Nomadic Noles – Issue 3

Nomadic Noles

Summer 2016 A magazine written and produced by students in Florida State University’s Study Abroad Valencia Program

Jim Pitts and Ignacio Messana bring business savvy and abundant energy to their leadership roles See pages 4 and 6

Safety is always a top priority for study abroad staff and students See page 10

Teaching global entrepreneurship skills at international locations See page 14

Valencia’s ‘Central Park’ Just steps from FSU Valencia, the Turia Gardens offer plenty of greenspace to walk, bicycle, and relax See page 8

Letter from the program director

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he world is always changing, not only now or these days but always. And the same happens with people.

And even more with people who are around 20 years of age. So we have to combine two things: an adaptation to those changes and also a good managing of the changes in order to have good life standards and good quality in what we do.

That is a little bit of Ignacio Messana, the summary of what program director of FSU Valencia we face in the management of a study abroad program. It is obvious that we want safety, good teaching and learning, high quality immersion in the new culture where the students are living, excellent housing conditions, and very good services for health and other priority needs.

But as obvious as all of this is, we want the students (and faculty by the way) to get an experience that will make them change and be better, more open to different cultures, and more ready to face the world’s changes and—what is even more important—their own changes.

We have had more than 7,000 students in the FSU Program in Valencia. As you can imagine, we have hundreds of anecdotes and situations with different crises of many levels. Luckily for us, most, or all, of them have ended in “quite a good way.” Well, we can share with you that the best experience has been, and still is each semester, to see the evolution of the students. We see, experience, and (we want to think also) help how the shy student starts opening up or how each of the different problems or situations starts evolving into a student being better prepared for life, both academically and personally. You would enjoy our FSU Valencia staff luncheon meetings when we always end up speaking about former students and someone says, “Do you remember that student who....” We are very proud to say that the most valuable asset of the program is our former students, and as everyone at FSU knows well, our best publicity is the word of mouth of the students who have lived the experience of studying abroad with us.

Thanks to every faculty member, every colleague in Tallahassee, every student’s family members, and above all to every student, for making our working life much better and filled with experiences that we get to share through you. As I say to all students at their arrival: “Welcome to Spain, welcome to Valencia, and welcome to Florida State University Valencia.”

4 Table of contents Summer 2016

Faces of the staff

Man with a vision 4 International Programs Director Jim Pitts has positioned FSU as one of the nation’s top study abroad programs.

By Rosalie Peyton

Leading by example 6 FSU Valencia Director Ignacio Messana’s popularity among study abroad students stems from his commitment to fun as well as academics.

By Andrew Loeffler

Adventures in archaeology 18 Valencia native and archaeologist Juan Salazar unearths the region’s past and inspires students to better appreciate their temporary home.

By Gail Levy

Study center in focus

Safety first 10 Staff helps students learn how to be independent and still stay safe while studying and traveling in Europe.

By Alison Wilson

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Front cover photo by Molli-Rose Glickman.

Photo credits for table of contents, clockwise from top left: International Programs; Chris Carroll; Rachel Townsend; International Programs; Maryana Boatenreiter; Molli-Rose Glickman

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Entrepreneurial edge 14 School of Entrepreneurship founding Director Susan Fiorito expands the university’s course offerings to FSU’s study abroad programs.

By Jenna Kelley

In the students’ backyard 22 Explore the labyrinth of streets and history in one of Valencia’s oldest neighborhoods and the home of FSU’s study center, el barrio del Carmen.

By Valeria Rey

The thoughtful traveler 20 Candace Ward gives students a deeper understanding of tourism’s double-sided effects in her class, Tourist Trap: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

By Maryana Boatenreiter

The seaside scene 23 Just a few miles from FSU’s study center, Valencia’s beaches beckon those who want to enjoy the Mediterranean and learn a little literary history.

By Helaina Cozza and Jennifer Knauf

Local take on Brexit 24 The vote for Great Britain to leave the European Union shook people around world and had Valencians buzzing about the possible fallout.

By Weesam Khoury

Beyond the study center

Turia transformation 8 After a deadly flood struck Valencia, the community turned the riverbed into a park that runs through the city’s heart.

By Molli-Rose Glickman

International internships 12 From British Parliament to video production in Valencia, students get a global perspective of the working world by interning through FSU’s International Programs.

By Mackenzie Sadler

Back where it all started 16 University of Florida and FSU Valencia alumnus Elliott Konig returns to Spain to start a business in craft beer.

By Bianca Carbone

Viewing history up close 26 Students studying abroad are able to get an in-person perspective of history they have studied in books, and one student discovers more about the Spanish Civil War.

By Brandon Gonzalez

Music and food for the soul 28-29 Two local establishments, both within walking distance of FSU’s study centers, offer students a chance to unwind and to nourish the senses.

By Valeria Rey and Rosalie Peyton

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D

uring his 21 years as director of Florida State University’s International Programs (IP), Jim Pitts has built a highly successful study abroad experience for students to enjoy.

While he has been all business when it comes to achieving those goals, he has developed deep, personal ties with his IP colleagues as well as the FSU community. (See “In their words,” facing page).

Despite the fact that he has had such a successful career in his current position, it was not where he initially thought he would end up.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Pitts earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Kentucky in 1968, and he came to FSU with the goal of being a professor in the College of Business. He started out as an assistant professor, but his path took a different course, and eventually he worked his way up to the position of Vice President of University Advancement, overseeing the Seminole Boosters, the Foundation, and Alumni Affairs.

