Former Creightonian Scene editor Nathan Ancheta is an Arts & Sciences junior. He is currently studying abroad in Madrid, Spain at Saint Louis Univesity – Madrid.
During this first month living in Madrid, I’ve discovered many things about Spaniards, or more specifically madrileños (people from Madrid), that I had absolutely no knowledge of before arriving.
First off, Spain has a love affair with ham. It’s everywhere. It’s incorporated into every dish – ham spaghetti, ham pizza – there are even ham-flavored potato chips, which, by the way, are awful. There are restaurants here dedicated to it, proudly displaying legs of dried up pork hanging from the store windows. They’re called museos de jamá½¹n, and yes, that translates to ham museums.
Second to ham on the Spanish palate is bread. If you don’t have bread when you eat, Spaniards don’t consider it a meal. They even ask for bread at Chinese restaurants. There are panaderÃas, or bread shops, on almost every corner here because of the need for bread. If you combine the two top food staples of Spain, you get the bocadillo de jamón, or the ham sandwich. The ham sandwich of Spain is as common as rice is in any Asian country.
Completing the Spanish diet trifecta is wine. This one isn’t as surprising because Spain is a Mediterranean country and vino is what the area does best. But what was surprising was the price. Un litre de vino can be as cheap as 0,50 or about 75 American cents. This is less than the price of bottled water. At those prices can you afford not to become a wino? I don’t think so.
Another thing I wasn’t prepared for was the smoking. I’m not saying everyone here smokes, but here there is a good majority of fumadores madrileños. Our university campus, like Creighton, is smoke-free, but walking through the gate each morning is a hundred times worse than the Kenefick patio or the corner behind Brandeis. The sidewalk outside the entrance literally becomes a smoke cloud between classes.
Madrid’s nightlife is definitely the craziest I’ve seen. The largest nightclub I’ve ever stepped foot in is El Teatro Kapital, a discotheque with seven stories of dance floors, each with a different style of music. Also, their salsa clubs have some of the most talented bailadores in the world. I went with a dance class I’m taking and was truly shown how dance is an art form.
Lastly, the soul of Spain is in their soccer. Spaniards take great pride in the fact España has been the top ranked national team in the world for the past year. Star Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Real was hailed by 80,000 madridistas (Real Madrid supporters). Barcelona F.C.’s defeat by Atlético Madrid, Madrid’s second club team, on Valentine’s Day headlined the front page of the newspaper. And just last night, my host family’s daughter Alejandra, usually a quiet girl, was cursing at the television during Real’s loss to Lyon. Other than Penelope Cruz, football players are the celebrities of Spain.
Although I love Madrid, this month I’ve taken a couple weekend trips to get out of the city. The first one was to Lisbon, the capital of Spain’s Iberian sister, Portugal. Lisboa (Lisbon in Portugese) is a beautiful city on the bay just off the Atlantic. We visited an ancient Moorish castle, Castelo de São Jorge, heard the soulful sounds of dramatic Portugese singers at a Fado club, sampled the original Portugese pasteles de nata in Belem and visited a monastery, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, where the tomb of the famous explorer Vasco da Gama is.
But my favorite trip so far was this weekend to the southern Spanish city of Cádiz for the celebration of Carnaval. Carnaval is a celebration before the Catholic season of Lent, much like Mardi Gras in the states. Basically, it’s a huge outdoor party until dawn, or botellón. Also everyone wears a costume. I tried to show some school spirit and be a Bluejay, but there wasn’t really a costume for that, so I was a generic bird. But I did find a torch thing with a blue jay as the candle.
One of my favorite moments of the night was when some women dressed as bomberos (firefighters) came up to my candle and surrounded it, pushing people away and yelling “Fuego, fuego!” (Fire, fire!) Then some drunk guy dressed as a schoolgirl blew it out. This was more amusing than at the end of the night when people were passing out and guys with doctor costumes pretended to revive them.
To keep things grounded, this isn’t just a vacation. Four days a week I am actually studying. Taking classes abroad has exposed me to an academic world I wouldn’t dream of back in Omaha. Here I have a Brazilian photography teacher who’s taken portraits for the soccer superstar Ronaldo, a classically-trained Italian piano teacher and a Spanish teacher from Colombia.
Yet, there are still things I miss about CU, like my friends, the basketball games and the below zero, snowy weather. Kidding about that last part. Go Jays.