A Coruña : first impressions
Translation of the french article of September 19th, 2010
I did'nt know when I was going to post this message on the blog. Since yesterday, and tons of kilometers in this city of A Coruña, I know that I can deliver my first impressions. Because since Tuesday and this parade of train stations, by way of Provence, Roussillon, Catalonia and the night, all has been gone so fast.
I remember why I am here. It makes about half and two years that I'm looking for spending a long time in Spain. The reasons are multiple but there is a profesional goal. Today, I don't have the suficient level in the Spain language and the aim is to reach it. I knew that I was going to make a break after my thesis and eleven years of studies, I had to discover other things. In january, I met Audrey Perron, from the association ADICE, in the city of Lyon, in the forum of the Social and Solidarity Economy. I hesitated sign up in the association AFIJ, in the city of Saint-Etienne, which gave me the date of this forum, and I hesitated to go there. And I finally did it. So it does not matter so much. And going out this forum, after half a month of inactivity, I had a real goal for coming back in september. The news came during march. I thought work in Spain in the environment or animation context, which was my second choice, but which promised more opening. And in march, the adventure was launched. I still remember the happiness I had receiving this news, while I was preparing a environment's session for a snow's classroom in the city of Valloire (Isère).
To make very short, the EVS (European Voluntary Service) is then a mission in a foreign country, in a EU country, very predominantly, during a period of 2 to 12 months, for young people about 18 to 30 years old (thank God, it was time). The voluntary is linked to a tutor in the arrival (from the host organisation), a tutor in the sending (from the sending association), a coordinating association (in the host country), all under the cover of the National Agency and the EU. It's not paid but all is taken in charge (food, transport, living), and there is a few allowance paid each month for leisure and personal needs.
I see again the clock of the train station of the city of Saint-Etienne, in the place called "Bellevue", which indicated 6:34 am. I launched myself for a trip of 28 hours and 21 minutes, with ideal correspondences. Yes, it seems to be a madness. My luggage were heavy, especially the one with wheels. In plane, it should have been too heavy. Necessarily, I little slept the day before, running in all the directions to end the last formalities, and to prepare a luggage for 9 months. In fact, I don't know if it's a trip or a moving. And 9 months, I still don't realize it. I don't know what it means. The last year, I had spent time everywhere, tripped in all the circumstances and nearly with all the means of transport. I arrived.
Finally the journey passed fast. I know well the path and I appreciate it a lot. In this line from the end of the world, between Perpignan and Port Bou, I met this public so exotic again : turists who are going to spend one week with a pad on their shoulders, like backpackers. Moroccan people who come back to their country in a train which is never ending. In the city of Port Bou, I didn't have time to visit. The luggage where too heavy anyway. It seemed to be ten people in the train station, it was so silencer and desperatly empty. Even the screens which show the train schedules were silents. This little village in the front of the sea, in the border zone, has got a full of charms but I've already seen it. In Barcelona, I arrived in a gigantic and an underground train station. We meet again all the excess : policemen as you want, last souls who are begging, society who runs in all directions. The exit was blocked by the counters. A guardian let me pass friendly a I believe myself like in a day of terrorist threat. I sit quietly near a young asiatic men who ate an hot-dog near the McDonald's. He was afraid because of all the stares. I came back in this big city. To take the "train-hotel", it seemed to be an airport. Double control, opening of barriers, passage of the luggage in the metal detector. After that, two hosts leaved me through the Renfe's ship, similar to a spaceship.
The cabin was as tiny as well thought. I thought that Renfe had got a train late compared to the SNCF. No, the train park is not so old. There is even a virtual guide to understand the functioning of the cabin. All is available : movie, cafeteria, self shower. I was like in a bubble. I woke up in the city of Zaragoza very late. I had just a vision of the underground train station, Delicias, with a very futurist design. There were lights which were blinking, a ship which was passing and passing again. All was very clean and desperatly inhuman, almost mechanic. When I woke up, I was already in Galicia. The weather was grey, I had an mixture's impression of all the landscapes I knew : England, Estonia and the Forez's country. It was sadly diary and nearly comforting also. The train passed in Lugo and the stewardess told me that it remained one hour to arrive. A Coruña was very near. So came the end of the trip begun the day before. The landscape changed suddenly and let the place to the suburbs, to the ria and to the city itself. I saw my face's reflection in the window and I knew that I had to go out of my bubble. A impression of immensity was dominating. I will have to take my place in this city.
