A New World in the Ordinary

I had dreamed of traveling abroad since I was in the sixth grade. That year, I began to learn Spanish. As I went to class every Tuesday and Thursday, it became much more than a new language. While I saw photos of fantastic cathedrals and monuments projected onto our blackboard, researched holidays and traditions for homework, and sang along to popular songs at class fiestas, I began to fantasize about what the world looked like outside of my small corner of suburban New York. I decided that if I were to ever travel abroad, Spain would be the first place I would visit.

Eight years later, my middle school ambitions were finally realized as I touched down at Madrid-Barajas airport for a semester abroad. My first few days in the country were a complete whirlwind, five cities in ten days, and hardly enough time to absorb my new reality. Life behind the postcard-perfect sights seemed irrelevant, even nonexistent.

Catherine BradleyBut when I finally arrived in Córdoba, where I was to live for the next four months, I began to realize that Spain was more than a giant tourist destination. As my host mom showed me her apartment, as I ate dinner every night with her and her son, as I walked through town center into clothing stores and supermarkets, a jarring thought entered my mind, one that I hadn’t considered before.

People actually live here.

One afternoon, on my way to grab a pre-lunch coffee, I noticed a crowd gathered in the central Plaza de Tendillas. I stepped closer to see a circle of dancers, all dressed in traditional flamenco skirts, large flowers clipped in their hair. At first, I was mesmerized by the movement of their feet, furiously tapping out complicated patterns on the hard concrete. But as I watched for a little while longer, I began to focus on their faces, wrought with concentration. Their intensity belied the fact that many of these dancers were no more than 15 or 16 years old. How many years of practice did that take, to memorize those steps until they were mere reflex?

When the performance was over, many of the girls were embraced by beaming relatives. In many ways, it reminded me of scenes after dance recitals back home. But in other ways, the warm hugs and back pats felt distinctly foreign. The flamenco dances the girls had performed were rooted in hundreds of years of tradition, a celebration born out of the pain of the Romani people as they were exiled from Spanish society in the 18th century. Dancers now make careers out of flamenco in Spain, with some performers enormously popular. Were these girls inspired to dance by a famous artist? Was it a tradition passed down through their family? What was it like to literally be performing years of history with every stamp of your foot?

As I walked back from Tendillas, I thought about how, in many ways, Spanish life was very similar to mine back home in Connecticut. Spaniards go to department stores. They go out to lunch. They watch dance recitals and hug their children tight after the show. But somehow there is always a sense of the foreign. Watching that performance, I felt tradition grip me tightly. I wondered what it was like to grow up in a culture steeped in centuries of history, and to face that history almost daily. I wondered how that affects someone’s childhood and the way they view the world.

Perhaps they are so accustomed to it that they don’t even notice it at all.

I went home. My host mom served lunch. My host brother’s friend came over. We all watched the afternoon news. We made fun of politicians. We cheered at the sports report. We groaned at the weather forecast.

Maybe we weren’t so different. Or maybe we were. But for now, I was content to serve myself another helping of pisto, reach down to pet the family dog as she scratched at my chair, and remind myself once more:

People actually live here.

And right now, so do I.

bradley_2016-10-02-author-imageCatherine Bradley is a senior history major and education minor originally from Ridgefield, Connecticut. She studied abroad in Córdoba, Spain through the PRESHCO program in Spring 2016 and hopes to return soon. In her spare time, Catherine enjoys writing, cooking, and watching baseball.

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