#but when u say the name javier in spanish or with a spanish the letter flow softly and smoothly with the beginnings of his name almost like

[javiersprincess]

i think about javier and his connection to mexican culture and i begin to weep i fear

[umichenginabroad]

New in Town

Ana Warner

Computer Science ‘22

Spanish Language, Culture & Industry in San Sebastian, Spain

¡Hola mis amigos! This is our fourth day in Pamplona, and we all say it feels like we’ve been here forever. Our morning classes leave us plenty of time to check out the town, hang out together, and most importantly, go to the supermarket to collect a sizeable sampling of all the Spanish snacks. 

We are staying in one of the Universidad de Navarra’s dorms, where we each have our own bright single room with a personal bathroom. The small, green campus is a twenty-minute walk through the beautiful city, which is entirely enjoyable in the sunny warm weather… except when it pours and we all arrive to class soaked to the skin. (lookin’ at you, miercoles.)

Our quiet rooms are great when it’s time for an essential siesta after lunch. 

The Michigan students are separated into five levels of Spanish. Joining us are about 10 students who came independently from their schools, both international and from the US, and a group from Kansas State University. The advanced class jumped right into discussions of political conflict and practicing giving directions, while my beginner-level class started with the alphabet but quickly moved into basic conversational Spanish.

In the US, most schools teach Latin American Spanish, but here in Spain the language manifests some differences from what we learn at home. For example, besides having different names for the same words, like juice or beans, certain letters have different sounds: the hard c is pronounced more like g (Cuba se pronuncia “goo-ba”), and the soft c as well as the z are said with a th sound (Francia es “Fran-thia,” with a gentle roll on the r). T also sounds more like th (tango se pronuncia “thango”). However, d is pronounced like the soft th in “they,” so dos sounds like “though-ss.” Finally, v always sounds like b (guess what “benethuela” refers to). These straightforward letter swaps make the Castellano accent – Spanish spoken in Spain – easy to adopt, and the words fun to say, rolling out of your mouth. 

On our first day, we took a tour of the city with our local student guides Marta and Javier. 

El Calle de la Estafeta, a narrow but hugely important street in Old Town, which serves as a stretch of the festival of San Fermin’s bull run. In one month, this bar- and cafe-filled street will be flooded with red- and white-clad runners on the ground and spectators in every balcony. In the meantime, it’s a major nightlife hot spot. Photo Credit: Alex Snow, U-M ‘21. Keep an eye on his Instagram @alexsn8w for more trip photos.

The summer session students during our first good look at Pamplona. (Photo Credit: a friendly city native)

Poking around in the modern downtown’s wide, sunny pedestrian streets lined with bakeries, shops, and bright-colored apartments. 

On Thursday we attended a rumba flamenca class, a style of dance that originated in southern Spain when the Cuban rumba genre made its way to Europe and was blended with the older, folkloric Spanish flamenco dance. It’s fast and fun – although I messed up nearly nonstop, I came away with my face hurting from smiling and laughing so much.

The Michigan boys weren’t afraid to show off their new skills during our flamenco class.

Although this week has felt long, I know there’s so much more to explore here in the next two weeks. From history museums to tapas to back streets, we could keep ourselves occupied for months. 

More to come on Pamplona’s culture and history in future posts!

Hasta luego,

Ana