Like a Rolling Stone

            The goodbyes begin. “Last time in this restaurant. Last time that coffee.” In the movies, rain accompanies goodbyes, however this week we had a heat wave. The temperature is really good. The weather is a good companion in new experiences, a great accomplice that embraces the experience.

I have been going out for several nights to walk around the campus as if I wanted to capture all the possible images in my head. I ruled out going to any study room to absorb its essence, nor any hall or corner of a new building to be impressed by. Just walking outdoor on campus. I walked around my memories of six weeks.

At no time did I feel like I was wandering like a homeless person in search of his bench, but I walked in a different way than the first time I arrived. Crossing the Bruin Walk, I felt the rush building up in my feet to not be late. There was no one playing the piano at the door of Bruin Plate nor were there Asians dancing under parking lot number seven. I have realized during the walk that I have kept a memory of each corner..

I have given a meaning for each day here. Also for each color. The flagship blue and yellow no longer belongs solely to the Swedish furniture chain. I kept the green for the grass in the central area of ​​Royce Hall and the stairs. In the housing area, it smells pine. Red for the spiciness of the food and the orange tones of the bricks of the buildings.

While walking, the papers I was carrying in my hand fell several times. It's what happens at goodbyes that things get messy again.

While going through the less traveled places I have been able to see buildings from the inside that during the day the reflection does not allow us to see. The night allows me to discover new spaces that are illuminated, paying attention to the steps I found it, the railings and benches. During the night you can also see some people training. Cultivating their bodies or finishing a goal for the week.

This place never ceases to surprise me at any time of the day while my friends and family wake up in another part of the world.  Without a doubt this is an inspiring and powerful place. I didn't enter to the Botanical building  but I had more than one conversation with the figures at Sculpture Garden.

On this type of trip abroad, I wonder if it is worth having put the tick on the Bucket list. Totally yes, UCLA was the main one. Everything else has been a gift full of contrasts in the San Francisco Bay, Las Vegas and of course Los Angeles.

The city where the lights of Hollywood are tinged with the shadow of  Downtown’s sorroundings, but where one can always catch a breath at Venice Beach and see the sunset in Santa Monica Pier. Unquestionably, it is worth traveling to visit the most iconic places in Golden State.

This inmersive and self-development experience has not been about making friends, but about realizing the different paths of life that coexist in the world, the different types of people that exist while you live with them and realizing that all of them are valid. Within them and within the group we are one more, nothing else.

Summer Sessions is about widen horizons in addition to overcoming academic challenges. It is an international coexistence in which the first foreigner are you. It doesn't matter who discovered America, what matters is how America wakes up today.

I have been able to hear my voice at many times at this GPS point. UCLA has been the best birhday present I could have given myself ever. Maybe there is a part of me that never fully says goodbye to this desk because at night not only dreams talk but they are also written. Zzz…

The end.

Carmen De la Rubia :) 

Acceda rápidamente a otras entradas sobre UCLA o haga clic aquí para ir a la página principal.

• Getting to know Los Angeles

• Differents maps
• Closeness and distance
• Buy space but first coffee. Line starts here
• Inside America with me

• Some extracts from my articles at UCLA

Buy space but first coffee. Line starts here.

            Honestly, in America first make a line. I thought that because of the use of a flexible and more casual English style if we compare it to England, perhaps American people were more permissive with disorder but it has been fun to see that I was wrong.

I didn't know that Americans liked to stand in line so much. They stand in lines when it is not necessary to do so and they wait out of caution before asking or approaching a person. At the airport, I took my time putting my things before through the security control. I explained to the person behind me that I was using the space and taking my time, so I invited her to come by. She was really surprised.

I believe that learned behavior can give way to inactivity, to deactivate yourself as a person when you have to fight for a cause. We speak again of individuality and collective. Generally, cultural norms are about taking part in something or not.

On the other hand, I have linked the idea of ​​the American Dream with consumerism. You may have the wrong idea that “you can achieve anything, you can have everything.” It generates an unnecessary expenditure of resources that often falls into waste. We have watch more than one movie recorded in a garage, or more than one movie in an attic (The Goonies) and more than one child alone at home (Home alone, Matilda). These places are full of junk that has generated “marketplaces” culture. The second hand shop at the door of the house (there's only a one percent chance you'll see that in Spain).

