So my museum-based art class was supposed to meet at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning to leave for Valencia...In my defense, it's still dark out at 8 a.m. here and no one in their right mind is out and about at that ungodly hour (can you tell I'm adapting to the culture?). Anyway, I woke up at 8:10 to Pedro gently knocking on my door like the polite host father he is, and I leaped out of bed to call Armando (the man in charge) to see what I could do about being late. Armando said "no pasa nada," which is the Spanish response to literally everything; essentially meaning "no big deal, no worries." He said to come now and they would wait. I flew out the door and went straight to Plaza de Luceros where I found no sign of a bus or human in sight (it's the middle of the night for them, remember). Apparently another girl in our group arrived right after Armando and I got off the phone, he thought she was me, and they took off for the two-hour bus ride to Valencia. Great. I had never been to the train station before, but completely guessed the right street and wound up there checking out departure times and prices. As I was about to swipe my card to buy a 32 euro ticket, a couple came up to me asking in Spanish if I was trying to go to Valencia and if I wanted their extra ticket. Um, yes! I explained to them that I was a student here and my group left without me, which led to them asking me if I wanted to come along and travel with them since I had never been on the trains here before. How could I say no to that? Their names were Melissa and Junior, from Brazil, and I'm assuming they were in their late 20s, maybe early 30s. By the time we got on the train we ended up speaking English, because as their third language it was still less shaky than my Spanish. They had another girl friend, but I don't think she spoke anything but Portuguese and she slept the entire time...I just couldn't leave her out of the story. Anyway, we shared one of those Harry-Potter-like seating sections and got to know each other pretty well. Junior was working in Barcelona but was visiting Melissa in Alicante when they decided to head to Valencia for the day. They thought it was awesome that I'm studying in Spain for a semester at this age. When I said I was 21, Melissa said that's how old she was when she first went to the United States on her own. They strongly suggested that as soon as I graduate I should travel around as much as possible, no matter how little money I might have. It doesn't sound like a bad idea, as long as people like these magically show up offering me "extra tickets" everywhere I go...It's possible. I had been keeping in touch with Armando, but he didn't say anything to the rest of the group about meeting up with me. So when I arrived in Valencia and ran across the street to the charter bus and hopped on, it was a hilarious surprise for my friends. From there we went to the Mercado Central de Valencia, which was way cooler than any market I've ever seen in my life and puts any other's idea of "fresh" to shame...in the fish section, there were live eels slithering around and huge octopus tentacles just laying out for someone to buy (check out the photos below). I strayed over to the fruit section and bought some fresh-squeezed mango juice instead. From there we went to the Museo Nacional de Cerámica (Ceramic museum...lots of pots). Then the cathedral, the Museo de Bellas Artes, and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Valencia. The first two museums used to be palaces, so to me the architecture and design of the buildings were even more impressive than the art inside them. The modern art museum had a couple huge art displays that were made up of hundreds of little metal pieces placed on the ground that appeared to form roads and a little city. It really stuck out to me because it reminded me of my brothers' Brio train tracks that used to take up an entire room when we were little. I would have taken a picture but there were no cameras allowed....and we've learned quickly that museum security is pretty serious. We're not too intimidated by police officers in Spain, but show us a museum security guard and suddenly we're on our best behavior. To sum it up, Valencia was pretty cool. The more cities I see in Spain the more I fall in love with this beautifully historic country. I missed the visit to through the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias at the beginning because of my little travel fiasco, but maybe I'll come back and check it out later. Junior, Melissa, anonymous sleeping friend, and my inability to set an alarm clock made for a more interesting time. Hasta la próxima!
