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May 31, 2006
Adios, Cádiz...
The last few weeks in Cádiz were some of the busiest weeks but also certainly some of the best. I had final essays to wrap up for independent studies, and three tests for courses in the Cádiz University. They all turned out well and I was pleased with the final grades, which brings to an end my undergraduate college career.
When I didn’t have my head in my notes, trying to absorb as much information as I could for ambiguous final exams, I had some great opportunities to spend time with local and European friends. Last Thursday the Spanish grammar course class got together with all the other grammar students from other levels for a barbeque on the beach. (But barbeques apparently aren’t allowed anymore on the beaches, so it was just sort of a potluck.) I realized that that class, which was small and met 8 hours a week, had actually gotten to know each other pretty well, and I probably had taken that class for granted. Those from my class planned together then one last time before I left, which took place Monday night at our teacher Teresa’s place. That was another good time to share stories, plans, and then, goodbyes. Most of the other students were staying until the end of June for the normal testing dates. There was also the visit to Jose’s family’s house on Sunday, and a visit with German friend Tobias yesterday at his apartment with some ice cream and coffee.
It’s been interesting that I came expecting to learn something about Europe with the Erasmus students, but not nearly as much as I would learn about Spain. I suppose that has been the case, but I didn’t expect to be able learn some things about Spain through of discussions and comparisons in conversations with other Europeans.
Learning certainly has no end either. I was learning things about Cádiz up to the day I left (like where the famous Torre Tavira was). On the plane from Madrid to New York I ended up next to a really interesting character named Andrés Dominguez. He was born in 1926, and began writing poetry when he was young. His art and political perspective led him to France during the civil war, but he was captured, returned, tortured, and found his way out again, this time to Argentina. The rest of his life he would spend mostly out of his home country, with significant time in Chile (where he met Pablo Neruda), Bolivia, and the last twenty two years in the US. He continues to write and also teach some in the Spanish literature department at New York’s Columbia University. Since the Franco dictatorship ended in 1975, he has been back and forth between Madrid and New York to visit his siblings and friends there. Between his travels and conflicts with governments, he seems just as much a historian and a political analyst as he is a writer.
I’m writing from the New York airport as I wait for my connecting flight to BWI, where I’ll meet my parents and travel home to Lancaster, bringing nearly five months of travel to a close. My talk with Andrés brought together a number of things that I have been thinking and learning about since coming to Spain, and at the same time opened up the experience of a new person, with new ideas and stories. There is a world of unique people and experiences to be encountered. One chapter closes and another begins, but there’s always a greater understanding to be discovered ahead...
Posted by Derrick at May 31, 2006 01:18 PM