Furthermore, there are many places of storage rooms for rent on the roads of this country. It appeared in Malaga about ten years ago, but due to the need for space. There are families of two parents and two daughters in three-bedroom apartments (It is the most common) and you don't have a garage in many cases.

Second-hand clothes stores have been gaining ground in Spain (ironically with clothes coming from America). This shops are especially thinking for millennials clients who are involved in the battle of style, savings and concern for new generations. There is still suspicion or mistrust about these garments for older people. Still in my country, many women over sixty years old know how to sew by hand, fix pants, dresses, pockets... A lot of clothes and fabric are used a lot. At least in my Andalusia, an area that comes from the culture of the countryside. My grandmother was born and raised her early years next to a river. Later, my grandfather gave them a piece of land and they built a house little by little in the village. My grandfather's house has very wide walls and this allows the house to be very cool in summer. When my father was born, he slept near a horse that my grandfather had in his own house!

The new generations have lost the culture of reuse with the arrival of fast fashion, but I personally consider that visibility in movies and Instagram about how cool vintage or second-hand it is a success for recyling cycle. It is a movement or a step towards the collective mood. The AECC is the most recognized store in Spain, you can donate your clothes and they sell them to raise money for cancer research. They have real bargains!

However, a cup of coffee isn't exactly cheap in Los Angeles. Of course, you have the right to order it just the way you like it. Literally. Coffee in Spain and specifically in my city (Málaga) is ordered generically according to the amount of milk you add to the glass. In America, milk is a small supplement in quantity (which is added cold) and there are too many flavors and types.

While in Spain coffee is drunk sitting in a glass cup. It is a momento, excuse and reason for pause while in America it is a must during your journey. It's quite different. Perhaps it is the distance to the places that sets the pace or perhaps the distance between people. Cafes in Spain are neighborhood places with the same waiters and usually customers. Even in central areas a waiter may remember your visit if you visit frequently. The every day take away culture will change slowly it...

Without being a criticism but an observation, on the UCLA campus, baristas smile at you but do not respond with their gaze to the complicity of seeing you again in the same place.  Everything has a passing[1] touch and few roots. As if an inner part knew that there are many of us and that it doesn't matter who you are (but don't say it out loud because someone might get offended).

Maybe just Los Angeles is too big a city to get intimate. On the other hand, being anonymous is priceless. It allows you to observe the show from the cinema theater seat while dreaming in silence. Thanks L.A, thanks 2024.

 

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[1] (2016) Passengers, a film by Morten Tyldum.

Acceda rápidamente a otras entradas sobre UCLA o haga clic aquí para ir a la página principal.

• Getting to know Los Angeles
• Differents maps
• Closeness and distance
• Like a rolling stone

• Inside America with me

• Some extracts from my articles at UCLA

Closeness and distance

It is not the first Central Market that I have visited in a city, nor a contemporary art museum that I have entered inside. In fact, I can boast of the CAC and Pompidue a few hours by plane from this place. It is not the first library I have visited and even though it has most of the same great works at its core, I also do not find similarity between walking through a corridor of Powel Library or others.

Nor the first tram or funicular that I have ridden for only a few meters as a tourist attraction; far from it the first skyscraper that I have climbed to its terrace, purchasing a ticket to contemplate the views from its roof. However, in all cities I disperse in the same way along their sidewalk (looking up and down their facades) while I ignore that time passes and places close. In America the time is really an important change for Europeans. Even more so for the Spanish. In my country, local stores close between 8 and 10 pm. Shopping centers and main streets at 10 pm. Normally business (brand stores included) do not open on Sundays.

Housing could also be understood as just a place to sleep but in no country that I have visited is it. In Bali everyone lives together, in Spain it depends on whether the next street is considered living with your family or not. But in America, everything is really huge and it's something they take for granted and it's a fact: space. The model home, as shown in the movies, is a very spacious house.

Perhaps this information about breadth is related to privacy and personal physical distance from others discussed at other times. Grocery stores are terrific. Lots of hallways competely full of stuff and people  apologizing for passing behind you who are a meter away from you. In Spain, my local supermarket is half the size of any other store at UCLA. So, imagine how many times we would have to apologize to each other. There is one important difference: we all know each other - not just our name, but also our family names -. Who are you, who your friends are, what your interest are it’s no secret in small town  of approximately 2000 inhabitants.

