Not many things to tell, as usual, but I found something to write about and I'd better not postpone it cause I know I'll get lazy later on.
Last week it was Magdalena, our local holidays. I just love them, the town changes completely, heaps of people on the streets any time of the day, lots of things to do. I love it cause Cs is pretty boring during the year, every Saturday looks the same and it feels like monotony has taken the town and the people. That is why during Magdalena people get crazy and become different and friendlier for a week.
Well, I was not in Cs the whole week, I was here just for the weekends, which are pretty much the best days of Magdalena. The rest of the time I went to Genoa to visit my brother (he is there on an Erasmus scholarship) and I loved it! I think it was not because the city was so nice, but because I saw what Erasmus life is like. I stayed at my brother's place with him and his flatmates (three Spanish girls) and some friends of his flatmates (six people) and my parents stayed in a hostel. We went to see the city, which I found beautiful and very singular. It is a very uneven place, the town is built like between a mountain and the sea, so it is full of stairs and alleys that lead you to the most unexpected places. Besides, it was the best time for us to go to a city, visiting it when you have someone who has explored it before to show you around! We were in Genoa for two days, then we went to Cinque Terre (five lovely villages by the sea), Portofino (that would be our Benidorm but without apartments, just little houses by the sea and painted in different and cheerful colours) and Milan (which was a brief visit cause we had to arrive at the hostel quite soon in the afternoon).
I was feeling sick for those days (I always get sick when I spend many days going out) so I stayed at home for a whole day. My brother was like really nice to me while I was there, we usually get on, but I was surprised to see how he took care of me while I was sick. We had some interesting chats about the experience of living abroad, our lives in general and my parents and it was a long time since I had talked to him like that, so easily cause we understand each other, because when he was here we didn't talk so much about this kind of stuff.
Well, going back to Genoa, I got to know my brother's flatmates and they were just so nice! They were studying (well, they enrolled on some classes) different things and doing random stuff during the day. As they are Erasmus students, they do not have many hours of classes, so they have lots of time to travel, party or do whatever they want. Every night, my brother's friends got together at my brother's place and sat there just talking or drinking (if they were going to go out). I left Genoa feeling like going out with them, besides, they were saying all the time: "you can't leave Genoa without going out with us, come back!" and you know, I really wanted to, I wanted to know what an Erasmus party feels like on my very person, cause somehow, I felt that that city had caught me in some way.
Maybe it was because I am looking forward to my Erasmus year or because I am willing to live on my own and have a little of independence from my parents, I don't know, but what I know is that when I'm on my Erasmus year, I'll make the most of it!
dilluns, 22 de març del 2010
dimecres, 3 de març del 2010
Soldiers
This is my attempt to translate a song from Spanish to English. It is called "Soldados", by Skalariak, one of my favourite groups. This one is not the song I like most, but I was trying to translate some other songs and they were too hard (this is my first translation to English), so decided to try it with this one.
I know the lyrics by heart since I was a child, because of my brother's influence. I remember so many trips in my car listening to this cassette (it was not even a CD!) and asking my brother to turn the volume down cause I didn't like it. Then, as the time went by, I started appreciating their music and nowadays I love it.
I know the lyrics by heart since I was a child, because of my brother's influence. I remember so many trips in my car listening to this cassette (it was not even a CD!) and asking my brother to turn the volume down cause I didn't like it. Then, as the time went by, I started appreciating their music and nowadays I love it.
I look out of the window and I see soldiers
They walk all together at a brisk pase
Handgun on their waist, shotgun in their hands
The street is silence, I can only hear their steps
their steps
On one side, soldiers; on the other, a lady
with bags in her hands, it's time to go grocery shopping
Walking decidedly, alone in the old street
She walks towards them, without slowing down
Without slowing down, no, no!
She does not fear any of them
She doesn't change her direction, power can't intimidate her
The ironmen go through by force
War, war,
to those who want to move me!
Some items fall from her bags and are on the ground
surrounding the lady, who fell because of the blow
The soldiers left her laying face down
She raises her head, now she moves her arms
her arms
I take a deep breath when I notice her looking at me
after some seconds, she got up quickly
The whole regiment moves away slowly
Because she shouts at them to look her in the eye
In the eye, no, no!
