Willamstown, MA.

On day three state-side and still finding some things shocking. I was scandalized to find out this morning that there is NO grocery store in Williamstown (technically). It's actually in the next town over, which in all fairness is a sort of continuation of the same thing: there's no distinct end of one and beginning of the other. On one side the sign says "entering North Adams" and on the other side of the same sign "entering Williamstown."

The real shock for me, however, was that there's no way to get groceries without a car. I imagine there's SOME kind of public transportation, but my point is you actually cannot walk. I thought Miriam was exaggerating when she told me that this morning, but sure enough as I was driving to the store alone I actually turned around because I thought I must have missed it--it was just TOO far. But in fact I hadn't gone far enough.

Even though in my small town in Spain we do drive about 10-12 min to the supermarket to do monthly shopping, for my daily needs and last min purchases there are a number of shops and even supermarkets in town where I could buy anything I might possibly need and all within a five min walk.

My experience in the car this morning was just a reminder of how wedded Americans really are and actually need to be to their cars. A fact that in and of itself doesn't bother me so much as what it implies in terms of social interactions in public places. In general there are far fewer people on the streets in the US for the simple fact that they need to be in their cars to get their errands done.

This really is perhaps much more a reflection of small towns in the US, however, since it is true that in many cities the situation is similar to Spain in that there are corner grocery markets and people tend to be able to walk to most events/errands if they so choose. In small town USA the need to drive keeps a lot of people out of the streets, whereas in small town Spain a lot of (I would venture to say the majority of) social interaction takes place on the way to the grocery store, butcher's or bank.

It's not as if we Americans don't interact socially when we're running errands, don't get me wrong. I know very well what happens in Portola, CA when one goes to Leonard's for milk, say, and emerges half an hour later after having been fully informed of all the goings on in town. :) So, maybe it's a transference of where these interactions take place, but I distinctly remember being struck by the empty streets of Forest Grove after the return from my study abroad in Granada. And I think there's some loss of community that happens when there's such a lack of human presence in the streets of a town.

To radically change the subject, you're probably wondering about the picture: this is Maggie, one of Miriam's classmates who happens to be wonderful and lots of fun. The three of us together are pretty much a recipe for endless entertainment (if I might give my humble opinion). But I digress the picture is obviously Maggie and I, but the point is that we look like absolute twins because yesterday Miriam convinced me to buy a soft shell North Face jacket which she had previously also talked Maggie into purchasing. So now we are sporty twins in our sleek, soft shell jackets. ;)

I'm currently posting from Maggie's home which is beautifully located on a hill outside town just a bit. It's got lovely views of the town (picture to come) and is in general a relaxing place to be. It is, I must say, strange to be staying with Miriam at the "Fort" as it is called--the first year grad student housing--which is basically a dorm. There are only nine (?) other students living there, but it's communal bathrooms, kitchen and a semi-small room in which to fit ALL your stuff. So after being out of the dorms since sophomore year at Pacific, it's just weird to be back in a building with that distinctive dorm smell, using bathrooms and showers that everyone else uses and therefore where you can't leave your shampoo, towel or toothbrush. So it's nice to be in a home.

I feel very (gratefully) removed from this life of craziness. Sorry, that's not really related at all to communal kitchens or bathrooms, but rather the intense level of study here. And having been away from studies for a good five years now, I feel very distant from it all, in a good way. In some ways it is nice to be surrounded by the kinds of people who are willing to engage in deep conversations of the kind I find myself missing many times in my life abroad, however, there's another side of me that couldn't be happier to not be in this place myself. While I enjoy critical thinking and discussion and dialog, if I'm honest to myself it's rather overwhelming.

That's probably enough for the night. I'm picking my mom up tonight in Albany (late). :)

p.s. We adventurously made marzipan this afternoon. :) Maggie lent us her kitchen while she was in class and Miriam, another classmate and I mixed up some delicious marzipan. We getting ready to begin making some kind of shapes with it now that it's been chilling all evening.