One of the great things about home exchange is that you get to meet the friends and family of the exchanges and this time was no different. Elisa a researcher at the local university invited us to try the tapas at a local restaurant.
This was not the push and shove or excitement of San Sebastion or Pamplona but a very sophisticated experience. It is always so good to be able to ask all those questions that as a tourist you are not really aware of and of course have no one to ask!
Coming from the UK, the "Scottish" referendum is very much in the air and so the conversation turned to Catalunya. Its a heated issue and with strong feelings. It was clear that it was not a topic of conversation for dinner! Elisa tells us that it is not something she can talk about.
In a couple of weeks, Elisa and her children are leaving Catalan for the US, feeling that the constrictions here are just too great. She will continue to work for a US university and her children will study there.
In the town we are aware that Catalan is the language to be spoken and not Spanish. However, Sant Cugat is a wealthy suburb with music and dance schools and a university which is well stocked with American lecturers, so its almost a life within a life with a detachment from many of the local issues.
This was not the push and shove or excitement of San Sebastion or Pamplona but a very sophisticated experience. It is always so good to be able to ask all those questions that as a tourist you are not really aware of and of course have no one to ask!
Coming from the UK, the "Scottish" referendum is very much in the air and so the conversation turned to Catalunya. Its a heated issue and with strong feelings. It was clear that it was not a topic of conversation for dinner! Elisa tells us that it is not something she can talk about.
In a couple of weeks, Elisa and her children are leaving Catalan for the US, feeling that the constrictions here are just too great. She will continue to work for a US university and her children will study there.
In the town we are aware that Catalan is the language to be spoken and not Spanish. However, Sant Cugat is a wealthy suburb with music and dance schools and a university which is well stocked with American lecturers, so its almost a life within a life with a detachment from many of the local issues.
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