{"id":497,"date":"2011-06-24T09:42:56","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T13:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/studying-abroad\/?p=497"},"modified":"2011-06-24T09:42:56","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T13:42:56","slug":"moore-reflects-on-time-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/2011\/06\/24\/moore-reflects-on-time-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Moore Reflects on Time in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacob Moore ’12 <\/em>– On May 23rd I left my small hometown of Crawfordsville, IN to study in Valencia, Spain for a month.\u00a0 I was accepted through the University of Virginia to study at their host sight, in Valencia.\u00a0 This trip was definitely way out of my comfort zone, as I did not know a single person who would be accompanying me.\u00a0 However, I would not change the experience for the world.\u00a0 It has made me more confident in myself as a person, seeing a different culture alone, and making many memories along the way.<\/p>\n

Growing up, I was the youngest in my family; I always had the back up of my siblings or parents.\u00a0 Many people see high school as their \u201cgrowing up stage\u201d and lose their \u201csupport\u201d system of family.\u00a0 However, I had two older siblings already attending the high school, and thus I had support.\u00a0 Next came college.<\/p>\n

Heading to college, I chose Wabash College another small school of about 600, and once again the support continued during this major transition in life, as my brother attended Wabash, and the campus is a 15-minute drive from my house.<\/p>\n

This trip, however, I was on my own for the first time! Arriving in Spain, I met my random host family, which turned out to be the best family here (in my opinion).\u00a0 They are very similar to mine with 3 boys and 1 girl (the youngest, Jacobo, being 25, the eldest, Marino, 36 and with two more in the middle).\u00a0 They took me in as a fourth brother and showed me the ropes of living in Spain.\u00a0 The first week was a little rough getting accustomed to being on my own, but after being lost twice throughout the city and making friends everything turned out great.<\/p>\n

However, this past weekend has been my best experience, yet.\u00a0 I hopped on a bus and went to Barcelona for the Sonar Music Festival.\u00a0 I met another Wabash student, Logan Falley, who is studying in Madrid, and we began touring the city.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know Spain, this country NEVER sleeps.\u00a0 The festival started at 11pm Friday and Saturday nights and did not end until 7am each morning.\u00a0 This is how the \u201cdiscotecas\u201d work as well.\u00a0 Everyone sleeps from roughly 5pm-9pm- a time which is called siesta- wake up to get prepared for the night, eat supper around 10PM at the earliest, and then hit up the bars.\u00a0 From the bars they either go to clubs or discotecas.\u00a0 The bars close at 3am, but that is when the Discotecas open up, and don\u2019t close until 7am!\u00a0 Anyway, back to Barcelona.<\/p>\n

The Music Festival was in an \u201cUndisclosed Warehouse\u201d and we had to take a bus to arrive at this warehouse.\u00a0 After arriving at the warehouse-I can\u2019t explain the feelings for what happened in this warehouse, because there aren\u2019t any words for those feelings! There were roughly 100,000 people amongst 5 different stages all blaring Techno\/ Dubstep\/ Electronic music.\u00a0\u00a0 If you have never heard techno music the best way to describe it is trancelike.\u00a0 The lasers, bumps, black lights, and EVERYONE moving at the exact time sends a jive through the body only experienced at a Rave. The light shows were surreal, as were the people.\u00a0 Yes, I had a wonderful time here, but it was on Sunday that made this weekend my favorite trip.<\/p>\n

Barcelona is HUGE!\u00a0 It\u2019s the second largest city in Spain with a population over 1.5 million people. The architecture of the buildings is magnificent and once again words can\u2019t explain.\u00a0 Logan flew back to Madrid on Sunday morning at 7, but my bus didn\u2019t leave until 7 that night.\u00a0 Thus, I had all day to tour.\u00a0 I checked out of my hostel at 11 am.\u00a0 I circled various parts of the city on a map that I wanted to see and off I went!\u00a0 My first stop was the Olympic Stadium that hosted the 1992 Olympic Games.\u00a0 What I did not know was this road was heaven for a tourist, perfect! This area had various other attractions I did not plan on seeing but was glad that I did.<\/p>\n

