segment is around 1:20)

Fifth Radio Broadcast!

This one is about the previous weekend's two big holidays: Carnaval and Valentine's Day.



The song is "Celebration" by Madonna. Of course.

Fourth Radio Broadcast!

This one is about fashion, clothing, and style.




Of course, the song is "Fashion" by Lady Gaga. It was very distracting trying to speak over that audio. Very, very difficult.

Third Radio Broadcast!

A little side note: The song I used, "Wheels" by Cake, contains an amusing lyric (PS: The group is from Sacramento)...

And the muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians
While the overweight Americans wear their patriotic jumpsuits

If only I could just do a whole program on hating on Americans. It wouldn't be very hard!

Second Radio Broadcast!

First radio broadcast!

Check it out:

On the radio

I signed up this semester to do an internship with USAC.

How it works is I fill out an extensive list of things I like to do, I write a letter about what I like to do, then submit a resume.

On my list of things I like to do/interests, I wrote a mountain of things:
-work with kids
-art
-music
-TV
-radio
-cooking

This was back in November or so.


Then, once I got here (and as Luis promised in a previous email) we got to talk about the details. He chatted with a person at the nearby radio station and he was pretty sure he could get me an internship there. He told me this two weeks ago (the day before classes started, on Tuesday), and I got excited.

THEN, on Thursday, he secured it. For SURE I will be doing this internship, he said. I just had to work out the schedule. I could choose to get 1, 2, or 3 credits for the class, and since I didn't want to take this boring narrative class I was enrolled in, I chose to take the 3 credits for the internship. To do that, I needed to work 9 or 10 hours a week.

I planned it all out with a woman in the foreign language office that USAC is located in, and she was all happy about it. Luis was all happy about it, too. Apparently he has been telling Larissa (admin. asst. in the USAC office) how great it is. And I was happy too, of course!

So I figure that it is an internship, which typically means "being in the professional environment" and "filing" and "attending meetings" and whatnot. Basically, pretty boring stuff.



But the first day of the internship, which was last Monday, Luis got a cab with me to the station to show me where it was. He introduced me to Loly, the program director. Then I got to meet the staff, which was about only 6 people, and watch the soundboard guy record an interview that the other program director was doing with someone over the phone.
Loly got to explaining, and she was like "you can do whatever you want here! Just let me know what you want to do, and we can make it happen. Do you write? Yes? You want to write a program to air? How about a program about a girl from Chicago in Spain, and all the cultural differences?"

Thus, my radio show was born! Yes, MY RADIO SHOW. How is it so simple for me to secure a FANTASTIC internship here in SPAIN, when I have to go through an interview process and nervousness and anxiety of doing the same thing back in America? Apparently, you just need to go to a country where you don't speak the language in order to do something AWESOME.

So Monday was just a basic overview of what I was doing, and Loly took down my contact info. Tuesday is when the "real work" began. I wrote my first entry, which could be on WHATEVER I WANTED, so I chose food. I wrote about differences in food, restaurant culture, portions, etc. I only work 2 hours on Tuesdays, so I basically used the whole time to write it.

Wednesday I came in and made some corrections. Then I printed it and went over it with Loly for grammatical errors. There were TONS. But it seems like she knows English, since she was able to figure out what I was trying to say by my word-for-word translations. I learned that I need to re-read my work a billion times over before going to Loly with it (she was totally nice, don't get me wrong, but I felt like a fool when I was going over stuff that I should have caught myself).
After I corrected what I hoped was all that needed to be fixed, I got in the studio to record it. Yes, that's right, I am one of those people who can say "I got into the studio to record it" now. And I recorded it. It was terrible. The essay I wrote was in Spanish, by the way. And I have to read it, in Spanish of course. First of all, I figured out that I can't read numbers correctly. Two hundred becomes two thousand. Milliliters becomes something completely unrecognizable.

But I recorded it once through, then I listened to it 5 or 6 times, reread the script, etc etc. Then I recorded it again. Still not up to Lin Brehmer's style. I don't know how I sound in a foreign language (other than bad)! Loly recorded herself reading it, so I could listen to her excellent Spanish and try to fix mine.

Meanwhile, when Loly read my comments about how I thought there wasn't bacon-wrapped dates here, even though they are in the Spanish restaurants in the states, she was like "um, they totally ARE here" and I was shocked. My family in San sebastian LIED TO ME. Then, one of the soundboard guys ran to get food and bought me some! And they were DELICIOUS.

And when I was eating bacon-wrapped dates and re-reading my writing a hundred times over, I also was peeking over to the studio, where 5 or 6 University students were recording a segment called Generation E (or something like that) where they just sit around and chat about current events and whatnot. Loly saw my wandering eye and said "you could record with them in that segment, if you want. Wanna do it next week?" I was like "whoa there sally, let's hold our horses. Clearly I can't write coherently in a foreign language, yet you expect me to record a live conversation of me confusing some words for others, as well as giving 'can you repeat that' responses to everything? I don't think so." But it came out more like "maybe I'll watch, then try next week!"

I am so excited to do that, though, because then I will get to meet kids my age who go to my school, and who are SPANIARDS!

Seriously folks...why should I stay in the states when the dream internship was here all along!?