These two words are essential to the vocabulary of Spaniards. Their conversations are always interspersed, punctuated or at the very least, sprinkled with these words. Vale means literally, “it’s worth it” or simply “ok”. Venga means “come here”. But they are always thrown into sentences left and right in any combination. I once heard a lady carry out nearly an entire conversation on the phone with someone using only these words – no joke! So, there you have it, just one of those idiosyncrasies of speech here in Spain.
Of course, they also say a good many other things, and I often struggle to understand it all. Castilian Spanish, with its raspy and sometimes harsh sounds, differs drastically from the rather smooth and blended sound of the Caribbean Spanish I grew up speaking. All the same, I’ve really been enjoying my time in Madrid. It’s been a little over 5 weeks since I got here, but I haven’t been doing a great job of keeping people updated or posting pictures. I’m currently planning a quick trip to nearby Lisbon, so I wanted to write an update before I take off tomorrow.
Barcelona
During the week leading up to my birthday, my parents and I drove to the eastern city of Barcelona. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Catalonia, and they have their own official language, Catalan. It sounds distinctly different from Spanish and French, although it’s supposed to have derived influence from both languages. While quite impossible to understand when spoken, it wasn’t too hard to make out the meanings of street signs and such, especially in comparison to reading Korean! I loved getting acquainted with city, but my favorite things were definitely visiting the arquitectural works of Antoni Gaudí, especially the Casa Batlló. The following pictures show the exterior façade, an interior stairwell, and the rooftop of the building. The design is inspired by the ocean, thus the blues, curvy lines, whalebones and nautical undertones throughout.
We also got the chance to go inside La Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral also designed by Gaudí. His works are spectacular and I was quite frankly overcome with awe and admiration for them. I had often heard of Gaudí and his works during my Spanish classes in high school and college, so it was a real treat to get to see them for myself. I took an obscene amount of photos during my trip and I haven’t even been through all of them yet, but here are a few of La Sagrada Familia.
The exterior has been under construction for various reasons for over a hundred years.
Close up of the outside
Inside, the bone-like columns and spiny arches seem to rise infinitely above
After spending several days in Barcelona, we drove a couple hours north to spend a night in the medieval city of Girona, Spain. I especially enjoyed the old German and Roman gardens along the great wall that surrounds the city.
Inside Girona
Old Garden
On the way back to Madrid, we stopped by the ruins of Belchite, a town that was bombed out during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Climbing through all the rubble and poking in and out of the shells of homes and churches, I was left deep in thought about all the devastations of war.
I learned a lot and had my horizons expanded by this trip. I’m so glad I had the opportunity and that my parents love to travel and explore, too. Undoubtedly a memorable experience I’ll look back on in the years to come.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Heather
