Last week I went to the Sevilla European Film Festival with some friends to see a French film by a Swiss producer. It was called Lourdes, and it was about a paralyzed woman who regains her capacity to walk. The festival was held at the old opera house of Sevilla, el teatro Lope de Vega, which I get to pass by every day after class. The outside, which is normally quite beautiful and impressive, was all lit up, making it even more beautiful and impressive, and we got to enter on a red carpet! However, there were very few people there, so it wasn't really a 'grand gala' of high society as I had hoped. Oh well. But the inside of the theater is even more elegant, and I loved the experience of the festival - they had a couple speakers come from all across Europe, and I enjoyed hearing their speeches in different languages and then in Spanish or English translations afterwards. Translating and lenguage confusion is a part of daily life in Europe, but it's something that we never get to experience in the US. I think that it's an absolute pity.
So about the film - it was pretty much the perfect movie to exemplify 'European film' - not too much dialogue, not really any soundtrack, a lot of straight-on shots, and generally fairly dry. Some parts were ironically funny, but not overwhelmingly a crowd-pleasing piece of entertainment. I did, however, enjoy interpreting the end - I feel that I actually "got it," which I suppose is positive. And funniest of all, apparently that was the film that won the festival! Well, at least I guess we got to see the best.
On Wednesday of last week, I had to get up in front of my regular university class to give an oral presentation about the geography of Austria (kill me now, please). I say this not out of a dislike for public speaking, but first and foremost because of the inanity of the project. I don't think I've had to do a country presentation per-se since I was about 10. And I say this secondarily because apparently I do have a fear of public speaking in Spanish - I was so nervous when the presentation began, but it was mainly because the professor only left me 15 minutes when I really needed 25. So I had to speak really fast, and try and cram everything in - but in summary, I think that the presentation actually went really well, from what I can remember. However, I barely know what happened because I went into fight-or-flight adrenaline mode, and didn't calm down for the next 3 hours. It was SO intimidating - speaking in front of a whole bunch of European students and native Spanish speakers. However, someone complimented me after class, so it couldn't have been too terrible! And now I feel hardcore to be able to tell the story. :0)
The funniest thing in the world happened during lunch the other day with the fam - so my hermanito Alfonsito REALLY dislikes basically all food products, but reserves a fiery dislike for garbanzos and lentils. This very day we were having garbanzo stew (which happens to be a personal favorite, the kid is crazy), and he would have none of it. Now, his complaining and verbal abuse of my senora is a pretty frequent occurrence on the gastronomic front, but today his parents got fed up and sent him to the kitchen. As he was leaving, my hermanita Beatriz said, "Don't we have the weirdest family in the world?" It was hilarious.
I am constantly reminded that I am in a predominantly Catholic country, from the millions of churches to the painting of the virgin mary in my room, to my newfound ability to explain the iconography of catholic saints and virgins. However, I am also constantly surprised by the predominance of catholocism in daily life - for example, yesterday we were told by our art professor that we are going to hell. To contextualize, he was explaining a painting done by some Spanish dude, and asked us if we knew what some churchy thing was in regards to storing sacraments and whatnot. Of course, the answer was no - the majority of us have not been brought up in Spanish Catholic churches. This prompted him to say that we were therefore all going to "el infierno" (hell), which was funny at first, but then it made me think. I don't like being told that I'm going to hell, even as a joke, because in this instance it actually IS what he believes. interesting.
Another interesting anecdote about class is breaktime - in our 2-hour lectures, we sometimes get a 10 minute break to relax and recharge. However, until today I didn't realize that this is mostly so that the professor and students can take a smoking break! I can't even imagine.
I'm sure I have many more engaging stories, but those are some of the funny observations that I came across this week. On to part 2 - adventures in Deutschland!
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