One feature that I love about apartment blocks in America is their emergency stairs. It seems to me something iconic and that in itself is the co-star of a shot in a movie. What about driving on wide and endless roads? Same.

In relation to taking an emergency EXIT, I have really felt Oatkland as an unsafe place last weekend. It is difficult to feel insecure in Spain. It is hard for anyone to get used to that uncertainty about whether there will be a shooting in your neighborhood today or not, and the police sirens in the streets. I honestly believe that the gun culture is a red flag of The United States.

However, people come here, emigrate and overcome contradictions on a daily basis. The challenge is not only to leave your country but to adapt to the new one.

Something that seems curious to me is that some of them become more patriotic when they go abroad. In Spain, flags are hung on balconies or facades of houses to support soccer teams. The linkage with the flag is different. In fact, politically there are those who want to make it more of one party than another. In America the flag is hung not on every corner but on every building facade - McDonalds included -.

Personally, I believe that everything is far from home for those who do not transit their area often and are lazy. The modus operandi is repeated outside the home. There are immigrants who are within this country without knowing the meaning of the American flag, nor the origin of the bagel or fried chicken. Understanding the world as something global allows you to travel through places appreciating them instead of comparing them. We should hang the flag of peace in every corner instead of creating political speeches and merchandising. It would be more effective.

 

Acceda rápidamente a otras entradas sobre UCLA o haga clic aquí para ir a la página principal.

• Getting to know Los Angeles
• Differents maps
• Buy space but first coffee. Line starts here

• Like a rolling stone

• Inside America with me

• Some extracts from my articles at UCLA

Differents maps

Throughout my days at UCLA somehow I've gotten used to wondering about cultural, social and personal questions of human behavior.

Last Sunday I went to a women's soccer game on campus. I wanted to soak up the experience.

Who is the public? When someone shouts from the stands, who are they talking to? Do we talk to ourselves all the time? What response do we expect from others if our message is not heard by others?

During the day I invite you to observe who you are talking to and what response you need it. It is probably just the everyday life of a physical body that sustains you with its voice, even though the speech (the narrated script) is solely yours, mine, ours.

I enjoy every speck on a tree leaf and every reflection in a glass. I love the play of light that forms inside the Bruin Plate when the sun goes down and how it mixes with the contrast of the skins and hair of the different Bruins people. I have literally taken seats in several new places.

            I continue to enjoy the exchange of backgrounds and different ages with whom I live on campus (we are all strangers[1] and will be at the end of this experience). We are closer to other cultures every day and paying attention on what ours is like from a distance. China is awakening a lot of curiosity in me and the honesty that I am voluntarily seeing in the eyes of young generations from such a different country.

I have eaten many types of sandwiches in my country and we have traditional breads that make them special but the background, history and the staging along with the atmosphere makes eating one here different than doing it there. I don't like to contradict Plato[2] but sometimes things are much more than the simple concept of an idea. The experience is contained in it.

We will never know how a film is directed at. We can interpret the script but never know the reason why the director chose each shot.

 

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[1] (2010) Loving Strangers, Russian Red.

[2] Plato (c. 427 – 348 BC)   https://nomadreflections.medium.com/relation-between-world-of-ideas-and-world-of-senses-22791ca7b4b7

 

Acceda rápidamente a otras entradas sobre UCLA o haga clic aquí para ir a la página principal.

• Getting to know Los Angeles

• Closeness and distance

• Buy space but first coffee. Line starts here
• Like a rolling stone

• Inside America with me

• Some extracts from my articles at UCLA

Getting to know Los Angeles

Some days ago I met John Wooden. There is a quote[1] within "his" gym in UCLA campus that I see I' m on the treadmill which encouraged me to find out about his history and philosophy. Perhaps it is America, the place where one is most motivated to be a leader and the country which has had the most famous leaders. I am not surprised by the fan phenomenon that exists around the entire industry that drives Hollywood.

I'm not just talking about movies but about singers and artists in general. Souvenir and legendary music stores like Amoeba[2] are full of objects inspired by them. As I read a few days ago in Bruin Newspaper[3], vinyl is really selling as a result of marketing and not enjoyment. The ego satisfaction of having. It would be a much more fulfilling experience to appreciate it by using it.