Then, in 1991, Bernie Sliger, the university president at the time, asked Pitts to travel to London to purchase a campus for the university. While Pitts had traveled around the United States a great deal—“by the time I was 12, I had been in every state west of the

Photo courtesy of Jim Pitts

Jim Pitts has been the director of International Programs since 1995, and he has steered the study abroad program to much success. as a graduate intern while he was teaching and securing the FSU London Study Centre facility. He has helped me gain knowledge and skills that I didn’t even know existed.”

Ceci echoes Blenman’s sentiments about their co-worker and friend.

“Dr. Pitts is a very special person to me,”

At the helm

A look into the life and career of Jim Pitts, director of International Programs for Florida State University

By Rosalie Peyton Mississippi,” he says—at the time, he had not been to areas requiring a passport.

“I told him I would go but I would have to get a passport first,” Pitts says.

That situation did not discourage Pitts from accepting the challenge, which supports the impression Michele Ceci, IP’s chief operating officer and associate director, has of Pitts: “The man is unstoppable.”

Finding that property in London was the beginning of Pitts’s track to becoming director of IP, a job he officially took in 1995.

The positive effect he has had on people he works with is undeniable.

“Without a doubt, Dr. Pitts has been one of the most influential people in my career,” says Louisa Blenman, director of enrollment management for IP. “I am thankful to have had the privilege of learning from Jim for half my life—since I first met him in London 4

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san Fiorito, FSU professor of business and director of the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, who has taught in both London and Valencia.

Fiorito also is the Faculty Senate president, a position that Pitts has held three times.

“It’s not an easy task being Faculty Senate president,” she says. “You have to be on a lot of committees and represent all of the faculty members. The more I find out about his history, and what he’s done for FSU, the more I admire him.”

Owning buildings in London and Valencia and having long-term leases in Florence and the Republic of Panama gives FSU satellite campuses, which have helped to draw large numbers of students to the school’s study abroad programs. According to a ranking by the Institute of International Education, the university is among the nation’s top 25 for the number of students who study abroad

Ceci says. “We have worked together for over 15 years and shared many laughs, some tears, and lots of joy. Having colleagues you enjoy being with is so important – I am forever in debt to him.”

Members of the IP team find it easy to express how fortunate they feel that Pitts’s path led him to “Dr. Pitts is a very special person being the director, and others to me. We have worked together looking in from the outside for over 15 years and shared many clearly see that Pitts has had a strong impact on the program laughs, some tears, and lots of joy.” as a whole.

— Michele Ceci “One of the things I admire most about him is that unlike other study for credit. In the 2013-2014 year, 2,221 stuabroad programs around the country, he dents studied abroad with FSU. had the insight and the perseverance to buy While the numbers show how hard Pitts properties in Valencia and London, and now works to create and develop a thriving study other schools use our properties to teach abroad program at FSU, the people around their classes—that was so brilliant,” says Su- him keep coming back to the caring and enNOMADIC NOLES

In their words

Michele Ceci, chief operating officer and associate director of International Programs

Carlos Langoni, rector of the FSU campus in the Republic of Panama

I thank him for the opportunities he’s provided me to expand my knowledge of the world, for the trust he’s placed in me to organize and oversee the operations in Tallahassee and abroad, and for the friendships and IP family that have developed at all levels of our organization, largely due to his caring nature.

Without giving away his age (I’m 60 and Jim is 14 years older), but we call him the Energizer bunny. He can travel many time zones and still have more energy than even the youngest member of our staff.

One of my favorite memories is ice skating with Jim’s wife Martha (world’s greatest wife, or at least the most tolerant), and our London students and staff. Jim served as our “professional” photographer. While trying to capture that perfect shot, he landed in a big wet puddle and he wasn’t even skating—he had a bit of a chilly wait for us to finish!

I would like to share these anecdotes regarding Dr. Pitts: 1) Since he started overseeing the Panama program, he never missed our commencement exercises, usually held once a year in early December. In 2004 he invited Dr. T.K. Wetherell, then president of FSU, to be our speaker and guest of honor in the 2004 graduation. Dr. Wetherell accepted the invitation and came to Panama for a few days with Mrs. Wetherell. Since he had one day free to do sightseeing, we organized a trip on the train from Panama to Colon. On the way back from Colon, we arranged for Dr. Wetherell, his wife, and other guests to come back to Panama City on a couple of speedboats through Gatun lake. Little did he know that Mrs. Wetherell was not very fond of boats and used to get seasick; however she graciously accepted to ride on the speedboat. Once we left and the boats started to gain speed, you could see Dr. Pitts’s expression of concern (later he said he was thinking: “Oh my God, I hope I still have a job on Monday”). Fortunately nothing happened; they all enjoyed the ride very much, including Mrs. Wetherell.

2) One of the things Dr. Pitts won’t miss in every visit to Panama is a good “corvina” dish. Corvina is the equivalent of sea bass and is a very popular seafood in Panama. He loves it so much that we used to joke that he could eat corvina for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

He certainly won’t miss a good grilled corvina whenever there’s a choice on the menu.