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News: - I got a job teaching an 8 year old boy English a few hours a week. - The trash people were on a serious strike and it finally ended - back to beautiful clean streets in Alicante and better wages for the workers. - I officially booked my flight to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day! I've been in Alicante for 4 weeks...I can't decide if that sounds short or long, but I know I feel like I've known this city my whole life. I've gone from asking random people for directions when I'm a block away from my apartment to some people actually asking me. Everything is becoming second nature - the bus ride to school, the tram ride home, trecking across the city to get from place to place, and speaking Spanish from the second I wake up each day. I've found comfort in running on the beach or through the parks, browsing through my favorite stores (Zara, Sfera, Bershka...) and trying wine or coffee or both at every place possible with Sami and Lauren. Other than that, a lot of my time is spent at the apartment with Pedro and Asuncion eating delicious food and chatting with them. My favorite food so far is Asuncion's seafood paella, made with rice and several kinds of fresh fish...shrimp, calamari, mussels, clams, tuna, and some others I've tried to ask about and she's tried to explain, but it's just not translating so I eat in anyway. I love everything she makes...pasta with churrizo, chicken cooked every way possible, lentil soup, some sort of awesome chili-like stuff that I forget the Spanish word for, eggs (for dinner), turrón for dessert (traditional almond/honey Christmas candy), hamburger patties because she thinks they make me feel at home....I could go on forever. The only thing I'm really missing is condiments. I had breaded chicken and fries the other night with no condiments, and I started to get really nostalgic about honey mustard, but I think I'll live. Asuncion is finally letting me clean my own plate and help her a little bit in the kitchen, which is a nice start. The culture here is just different. At the beginning I still felt like a guest and it didn't phase me too much that she refused to let me help out, but eventually it got ridiculous. I haven't sat at the table and waited for my mom to serve me without even offering help since I was a little kid, and even then I helped with the dishes or something at least. She has explained to me that it's very normal here, and if I was her real 21 year old daughter it would be the same way. She washes and folds my clothes, makes my bed, makes my coffee in the morning and sets out my lunch for me to take to school. I'm almost embarrassed to put all this in my blog. I've told her how strange this is for me, and that I'm sorry but I'm going to have to help out or I'll lose my mind. With that aside, I'm getting along great with Asuncion and Pedro. They are honestly some of the nicest people I have ever met. They're simply passionate about meeting international students and giving them the best experience possible; I'm pretty lucky. And they think I'm a hoot with my quick Spanish responses that only make sense half the time. When we're not joking around, we get in pretty deep conversations about everything from government, laws, and current events, to the Spanish reality TV show Pedro and I always watch, to our social lives. They're incredibly interested in everything about the United States, so I try to make us sound a little better than all French fries and Hollywood. So January is coming to an end, and that means my month-long Spanish intensive course is wrapping up and my schedule for the rest of the semester is about to start. I have an oral presentation tomorrow and my final exam the next day, so naturally I'm using this time to write a blog post (hence the URL). I have definitely learned a lot in my class this month, probably more than I've learned in any one Spanish class in my life; partially because we focus on actual "Spain" Spanish and phrases I need to use every day, and partially because I've never cared about the language this much in my life. My schedule for February and on is about to be minimal...I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday, and they're taught in English, which I'm actually not happy about. Including my month-long class, my museum-based class that's only a few weekends, and another traveling class that's in May, I'm getting 15 credits to transfer back to Mizzou and actually am not allowed to take any more. It's great that I have time to travel, but I'm also trying to challenge myself and keep up with my Spanish as much as possible. I'm going to participate in "intercambios," which is a program through the university to set international students up with each other to practice speaking different languages. It's more or less blind dates on campus with random students to chat in Spanish. If you enjoy chatting with someone, you can meet up with them another time. I haven't tried it yet but I'll let you know how it goes. Also, as I mentioned before I'm going to teach a Spanish boy a few times a week starting in February, so that will be a nice way to use my free time, get some experience and bring in some euros. I definitely need to find more useful activities to fill my time, whether it's volunteer work or salsa lessons (I actually think I'm about to sign up...) or anything else. I'm determined to make the most of this semester, and as much as I enjoy sitting around eating "dulces" with Asuncion and Pedro, I have a whole world to see. Friday was a funny morning. I had gone out for "guac night" at Austin's the night before, where we have officially become regulars and on a first-name basis with all the