The exit of the train station was blocked like in Paris Gare de Lyon. Cristina and Celia, from the Paideia's fundation, received me and left me directly to the flat. The reception was friendly and very respectful. I liked the flat very quickly, because it was very cleared, coloured, silent, wide and comfortable. I was alone one hour after. All has been very organized. So it was the silence.
The day after, I discovered my work's place, the Andaina's College. I don't know exactly what will be my mission, I know a part today. I met my tutor and the french teacher, with who I will share the most part of the time. All is very square, vast, bright in this institute who receive young people with difficulties. But all is very respectful. I felt the pression of the beginning of the school's year which appears behind a lot of teacher's faces. Last friday, it was the presentation of the French's classroom to the pupils. Very quickly, I had been surprised both by their dynamism and their indiscipline. It's nearly the same thing in the street : people who has between 13 and 15 makes a lot of noise, is trying to seduce. The oldest are more quiet, more friendly too. When I'm talking to them in French, they give up as fast as I do it when I'm listening Galician language. Girls are more mature and reach to hold on.
I don't know what I am going to do with Galician language. For me, it's not a totally new language. There is a lot of spanish words which compose it and other words who constitutes nowadays Portuguese language. It's not like I was beginning from zero, like with the Catalan language, which is enough different from the Spanish language. I will have to study the structure well. Dictionary Spanish / Galician exist. It should can help me. As for the Spanish language, my level is suficient to express me and make me understand. I declined a few since my trip in Sevilla (2006) but I will reforce it step by step. The objective is to have a excellente level at the end of the EVS. There are so many objectives, so many things to do, to see. I never get bored anyway.
Yesterday, I launched myself in a big ride across A Coruña. Enjoying the weather very clement and which persists miraculously, I mid the distances walking. Very quickly arriving, I was surprised by the car's dictatorship in the time of sustainable development, by the motorbike's speed, by the extent of the autobus'trips. The displacements by trains appears really secondary. There's anyway just one railway for a town with 250 000 inhabitants. I ended to find a way to reach the city center. There are three bridges to cross the roads with three ways. A lot of people also are coming back from their shopping, with their hands wearing a bag each one, walking, on the equivalent of the emergency stop strip. All of this seems to be very dangerous to me. I browse the city during eight hours, without stop me really. There are very beautiful places, mainly those are in the sea front. There are many beaches and they are very easy to access. They surround the peninsula and the isthmus on which A Coruña settled. In the rare pedestrian streets, there are very much people on Saturdays. We nearly walk on the feet of everybody. There a lot of shops opened, they sell everything. There is all we want here. There are very beautiful urban parks, small but enough and mostly very varied, where the big families can enjoy it. People are very mixed, there is neither a social category who leads nor who has got a particular range age. I feel a lot of tranquility. The climate explains this without any doubt even of the economic crisis which affects severely Spain. Galicia is not the region more affected. It's really striking in Andalusia.
I need to arrive way up north of the city to see the ocean lead largely the landscape. So the horizon opens itself completely. I am beaten by the winds enough powerful, and I feel well the force of the wave. There are neither huge monuments nor inevitable buildings. We can go around the isthma walking or by tramway, which seems to be gone out from the beginning of the century. There is also a sportive place, between tennis, football and farniente at the edge of the swimming pools, which are well filled yet as we approach autumn. Side football, a lot of people are wearing the Barça's jersey, more than Deportivo's one. As in all the spanish cities large enough, I ended to take a walk in the Corte Inglés. There are 7 floors but it seems to be less vast than in Madrid. Everything is classy and well organized. The crew is as usual very well dressed and very available. I desperatly looked after distributing tickets for the bus. The company is not at the place mentioned anyway. Side property, it's very variable. The city is globally clean, excepted the major ways, sprinkled with garbage. It's amazing to see how the selective collection is established in a good place even in the supermarkets while the cashiers fill for you a lot of plastic bags...