Louisa Blenman, director of enrollment management for International Programs Dr. Pitts has a remarkable combination of vision, financial acumen, and administrative savvy. These attributes have not only been central to my own career development, but they have also resulted in FSU being uniquely positioned in the field of study abroad. Equally as important as all of these impressive qualities, Jim is a kind, thoughtful, fun-loving, family man, which helps make ‘IP’ the best place I can imagine working. Because of his leadership and guidance, I am able to better serve our university and our students, and for that I am grateful. joyable working environment he has formed in the IP offices and beyond.

“There are many things I can say about Dr. Pitts, having known and worked with him for more than 16 years,” says Carlos Langoni, the rector of the FSU campus in the Republic of Panama. “From all the years I’ve worked with him, probably the best lesson I’ve learned from him is about being patient and never jumping to conclusions. He is a very analytical person, grasping every little detail when dealing with a problem.

“About the few critical situations we had to face together, I always remember his words: ‘Carlos, there will be better days, just be patient.’”

Ignacio Messana, the program director for FSU Valencia, first met Pitts during his phone interview in 2000, which Messana conducted from a phone booth in Valencia.

See PITTS, page 33

Photo courtesy of Alexis Schulman

Jim Pitts, right, stands next to his wife Martha as they spend time with friends at a Fallas Festival in Valencia.

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Photo by Alexis Schulman

Captain of the team Whether it is participating in outdoor activities with FSU students, leading the Valencia program staff, or creating a strong educational environment, Ignacio Messana (far left) always brings his A game

By Andrew Loeffler

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wedding of Sean Jacobus, who studied at FSU Valencia in spring 2007.

Jacobus, who invited Messana and his wife to the wedding because of the positive impact Messana made on his life, says he arrived in Valencia as an “all over the place, bratty kid,” and with help from Messana, developed some maturity.

“I think that one of the most special things about what he has set up in Valencia is really taking kids and turning them into adults when they’re walking out of there, and I think that’s vital,” Jacobus says.

“And that’s why I wanted to keep the relationship with Ignacio.”

In 2012, Jacobus returned to Valencia with his fiancée for a visit.

Upon their arrival, Messana made sure that Jacobus and his fiancée had a bottle of champagne and some fruit waiting for them in their hotel room. Later, Messana took them to a Valencia vs. Barcelona

hen international students come to Valencia, Spain to start the journey of a lifetime, whether they know it or not, they place their trust in Ignacio Messana, FSU Valencia’s program director.

As a native Valencian, a former cavalry officer for the Spanish army, and a Ph.D. academic who has been with FSU Valencia since 2000, Messana is a charismatic leader who makes a lasting impression on students.

The lasting impression is evident when Messana travels to Tallahassee every October for the Study Abroad Fair and also evident in the ongoing ties that students maintain with him digitally and sometimes through return visits to Valencia.

“Walking across campus with Ignacio is like walking “I’m so proud of how we influence the lives across campus with a rock star,” says Ceil Bare, director of program management for FSU International Programs (IP). of students, and we try to do it in the best “Everywhere we go, students who’ve studied in Valencia way possible with very little time. . . . We try just flock to him.” to do it on the academic and the personal A digital sign of Messana’s popularity with students occurred when he announced on Facebook in December 2015 side—in both—in their way of being, in their that he had just earned his Ph.D. and immediately earned character, in getting them to mature and to more than 1,000 “likes,” several of which came from former be a good person.”

FSU Valencia students who still kept in touch with him.

And another sign of Messana’s lasting impression on stu— Ignacio Messana dents is that he attended the September 2016 New York City 6

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soccer match as a surprise.

“That just shows what kind of guy Ignacio is,” Jacobus says.

Jordan Suarez is a more recent Valencia student upon whom Messana made a big impression. Suarez says Messana went over his communication and public speaking skills with him every day when he studied business from him in Valencia in the spring of 2015.

“He taught me that, when you pour your heart into something you’re passionate about, the results you will see are amazing,” Suarez says. “To see how he took a small program and made it into the powerhouse program that it is simply because he had a passion to do so is remarkable.”

One example of the growth of FSU Valencia can be seen in student enrollment numbers. In 2000-2001, there were 283 students who studied at FSU Valencia for at least part of the year, whereas in 2014-2015, there were 679 students who studied at FSU Valencia for at least part of the year.

Messana is proud of the program’s growth and quick to share the credit with his staff for the program’s overall success, who he says work very hard, often at all hours of the night and weekend. In addition to the staff, Messana himself puts in many hours above and beyond a normal work week to make sure that students are safe and that the program is successful, which he says he could not do without the support of his wife, Vicky Pacheco, who also works at FSU Valencia.

Besides his support at home, Messana says it is the joy of working with young students and the appreciation that he feels from the FSU community that has kept him happy with his job all these years.

“I’m so proud of how we influence the lives of students,” Messana says, “and we try to do it in the best way possible with very little time. We have some students who are here with us only five weeks, and we have some students who are here with us for a year.

“And then some come back as program assistants, so we influence students’ lives.

Proud of it,” Messana says. “And we try to do it on the academic and the personal side—in both—in their way of being, in their character, in getting them to mature and to be a good person.”

It is ironic, however, that Messana, who finds so much fulfillment in his work with young people, ended up working with FSU students almost by accident.

After graduating from the University of

Valencia with an MBA and after fulfilling his service obligations in the Spanish army, Messana spent his early career working as a businessman in Valencia.

However, in the year 2000, Messana made friends with an American who would change his life. At that time, Messana happened to be working at a job that he didn’t particularly like and would typically meet his wife for lunch at 3 p.m., after she finished the day at the bank where she worked. After lunch, he would return to work.

