¡Una Postal desde España! 🪭
A spainful goodbye to the adfrenchure
Saying goodbye to The Chateau this past Sunday was one of the harshest come-downs of any high I’ve had in my life. It felt like I was just filming a dreamy, French version of a Downton Abbey-esque TV show and my character didn’t get written in for the next season. It’s the weirdest thing to move so quickly from the most idyllic, slow-paced lifestyle to hauling everything I have on and off of planes, trains, and automobiles— then waking up in a new country, all my new friends are suddenly scattered, and I’m trying to speak a language that I haven’t been laughing in for the last month.
IT.IS.SO.WEIRD!
Our send-off celebrations were epic before we all left though. The writers presented their work at a reading last Thursday and the artists opened their studios to share their work on Friday. Each one was followed by a reception and on Saturday we capped everything off with a champagne toast at The Chateau’s art gallery in town after we packed everything up. The Chateau’s team gave us three full days to mentally prepare for the end, and it still felt like getting back to Paris hit me too hard. Four days later, I’m finally kind of understanding that I’m not longer there. If you’re an artist of any kind, apply!! I can only recommend it.
Now it’s time to get this literary show back on the literal road for road trip number two with my mom— in Spain this time, olé!
My mom lives in Granada but we’re saving that side of Spain for the end of the summer and cruising around the north for the next two weeks. Neither of us have ever been to the northern part of Spain before, so we’re making it a good one ✨. We started in Madrid on Sunday when I flew in from Paris (I made it on all my trains and plane, no last minute shopping! She learned her lesson) and we spent the evening catching up while I tried to get my ear reacclimated to hearing Spanish instead of French. Rioja helps.
Day one we spent at a cooking class where we learned to make gazpacho and paella (yes, I’ll make it for you) and then I hit the Reina Sofia museum while my mom wandered around. She’s been to the Reina Sofia a hundred times but it’s a forever must-go for me whenever I’m in Madrid. The Guernica just gets better every time.
The next day we took a day trip to see Toledo and Segovia. They’re both tiny, beautiful, historically important cities. Lots of crazy stuff happened in both places but honestly, I couldn’t fully explain it even if I did understand the whole story. This is the ultra-watered down version of what I got:
Spain has a super complicated history because it was comprised of five separate kingdoms (countries).
All those kingdoms were fighting with each other and with northern Africa for centuries over religion (politics) and land, which were kind of the same thing back then because religion dictated who ruled/how a kingdom was ruled— i.e. how everyone else had to live their lives. *Could you imagine if a democrat was forced to practice all things republican or vice versa? It’d be a blood bath too.*
It was like that from 200ish BC when Rome came through until around 1492 when Queen Isabel dominated, forcibly united the kingdoms, and sent Columbus to go find more land and trading for the country of Spain that we know it as today, more or less.
Toledo was Spain’s first capital and known as the “three cultures” because Christians, Jews, and Muslims could all live there together. Toledo still has very diverse architecture and a stunning city center that National Geographic named one of the best views in the world.
After Toledo we drove to Segovia but didn’t spend as much time there. It’s known for their Alcázar, an old military fortress and where Isabel was named Queen. They are also famous for their “Cochinillo”, insanely good roasted suckling pig— which also has historical ties to warfare. Spain eats a ton of pork not just for economic reasons but because it was another religious domination thing. The Christians ate a ton of pork as resistance to Muslim rule. Then during the Inquisition, people hung pork legs from their businesses to show that they were not Jewish or Muslim. More religion as politics… fascinating/terrifying.
The next day we drove two hours north to Salamanca where Spain’s oldest and most famous university is. We were only there for one night so we didn’t get to too much, but it was the most beautiful city I’ve been to that specifically caters to students.
We left Salamanca today and drove another hour and a half north to Valladolid. I’m not entirely clear on the plan yet other than eavesdropping on people because my mom is obsessed with the way they speak here. It’s apparently very classy, very erudite, very demure elevated. Not that I would know, my Spanish is so minimal it’s a joke. But it’s pretty much the only reason we’re here because my mom loves speaking to people in Spanish. Maybe my ear will grasp it in the next 2 days, I’ll let you know.
Until then, besitos!
Isa 💋
Obsessed with your mom. Also you look incredible in that last pic. Also come home? Also also.