bartenders. Austin's (Aw-steens) is definitely the American students' meeting spot, but we meet people from all over the place. I'd say it's mostly a haven for English speakers...I've chatted with Scottish, German, Irish, English, and Norwegian people - a nice break from Spanish conversation. Anyway, I guess we had a little too much guacamole because from Austin's we went to a Spanish bar and then to an underground night club where we danced our hearts out until about 5 a.m. So Friday I had to rush and pack for my trip to Madrid before heading to class, got to the bus stop just as it was pulling away, and also forgot my bus card. It was one of those days. Once on the bus, I sat next to a Spanish woman with hot pink lipstick and a gold tooth who started rapidly joking/gossiping about someone else on the bus to me. It's always hardest to understand Spanish in the mornings, especially with strangers. Eventually we got on the same page and started talking about how I'm a student here, and she guessed from my appearance and accent that I was French. Score! For once, I'm not blatantly American...And I'm working on the accent. It was my first time being late to class, so of course I wanted to make a discreet entrance. Our class was moved to a different location due to construction, so I was surprised by the layout of the new room. The door squeaked and swung directly into someone's desk when I opened it, everyone laughed, and there was also not a single spot available. Before I could politely respond to the situation, the two big Russian guys in my class immediately got up, lifted a table from the back of the classroom over the heads of other students and swung it around (with heads ducking, teacher gasping) to make a spot for me. People literally applauded...not so discreet. After class, I joined the group on the charter bus and took off for Madrid to participate in my first of three trips for the Survey of Spanish Art class. The five-hour ride was long but beautiful. Just as we got out of the city of Alicante, it was all rural Spain for hours on end with views of little old towns and endless mountains - I've never seen anything like it. In Madrid, the views changed drastically. The city is enormous compared to Alicante, with ancient government buildings, amazing architecture, art plastered over random buildings, and huge plazas, including the famous Plaza Mayor. On Saturday it felt like we walked through the whole city, but it wasn't even close. We toured the Palacio Real, the royal palace where the kings and queens had hosted events since the 16th Century. The palace was probably my favorite; each room was breathtakingly unique and intricate, from the chandeliers to the ceilings to the rugs to the doorknobs. We went to Museo Prado and Museo de Reina Sofia, both with seemingly endless rooms of impressive art. Prado is considered one of the best art museums in the world and the single best collection of Spanish art, and I don't doubt it for a second. It has endless collections of paintings that were created for royalty by important Spanish artists. Main things I learned: Catholicism, breasts, and death are the three main themes, and Spanish painter Francisco de Goya obviously never took a siesta. We went to a small restaurant for tapas (Spanish appetizers) and got a little more creative than usual. I tried cooked snail just to say I did it, but can't say I went in for seconds. Along with that I had blood sausage, fried anchovies (with eyeballs), churrizo (another kind of sausage), and some good ole' French fries to wash it down. Bon appetit! Wrong language? Anyway, later that night we took the advice of every random person we had talked to about Madrid and decided to check out the infamous Kapital. I had heard the nightclub was fun, huge...somehow I didn't expect it to be like this. It was a seven-story club, each floor completely unique and filled with people raging from all over the world. The bottom floor was essentially a giant concert of DJs and performers with the other six balconies overlooking the massive crowd. Boring, right? We thought so too. After that tranquil night we got up bright and early to head to Toledo, about an hour out of Madrid. I had no idea what to expect, and I loved it. It's so culturally and ascetically different...it's a mixture of Spanish Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim influences. I hadn't seen anything other than Catholicism in Europe, so it was cool to tour the historic synagogue-turned-museum. The day was cloudy and a little rainy while we went through Toledo, but it went along well with the stillness of the town and in my opinion made the historic architecture look beautiful. I'll show rather than tell with the slideshow below. If you've made it this far in the post, I'm impressed, and your Facebook news feed must be quite uninteresting. Here's some other random things on my mind before we part: - Running on the beach at sunrise is my new favorite before-school activity - The aforementioned Russian guys in my class asked me for a detailed description about the meaning of the English word "a**hole" today. I tried my best. - My host parents asked me what the word "like" means this morning, because I randomly slip it into my Spanish when I'm trying to figure out what to say. I should probably break that habit when I'm not even speaking my own language! - As cool as Madrid was, it made me appreciate Alicante even more. I am in love with every inch (oops, European centimeter) of this city. Hasta la próxima! MadridToledoI want to start this out by saying I know this will be much, much harder when I'm actually graduating. But that does not take away from how I feel right now. My dear Columbia, we aren't over....we're "taking a break."
