Cultural Phrase: El que quiera pescado que se moje el culo.

Literal translation: He who wants fish should get his butt wet.

Meaning: If you want something, do it yourself.

Application: College rips away our reliance on our parents and although it may suck, we have to do so many things by ourselves, such as getting food, doing the laundry, and so on. Honestly, while it is a hassle, it’s kind of nice to finally start living (kind of) like an adult. Also, this speaks volumes with me when it comes to group projects.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I actually asked my sister for a country she would like to visit, and to my surprise, she chose Spanish. This is rather ironic considering I took five years of Spanish in middle and high school while she’s currently taking German and we often argue (jokingly, of course) over the superior language.

But nonetheless, I know a lot about visiting Spain from countless projects and considering it’s such a beautiful and culturally rich nation, it should definitely be mentioned on this blog.

Before I dive into the culture, however, the current political struggle in Spain should be touched upon. Catalonia, an autonomous part of Spain, had recently held a referendum not permitted by the Spanish government in order to succeed from Spain. Despite the Catalonians voting to leave, the government called the referendum unconstitutional and barred Catalonia from succeeding, causing protests for several weeks now. Currently, they’re trying to take Catalonia’s autonomy away since Catalonia apparently did not follow the laws imposed on it.

That being said, Spain may not be the best place to visit currently, but when the turmoil abates, it is a marvelous place to visit.

When I asked her, my sister specifically wanted to visit “The Windmills” in Spain. Now, knowing her, she either knows exactly what she’s talking about or simply saw a picture somewhere and thought “Woah, that looks cool!”

In this case, I think it was the latter, considering the fascinating history behind the Windmills in Consuegra.

They’re actually the setting of Don Quixote, a story reference over and over within high school Spanish. While I have never read the book, clearly it’s something I need to get to, considering my graduation from Spanish. The path trails around several different buildings and towns referenced in Don Quixote, which is fascinating since it seems like you are stepping four centuries in the past to experience Spain the same was the characters in the story did.

I’m always awed in the presence of antiqued building because we have few of them in the United States, but as soon as you wander south or across the Atlantic, suddenly you’re surrounded by structures that are at least two millennia old, if not more.

Twelve of the thirteen windmills that once stood have been reconstructed and their names have been changed to names from Don Quixote, which was probably done to increase tourism and the popularity of the windmills, which first gained popularity during the 16th century after the book was published.

If anyone wants a weekend hike through Spain with both strong literary and cultural ties, then the windmills are a must see (and are aesthetically pleasing according to my sister)!