Page 6 - 90-94 Meteor

6 THE METEOR
ISSUE 1, 1990
VIVA ESPANA!
Spain Beckons A New World Soul
by Richard Wharton
The making of men with worldly tastes begins when one travels. Traveling in Europe has a tendency to ex- cite the senses, inspire the poetic, and fill one with awe when surrounded by living history. Such was the case when Mr. Norment took Ran- dy Simmons, Justin Triesche, Dave Walton and me to Spain. Our adventure began when we met at JFK airport in New York. We all reached the air- port from different directions and our excitement to be on our way could not be hidden when we got together. The five of us reached our gate, where we met up with a whole plane full of EF tours <our guides and agents) setting off to Europe for their summer vacations. Justin, David, and I sat together according to our tickets, but Randy and "Senor Slim" had to sit separated from us. We passed the time talking about all the things we were going to do and see and then wpeoplewewouldmeet. The flight was surprisingly quick, and the only hassle we met was at the airport, when
we went through customs. We met our tour guide, Magali , who placed us on the bus to our hotel destination. There we met the people who would be on the tour with us. The groups included people from Michigan, Missouri , Texas, and our group from V.E.S. Randy and I spent the time on the bus scoping out the prospective chicks and cigarette ads on the billboards. Scarcely had we been in the hotel , which was small enough
out again, this time with him, to see the real side of Madrid. Mr. Norment took us to his favorite places, including his favorite pubs, during our stay in Madrid. We began the next day with a whirlwind tour of Madrid, with stops in the Royal Palace, the Plaza Mayor, and the Prado Museum . Dave Shave was not with us, as he had misplaced his return ticket already and both he and Mr. Norment had to take care of the emergency arrangements. The group we were in was relatively friend- ly, and we soon became known
as "Russ's Boys".
While in Madrid I took a
detour trip to Segovia, where the castle of Isabelle and Fer- nando still sits. The castle is believed to be the model for Walt Disney's castles. Segovia is also famous for the aqueduct built by the Romans that still transports water to the town today. The structure was built with no mortar. The tour then went to the Valle de Los Caidos, a spooky monu- ment buill by Frnn o to mark the death and destruction of the Spanish Civil War. We then took the bus to Philip II's cas- tle, built during the " Century of Gold" in which Spain was the dominant world power. Its magnificence still awes people today .
On the third day of the tour, the whole group took a day trip to Toledo, the ancient capital of Spain. Toledo has been famous throughout Spain's history, and its geographical defensive location is typical of most Spanish cities. We visited the cathedral at Toledo, and subsequently visited the swordshop, where full-size swords are still made, with ex- quisite halters and razor-sharp edges. Then it was back to Madrid for an overnight train trip to Seville.
Never, ever take an over- night train in Spain. The morn- ing found us more tired from the trip than we had been in the three previous days of travel. Seville, the location of the royal winter palace, was basically a rest stop, and "Russ's Boys" took full advan- tage of that. We took the time we had to get checks exchang- ed for Pesetas (the national currency) . Points of interest in Seville included the room at the palace where Columbus' voyages started out and were
funded. We also saw magnolia trees that were descended from the original seeds brought by Columbus upon his returns from America. Colum- bus' final resting place is in Se- ville.
The next stop for us was a day-long tour of Granada, the last bastion of the Arabs before they were expelled from the land in 1492. Granada included the Alhambra, the famous Arab gardens which were a part of the Giralda, an Arab fortress on the tallest hill of Granada. The Arabs called the garden "heaven on earth", and when you visit and hear the trickling fountains, see the beautifully sculptured garden
walls, you know why. Granada was the last
historical stop for our tour. We made our final destination Torremolinos, a small beach town on the Mediterranean coast about 40 miles from Malaga. It was the biggest let- down of the trip. "Russ's Boys" had become used to the people and culture of Spain. We had eaten paella, the hodge-podge rice dish that is different in every region of Spain, had tried our luck speaking with the locals in every town, and had learned to love this country. Tor- remolinos, however, is a tourist trap with the majority of residents being English-
speaking transients. So for three days we had to eat horsemeat hamburgers and drink....Bitter, Stout, and Ale, of all things! Here we said good-bye to our companions, who had signed up for only a seven-day tour rather than the full ten day tour.