When we first met, I was young, confused, and a freakishly unnatural shade of blonde. I fell for you at first sight. Jones Hall pulled me into the fast-paced hilarious story that was freshman year. Pi Phi gave me the foundation of family and belonging with the most genuine and powerful women I've ever met, not to mention made me laugh uncontrollably on a daily basis. The people I surrounded myself with made me who I am. We learned from each other; how to care, how to cope, how to go out on a Monday night and ace the exam the next day. So I made myself at home. The years went on and our bond became stronger. Whether I've been running on the MKT trail or shopping downtown, watching the game at Bengals, cranking out projects at the J School, having breakfast at Main Squeeze or chilling at "The Cave," I have been shamelessly in love. I still love seeing the Columns every day, and I love that my house and my friends and my classes are within a ten minute walk of each other. I'll miss the comfort of you in my life, Columbia. You truly have been my home. Through the past couple years, I think you've made me grow up a little bit. You've showed me great times, incredible people, and a valuable education I couldn't have found anywhere else. What I'm trying to say is...dear CoMo, It's not you, it's me. It's time for me to step out of my comfort zone and into Alicante, Spain. A younger, more attractive college town. I'm ready to see the world and learn what it has to teach me. As much as I'll miss you and your English-speaking, Bud Light-drinking ways, Columbia, I think some time apart is for the better. It's not goodbye, it's hasta luego. Renee For my 21st birthday we left reality and arrived at home. Our group stayed in Dreamville, the mystical village-like campgrounds alongside the festival that became our neighborhood, and our campsite was home base. Besides thousands of tents and people from all over the globe, Dreamville included a marketplace with several restaurants, clothing stores, and even an art gallery and a bookstore. We received Tomorrowworld newspapers each morning and could read up on the DJs and the adventures that day would entail. Everything about Dreamville made us feel that we were citizens of this new world, and we embraced it. The first night (Thursday) was "The Gathering," for the people of Dreamville to come together at two of the eight stages before the real madness began. After 10 hours of driving and a long day of setting up the campsite, we were eager to see what awaited us. The sun had set, but Tomorrowworld was gleaming with lights and energy. We crossed the bridge into the festival for the first time, eyes and mouths open in pure astonishment. Solid green lasers danced across the water, fish statues breathed bursts of fire as we walked by, and giant color-changing fountains splashed into the air with the beat of the bass that gradually became closer and louder. The Gathering was the first taste of the energy and the camaraderie among the people of Tomorrowworld. In the crowd, our bodies moved effortlessly with the electrifying sounds and people around us. In this new world, dancing was like breathing. It was instinctive. Some people relaxed on the grassy hillside, some people performed with light-up hoops and sticks, creating a sideshow for everyone to gather around. Some people were dressed like they just walked out of their normal day, others were wearing animal costumes or glowing outfits. And what about us? We took it all in. My favorite part about that first night was stepping back from the chaos with two of my friends, sitting down for a while, and just laughing at the pure realization of where we were. There was not a single thing that mattered but enjoying ourselves in this fantasy world in the hills of Georgia. The gates to the festival opened at noon each day, and the masses of ravers flowed to the 8 stages, which featured hundreds of DJs over the course of 3 full days, including Tiesto, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Afrojack, Nervo, Alesso, Hardwell, and literally hundreds more. We enjoyed the music at each stage throughout the hills, into the forest, and by the lake; each stage perfectly unique with its own look and feel. But the main stage with the biggest artists attracted us, as well as the 140,000 other people, the most. This stage was the essence of Tomorrowworld. It was designed like a giant bookshelf, with the "Book of Wisdom" facing open to the crowd. The shape of a face appeared to push out of the pages of the book, and a woman's voice spoke the crowd. "People of Tomorrowworld," she addressed us. The Book introduced each new DJ as a new chapter of the fairytale. I couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate being 21 years young. Tomorrowworld opened my eyes and ears to happiness in the purest form - music. As the Book of Wisdom said, "It's your life, make it legendary." I think I'll do just that.
