Blog 4: "My People"

After listening to the lectures that discussed 'othering' and how we let what we think is 'normal' dictate would we consider 'different' as well, the question that really stayed with me was who are we actually making invisible, the others or ourselves? It's something that I've thought about before and I think it's a really great point; when we consider ourselves as what is normal, we lose sight of what makes us different. Just as we identify other cultures by pointing out what they do that makes them unique, we should remember that our own culture can be defined in the same way. Today, while eating lunch at a Spanish restaurant, our table talked about what our last meals in the U.S. was and fantasized about what our first meals would be. What I thought was one of the strangest cravings was water with ice in it. However, I completely understand what they meant. Here, when you ask for water you get a bottle of water and a glass, no ice. It's a great example of how something that seems so normal at home isn't even practiced in other places.

Since I grew up in a family full of USC grads, I didn't experience my first Clemson football game until freshman year and at that point I was introduced to what would become one of my favorite past times: tailgating. I love the games themselves, too, but the tailgates are what I really look forward to. It's a combination of the excitement, the people, the food, the weather (except this year since it only seemed to rain on home games) and getting dressed up in orange and purple that makes this experience so amazing. I don't think it will ever get old. If an exchange student were to come for Clemson, my best advice to them would be to make sure they made it to a football game and to make sure they accomplish these things: get there early, wear orange, and try to find a chick-fil-a platter and/or some ham delights.

While football is important to Clemson's identity, there is also a lot more to our school than just that. Tillman Hall and Bowman Field are some of the first images to come to mind when asked to describe Clemson. For us, Death Valley has a very different meaning that it does for the rest of the country. I know that when the orange paw prints start appearing on the roads on my drives back to Clemson after breaks, I know that I'm home. All of these things are important to me and I'd want to share them with someone who was from somewhere else. I understand that the unique things that make us different also make us who we are. After a few weeks (and a few more months to go) living in a different culture I quickly realized just how much of an outsider I am here, but it only makes me appreciate what I have at home even more.

Trip to Sitges

I recently took a trip down to Sitges, a small town southwest of Barcelona. By train, the ride down there was very long at all and once we were there we spent the afternoon wandering around the city. It was so beautiful and a nice break from the busy city life of Barcelona.

Blog 3: Reflections on Cultural Literacy

After only a few days immersed in a foreign culture it becomes strikingly obvious that knowing the language is not enough to understand and become a part of another culture. A point that I found interesting in the lectures was that when you look at a culture as a whole it can become overwhelming and seem almost exclusive. However, after a closer look you can begin to understand a different culture by breaking it down into smaller elements. These elements, such as what importance names have or how we display our culture, overlap and solidify into the idea of a culture being a single entity. In our own cultures, I feel like it is easy to overlook these elements because we have become so accustomed to them being a part of our everyday lives. I've grown up small town in South Carolina that heavily emphasizes our historical roots and the people who live here take great pride in the its history. In general, growing up in the South has instilled certain behaviors and ideas in me that influence the way I live. And on an even larger scale, American culture in general defines what I believe as 'normal' behavior.

I have a great interest in art and architecture and something that I feel is most intriguing about these fields is that they shape and preserve culture. They provide an outlet to learn about ancient and present day cultures and also to express and shape our own culture. Studying architecture over the past few years has given me an opportunity to understand different cultures through that particular element. Now that I am studying in Spain, learning about Barcelona's architecture and monuments has begun to teach me about what the people here hold important. Often times the stories behind these structures are even more amazing than the architecture itself. It's been exciting to be here and learn about the culture, but it is a long and time consuming process to understand the culture and adapt to such a different lifestyle. The language barrier feels like a huge challenge at the moment but I know that it goes way beyond just that. Taking part in the practices of Spanish culture and making an effort to learn and understand it seems like a good start to developing my cultural literacy. By the end of my stay here, I hope that I will feel confident in my understanding of the people here and their way of life.

Blog 2: My Experience With Online Communities

I mentioned before that I have a lot to learn about using technology as a means of communication; however, I do have experience using online forums and I think they are very useful for communicating with others for entertaining, learning, promoting, and many other reasons. I am probably most familiar with Facebook (I am in college after all, even though now Facebook extends well beyond just students), and I find it very useful to keep up with my friends at school and from home. It's also a great way to learn about upcoming events and to make plans. Since I am abroad, I recently started using Skype to communicate with everyone back home. I really like using it and I definitely prefer it to email or phone calls. Youtube is another area that I have used fairly often. Even though I've never actually loaded any of my own videos to the site, I have found that it is a very effective procrastination tool and I love sharing what I find with other people. Blogging is completely new to me. Fortunately, setting up my blog has been fairly easy (despite problems with my internet connection earlier this week) and I think that I will enjoy keeping up with it. I am interested in graphic design so I think that getting used to blogging, as well as learning about other medias, will be good for me to learn more about the field.

Finding My Feet in Spain

My first week in Spain has been a blur. Even though I'm not technically a tourist since I'm living and studying here for the next few months, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to embark on typical touristy activities just to get used to the city and my surroundings. Our first attempt to take a cable car up to Montjuic failed after we walked to the wrong cable cars. Instead, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking down the beach. Our second try was more successful and the views were incredible and well worth the wait. We also visited La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, some of Gaudi most famous work. But mainly, we have just been doing a lot of walking around, which also means a lot of getting lost, but I guess that's how you learn.

Blog 1: Reflections Upon Entering CLAM

This semester I will be studying architecture in Barcelona, a trip I have been looking forward to since entering the architecture program at Clemson University. Now that it's finally here, I'm ecstatic and I'm eager to see what the semester will bring. After going through the course materials, I am excited to start documenting my experiences while abroad. Taking the CLAM course will give me the opportunity to not only preserve my memories of the next few months, but also to share them with my family and friends at home. I'll admit that I'm not the most technologically advanced person out there so through this course I hope to become more knowledgeable about using different forms of media for communication. I believe that this course has a lot to offer me and I can't wait to get started.