As I travel more and more around Spain, I realized that there many similarities between the Spaniards and Americans, especially referring to respective constituency. As I mentioned before, I am currently in Spain’s oldest college town, Salamanca. I have begun to interact with the Spanish college students of the University of Salamanca. I met a group of upper classmen on Sunday and we instantly connected. I was invited every night from then on to join them in their “Novatadas,” which is like a Freshman Friday that last two weeks. The freshmen who are not from Salamanca most likely live in University Residences.
The upperclassmen visit their past University Residences and seek out all of the “Novatos” with the help of staff and other upperclassmen who decided to return to the same residence. The upperclassmen are called “Veteranos.” The “Veteranos” wear a “V” anywhere from their cheek to their neck to their chest. The “Veteranos” mark a giant “N” on the freshmen’s faces. Along with the giant “N”, they write all over their faces with permanent marker, they spray paint the freshmen’s hair pink and grey and make them declare their love, write poems and, invent songs all for a specific “Veterano.”
At first I thought it was cruel and unethical but then I spoke to a “Veterano” and he/she explained to me that “Novatadas” is a chance for the freshmen to get to know each other and while humiliating them in public their doing them a favor by taking them all around Salamanca and to all the different bars and clubs. This process, in my mind, directly correlates to College culture in the US, especially in the rural/suburban college towns. College freshmen hazing/humiliating rituals are depicted all over TV and movies in the US.
Aside from being exposed to the college culture of the oldest college town in Spain, I had the opportunity to travel to Madrid, the capital and the largest city of Spain. Madrid was very comforting for many people in my group because it was somewhat similar to NYC. The first place we went to once we began to walk around “La plaza del sol” area was Starbucks. Madrid is similar to NYC for its Starbucks Coffee, millions of inhabitants, non-stop traffic, a metro station every couple of blocks, and the most immigrants I have seen in Spain. I spoke to a few Latin Americans that came to Madrid to work for their family back in Latin America. This was the first time I heard of Latinos traveling to Europe for the same reasons some Latinos travel to the US.
Undeniably, Madrid’s architecture dates far back than New York’s and the majority of Madrid’s buildings are incredibly breathtaking. One can see where the architects of New York’s financial district drew their inspiration from. If Madrid is beautiful, then Barcelona transcends beauty tenfold. My group and I stayed at a hostel in Barceloneta, right across from the beach. I thought to myself, “If Madrid is like Spain’s version of NYC, then Barcelona is Spain’s version of Miami with Barceloneta being somewhat similar to South Beach. Traveling all around Spain has been an adventure I will never forget. Becoming friends with the Spanish college students has made me become attached to Salamanca and I will be very sad when I leave for Rome in a week.
For next week’s blog, I will continue to write about Barcelona and an interesting similarity I discovered between the Spaniards and some Latinos/Hispanics within the US. Stay Tuned.
