On to strangers. It's a funny thing how big the world seems, and yet through six degrees of separation, I can know the majority of the population of the world. Somehow, somewhere, there is a connection that I have with a random stranger. We're in London this weekend for an Intercultural Experience (ICE trip), which is an excursion that CIEE does for all of its students that study abroad. This excursion is not only us though--there are kids from Istanbul and Prague as well joining us for our weekend. It's so weird introducing myself. Again. It's like the first week of study abroad, the awkward period between real friendship and deciding whether or not to tolerate a person. A whole new group of kids are here interacting with us, in a new city, in a new culture. It's easy to fade back into the existing friend groups that I have in Palma--we're a pretty tight community, and that is evident in the number of inside jokes and hits that we make and take for each other. It's easy to fall into the comfort of this familiarity, the easiness of joining in these jokes. It's so difficult to reach out, to extend a hand to strangers when there is this alternative lingering by. And yet, we are spending just enough time with these strangers that it is necessary to not only make acquaintances with these people, but also develop a short term relationship with them. Because honestly, we aren't likely to see them again. It's a weird middle zone for sure. I've talked a lot with people about the risks of getting to know others and being vulnerable being worth it, but for such short term relationships, I'm not quite so sure. Sure, sharing my story with others makes me a multi-dimensional person with more personality than meets the eye (read: interesting). But is that really worth it? My introvert says no, absolutely not. My mind says yes. I'm not sure what my heart tells me. We'll see how things pan out as the weekend progresses.
I left off my progress at Wednesday. Another typical lecture day of class for us, we went to Sa Riera from 9:30-12 to have class, and then began working on our course final presentation afterward until our Cultural Workshops. Like last time, I though that the content was a bit rudimentary. There were many assumptions being made about what cultures people were coming from, and how that affected the ways that they saw Spanish culture. For example, our director had us rate ourselves based on different cultural values (individualism/community based, monochronic/polychronic, etc). It was interesting to see where people ranked themselves compared to the American and Spanish norms, but it was clear that she was pushing us all into a tiny box of "American culture" even though there are a lot of us that would consider ourselves bi-cultural. In general, it was another odd event and one that did not delve deeply into the consequences and benefits of joining a different mainstream culture. Maybe it was a lack of time...or not? After questioning and investigating my Asian heritage through AIV, it seemed redundant for me to be sitting in that workshop. I can only hope that other people got more out of it than I did. After the workshop, I went back home to work on my dental app for a couple hours before heading to dinner with Steph at a restaurant near the Plaza Espana. It was really nice to have time to ourselves to catch up and just relax after having to carry so much responsibility being individuals. After dinner, we went down to the Cathedral again to enjoy the light display and nightfall upon the spires of the Cathedral.
(Dinner!)
(Date with Steph)
(AMAZING nighttime view of the Cathedral)
On Thursday, our class went to the LIMIA Lab in Andratx. This is an aquaculture lab dedicated to the research of various marine species in and around the Mediterranean. This was one of the coolest field trips we have been on this semester. The things we were learning in class were literally coming alive before our eyes. The growth stages of different organisms (both feed [rotifers, artemia] and fish) were clearly shown to us as we walked along different tanks holding various sea organisms. We even got to see the large tanks of fish out in the harbor where they keep the adult fish. The lab was well organized, clean, and updated with many recent technologies like a micrscope camera to help them with their research. We had a quick lecture about the aquaculture in Palma, but after that we had the opportunity to explore around the lab. After getting back from Andratx, I met up with Steph and Hannah to burn some time before their flight. We ended up going to get churros con chocolate (the BEST!), and people watching for three hours. If you have never people watched before, you have gotta do it. People do some strange things. People also do some inspiring things. And even some downright hateful things. It's crazy to observe the types of behavior people exhibit, especially in a foreign country. I had to leave before they caught the bus to skype with Alex, which was a really good conversation. It as a glimpse of familiarity in this strange land with strange people...I then started on my dental apps (finally getting a call through and having my questions answered after an hour and at least 30 phone calls...), and packing for London. I didn't end up going to sleep until 2:30 that night, since I got so carried away with my application...
(The view from the fish lab in Andratx)
(Species breeding pools)
(Breeding shrimp)
(Camera + Microscope to take photos for observations)
(Dra. Salud, Jaynessa, and Joe)
(Andratx has a lot of houses built on hills)
Today has been a lot of traveling. We met at the Plaza Espana at 7:30 to catch the bus to the airport. Our flight went really smoothly--I ended up sleeping most of the way, as is customary of me nowadays when I fly. When we got to London (Gatwick), I immediately felt the stuffy British stereotype coming true. One of my friends sneezed outside of customs, and was immediately chided to cover his sneeze (even though he did), with a snappy complaint about how everyone is spreading germs nowadays. Later, we encountered a British couple who kept on shoving their way through the group, pushing people aside to get through. Each person has their own situations, and I'm sure I don't have the full story for everyone. But despite not having the full picture, it was quite shocking to experience this as one of the first interactions with people in London just stepping off the plane. We caught the Gatwick express back to London, which was a hassle...the train route was blocked in a couple places because of signaling problems, so we ended up moving back and forth between stations to try to get to the right place. It took at least an extra 30 mins/hour for the train to get to the station we needed to get to. After disembarking and checking into the hostel, we ran to get food at Nambo's, which was apparently supposed to be pretty good chicken (it honestly reminded me of baked KFC...but my palate isn't that great so don't take my word for it). We had a CIEE orientation to London right after we ate, and then dinner at Tayyabs for a delicious Indian dinner. I am hitting myself for not taking any pictures, but it was really, really good, let me assure you. Probably one of the best places I have eaten. After returning to the hostel, we decided to join a salsa class which was going on right in the hostel and get some dancing with other strangers done. It was really cool to learn salsa dancing in London of all places, and to do so with such a fun coach and open strangers from all different countries and backgrounds. I'm so pooped from today--hopefully tonight will be some good sleep so that I cans survive the full day we have tomorrow.
(Our EasyJet flight to London! A tarmac boarding)
(Our posh hostel)
(Interesting choice of decorations)
(Salsa night--good dancing, good music, good friends)
Tomorrow brings a super touristy day of London...basically a day of picture taking and wandering around the city.
A new adventure awaits.
(I'll post pictures when I get back to Palma...)
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