My long-anticipated family vacation to Europe began unexpectedly with no family and no Europe. On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I found myself walking the streets of New York City, taking pictures and shopping to my heart's content, conversing with strangers, getting lost for the sake of adventure, and every once and a while checking my email to see what my parents and two brothers were up to in Spain. Let's back up. Saturday night back in St. Louis at about 10:30 p.m., the procrastinating Fleddermann family was still packing bags and organizing passports. We were planning on leaving the house at 5:30 the next morning for a connecting flight to New York before taking off for Barcelona. That's when we realized my passport was expired. It only takes five years to expire if you get it when you're 15, where as the rest of my family (all older than me) had passports valid for ten years. So then came the initial shock followed by panic followed by Dad intimidating people on the phone, Eric researching possibilities, Mom insisting we rush to the airport and talk to them ourselves, and Adam remaining calm as usual. The night of "family crisis," as Mom refers to it, brought us to go ahead and hop on the flight to New York together. I think one of the weirdest feelings I've ever had is when I said goodbye to to my family at LaGuardia airport as they headed off to Europe and the country I had most looked forward to visiting. But we had a plan. I took a cab to the apartment of a family friend who I hadn't seen in years but was nice enough to welcome me until I figured everything out. So that was my home base: a leather couch in a relatively spacious loft apartment in the heart of Manhattan. I was not complaining. So I went to Bryant Park and Central Park. I drank coffee on the Metropolitan Art Museum steps. I ate lunch solo at a bistro in the Upper East Side. At night, I shopped around Bloomingdales. I strolled in to bars and made friends with others around me. There was a group of local Manhattan 20-somethings, a bartender that used to be a football coach, and an older man from South Africa that told me about where he had traveled and where he plans to go next. I of course told him about my travels, and how I was "supposed" to be in Barcelona with my family, but was I really? Here I was, having a once in a lifetime experience. There will probably be no other time in my life that I would be wandering a big city, this young, with absolutely no plan or reason. It was freeing, and it would have never been possible if something didn't go terribly wrong. On Tuesday, I went to a sketchy looking office at the Rockefeller center where I found the magic express passport-getting company called "It's Easy." No, I'm not kidding. I'm not going to go through the tedious process and ridiculous amount of money I had to pay, but by midnight or so that night I was on my first international flight, squished up next to some South African strangers (that later of course became new friends), more eager than ever to see my family. I landed in London and spent 6 hours at the Heathrow airport before getting on my connecting flight to Barcelona. There's not really any point to this part of the story except I did indulge in my first legal pint overseas, chatted with a woman from Pennsylvania for about an hour, thoroughly enjoyed everyone's accents, and can now say I've (sort of) been to London. Note: Airports in London do not inform passengers of their boarding time/gate until it is time to board. I got distracted for a bit (and who is used to military time, anyway?) and ended up full-on sprinting to make my flight. It would have been boring otherwise, right? Keep in mind my phone has been dead for countless hours and I don't have an outlet adapter for the UK. So I hadn't spoken to my parents or anyone else since early in the previous day in New York, and my mom is just about positive I've been kidnapped or missed my flight (why would she think such a thing?). So my reunion with my family at the Barcelona airport was both exciting and emotional, but honestly all I could do was laugh. This entire ordeal was so Fleddermann family (or "Fled-fam sketch-fam" as we sometimes say). My family thought I was suffering when in reality I was gaining an experience I would never have any other way. Being completely alone is an opportunity that is rarer than we think. I