Globe Corner Blogs

Ulla the Golden Retriever

There comes a time in life when bluffing your way through adulthood actually turns into “Being a Grownup (capital G).” This is an important realization. Nobody ever knows what they’re doing really, but somehow they get there anyway. Which is, as it happens, one of the best perks of being a Grownup: having the freedom to take off and search for parts of yourself in faraway places. MiddleGround blogger, traveller, and Grownup Dylan Fitzgerald had a little help reaching her destination, and we are very proud that a member of the GCB staff gave her the inspiration to get where she needed to go. Obviously, we’re talking about Ulla the Golden Retriever, the Globe Corner Bookstore’s resident travel agent/guidance counselor extraordinaire.

It all started when Dylan read Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises in high school and made a promise to herself: One day she would stroll beside San Sebastian’s harbor and take in the sights from one of the nearby cafés, just like the novel’s main character Jake. After college and several dead-end jobs, Dylan wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Thankfully, fate brought her to Ulla during an afternoon walk around Harvard Square. Being the great Hemingway admirer that she is, Ulla encouraged Dylan to fulfill her old promise. After a few belly rubs and some serious conversation with her “new life line,” Dylan booked a trip, hoping to discover France, Spain, and maybe a part of herself too. “Paris. Bordeaux. Provence. Nice. Madrid. Barcelona. San Sebastian . . . I headed to Ulla’s bookstore shortly thereafter and started buying maps.” Continue Reading »

Barcelona--photo by Adam

If I didn’t know better, I would have said that we were in an entirely different country.  Had the train ride been just a little bit longer and the Catalan spoken here a little bit less distinctive, it would have been easy to make that mistake.  Two days ago, when I went into the train station, I was surrounded by hay fields and barnyard animals (consisting of chickens, ducks, peacocks, and a horse).  When I got out of the train an hour later I found that the hay fields had turned into skyscrapers and the animals into a population of nearly two million people.

Two days ago we took the train from the small town of Flaça into Barcelona.  The common link between the two, more than anything else, seems to be their language.  Everything else–size, shape, lifestyle, food, pace, density, you name it–could not be more different.  But despite all of their differences, it is quite clear even to the tourist that the two places are linked.  This unity, I learned, dates back to the earlier parts of the 20th century, when Franco was the ruling dictator of Spain.  Wishing to crush any Catalonian sense of independence he officially abolished their unique language and enforced his ruling with marked brutality.  Naturally, his strict laws had the exact opposite that he intended.  The Catalan language became a way to show regional pride and rebuke the harsh dictator.  Following Franco’s demise, Catalan became the required language of everything–from schools to politics to cereal boxes.  Spanish was not allowed to be spoken for more than two hours a week in schools.

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Storm in Spain--photo by Adam

…at 5 o’clock. Two days ago, 4:30 pm: lightning crashes, my mom freaks out, and we still have 20 kilometers left to bike before we reach home.  Ambulance sirens pierce the air as they speed past us.  Yesterday, 5:30 pm: even the closed window can’t stop the deluge of water from finding its way into the house.  The floor shakes with each peal of thunder.  Today, 5 pm: black clouds gather in the distance and forked lightning illuminates the darkening sky.

Today is the third evening of a four day biking trip in Spain, over the course of which we (my parents and I) have been traveling in and among the farm houses and fields in an area slightly north of Girona. It’s amazing here. The views around the countryside are absolutely spectacular, ranging from wide sweeping corn, wheat, and sunflower fields to steep wooded hills, all the while with huge jagged mountains forming an imposing background in the distance.

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