My Trip to Spain
I see this trip to Spain as an experience I'm surely to never forget. I have previouslly treaveled to Europe but never had the pleasure to visit the most recognized city's in all of Spain. On this trip i'm really hoping to experience the Spanish way of life. I want experience the vast Spanish cuisine, hopefully tasting some of the most famous tapas and their famous seafood dishes. Spain has some of the worlds best wines which are a great compliment to their extraordinary culinary. In Barcelona I want to see the famous work of art Gaudi created La Sagrada Familia. The cathedral originally was started back in 1882. Gaudi devoted the remaining fifteen years of his life working on the cathedral. The completion date is expected to be around the year 2026. The church represents the traditional Gothic style. If there is time I would like to take a tour of the infamous F.C. Barcelona soccer stadium call the Camp Nou. It is one of the largest soccer arenas in Europe and is a huge part of Barcelona's culture. Some of the greatest footballers have played and developed in this portion of Spain. I am not familiar with any museums in Barcelona, but I would very much enjoy visiting one of their more famous ones. I want to experience there art and gain a better understanding of their culture.
Granada will be another very interesting location. The areas architecture has a high influence of Islamic tradition. I am from the southern most part of Portugal and we also have a very strong Islamic history. You still see chimneys that represent the old traditional Islamic chimneys. Its going to be interesting to compare my country with the similarities and differences of this part of Spain. The part I'm probably going to find most interesting is the flamenco dancing class.
Madrid is the capital of Spain, it is one of the locations that I have always dreamed of going. My favorite soccer team of Spain is from Madrid. I'm excited to see as much of Madrid as possible and take it all in. As in Barcelona, I'm excited to see the art from this region of Spain and compare it to other parts I have visited prior. If we do have time I would also like to take a tour of El Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. It is the home of Real Madrid. I would like to experience the cuisine from this region and compare it to the cuisine of Barcelona. Bullfighting is also part of my culture in Portugal and I am very excited to compare the differences between the Spanish style and the Portuguese.
Spanish Television
Television began to operate as a regular service in Spain in the year 1956. It was originally considered a public service so it was strictly regulated by the regime. In the year 1965 a second channel called "Radio Television Espanola" began to function as well. Spain current television system is very similar to the one that was developed in 1980. 1980 was an important year because it was the date of the promulgation of the Radio and Television Statute. This statute allowed for diverse groups to have control of the medium on behalf of Parliament. Spains main standard of television system is PAL-I or Phase Alternation- Line. It consists of 625 lines per frame, a field frequency of 50hz, and displays 25 frames per second.
Types of Programing
TYpes of progrmaing showed in Spain are reality shows and long running soap-operas, 25.9% films, 12% kids programs, 9.2% sports, 11.2% news, and 16.3% of game shows and other programs. Spaniards are huge soccer fans like myself making it one of the most watched things on television.
Program Support and Regulation
As I mentioned earlier, Spanish television was heavily regulated prior to 1980. It was seen as more of a privilege. After 1980 Spanish television changed from state controlled to a regulated system where you have both public and privately owned companies. All channels must now pay a fee to be broadcast-ed.
Most popular Newspapers
La Vanguardia, El, Pais, La Razon, El Mundo, ABC, El Periodico de Catalunya.
Most Popular News Magazines
Economist and Hola
Television Stations
Cuatro, Antena 3, TVE, and Tele Cinco
On Tour Assignment
1. While my time in Spain I watched a brief show on Spanish television. It was actually a game show and it was similar to something that you would see playing here in the U.S.
2. CNN in Europe is also transmitted in English. The biggest difference that I noticed was that the news was obviouslly more concentrated on European issues. BBC was similar, the biggest difference was the sports they showed. Majority was all soccer.
3. The newspaper that I actually was able and surprised to see in Spain was the Financial Times. I thought that would be a US only paper. When I saw it I assumed it would be published in English, but it was actually in Spanish. The contents were similar to something you would find here in the US.
4. I had a great experience in Spain. Though I am Portuguese and Spain is right next door, it is amazing the similarities we share, but also our differences. I speak Spanish pretty well but never actually spoke with people from Spain. It was interesting how words used by Central American and South American Spanish speakers are not known or used in Spain. Some of the words they use are actually the same as Portuguese. I was real amazed when we were in Barcelona how similar Catalan was to Portuguese. A lot of the pronunciation was like ours. In all I felt like I learned so much while over there. I definitely am going back and maybe someday I could land a job over there and move there permanently.