However, Messana often had to wait 30 minutes or so outside the bank for her until she finished finalizing accounts. In the spring of 2000, FSU had decided to establish a study abroad program in Valencia and was working with the bank, Pacheco in particular, to set up business matters in Valencia. And it was then, while waiting outside the bank, that Messana first met Program Director Bob Smith.

“I couldn’t wait inside the bank because it was her office and it was closed,” Messana says. “So I was just waiting around the area in the cafeteria, and I met the director of the FSU program here. And we got to be friends in May and June without me looking for a job or him looking for someone. I didn’t even know I was looking for a job.”

After a phone interview with International Programs Director Jim Pitts of Tallahassee, as well as several discussions about possible arrangements, Messana was offered a position in which he taught business classes and served as assistant director of the center under Smith. One year later, Messana was promoted to associate director, handling the administrative side of the operation but not the academic side. Smith retired, and around 2003, Messana was named full program director.

“I remember well my first telephone interview with Ignacio,” Pitts says. “He had some difficulty understanding my southern U.S. English and I had some difficulty with his Irish English. However, after a short time I was convinced that he would be a good business instructor and good for our Valencia study center.

“He has certainly lived up to that expectation and has a heart for the students.”

Ignacio Messana standing tall in his army uniform.

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Messana, who still reports to Pitts, says he has learned a great deal from Smith and Pitts.

“The main things that Jim has taught me are to properly think about answers and to deliver them honestly,” Messana says. “He’s really a role model.”

Messana credits Smith with also being a very good boss, being very smart, and having “a huge heart.”

These days, staff members who work at FSU Valencia would attribute many of those positive qualities to Messana himself.

Alicia Martinez, FSU Valencia associate director, first met Ignacio when he hired her 14 years ago. At that time, her first impression of him was that he was straightforward and qualified for his position.

“He had been training the whole team, I mean at least part of the teams in Spain 14 years ago,” she says, adding that some of the same people are still on staff together. “It has been beautiful to build and learn from him and the way he’s working or he’s trying to pushing things forward.”

While Messana has learned much from his bosses at FSU Valencia and, in turn, does his best to be a good boss to those who work for him now, his values and strong work ethic were shaped during childhood.

He was born in 1970 in Valencia to a family with three older sisters, the youngest of See MESSANA, page 34

Photo courtesy of Ignacio Messana

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The Turia

From waterway to greenway A peek into the history of the park, the flood that started it all, and the grand public amenity it is today Article and photos by Molli-Rose Glickman

n October 14, 1957 terror struck Valencia, and its name was the Gran Riada de Valencia (the Grand Flood). On this day, the Turia River flowing from the mountains of northern Spain into the Mediterranean Sea, including through the center of Valencia, flooded the city. With swells of the river nearing 17 feet high and a death toll of 81 people, this morbid Monday remains the day that some Valencians still remember as the most horrifying one of their childhood.

Maria Salinas, mother of FSU Valencia Program Director Ignacio Messana, says she remembers most distinctly “waking up to no running water, no electricity, and river water flooding in through the drains on the ground floor.” She recalls that it was a day of “absolute surprise and astonishment,” as small floods had occurred previously, but never to such an overwhelming extent.

“There was a famous moment of all of Spain trying to help Valencia.”

— Maria Salinas

All of the pathways in the park are surrounded by greenery.

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As a result of this natural disaster, the entire country of Spain stood in solidarity with Valencia.

“There was a famous moment of all of Spain trying to help Valencia,” Salinas says.

“There was a big radio program where people donated items to be bid on, and the proceeds went to help Valencia.” Most impressive of them all, she says, was when “the bishop of Valencia even donated his official ring to be bid on.”

In reaction to this tragedy, combined with the occurrence of previous insignificant floods, the community of Valencia knew it had to act. And thus, the “Plan Sur” was born. In 1961, the government of Spanish ruler Francisco Franco approved a plan to divert the river around the city. Originally the government had planned to convert the riverbed into a highway, but this idea was strongly opposed by the populace. This disapproval gave birth to a movement known as “el riu és nostre i el volem verd,” meaning “the river is ours and we want it green.”

At the time, Valencia lacked the facilities and green areas that it now has thanks to the Jardines del Turia (Gardens of the Turia) and so the citizens that demanded its creation. Fast forward a few decades and you can now see the results in the magnificent

9-kilometer-long Turia Park, with bike trails, lush green spaces, and top-notch athletic and leisure facilities. However, this final product was no easy feat and took many years of both social and logistical work.

Originally, the question was: How exactly should the Valencian government utilize 450 acres of dried riverbed? Christopher Coutts, an FSU associate professor of urban and regional planning, as well as an expert of green infrastructure, says that transforming the Turia Park can be considered “a massive undertaking,” and that after years of pushing for the movement, the people got their wish with the inauguration of the Turia Gardens in 1986. The naturally rich soil left behind laid the groundwork for the miles of gardens that would soon blossom where a powerful force of nature once flowed.

The development of the Turia would change the face of Valencia for years to come.

an academic and personal standpoint, having taught at FSU Valencia in 2015.

“Its design promotes social mingling,” he says. “The diversity of amenities also serves the diversity of recreational preferences.”