The colocation will begin today because I will receive a young Italian volunteer girl in the flat. It's too big for me alone anyway. I'm waiting for this patiently. Tomorrow, I will going for the arriving seminary in Gandario (just at 18 kilometers from A Coruña), for one week. On the way back, the serious things will begin for real, because the functioning of a normal week will be able to begin.
To make very short, the EVS (European Voluntary Service) is then a mission in a foreign country, in a EU country, very predominantly, during a period of 2 to 12 months, for young people about 18 to 30 years old (thank God, it was time). The voluntary is linked to a tutor in the arrival (from the host organisation), a tutor in the sending (from the sending association), a coordinating association (in the host country), all under the cover of the National Agency and the EU. It's not paid but all is taken in charge (food, transport, living), and there is a few allowance paid each month for leisure and personal needs.
I see again the clock of the train station of the city of Saint-Etienne, in the place called "Bellevue", which indicated 6:34 am. I launched myself for a trip of 28 hours and 21 minutes, with ideal correspondences. Yes, it seems to be a madness. My luggage were heavy, especially the one with wheels. In plane, it should have been too heavy. Necessarily, I little slept the day before, running in all the directions to end the last formalities, and to prepare a luggage for 9 months. In fact, I don't know if it's a trip or a moving. And 9 months, I still don't realize it. I don't know what it means. The last year, I had spent time everywhere, tripped in all the circumstances and nearly with all the means of transport. I arrived.
Finally the journey passed fast. I know well the path and I appreciate it a lot. In this line from the end of the world, between Perpignan and Port Bou, I met this public so exotic again : turists who are going to spend one week with a pad on their shoulders, like backpackers. Moroccan people who come back to their country in a train which is never ending. In the city of Port Bou, I didn't have time to visit. The luggage where too heavy anyway. It seemed to be ten people in the train station, it was so silencer and desperatly empty. Even the screens which show the train schedules were silents. This little village in the front of the sea, in the border zone, has got a full of charms but I've already seen it. In Barcelona, I arrived in a gigantic and an underground train station. We meet again all the excess : policemen as you want, last souls who are begging, society who runs in all directions. The exit was blocked by the counters. A guardian let me pass friendly a I believe myself like in a day of terrorist threat. I sit quietly near a young asiatic men who ate an hot-dog near the McDonald's. He was afraid because of all the stares. I came back in this big city. To take the "train-hotel", it seemed to be an airport. Double control, opening of barriers, passage of the luggage in the metal detector. After that, two hosts leaved me through the Renfe's ship, similar to a spaceship.
The cabin was as tiny as well thought. I thought that Renfe had got a train late compared to the SNCF. No, the train park is not so old. There is even a virtual guide to understand the functioning of the cabin. All is available : movie, cafeteria, self shower. I was like in a bubble. I woke up in the city of Zaragoza very late. I had just a vision of the underground train station, Delicias, with a very futurist design. There were lights which were blinking, a ship which was passing and passing again. All was very clean and desperatly inhuman, almost mechanic. When I woke up, I was already in Galicia. The weather was grey, I had an mixture's impression of all the landscapes I knew : England, Estonia and the Forez's country. It was sadly diary and nearly comforting also. The train passed in Lugo and the stewardess told me that it remained one hour to arrive. A Coruña was very near. So came the end of the trip begun the day before. The landscape changed suddenly and let the place to the suburbs, to the ria and to the city itself. I saw my face's reflection in the window and I knew that I had to go out of my bubble. A impression of immensity was dominating. I will have to take my place in this city.
The exit of the train station was blocked like in Paris Gare de Lyon. Cristina and Celia, from the Paideia's fundation, received me and left me directly to the flat. The reception was friendly and very respectful. I liked the flat very quickly, because it was very cleared, coloured, silent, wide and comfortable. I was alone one hour after. All has been very organized. So it was the silence.
