Vosters' Stuff and Things

1) Discovered the song “Suavemente”. Merengue jam, ignites crowds upon first sound. Serenaded my Conversation teacher with it.

2) Had conversations with my parents about religion, marijuana, and pornography. 

3) Watched the scariest movie of all-time in my Cine class — “Tesis” directed by Alejandro Amenábar. One girl had to leave the room within the first 15 minutes. I was on edge for an hour and a half straight, and at one point had a single tear run down my cheek.

4) Raised my hand along with the other 8 people in my conversation class after my teacher asked, “Wait, who all went out last night?” The pretext to this questions was that the other 8 in our class were absent, and the present 8 all had bloodshot eyes. HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

5) Saw a Flamenco show. The singing was painful to listen to, however Spanish guitar is amazing.

6) DJ’ed for 4.5 hours on Wednesday. Did quite well seeing that the night ended with a group of 20 Europeans — who I’d venture to say were popping some sort of pill — dancing on top of platforms and riding around on each others shoulders.

Met the rents in Madrid on Saturday. Here’s a summary:

1) Prado only has photos of old aristocrats and fruit baskets — and Las Meninas and the Goya paintings where one has clothes and the other doesn’t. Overall, decent.

2) Some restaurant this guy rushed us to a table, wouldn’t give us and menu, and only told us about the most expensive platters. We told him we didn’t want something, he took away something else, so we had to go yell at him to switch them. A-hole.

3) There’s a lot of people, like streets crowded, and not in a good way.

4) Palace is pretty sweet. Chandeliers top notch. Velvet walls. All completely unnecessary ultimately showcasing the inequality and shallow nature of hierarchical societies.

5) Mass is Spanish is tough.

6) Dad lost the Rick Steve’s book within the first 6 hours in the city. No Rick Steves = pissed off Sweet Denise.

In conclusion, not a fan. Didn’t experience nightlife though, so that’s a whole nother ballgame.

Fat. Spoiled. Arrogant. That is America.

And that’s also bullshit. I came over here to Europe assuming it would be a completely different mindset. That people were all slim and beautiful, that they weren’t materialistic, that they lived in perfect harmony.

False.

Things here aren’t really that different. The girls go for rich guys. The guys do everything that they can to impress girls. Cars determine status. There’s guidos, rastafarians, preps, dumpstars, girls that wear baggy pants — like Hammer Style no joke — and plenty of other flavors as well. People still desire money, however they just don’t have as much in Spain because it’s got the highest unemployment in Europe. People are fat, at any age. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but rather that they don’t have room to talk. Although I will say their large is our medium. The dress code isn’t that different either. Most people aren’t fashionable. They just seem that way because they don’t wear sweatpants. It’s a great facade, but anybody can look good wearing khakis, a white button-up, and solid colored sweater. Hell, our parents used to dress all of us like that when we were kids.

Conclusion.

I don’t care where you are. People aren’t that different. We all have the same basic desires and greed. We all worry about money, finding love, and making a name for ourselves. We all enjoy a good meal, a beautiful day, and going out at night. We watch dumb television shows, sing to the radio, and procrastinate from doing schoolwork. Teenagers are dumb wherever you go. McDonald’s Euro menu is still a favorite. Governments are always corrupt. It doesn’t matter whether you’re here, there, or everywhere. These things are and probably always will stand true. Human, although originating in different places, speaking different languages, and personifying different cultures, are still just humans.

So enough with the stereotypes. It’s pathetic. My Baskin Robbins Theory applies to all four corners of this big world — there’s 31 flavors in every country, diversity is inevitable, and our basic needs and desires are all the same.