The park itself is home to athletic facilities, playgrounds, bike trails, cafes, and gardens and acts as a traffic-free connection from the mountains to the coast.

“The Turia is an example of how communal space can create a greater sense of communal values,” Coutts says.

For example, the park has become the venue for many music events during the Feria de Julio, a festival taking place each year throughout the entire month of July. The tradition began in 1871 and was launched as a way to keep Valencians in the city for the summer as well as a way to attract visitors.

The festival hosts a variety of events such as food tastings, concerts, a carnival, and firework shows each week. In fact, just a mile from the FSU Study Center is a summer carnival with a massive Ferris wheel. In 2016, for example, there were dozens of concerts and games scheduled in the park during July as well as seven different pyrotechnic shows planned for the month.

Florida State University students studying abroad in Valencia are fortunate to have easy access to such a versatile public space.

Connor Hennessy, an FSU student study-

Coutts compares the creation of the Turia Park to the project of creating Central Park in New York City. “The Turia Park is certainly on par with Central Park in terms of its benefits to the city,” Coutts says. “The park continues to provide immeasurable health and well-being benefits not only to the residents of Valencia but to tourists as well.”

Coutts knows the Turia Park from both

ing in Valencia in summer 2016, says his favorite thing about the park is the dirt soccer fields. “Legends are born there,” he says.

Another summer 2016 FSU study abroad student, Miranda Teta, says she loves the Turia Park. “It provides me with a space where I can get some fresh air,” she says, as well as “a place to study and unwind while taking in Valencia’s beauty.”

“The Turia Park is certainly on par with Central Park in terms of its benefits to the city.”

— Christopher Coutts

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A local biker rides on one of the many trails in the park.

Thanks to all of the physical ground that the park covers, there are areas that suit the varying preferences of people in Valencia.

For example, the area of the park just steps away from the FSU Study Center has a playground and two soccer fields. Bike a few minutes in either direction, however, and you will find highly differing areas.

There seems to be a rather obvious divide upon choosing which direction to head once you enter the park from the FSU Study Center. To the left you will find your way to more residential areas, and to the right you will find the more tourist-heavy areas such as the Gulliver Park, the City of Arts and Sciences, and eventually the beach. Consistent elements, though, are the bike and running trails that weave throughout the entire length of the park.

Aside from the obvious grand aesthetic, the Turia Park stands for much more. It is the ultimate practical application of “fall seven times, stand up eight.” After numerous smaller floods and the eventual Gran Riada de Valencia, an innovative idea led the city to strike gold.

Out of tragedy was carved a useful park that not only beautified the city, but fostered physical and emotional health. The Turia Riverbed Park acts as the center of the community where people come to exercise, play, and celebrate. It will forever be the main artery flowing through the vibrant heart of Valencia, Spain.

See page 32 for Molli-Rose Glickman’s photo essay of the Turia Park.

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Safety matters FSU Valencia staff and study abroad students work together to stay safe

By Alison Wilson

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Photo courtesy of Gail Levy

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any students studying abroad receive at least 10 different text messages a day from their family. “Keep your belongings close.”

“Don’t carry all your money with you.”

“Don’t go anywhere on your own.”

It´s the first time many of them have traveled outside of the United States by themselves, so their parents´ anxiety is off the charts. Naturally, parents worry.

But in terms of violence and terrorist attacks, students are probably as safe in Valencia, Spain as they are in the States. For example, remember the June 2016 attack at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. However, if something does happen, there are more plans than you can imagine to keep students out of harm’s way.

The staff at the FSU Valencia Study Center is well equipped and ready to deal with emergencies. From fires to lost technology, and even from the possibility of a terrorist attack, study center officials work behind the scenes constantly to ensure the safety of all Photo by Alison Wilson students and faculty.

Ultimately, Alicia Marcommunication tinez, associate director of FSU is key: “If we are counting students Valencia, explains the plans and we see that the staff has in we are missing place in case evpeople, we always eryone needs to evacuate. There get help from are three meetother students.” ing points, the — Alicia Martinez, first being outassociate director side the student of FSU Valencia living quarters,

although the others cannot be disclosed. It is all very hush hush, and for good reason.

Many safety issues have to be dealt with discreetly, but there are also many measures that have to be taken to make students aware of the dangers they face while abroad. Students in the program start with pre-orientation while they are still in the States to prepare them for the differences in culture. Then when they arrive in Valencia they are given a second orientation, along with a stack of papers full of safety tips and protocols.

Even though students are overly excited to get out into the city when they first arrive, it is important that they read and follow these protocols because staying safe is as much the student´s responsibility as it is the staff´s. Martinez says the number one way the students can help the staff is to “follow safety tips and make people get concerned and informed.”

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Photo by Gail Levy

Top: Students from the FSU Valencia Program were in Nice, France and visited Monaco the weekend before the July 14, 2016 terrorist attack.

Below: The area where the Nice attack occurred was along the road that parallels the beach.

Because there are more students than there are staff members, it is up to students to be smart and to take precautions when going out and when traveling. As soon as students arrive in Valencia, they need to provide study

Photo courtesy of Helaina Cozza

Several study abroad students visit Morocco during summer 2016. center officials with their emergency contact information, along with a copy of their passport. In addition, before leaving for any independent trips outside of Valencia, students need to fill out travel forms online so that the staff in both Valencia and Tallahassee knows where everyone is at all times and can contact them in case there is an emergency in Valencia or near their travel destination.