I walked through this beautiful garden of flowers that had blooms the size of my head, an ancient Greek Theatre, the National Museum of Art de Catalu\u00f1a (MNAC), a park dedicated to the surrealist Juan Mir\u00f3, and ate a very cultural lunch.\u00a0 I normally would not have stopped at the two art museums, but I am taking an Art History course here, and have a newfound love for art. (Yes, the extended limbs, squiggly lines, and squares are art).\u00a0 From here, I hopped on a metro and went up north to visit Camp Nu, which is the home stadium for FC Barcelona, one of Spain\u2019s, and the world\u2019s most famous soccer teams.<\/p>\n

Sadly, I arrived 30 minutes too late, and could not walk inside the gate, as there were guards everywhere.\u00a0 From Camp Nu, the stadium, I jumped on another metro directly east and visited Gaudi\u2019s, Park G\u00fcell.\u00a0 This is not your average park, as Gaudi is an unbelievable architect.\u00a0 All the way up the mountain were various walls, bridges, and other structures built out of rock and plaster.\u00a0 How they were able to accomplish this feat I am yet to know.\u00a0\u00a0 To finish my journey I headed south to Gaudi\u2019s most famous structure, and one of the most famous buildings\/ Catholic Church in the world\u2026. La Sagrada Familia.\u00a0 The building\u2019s groundbreaking was in 1826, and the completion date is set for 2026, the centennial of Gaudi\u2019s death.\u00a0 I will try and explain, but once again, you will have to look at Google images to try and understand what I saw, but up close in person is breath-taking to say the least.\u00a0\u00a0 Sadly, once again I arrived too late and could not enter, but maybe the next trip to Europe I will be able to accomplish these tasks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 La Sagrada Familia is by far the biggest building I have laid eyes on, and there are various levels to it.\u00a0 One side shows a group of angels peering out of the side the building, while right next to them is this cone like figure that makes as a window.\u00a0 However, there is no glass, and people just walk out to peer down to the city approximately 13-15 stories up.\u00a0 Crazy thing is, this ledge is only half way up the building.\u00a0 Below I attached a picture of the \u201cedificio\u201d to give the building justice.<\/p>\n

From here I had about 1.5 hours left so I began walking to the bus stop.\u00a0 On the way I had time to reflect on my journey of the day, and the previous three weeks in Spain.\u00a0 However, these thoughts were interrupted as I passed the bull-fighting stadium!\u00a0 Finally in my favor (I was not too late), there was a bullfight that night and I was able to witness the protests that went along with it.\u00a0 After a few tourist pictures and speaking with the peaceful protestor\u2019s I continued my journey to the bus station.\u00a0 Sadly, I could not miss the bus because it is a 5-hour trip back to Valencia.<\/p>\n

Spain has taught me a lot, and I have become a better person because of it.\u00a0 The people here are more than nice and are more than willing to help out.\u00a0 I have been lost on a number of occasions, and luckily I was living close to a big church and stated:\u201cDonde est\u00e1 la Mesquita\u201d and with a simple point of the finger I\u2019m was off on my way.\u00a0 This trip also helped me become very independent person, and know I can travel alone to other countries and be just fine. If I can take the metro, bus, or walk without knowing anyone or knowing the area, I know that I can handle the turns and \u201cclosed\u201d signs that will happen in my life journey.<\/p>\n

Spain has not been all roses and chocolate though, which also helped me grow as a person, too.\u00a0 I believe you have to see ugly\/hate in order to see peace\/love, and that has happened.\u00a0 On a number of occasions I have hung out with people that are not the nicest in the world, which made me a better person in the end, and I can only thank God for putting me in these situations, as seeing those people not being polite has taught me that being kind and nice will get you further in the game of life.\u00a0 One occasion I was enjoying a relaxing day at the beach doing some homework and I saw this frail young boy with an oxygen tank.\u00a0 With him were two adults and what appeared to be his sister.\u00a0 This had to be the boys first time at the Beach because the smile he had on his face was priceless. He would jog up to the water and just stop before getting wet.\u00a0 Finally after a few minutes of prodding the young boy took his sisters (4-5 years old) hand and tiptoed into the water.\u00a0 He splashed and played as much as he was able to.\u00a0 These experiences are ones that will stick with me forever, and I am grateful I am able to live them.<\/p>\n

I hope you liked my tour of Barcelona, and if you have any questions or would like to hear more stories you can always join \u201cWabash College Wrestling\u201d Facebook page and I will be more than glad to respond!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jacob Moore ’12 – On May 23rd I left my small hometown of Crawfordsville, IN to study in Valencia, Spain for a month.\u00a0 I was accepted through the University of Virginia to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-study-abroad"],"w_featured_image_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}