Thursday, August 25, 2011

I'm Back...

So I knew I kept this blog open for a reason…I’ll be back in Catalunya for three weeks from August 27th to September 19th.  However, this time I am going for a very different reason and that is to start my career.

You read that right; career as in something I want to do for the rest of my life, as opposed to a “J-O-B,” something that I do to pay for school/living expenses.  I want to stay at THE Ohio State University for graduate school in Hispanic Linguistics and eventually become a professor.  However, since OSU’s program is competitive I needed to get a head start on the application process and conduct my own original research as an undergrad.  So, with the help of an outstanding advisor, I’ve developed a research topic to study: how Catalan influences the Spanish language.  However, the catch to studying this topic is that I need to talk to actual Catalans in order to have valid data, and you’d be hard pressed to find a Catalan living in the United States, let alone Columbus…

So, I submitted a research proposal to the Arts and Sciences Honors Committee and I was fortunate enough to be awarded a research grant that allows me to go over and spend three weeks back in Catalunya.  During the time that I’m over there I’m going to be traveling throughout Catalunya, interviewing people about their lives, opinions and beliefs.  Hopefully, this project will spur more ideas for possible research topics in graduate school but if not at least I’m going to be getting valuable field experience.

I’m excited to be going back, especially since this time around I’m going to be doing a lot more traveling inside of Catalunya to places that I didn’t get to visit the first time around, like Girona, Tarragona and Figueres (the home to the Dalí museum!).  Also, I’m going to be over there again during the National Day of Catalonia, so I’m hoping I get to spend that day with my Catalan friends, celebrating one of their most important days of the year :)

Unfortunately, I will not be over there to see La Mercè (September 23-25) because OSU starts classes on the 21st, but at least I got to see the festival last year.

Any who, I really don’t know at this point how much I’m going to be writing during the 3 weeks; it just really depends on how much down time I have to describe everything.  I’m shooting for 3 to 5 posts, but don’t hold me to it ;)

Oh and I’ll create a new facebook photo album for my trip that will be public and on the side bar (I think I'm gonna name it "Catalunya '11")!

Finally, remember this picture?



I knew there was some truth behind the belief that if you drink from the Canalets fountain you’ll eventually come back to Barcelona.  So here I go, ¡me voy!