The day after, I discovered my work's place, the Andaina's College. I don't know exactly what will be my mission, I know a part today. I met my tutor and the french teacher, with who I will share the most part of the time. All is very square, vast, bright in this institute who receive young people with difficulties. But all is very respectful. I felt the pression of the beginning of the school's year which appears behind a lot of teacher's faces. Last friday, it was the presentation of the French's classroom to the pupils. Very quickly, I had been surprised both by their dynamism and their indiscipline. It's nearly the same thing in the street : people who has between 13 and 15 makes a lot of noise, is trying to seduce. The oldest are more quiet, more friendly too. When I'm talking to them in French, they give up as fast as I do it when I'm listening Galician language. Girls are more mature and reach to hold on.
I don't know what I am going to do with Galician language. For me, it's not a totally new language. There is a lot of spanish words which compose it and other words who constitutes nowadays Portuguese language. It's not like I was beginning from zero, like with the Catalan language, which is enough different from the Spanish language. I will have to study the structure well. Dictionary Spanish / Galician exist. It should can help me. As for the Spanish language, my level is suficient to express me and make me understand. I declined a few since my trip in Sevilla (2006) but I will reforce it step by step. The objective is to have a excellente level at the end of the EVS. There are so many objectives, so many things to do, to see. I never get bored anyway.
Yesterday, I launched myself in a big ride across A Coruña. Enjoying the weather very clement and which persists miraculously, I mid the distances walking. Very quickly arriving, I was surprised by the car's dictatorship in the time of sustainable development, by the motorbike's speed, by the extent of the autobus'trips. The displacements by trains appears really secondary. There's anyway just one railway for a town with 250 000 inhabitants. I ended to find a way to reach the city center. There are three bridges to cross the roads with three ways. A lot of people also are coming back from their shopping, with their hands wearing a bag each one, walking, on the equivalent of the emergency stop strip. All of this seems to be very dangerous to me. I browse the city during eight hours, without stop me really. There are very beautiful places, mainly those are in the sea front. There are many beaches and they are very easy to access. They surround the peninsula and the isthmus on which A Coruña settled. In the rare pedestrian streets, there are very much people on Saturdays. We nearly walk on the feet of everybody. There a lot of shops opened, they sell everything. There is all we want here. There are very beautiful urban parks, small but enough and mostly very varied, where the big families can enjoy it. People are very mixed, there is neither a social category who leads nor who has got a particular range age. I feel a lot of tranquility. The climate explains this without any doubt even of the economic crisis which affects severely Spain. Galicia is not the region more affected. It's really striking in Andalusia.
I need to arrive way up north of the city to see the ocean lead largely the landscape. So the horizon opens itself completely. I am beaten by the winds enough powerful, and I feel well the force of the wave. There are neither huge monuments nor inevitable buildings. We can go around the isthma walking or by tramway, which seems to be gone out from the beginning of the century. There is also a sportive place, between tennis, football and farniente at the edge of the swimming pools, which are well filled yet as we approach autumn. Side football, a lot of people are wearing the Barça's jersey, more than Deportivo's one. As in all the spanish cities large enough, I ended to take a walk in the Corte Inglés. There are 7 floors but it seems to be less vast than in Madrid. Everything is classy and well organized. The crew is as usual very well dressed and very available. I desperatly looked after distributing tickets for the bus. The company is not at the place mentioned anyway. Side property, it's very variable. The city is globally clean, excepted the major ways, sprinkled with garbage. It's amazing to see how the selective collection is established in a good place even in the supermarkets while the cashiers fill for you a lot of plastic bags...
The colocation will begin today because I will receive a young Italian volunteer girl in the flat. It's too big for me alone anyway. I'm waiting for this patiently. Tomorrow, I will going for the arriving seminary in Gandario (just at 18 kilometers from A Coruña), for one week. On the way back, the serious things will begin for real, because the functioning of a normal week will be able to begin.
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