On July 14, 2016 there was a terrorist attack in Nice, France. No more than a week before, a group of FSU Valencia students had traveled to Nice for the weekend. One of the students, Gail Levy, says, “While I was there, I loved it and never did I feel unsafe. It was just really eerie hearing about the attack and knowing I had been there three days before.”

No matter how safe a place seems, there is always a risk, even in Valencia, which is why the staff takes so many precautions.

For example, the Fourth of July is the biggest celebration American students have while studying abroad during the summer session, but in 2016 the staff opted to tone it down so as not to call attention to the group. In 2015, the celebrations took place on a rooftop with decorations and was loud enough for the entire block to hear. Even though the party was under control, staff

Many safety issues have to be dealt with discreetly, but there are also many measures that have to be taken to make students aware of the dangers they face while abroad.

who is traveling, students should contact the center as soon as possible to let them know their status.

During the attacks on Paris in November 2015, there were two students from FSU Valencia in Paris. Even though it was the middle of the night, the students called the center to let study center officials know that they were safe and sound in their hostel. In return, the on-duty staff was able to help the students return back to Spain when their original flights were cancelled.

Since these recent attacks, the staff has updated its protocols and continues to do so every few months. They keep in contact with the police in Spain and the United States embassy, as well as an insurance company that will help students in case of an emergency.

Because students are in a foreign country, their parents will probably worry no matter what, but students in Valencia are safer than parents know. Staying safe in the city is mostly using common sense and following their parents’ frantic advice. Yet, if there is an emergency, the staff has plans upon plans, some of which are top secret, to evacuate and keep account of everyone.

If parents are still worried, they can look up the safety protocols and tips on the International Programs website. At the end of the day, we are all responsible for the safety of ourselves and the people around us. So if students see something suspicious, they should report it to a staff member immediately and remember to remain calm, because students´ parents probably have enough anxiety for everyone.

wanted to take it back one step further.

Therefore, in 2016 the celebration took place inside a local restaurant and was not broadcast anywhere.

Despite the staff ’s discreet efforts to tone down the celebration, a student posted on the Summer 2016 Valencia Facebook page telling everyone to wear red, white, and blue.

But when Ignacio Messana, the director of the program, saw the post, he became concerned that it would make the group of 220 students and faculty members a target for anti-American groups. Though he couldn’t stop students from wearing the colors, the staff was made aware of the situation and was kept on high alert.

Ultimately, communication is key, Martinez says. The staff uses several platforms, including Facebook, text messaging, and help from other students to keep in contact with everyone.

“If we are counting students and we see that we are missing people, we always get help from other students,” Martinez says. “They normally they know where their roommate or friends went, and we try to contact them as soon as possible.”

As you can see, it’s up Photo by Alison Wilson to students to respond Erica Gleeman fills out an online travel form before and help. If there is an leaving for the Spanish island Mallorca. attack near someone NOMADIC NOLES

Summer 2016 11

Photo courtesy of Alexa Hehl

Top left: Alexa Hehl (right), who worked on British Hospitality Association’s social media campaigns and website, enjoys free time in front of London´s Tower Bridge with her supervisor. Middle: Sara Griffin, front row, second from left, canvasses neighborhoods in London. Bottom: Alexandra Pina, an intern for BSV Production in Valencia, records voiceovers for a commerical in spring 2015.

Photo courtesy of Sara Griffin

International Programs offers internships in faraway locations and across many disciplines

By Mackenzie Sadler

I

t’s the first day of the new semester, and the jitters of starting over increase with every step toward your front door. Except this time it is different. This time you are not walking out your front door to be greeted by friendly professor faces and the excitement of new classes. This time, you will be starting a new semester with an internship in a country you may or may not have ever been to in your lifetime. Today is the day you start your journey of interning abroad. You 12 Summer 2016

Photo courtesy of Alexandra Pina

Passport to the working world

two students that requested it.

There was no set program or guidelines.”

While the internship program started as a relatively small idea, it has grown to England, Spain, Italy, China, and Panama. And fortunately for FSU students, there are internship opportunities in many disciplines.

“We have placements available in accounting, advertising, art history, business, community service, film and video production, government, hospitality, international business, logistics, marketing, media, museums, music production, non-profit, Parliament, product development, PR, social media, and sports management to name a few,” Fisher says.

While each study center offers various opportunities, each study center is known for its specialties. For example, many students choose to go to London to work in Parliament and government, since London is the capital of England, whereas students interested in medicine, nursing, or education usually intern in Valencia.

Some previous internships that FSU has offered in Valencia include working at a local doctor´s office; at a video production company; or at L’Oceangrafíc, Europe’s largest aquarium.

Panama has some specialties, too. “In Pan-

will always be a Seminole at heart, but now you’re a Seminole 4,000 miles away from the mothership.

Students are fortunate to have many opportunities through Florida State’s Office of International Programs (IP), including studying abroad or doing an internship abroad.

Although perhaps not as widely known among students as FSU’s study abroad programs, the internship program is not new.

“The [internship] program started about 30 years ago in London,” says Gisela Fisher, internship coordinator for International Programs at FSU. “It was done for the one or NOMADIC NOLES

ama, we have several placements available in United Nations affiliates, such as the U.N. Environment Programme, the U.N. Population Fund, and the U.N. World Food Programme to name a few,” Fisher says.

