hello from hispania

 From Google ImagesI've just this past week seen the 2009 film Ágora by Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar and thought I would share my thoughts. I had been dying to watch this film for quite some time but am rarely one to rush to the theatres, so it has taken me...

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How long did you live in America? Do the cities really look like they do in the movies? What was your school like? Did you go to prom? Is prom even real? Does everyone really own a gun? Did you see famous people walking down the street, like, all the...

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I've heard it said (or seen it written) that the Spanish have very little consideration for anyone not within their immediate inner-circle. This would essentially mean that they just don't care about how their actions affect anyone other than themselves, their immediate family members and their close friends. In the...

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Let's start this post by making it clear that a) I am not a racist nor do I have anything against Islam or Muslim culture, b) I haven't even formed a clear opinion on the subject and c) the end result is not up to me so please don't attack...

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This is not going to be a post about how the English carry some sort of cultural guilt and Americans are just naturally proud of everything. First of all, I don't think these things are true (probably) and I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on them (I haven't met every...

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Being a native English speaker is sort of a blessing that you never stop to think about. Obviously, when you live in a country where everyone speaks English, you take it for granted that you can speak it too. It's just normal that you can understand everyone and everyone can...

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With all of the bad news going around these days, most of it being linked to the Spanish economy and its future (or lack thereof), I knew I had to write about this the moment I came across it in El Mundo; for a pick-me-up of sorts. It seems that...

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The BBC reported yesterday (as have pretty much all of the Spanish newspapers), that President Obama will not be attending the US-EU summit scheduled to take place this May. As Spain is currently running the EU (figuratively speaking), there are some (read: many) who have seen this as a snub...

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I took my last exam of the semester yesterday afternoon. How good it feels to be free! Of course, this feeling won't last very long, as the new semester (or, more correctly, quatrimester) begins tomorrow morning!I was lucky enough to only have to take three exams, as I managed to...

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Taken from Google ImagesI'm taking this break from my crazy study regimen to fill the whole world in on a new experience I had on Thursday last. Yes, it's been a while but the details are still fresh. I know because I had a funny conversation with my father on...

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I need to apologise because I'm probably not going to be blogging very much at all during the next week or two because my exams are coming up and I really need to study, as is to be expected. I just wanted to post, very quickly, a link to this...

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The Central Government has spoken: Vic must register all immigrants regardless of their status. The municipal government had already announced that they would do as the CG dictated and they have repeated this again today, adding in that they will do so reluctantly. Vic's mayor, Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal has...

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It seems the European Parliament enjoyed Zapatero's speech and that he will be receiving massive European support for his proposals, especially the ones involving economic unity. Even representatives of European conservative parties applauded him, although there was some criticism of his social policies. Conservatives are more for building a solid...

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Alicia Sánchez CamachoTaken from Google ImagesIt seems the PP party has jumped on the Vic bandwagon in order to try to squeeze out some extra votes for the next general elections. It's sort of underhanded and dirty but it's working, I'm sure. If anything is going to get the conservatives...

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Zapatero has been speaking to the European Parliament in an attempt to explain his priorities during the Spanish presidency and get everyone on board. Essentially, he wants to bring the Union closer together in order to make it more like a union and less like a group of countries who...

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I shamelessly stole this list from another blog! I know, I know; I have absolutely no morals...blah, blah, blah. I just thought it was a good idea to look back on a year that was really great in so many ways.1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never...

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I was very pleased to see that the mayor of Torrejón de Ardoz, Pedro Rollán, had an interview in today's issue of El País, concerning the policy his government is implementing when it comes to allowing "illegal" immigrants to register as residents of said municipality. If anyone would like to...

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There has been quite a bit of news as of late about whether or not certain towns/cities/settlements (you get the picture) in Spain are breaking the law by not allowing immigrants to register as residents or putting up various barriers. The most famous/infamous of these is Vic, in Cataluña.Apparently, the...

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One of the pleasures (cough) of living in Galicia is meeting all of the Galician nationalists and dealing with someone constantly throwing in your face that if you don't believe Galicia should be its own country it is because you are obviously ignorant, stupid, blind, etc. This is not a...

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I didn't actually watch the press conference where Prime Minister/President Zapatero said that he supported coordinating the economic policies of all 27 EU member states in such a way as to create a common economic policy that would make the EU more efficient, competitive and prosperous. But apparently, during this...

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I have only just found out that the Portuguese parliament has passed a new law which essentially legalises same-sex civil marriages. Frankly, I couldn't be more pleased if I tried! Unfortunately, the Catholic Church in Portugal has not been anywhere near as pleased as I am and actually collected somewhere...

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This holiday season has been great for food, eating and cooking! Apart from the mountains of sweets that I've been ingesting since stepping off the bus from Santiago (turrón, trufas, mazapán, etc), I've also had lots of tasty meals, some of which I managed to make myself!I love cooking and...

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My, today is just full of things to write about! I haven't even had breakfast yet :(Anywho, this year isn't just important to Spain as a whole, it is particularly important to Galicia, especially Santiago de Compostela. This year is what is known as Ano Santo Xacobeo/Año Santo Jacobeo/Holy Year...

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Taken from Google ImagesWelcome to 2010! A happy New Year to you all (or y'all as I'm actually wont to say)! Before we get on with the shameless food blogging, I think it is only fair to announce that I am not oblivious to the fact that, as of today,...

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La Puerta del Sol, Madridtaken from Google ImagesI know that I already wished everyone a happy New Year on my last post but Nochevieja is just such a Spanish thing (even though it is technically just the Spanish name for New Year's Eve) that I wanted to make sure I...

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