Cortés y Franco: Week 6, Monday and Tuesday

Monday:

For our history class today, we had to ask our host families their opinions of Franco, the dictator that ruled in Spain from 1939-1975. Our host mom was pretty neutral about him. She said her family never had any problems, but she knew that people who opposed him were arrested or killed. She also said he helped the poor and large families, improved infrastructure, and there was less crime back then because everyone was too afraid to do anything. She said they couldn't talk about politics outside of their houses. In class, Alex, whose host mom is older like ours, said that Franco should return to get Spain out of its financial crisis! Conversely, Clémence's host parents, who are younger, only had bad things to say about him. Sergio said that this is typical of Spaniards. Younger generations, who have only learned about him and didn't experience it, only view him as negative for all the terrible things he did. On the other hand, older people that lived during Franco's regime are more neutral, or even supported him. Although repressed and censored, as long as nothing negative happened to their families, they had a sense of security and believed in his propaganda. There's even an expression, I can't remember the exact words, but it involves saying that if Franco were here, he would solve the problem. It's quite surprising to learn what he got away with during his reign, especially in regards to the suppression of women.

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but Mercedes is 63. Last week, she wanted us to guess how old she was. I refused to say a word. Bailey politely guessed somewhere in the 50s. She bragged that people in her shop think her and her daughter are sisters :)

Lunch: Empanadillas de atún (tuna), pasta, watermelon

I had to finish my history paper, a biography of Cortés, today, so I worked almost nonstop (except for supper) from 4-12. Now it's done though and actually a page longer than it had to be.

Supper: pasta, sunny side up eggs, sweet croissant type bread that was filled with ham and cheese, watermelon

It's the last week already! I feel like six weeks is the perfect length of time. It was long enough to have sufficient classes and see what we wanted to see, but I'm also definitely ready to go home this weekend.

Tuesday: This morning on my class break I turned in my history paper. Since I don't have any more Spanish classes after this program, that was the last college paper I'll ever have to write in Spanish! After school we returned our books at the library.

Lunch: Beef stew with potatoes, peaches

This afternoon I finished a literature assignment and posted my Barcelona pictures and blog.

Supper: Tortilla de patatas, salad, peaches

We shot hoops at the beach for awhile after supper.

Tomorrow is studying, Thursday is our tests then going out that night, Friday we have a little graduation, and then we go home!