Of course, language becomes a factor when a student interns at a non-English speaking country. In Valencia, for example, most internships require Spanish, except those in which students—mostly education majors—intern in a bilingual school.

“You need to be fluent if you are coming to Spain to work,” says Maria Sierra, who works in the Student Services Office in Valencia and has arranged several internships.

“You don’t need to be fluent in the education placement because you are going to be in a bilingual school and are going to use English.

But for the other internships, you need to be fluent. If you are not fluent in Spanish, it is not going to work out well.”

That said, International Programs works hard to find a suitable internship for any interested student.

Fisher says one of the largest misconceptions is “that there are only so many placements and that it is highly competitive, which is not the case. International Programs has the same number of internships available every semester, and there is no limit,” Fisher says.

However, there is one caveat: Fisher cannot guarantee placement with a particular company or organization. She does not “want students to be focused on a name rather than if the organization will be a good fit for them.”

Fisher works with people around the world, such as Sierra, to seek out openings for potential interns.

Sierra says she often begins by reaching out to organizations “that we have very good

tell me yes or no if they have openings. If we have a student that wants to do something different or something we have never had, we need to look,” says Sierra.

Fisher says that FSU officials want to do even more than find openings.

“We want to make sure that the organization will be able to provide the intern with the learning experience that the student is looking for,” says Fisher.

Ideally, not only will an intern have an interesting talking point on his or her resume, but that student will also have learned the ropes from seasoned professionals.

By interning abroad, students get to experience workplaces that they wouldn’t find within Photo courtesy of Chris Carroll the United States and Chris Carroll, director of emergency and risk cultures that are new to management in FSU’s International Programs office, them. Such experiences interned in London in fall 2000 with Member of can be pivotal to a stu- Parliament (MP) Nigel Evans, and says about its dent’s life and career. importance, “I’ve spent the last 15 years in different Consider FSU student positions and have dedicated my career to helping Sara Griffin’s experience students study abroad. So, needless to say—the in England, for example. experience had a direct impact on my career.”

Griffin, a campaign intern for the Harrow East Labour Party dur- whole of the United Kingdom,” she says. ing spring 2015 in London, is one of many With such responsibilities and tasks come interns who speaks positively of her experi- lifelong memories. ences. As an intern, Griffin had multiple reStudent Alexa Hehl interned with the Britsponsibilities, including “planning fundraiser ish Hospitality Association (BHA) in Londinners and inviting other Mem- don in spring 2016. “The BHA is a trade “The idea of doing an internship bers of Parliament and Union association that represents hospitality and members to attend, to leading tourism industries and its members in govis to be able to see if the job large groups of volunteers can- ernment and advises them on how to best vassing around neighborhoods in implement new policies in their respective the student thinks they want is constituency, to answering the businesses,” Hehl says. actually what is best for them. If the office phone and emails, setting Through this internship that taught her I had never done this internship, up and running telephone banks “more about the political work than I ever that had large number of volun- learned inside the classroom,” Hehl created I would have never realized teers, entering voter data from multiple memories, she says. One of her what specific area I really liked.” our canvassing and phone bank- favorite memories was celebrating her 21st — Alexandra Pina ing sessions, [and] drafting formal birthday with work colleagues “at a blackcorrespondence between the can- tie event at five-star hotel on Park Lane contact with. And if we have a student that didate and the residents of the constituency.” where I ate a three-course meal cooked by is interested in one of those companies or Her internship with the Harrow East La- Michelin starred chefs.” one of those placements, we will contact that bour Party allowed her to play a role in an See INTERNSHIPS, page 36 particular company, and [the company] will election that “was the closest election in the NOMADIC NOLES

Summer 2016 13

School of Entrepreneurship offers global experiences and fresh look at the world

mer courses without even being entrepreneurship majors, getting around the fact that the entrepreneurship major is limited access, accepting only a certain number of students per year. here’s never been a better time to In summer 2016, both entrepreneurship study entrepreneurship at Florida courses were taught in Valencia by Professor State University—and studying entreSusan Fiorito, founding director of the new preneurship abroad can give students Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship and a valuable global perspective. a former entrepreneur herself. A frequent A recent gift of $100 million from Jan guest lecturer in the classes was Valencia Moran of the Jim Moran Foundation has enProgram Director Ignacio Messana, also a abled Florida State to create the Jim Moran former entrepreneur and seasoned business School of Entrepreneurship, while the Jim executive, who focused on the role of entreMoran Institute within the College of Busipreneurship in higher education in his 2015 ness will grow as well.

Ph.D. dissertation.

“We’re kindred spirits,” Fiorito says. “I am just thrilled to be able to work with him.”

Both Fiorito and Messana believe that studying abroad gives would-be entrepreneurs an edge and a fresh outlook—attributes that are valuable in today’s global marketplace.

By Jenna Kelley For one thing, Fiorito says, today’s entrepreneurs almost always have a website for their business, meaning that people anywhere with an internet connection can see the site.

“So now businesses are international, whether they like it or not,” Fiorito says. “Entrepreneurs today can no longer just be local. We have to be international.”

Moreover, the more that students learn about different cultures and what customers are looking for about different cultures, the better off their businesses and websites will be, she says.

Take food, for example. “Sometimes the food is different than in the States,” Fiorito says. “Sometimes the seasoning is a little bit different. So there has to be someone who understands this.”

Studying abroad makes students more aware of these differences, Fiorito and Messana say.