It's curious to me how a well-known Chinese cinema theater in the middle of such a big boulevard is empty on a Friday night while at the same time there are other areas packed with homeless people. That's how cities are: full of contrasts. Far from fear but from caution (women always have to have a plan B to escape places. taking an UBER last night helped a friend and me a lot). I wonder what the city really does for them and what it doesn't. I don't know what will happen when the next Olympic games arrives. I don't know if anything would improve in the reality of the sub-neighborhoods.

Regarding cultural differences with Spain, I have continued to observe personal space and the lack of hugs as well as the absence of saying good morning when someone enters the elevator. In Spain when you bump into someoone in small spaces people usually have a small conversation (about the weather, where they are going or comment on some news).

UCLA and other brands constantly promote the feeling of belonging to a group. Unlike in Spain, where is not common to wear a sweatshirt from your university, here it is a must. Being from the educational sector and considering something to be proud of, UCLA somehow makes people proud of being students. There is a constant reinforcement of identity as a group but in a very different way than the Dodgers or Lakers do.

Regarding campus daily life, in general, it is very quiet. I have gotten used to working in different study rooms and I continue to discover what places and at what times to be in one place or another. I don't feel like I'm missing anything outside during the week on campus. I like that my notes are in both languages: English and Spanish. I understand more and more the script of American movies based on university times. How they are shown and how we outsiders interpret them is far from reality. I am happy and gratefull enjoying watching the movie from within.

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[1] “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” John Wooden.

[2]  Amoeba Music. 6200 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

[3]  https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/05/second-take-repeat-purchases-of-vinyl-albums-harm-environment-consumers

 

Acceda rápidamente a otras entradas sobre UCLA o haga clic aquí para ir a la página principal.

• Differents maps
• Closeness and distance
• Buy space but first coffee. Line starts here
• Like a rolling stone

• Inside America with me

• Some extracts from my articles at UCLA

Inside America with me

 

It’s Saturday and I’m going to visit The Hollywood sign. I feel as a journalist when them has to finish their article.

I will not be the first person to say “we should be the main character of our own movie” but I dare say that we are responsible of the meaning of the each letter that we write on. Big letters could be thought as synonimous of a big dream but we need to know about what material are them made of. I have realised that the size of the papers are different here. Anyway, you can write the same things. There would be many details we could go into.

American University lifestyle contrasts with Spanish one. Here, in UCLA at least, one of the main focus is empowering students to be more better and greater with themselves. For that reason, I guess, everything around The Campus revolve around a self-development throught the education way.

I have realised that when you say to someone that you are studying, people admire you. In Spain, most of cases only to get a job means something to be proud of. People usually feel confident when they finish their degree (not during the process). As a teacher, I think to stay in the campus gives you a apropiate ambience and a vibrant atmosphere. Subjetcts in UCLA are shorter duration (same content in less time). However, the dueline to homeworks are more inmediately and active than in my country. Ocurrs the opposite about personal space between people. In Spain we are closer and it’s not well seen that a professor wears a cap in class.

I really didn’t know the voice who called me to came here but the more discover, the more sure I am about coming here. It’s not only to stay in a place, but  also to let you growth while making mistakes trying new challengues doing by learning from The Golden State.

If I would give some advice to someone to stay here, I would suggest that giving space to our mind while walking around the campus. Just observing, drawing or having a coffee it gives you the opportunity to asimilated the changes. Personally, to adapt to differents schudles it has been my aim these days by focusing on settle the path. If you be aware and take care about your values and self-care needs inside Hollywooland, the experience would probably be more satisfactory. There are many things about American culture that deserve to be known.

In this moment, “I’m walking to the West[1]” (again) and my bed points too. I should be on the right track. We can call it Serendipity[2].

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[1] (1962) The man who shot Liberty Valance, John Ford.

[2] (2001) Serendipity, Peter Chelsom

Acceda rápidamente a otras entradas sobre UCLA o haga clic aquí para ir a la página principal.