embraced that opportunity, learned, lived, and will never forget it. I'm delving into the corporate world this summer as a marketing intern at Alberici Constructors, a company based in St. Louis that handles large construction projects across the U.S. and internationally, including hospitals, schools, power plants, factories, and more. I have always been familiar with Alberici because my mom has been working there my whole life, but this is my first time being part of the team and understanding the business from an inside perspective. I've learnd endless amounts about the construction industry, marketing, and how a corporation is run in general. It's crazy to think that this summer is my very first embarkment into the real world. From here, I'm only getting older and the jobs are only getting more "real," which is a good thing. It excites me to be a part of the success of a multi-million dollar company and to understand how businesses interact with each other.
The marketing part of construction is much different than the typical marketing definition. We do not pitch Alberici to the public, instead we market it to clients (other businesses and contractors) in accordance with their specific needs and markets (healthcare, manufacturing, mining, buildings, energy, water, infrastructure, automotive, structural steel or heavy industrial). If we're hoping to get a job for a large bridge project, we aren't going to show them our powerpoint of the DeSmet high school renovations, for example. Our team's job is to put together the materials - resumes, project profiles, powerpoint presentations, and more - to market Alberici's culture of safety, excellence, dependability, commitment, and integrity to potential clients. The environment of Alberici is positive and dedicated. I could write a whole post about the office itself because it's quite impressive and strategically built, but I'll spare you for now. The offices are all in open space cubes, which might immediately come off as having less quality than roomy offices for "important" positions, but I think it provides for better communication and equal unity among departments. No one has to knock on each others' doors. The space welcomes shared ideas and questions to turn the business day into productive conversation. I will be at the halfway point of my internship after today. So far, the internship is exceeding my expectations. I am excited to continue to learn and contribute to the company. I hope I can impact Alberici in some way while I'm here, and I do have one idea that I hope will begin to boil before the summer is over...I think the marketing team should expand Alberici's brand awareness potential through social media. I did a lot of research on construction companies' usage on Twitter and have learned plenty in my journalism classes thus far to understand the importance of social media marketing and the competition that comes with it. Maybe I'll write another post on my opinion on that subject...Anyway, I pitched that idea to the department and am crossing my fingers that it can move forward. I think it's an important step in maintaining an up-to-date, innovative and successful brand. And if it can't, that's okay. I'm just happy to be in an environment where I can expand my imagination and knowledge to apply them to a real corporation. I could not imagine life at Mizzou without being a part of the Greek community. The genuine excitement and enthusiasm at Fling is impossible to comprehend unless you've been there. You don't know unless you've watched a sorority girl in front of thousands of students in Jesse Hall go from nervous and quiet to the most amazing, profound vocalist you've ever heard. You can't imagine the fraternity men that have been practicing for weeks on guitars, violins, and empty trash cans they bang on with sticks to produce the most original, impressive song possible. You cannot understand the commitment and the spirit that goes into achieving these goals. What I love about Fling is it is the one optional and alcohol/party/sex/drug-free event in college everyone just genuinely, whole-heartedly cares. After weeks of daily and nightly skit practice, frustrating problems, encouraging pep talks, and a lot of messing around, we managed to pull together a first-place skit. Check it out. |
Renee Fleddermanncopywriter Archives
June 2016
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