Richard S. Moscorelli

Vignettes of Reflection

 

The Ugly American is the easiest thing to become when travelling abroad. Why you ask? I am American. Just by saying I am American begets disapproving looks from someone from South America. I am a North American from the United States.  I probably should be more specific and say I am a Floridian. Easy enough to do. Then why do most U.S. citizens choose to say American when there are two continents with America in the name? Lack of cultural awareness. Americans are ethnocentric.  I myself included. It’s a natural way to feel your way is the right way and the other is different. Only after one is made self-aware of the other is one able to contemplate which is familiar may not always be the right way. It may simply be a different way.

 

Studying abroad. The planning for such a trip is no easy task. Getting myself on the same plane, bus, boat, and car is hard enough. Making sure vaccinations and passports are valid to travel. Money is converted to a foreign currency and credit cards are notified for travelling abroad. What about what clothes to wear? Am I wearing something offensive to a foreign culture? Did I forget something? This is wearing me out and I haven’t even left yet.

 

The Ugly American. I wonder, am I being the Ugly American. I am used to how things are at home. The United States has big elevators for starters, big plates, big trains, and big people! Everything here is smaller, more compact. It’s strange and different. It makes anxiety flare up due to the unknown. This tastes different, YUK! I feel like a spoiled child. Complaining about not getting my way. I want what I know. I want to feel comfortable. Stepping outside my comfort zone? Whose idea was this? Surely not mine!

 

Study abroad is such a unique experience. Travelling with fellow students and quickly bonding with people sharing life events together. Family is far away and friends become new family members with which to share lasting memories. This is education at its finest. Learning about historical events and touching monuments which are centuries old (I was allowed). Visual, auditory, and tactile all at my fingertips. How could this get any better?

 

The places of Spain are hard to forget. They have been etched into my memory with the fine skill of an artisan. Each place visited had its own unique attitude. Malaga felt warm and fun. Barcelona historic and abrasive. Seville was a mix of culture and being caught up in the masses. Tourist masses. Toledo felt old. It felt like it had been around for a very long time and had a sense of elegance about it. Granada had a similar feeling. Granada had a regality to it as well. I think this was due to the Alhambra and the final resting place of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Last up is Madrid. Madrid had an allure of its own making with its grand plazas and night life. Everywhere I looked I was taking a picture of this or that. I’m lucky I didn’t get a leash attached to my neck for lack of keeping up with the group.

 

 The food of the entire country left me wanting a tiny piece more. I love seafood and this is a seafood lover’s paradise. Ham found a steady second in my food list. Methods for obtaining food and preparing them are different than in the United States. Salt curing and leaving the ham leg to dry was observed. This is something which is not seen in the U.S. where food is something picked up and packaged neatly in stores. The reminder of where the ham came from was a realistic reminder. The caffeine, oh how could I ever forget the caffeine? Café con leche and café cortado. These little cups of energy and sunshine blessed everyday while in Spain. I have enjoyed the pleasure of a café con leche in my previous travels. It was a warm friend around when I needed it. The café cortado soon became known to my vocabulary for caffeinated goodness.  The sharp dressed camareros who cleanly poured every cup rounded out my café cortado experience. I am left searching for the same with churros and chocolate for breakfast.

 

Thinking about vocabulary O Dios Mio did my Spanish improve while studying abroad in Spain? Being totally immersed in the language and culture is impossible to replicate. I had a breakthrough point in my language learning while in Spain. A guide in the Alhambra was discussing facts and ideas about the feelings one may feel while in the Alhambra. It was surreal. I was surrounded by beautiful gardens, intricate Islamic architecture hundreds of years old, and shimmering water splashing playfully in courtyards. The guide spoke of language and how the flow of language comes to you while learning, you first have to be willing to be wrong. You have to be ok with being wrong then being right will come. Ahhh. Just run with it, practice and don’t think too hard. Simple.

 

Hard things made simple.  A reoccurring theme on my trip. While entering a cathedral I became overwhelmed with humility. Here I was touring Spain. Seeing historical sites and cities. Traveling on planes, trains, and automobiles. Wonders to the eye. Then I walk into the cathedral. I did not make this trip possible.  A divine force incomprehensible to the senses brings us together. Sets things in motion and spreads diaspora throughout the world. Thank You. Thank you for having the opportunity to explore the world in which I live and to become a better human for it.