She does not fear any of them
She doesn't change her direction, power can't intimidate her
The ironmen go through by force
War, war,
to those who want to move me!
They walk all together at a brisk pase
Handgun on their waist, shotgun in their hands
The street is silence, I can only hear their steps
their steps
On one side, soldiers; on the other, a lady
with bags in her hands, it's time to go grocery shopping
Walking decidedly, alone in the old street
She walks towards them, without slowing down
Without slowing down, no, no!
She does not fear any of them
She doesn't change her direction, power can't intimidate her
The ironmen go through by force
War, war,
to those who want to move me!
Some items fall from her bags and are on the ground
surrounding the lady, who fell because of the blow
The soldiers left her laying face down
She raises her head, now she moves her arms
her arms
I take a deep breath when I notice her looking at me
after some seconds, she got up quickly
The whole regiment moves away slowly
Because she shouts at them to look her in the eye
In the eye, no, no!
She does not fear any of them
She doesn't change her direction, power can't intimidate her
The ironmen go through by force
War, war,
to those who want to move me!
dimarts, 2 de març del 2010
Do you really want to be elle?
Its title says it all. Elle. She. How a woman must be. Yes, I am talking about the magazine Elle.
Today, I was at my friend's place, I had never been there before, so I was taking a look at the things in her room, it was more or less like I expected it to be, a piano, heaps of books, some pictures... but then something caught my attention. She had some issues of the magazine Elle, something that I did not expect to be there at all. Now don't take me wrong, I'm not going to like her any less just because she reads the magazine (that is what she thought when I told her I was surprised to see that magazine in her room), but it's just that this magazine is horrible. I do not mean horrible because it's a fashion magazine, but because of what it represents. It's a magazine full of stereotypes, it does not only tell you what to wear, but how to be. Its articles (its few articles) are written by women all stressed out by the way they look, their biggest worries are how to make a pumpkin salad or how to have a successful career and be a mother at the same time. The vision of women it gives disgusts me. Always worried about the looks, about make-up, about children, about how their relationship could work out, about high heels and glamour and not about herselves.
Have you ever thought of the word "model"? It means something to be imitated, perfection. I do not think those sad skinny girls are to be imitated. I do not want to be like them, have you ever seen a model's face when he or she is walking down the catwalk? They do not seem happy at all, no wonder why, most of them suffer from eating disorders, nothing to be proud of. It's a sad job.
When I saw the magazine at my friend's place, I didn't feel disappointed, I felt pity, cause if she bought it, it means she cares, and if she cares, it means she feels identified with the magazine content. It makes me feel sad, I can't help it, I don't want my friends to be worried about this kind of stuff, it scares me!
Today, I was at my friend's place, I had never been there before, so I was taking a look at the things in her room, it was more or less like I expected it to be, a piano, heaps of books, some pictures... but then something caught my attention. She had some issues of the magazine Elle, something that I did not expect to be there at all. Now don't take me wrong, I'm not going to like her any less just because she reads the magazine (that is what she thought when I told her I was surprised to see that magazine in her room), but it's just that this magazine is horrible. I do not mean horrible because it's a fashion magazine, but because of what it represents. It's a magazine full of stereotypes, it does not only tell you what to wear, but how to be. Its articles (its few articles) are written by women all stressed out by the way they look, their biggest worries are how to make a pumpkin salad or how to have a successful career and be a mother at the same time. The vision of women it gives disgusts me. Always worried about the looks, about make-up, about children, about how their relationship could work out, about high heels and glamour and not about herselves.
Have you ever thought of the word "model"? It means something to be imitated, perfection. I do not think those sad skinny girls are to be imitated. I do not want to be like them, have you ever seen a model's face when he or she is walking down the catwalk? They do not seem happy at all, no wonder why, most of them suffer from eating disorders, nothing to be proud of. It's a sad job.
When I saw the magazine at my friend's place, I didn't feel disappointed, I felt pity, cause if she bought it, it means she cares, and if she cares, it means she feels identified with the magazine content. It makes me feel sad, I can't help it, I don't want my friends to be worried about this kind of stuff, it scares me!
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