Hasta Arriba y Lejos

READY TO ROCK: 3 shoes, 2 jackets, 7 shirts, 2 shorts, 4 pants, 3 sweatshirts, 10 underwear, 10 socks, tennis clothes (w/ Rafa sweatband), iPod, Kindle & toiletries.

Armed with my student visa, a plane ticket and three pieces of luggage, I’m ready to take Europe by storm. Next Sunday afternoon, I’ll drive to Miami and fly overnight to Dusseldorf, Germany, then take a short flight to Madrid and arrive at my dorm in Getafe by noon on Monday (inshallah). I am ecstatic to travel across the Atlantic and experience European civilization for the first time. In these weeks leading up to my departure, I’ve often pondered this question: To what degree is Latin America defined by its Spanish heritage?

While living in Madrid this spring, I look forward to comparing the Mexican and Chilean cultures I've experienced during the past two summers with the culture of Spain, the motherland. Her centuries of rule in Latin America left the indigenous tribes with strong Spanish traditions and values, and the modern Latin American culture is a hybrid of both Spanish and indigenous ways of life. For the next four months, I will be observant of how Spain's culture has evolved by juxtaposing the idioms, slang, food, music and dance of Latin America with those of its colonizer. My guess is that there will be more differences than similarities, but I won't know for sure until I traverse the Atlantic Ocean and see for myself. ¡Hasta arriba y lejos!