“La persistencia de la memoria”, Salvador Dalí

RACHEL ALLEN- I just wanted to say before I start this blog that I am currently at 72% battery on my laptop. This normally wouldn’t be distressing, except that my laptop charger sang its final hoorah this weekend and is currently in two pieces on my floor. Therefore, I’m gonna have to speed through this blog because lol it’s finals week and I have final projects due for each class within the next 48 hours. And true to form of any student on study abroad, I have just started them all. Studying abroad has been great, but I never thought I would actually have to study here? Or interact with other humans for a grade? Whatever I’m not bitter. I’ll dedicate this blog post to all the finals I have to do this week and hopefully it’ll help me brainstorm some thoughts for each project.
Well, I will start on a high note that I have already finished my Sketchbook final. I redrew the famous Dalí painting called The Persistence of Memory. Real talk guys, I chose this because in 5th grade in my art class I had to recreate a masterpiece and my teacher gave me this piece, claiming it was the hardest in the group. Therefore, I put “recreate that Dalí piece with the melting clocks” on my goals in life list (this is an actual list I have). But, I had to freshen up the theme. No one uses clocks anymore. I replaced the clocks with iPhones and Macs and that weird orange thing with a Starbucks iced coffee. It just proves how basic society is and I am sure it will spark controversy all around the world soon enough.
I will follow chronologically, with the project that is due the soonest. It’s for my Is Spain Different? class (lovingly called ISD). We have to interview Spaniards about a specific topic about life here in Spain. It can be anything from the evident patriarchal structure in this country, to the independence of Cataluña, to why croquetas are so gosh darn yummy. I decided to focus my topic on politics (or as I call it – politix). Some might say this theme isn’t focused enough, but to that I say…uh very true. Therefore, I just changed the topic to the four party political system in Spain. Because honestly, it’s kind of crazy. Like you think back in the US things are crazy? DOUBLE that craziness and that’s what Spanish politix is. On the one hand, more parties means more opinions can be heard. On the other hand, this makes it easy for a political party to block other political parties from making any progress. So, vamos a ver (pronounced bamos a ber and translated to “we’ll see”) how this works out. Wow okay my Microsoft Word did not like this mezcla entre two languages, but whatever that’s just how my brain works now.
Okay what’s next after ISD. Oh my Prado final! My final paper for Prado is 8-10 pages about any topic that we have seen in the art. Side note: my best friend slash other half Merilla Michael couldn’t believe that I had to write this in Spanish. Even though I’m studying in Spain. It takes her a while to catch on tbh. She thought my fraternal twin brothers were not twins until like yesterday. Anyway, end that side note. My theme is going to be about how society destroys everyone’s hopes and dreams because duh. Also, I have a new favorite painting (besides El Bosco). It’s called The Execution of Torrijos and his Companions on the Beach at Málaga. However, I cannot determine if I like the painting because of its themes of sorrow and eventual death, or because there is a redhead in the painting.

Rachel Allen, Tufts in Madrid

The next thing I have due is my movie project for Grammar. My favorite dude in the world Enrique assigned us a six-minute video project where we can talk about anything we want really. Besides food. Which is pretty hard for yours truly. Seriously, I almost went on a one minute rant on why nachos are awesome and a super food. Besides this movie project, I also have an exam in my grammar class, but that is a full week away from now, so I am not concerned.
All of this along with a 7 page paper for my internship, and also dealing with all my emotions because ha ha I leave Spain in less than three weeks. More on that later I guess, but I might never get over my denial.

P.S. – I am at 69% on my battery usage so this was a very efficient session! Good work team!