• Getting to know Los Angeles

• Differents maps
• Closeness and distance
• Buy space but first coffee. Line starts here
• Like a rolling stone

• Some extracts from my articles at UCLA

From my articles at UCLA

 

	ALGUNOS EXTRACTOS DE MIS ARTICULOS EN UCLA
	SOME EXTRACTS FROM MY ARTICLES AT UCLA
ddrrrease1	BE YOURSELF, NO MATTERS WHERE YOU ARE (about individuality)
	It’s easy to be influenced and persuaded by others or by our own fears. I think that a person (as individual) who loves their own shadow is able to be generous with others. When someone is being happy given to others, their feel big and better.   We growth in comunity. Our experience is always sharing so people who are around us are part of the circunstances. For me, individualism is to be awake and to look for what you can offer to the world every day.
2	A SPACE FOR OPPORTUNITIES (about opportunities)
	It takes time to changed things from the past. However there are people who don’t recognize the necesity of invest in education or common global issues from schools.   Times continues and you cannot be stuck. “(…) He had a plan and he allowed himself making mistakes.” It is good not to limit the new generations. In my point of view: nice roots, nice results.   It there always be circunstances. You can see it as a wall or as a challengue. Life consist of taking actions which you can traduce in opportunities. Opportunity means that you have space to express yourself, where there is no judges for your values, sexuality or religión. To give you the opportunity of practising your values is an opportunity by itself.   Since I was a child, I heard “the one who leaves is the one who loses”. Maybe this is a necesary condition to have an oportunity: to stay alive, to feel alive y be aware of what that means every day.   Motivation and opportunity has a relation. Opportunity is where we are. Open your eyes and you will see in front of you the options available to you or what you have to do to improve them.
3	A RESPECT FOR YOURSELF (about equality and diversity)
	“Love is respecting the priorities of the other from freedom” I wrote to my mum some years ago.   (…) It is perceived that women must be very educated and delicate. In some way, women have had to persuade and use the feminine role that society has given them without asking for it. (…) She is paving the way for diversity. People who support others to achieve their dreams encourage them to “Hold on your dreams”. It's something to work on every day.   I think (…) we have come to play. Each of us has a role on the team and that during the game faith is important. A person retires to the bench when he is tired or the coach forces him to take a seat. You are first player.   The daily fight to combat racism and inequality generates, in addition to obstacles, confusion. That's why it's important to have close support figures.   The stress levels to which the body is subjected in the fight for survival within spaces of inequality are an example of how, no matter how much diversity is respected, the starting point will never be the same.   I observe how there are colleagues who face the same daily challenges than me and how it depends on each one's background .   I believe that equality and diversity cannot be based on a series of generic phrases learned to avoid the suffering of others. I believe that the problems go beyond a greeting, they are problems that require taking action and generating uncomfortable debates , but this requires thinking collectively and leaving individualism. There is no need to know the person's name to serve them.   We all need a room to lock ourselves in, to dream and to be. Not just Virginia Woolf.
4	THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST (about the ability to star over)
	There are many people who help us and others who put obstacles in our way every day. Whether we know their stories or not, they are.   Routine and order are necessary even when you are starting over. I think the biggest difficulty to starting over is expectations. Having expectations makes us put up obstacles.   If someone reach their goal, what happens later? You have to start over. It’s that we do every day. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what disabilities or difficulties you have. The sun rises for everyone in the east.   Where are you going to go next? You are free to go or stay. It takes time to assimilate the talent of others and oneself. Later, you have to know what to do with it. Starting over requires your own knowledge. In Japan its called IKIGAI. "Just take it easy" and nobody will "drives you crazy".
5	A CULTURE THAT EXPANDS (about American cultura expectations)
	There's no one thing in particular that surprised me more than another. It's the small details that make culture expand or shorten.   I like to remind myself that my experience is mostly in an educational environment with a group of students who have agreed on specific minimum values ​​and standards of conduct. So, the interaction with local people is not as daily as it would be in another setting. UCLA is a special spot.   If I lived in L.A, it would really be the lack of close contact that I would miss from my country. The closeness that, generally, is not found in the skyscrapers of the big cities.

Los comentarios y líneas anteriores son fruto de algunos de los essay realizados semanalmente para la clase 190, Royce Hall del Professor Tor Negrete. 

Escritas por Carmen De la Rubia, UCLA '24