July 29, 2006

For Whom the Bells Toll

bookSo this summer I've been reading a bunch of books, trying to read a list I've compiled, almost a mile long. One in particular by one of my favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bells Toll was quite enjoyable. After an entire semester studying Spanish history and specifically the Guerra civil (civil war) and the Franco era, I appreciated the historical elements of the novel much more. Also many cultural and regional nuggets were disposed throughout the text. But, I think the thing I loved the most about it though was the style that Hemingway writes in. He is a minimalist, but the fact that his main character was in the mountainous Spanish countryside speaking formal Spanish, the fact that Hemingway used choppy phrases and translations that a translator would get fired for, made the language all that more richer as a representation of the Spanish language structure in English.

An example in case I'm confusing you: Que pasó? in Spanish should be idiomatically translated to what happened? in English. For Whom the Bells Toll would phrase it what passed? How beautiful the language subtleties!

No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
as well as if promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

-Donne

July 28, 2006

I'm back in the Shippensburg.

fair fair fair
Hey, sooo, I've been absent awhile to say the least. I've been very extremely busy, and this is the truth. At one point when my blog was deleted I decided to quit forever, but now I miss it and am back. To let you know what I've been doing the past 6 months I'll have to catch you up bit by bit. So much has already happened so I'm sorry that you will miss so many things. Sorry.
Tonight we went to the tractor pull at the fair. Interesting to say the least. And we sat by the treeeeeees. It was loud and it took me the entire night to figure out why the tractors stop. A fun night overall.

July 27, 2006

Miss you, Spain

Oh my goodness. I miss Spain so much.

Meliss and me in MalagaI miss Melissa. I miss all of my international friends. I miss all the other ISA'ers. I miss my intercambios, Francis and Angeles. I miss my classes, and Antonio especially. I miss Maria Carmen and even Paco. I miss hearing Spanish all the time. I miss living next to the beach. I miss my street. I miss traveling every weekend. I miss the life. I miss Spain. Te echo de menos.

I think the culture shock coming back to the US is worse than the culture shock of the other way around. I wanna go back!!