Spain is a beautiful country with a rich historical back- ground and a wonderful cul- ture that results from its history.
The country is beautiful, and the people could not be more kind.
If you get the urge, go to Spain. It's a whole new s'ide of Europe!
when our
adven-
indeed ,
turesome spirits set us out in- to maintown Madrid to seek out some food and drink.
The bar where we ate lunch was a small affair, but after- ward we stepped into a super- market and stocked up on some supplies we knew we would need, like bottled mineral water (without gas) and some skol (the local beer). We stayed around the hotel, where "the four gringos" received gawks and stares for our clothing and lifestyle. Justin tried to speak Spanish to some people, but they kept on walking. We were still ner- vous about the trip when we returned to the hotel and sought out Mr. Norment. Slim said not to worry, and we set
ly ,
caring, and
honest than
T r a u s n i t z ~~: , . . . . . . . . . .
by Scooter Wooldridge We departed on a bus on a Fridny nft 'rnoon for Trausnitz, a small town in southern West Germany where a Jugendherberg, or youth hostel, is located. As we got on the bus, our worst nightmares were realized. In the week we had been in Ger- many, we had all noticed cer- tain teenagers walking around with long, greasy, uncombed hair; clothes which apparent- ly were never washed; and crazed looks on their faces. Many of these " animal types" were on the bus with us going to the Jugendherberg in Trausnitz. This, we thought, was not going to be a great
weekend.
Michael McPhatter, Chris
Hutter and I, at the encourage- ment of Herr Brown, had sign- ed up for an exchange pr~ gram which placed each of us with a German family for a month. We, and the nine other Americans in our group, were placed in a small, typically German town called Zwiesel. Most of our host brothers and sisters participated on the stu- dent government at the Zwiesel high school, and this student government sponsors a weekend trip to a Jugendher- berg every year to discuss problems within the school with close to forty other stu- dents.
When we arrived in
Trausnitz we discovered that ·· the only things there were the Jtm('t\\ih rl;lQl'g, ~ (Q, ht>m' , cow fields and a cafe run by a man n~med Pete and a
woman affectionately known as "Mom." We soon discovered that the only enter- tainment at the Jugen- dherberg was ping-pong and a card game with a rather obscene name. Both pastimes quickly got old. So we finally
resorted to conversing with the German teenagers. After a few moments of conversation, most of which was in English, we Americans discovered the truth of the old proverb, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Despite their criminal appearances, these teenagers were more intelligent, friend-
of my moves.
Eventually, we all went to
nf n .t door for food, beer, and more conversation. The Americans, who had orig- inally stuck together, began to feel more and more comfor- table being alone in the midst of four or five Germans. Yie were no longer apprehenstve about the German youth; w_e had learned to look past thetr looks .
That night, after we went back to the Jugendherberg next door, everyone was ready for bed. As 1 undressed, I placed my wallet, class ring, and watch on a table beside my bunk. I rested easily, knowing that all three would be there in the morning when I awoke, even though I was sleeping in a room with twen- ty teenage German boys of un-
settling appearance. I wondered if I were in the same situation in America, with twenty teenage punks who were relative strangers, would I find my belongings when I awoke. Would I even wake up?
The weekend ended on Sun- day after another conversation -filled night at the cafe. De- spite our initial fears and boredom, that weekend, one week into our stay in Ger- many, marked the beginning of a terrific time-a time fili- ed with terrific people, and ter- rific friends.
many "clean-cut" Americans.
1doubt if I could have had an
intelligent conversation about
anarchy with my two years of
German; however, I had quite
a long debate in English over
the pros and cons of anarchist
beliefs with a German b o y -
who had studied our language for only two years. I was amazed by his intellect. Another time, I was challeng- edtoagameofchessbya stupid-looking German boy. Thinking I would get an easy checkmateonhim, I accepted his challenge. I was humili- ated by my quick loss, even though he advised me on each
th