MMM: Greetings from Nebraska.... and a Sukkot Pilgramidge

date: Oct 10, 2006 4:19 PM
subject: MMM: Greetings from Nebraska.... and a Sukkot Pilgramidge

Hola Family, Friends, Frisbees,

Greetings from the Nebraska. Don't worry, I'm still here in Spain, in the state of Murcia, home to Spain's worst accents and a plentiforous amount of mayonnaise-based salads. Hoping all is well at home and you are enjoying life wherever you are.

So here I am, in Murcia, Spain. My choice to study in Murcia, designated by Lonely Planet as 'Spain's least-visited region,' was met with perplexed looks by everyone I met in Spain outside of Murcia. During my orientation in Sevilla, I didn't meet a single person who had been to Murcia or knew anything about the area.

I had two requirements for my study abroad locations: Jews and the ocean. I chose to study here in Murcia based on my in-depth Google research, which corroborated both of those points. But once I got here, the truth came out: Murcia is home to some world class palm trees (apparently they're famous in the botany world, but to me they just look like regular palm trees) and great motorcycling culture, but there are no Jews and no ocean.

Before I left Sevilla, a Spanish frisbee friend who had lived for a year in the states finally cleared it up for me. "Murcia is, well, it's completely random," he said, putting it gently. "It's like, it's like the Nebraska of Spain." I ask him about my second choice, the state of Alicante, right next door, hoping it's something worse, like Canada or Greenland or a trailer park. "Alicante!" he mused, his eyes lighting up. "Alicante is the California of Spain!"

Wouldn't you know what else? Alicante has the only synagogue on the entire southeastern coast of Spain AND the city is right on the ocean.

But Murcia's growing on me, and I'm beginning to like this quirky little city in a valley. My classes at the University are, well, a struggle. The scheduling system here was a bit of a challenge, as every class I wanted to take met at least once from 1:00-2:00 on Wednesdays. With all of the classroom changes and teacher changes and course changes, I only successfully attended one class my first week. And believe me, I tried very hard to attend more classes. Me and the information lady on the first floor are really good friends, which is also good to know I have at least one Spanish friend. The schedule that I finally concocted is a mix of Literature, Art and History from the 17th-18th century. All the other centuries met at conflicting times.

I'm going to like Murcia even more when I move to my new apartment and out of the suburbs with the host family I'm living with. I realized a while ago that haven't lived for more than three weeks in the same place since last April. So after a few weeks with my host family I'm packing my bags again, off to an apartment filled with Spaniards, Italians, multi-lingual dictionaries, and a lot of delicious pasta (courtesy of Franchi the Italian). You can read more about my host family adventures:
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2006/10/10/Opinion/Lessons.From.A.Seora.A.Spanish.Sort.Of.Life-2340276.shtml?norewrite200610101623&sourcedomain=www.diamondbackonline.com

Since the Spanish academic calender includes three-day fiestas about every two weeks, I'm heading off tomorrow for the exact opposite corner of Spain, Santiago de Compostela. Santiago is the end point for a 700 plus kilometer religious pilgrimage that follows a possible route the apostle Santiago took (he is buried in Santiago de Compostela), from France through Spain. I, along with two identical twins from New Jersey, am going to attempt the last 100 kilometers in 3.5 days because, according to my Spanish teacher, there is a belief that if you do at least 100 km of the walk, you will half your time spent in purgatory and G-d will forgive all of your earthly sins.

"Well, gee, I better do the whole thing," I told him, joking. "It's going to take a lot more than 100 km to forgive me for being Jewish!" He was not amused. Oh well. But it will be nice to celebrate sukkot (the Jewish harvest festival, celebrated by building a tent-like enclosure and sleeping and eating in it for 8 days) by being outside, appreciating nature and hugging trees.

I feel a little guilty because doing the end part of the pilgrimage is kind of like joining a marathon at mile 23. Speaking of marathons, while I was trying to register for classes, I accidentally registered for the University of Murcia marathon. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, but hopefully I'll get a free t-shirt.

Hope all is well on the home front and you are enjoying a beautiful October. Best of luck in all of your endeavours and don't forget to keep in touch!

Love from Nebraska,
Meli