After students have been in Valencia for even two or three weeks, Messana says, their experiences and interactions open their eyes to new things. “From feelings, to Photo by Jenna Kelley products, to services, to descriptions, there are so many things that Susan Fiorito collects quizzes from students in one of her two entrepreneurial classes in have opened your eyes,” he tells a Valencia, Spain during the summer of 2016.

T

What’s more, students interested in entrepreneurship can take entrepreneurship courses while studying abroad.

FSU International Programs (IP) has been offering entrepreneurship courses in London since 2010, and IP offered two such courses in Valencia in summer 2016: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and International Entrepreneurship. Moreover, in summer 2017, IP will offer entrepreneurship courses in Florence, Italy for the first time.

If all goes as planned, entrepreneurship courses will be available regularly in all three locations in 2017 and beyond.

One advantage of studying abroad is that students may take the entrepreneurship sum-

An eye for opportunity

14 Summer 2016

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student interviewer. “So I know how much you grow and you learn by being with people who do things in a different way than the way you do them.”

Fiorito agrees. “Being an entrepreneur means keeping your eyes open for an opportunity, seeing a problem that needs to be solved, going about solving that problem, and then finding the funding to make it happen.”

She emphasizes this message in her classroom. “What I want to do in my entrepreneurship classes is to open students’ eyes up. . . . Don’t just be satisfied with being told the word ‘no.’ Find an answer.”

And Fiorito feels that studying entrepreneurship in another country is a bonus. “Students are in the midst of a different culture,” she says. “You can’t read about this, right? I mean you can, but it’s not the same as experiencing it.”

Messana believes that Valencia in particular is an ideal place for studying entrepreneurship. “Here you can combine being in the downtown area to being in the finance district to being in the shopping district,” Messana says, instead of witnessing only a “little neighborhood” in a much larger metropolitan city such as Madrid.

Fiorito often used Valencia as her classroom in summer 2016. All along the streets of Valencia lie hundreds of small businesses such as cafes, souvenir shops, wine shops, boutiques, and more. These stores give students opportunities to talk with the owners so that students can learn what it is like to begin a business in Valencia.

“Entrepreneurship is not just unique to the United States but a part of people’s mindset all across the globe,” says Charles Bonani, a student of Fiorito’s in summer 2016.

Fiorito took students to the Polytechnic

University of Valencia so that they could speak with small-business owners from the entrepreneurship program there that have created a product. One of the companies, Closca Design, produces a stylish foldable bike helmet now featured in the Museum of Modern Art design store in New York City.

Yet, even though studying in Valencia fosters a global way to view the business world, there are some differences between American and Spanish businesses that students should know about.

“Here we are scared to start things,” says Messana, “because if we fail, we feel it’s a reason to be embarrassed forever—and it’s not.”

Not so in the U.S. “In the U.S., we tell our entrepreneurship students, ‘Don’t feel bad about failing,’” Fiorito says. “In fact, venture capitalists won’t give money to companies that haven’t failed already” because it proves that entrepreneurs have the experience, motivation, and determination to get back up on their feet.

Learning about the cultural differences between Valencian entrepreneurs and American entrepreneurs can show students the importance and hard work of owning a business, especially when lack of sucPhoto by Jenna Kelley cess can mean losing more Susan Fiorito and Ignacio Messana are enjoying a than just your pride. day in Toledo, Spain on a program-wide trip.

But talking with business owners from another country can also help how to network internationally. For those U.S. students develop a better awareness students who speak Spanish, it is a chance of other cultures and can help them learn to gain confidence in their language skills.

Ultimately, combining entrepreneurship courses with a study abroad experience is a winning combination, Messana believes.

“Multiculture means more and better ideas,” he says. “FSU has in Tallahassee with the Jim Moran Institute one of the very powerful places [for studying entrepreneurship]…. If you add a multicultural element, it’s going to boost [students’ credentials] to the sky because it’s something that other Photo courtesy of Susan Fiorito people cannot do, and it’s something that I really strongly believe Susan Fiorito, second from left, and Jan Moran, far left, aboard the Moran yacht, “Gallant Lady,” in July 2016 with other FSU officials. A gift of $100 million from Jan Moran of the Jim makes students leave with their minds so open.”

Moran Foundation has enabled FSU to create the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship.

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Summer 2016 15

A new life brewing From top left: Elliott Konig attends a craft beer brewing festival in South Florida. Konig enjoys an American staple while attending a Spanish bullfight. FSU Valencia’s Program Director Ignacio Messana and Konig.

Photos courtesy of Elliott Konig

Former study abroad student Elliott Konig is making his Valencia dream come true

By Bianca Carbone

F

rom the University of Florida’s “Swamp” to the Caribbean island of Curaçao, UF alum Elliott Konig is no stranger to traveling for business.

Currently living in Valencia, Spain and starting his own business in craft beer, Konig was first introduced to Valencia when he studied abroad in 2002 through Florida State University. Like many before him, he fell in love with Valencia and decided he was going to find a way to start a life there.

Similar to most students studying abroad, Konig got to know the FSU Program Director Ignacio Messana very well. Messana says Konig´s story is important to share with other students and parents.

“He is a very good example of what happens to most students, but he took it to the extreme,” Messana says. “Most students, they fall in love … with Valencia. But, obviously, obligations do not allow them to continue that love story. In [Konig’s] case, he made 16 Summer 2016

it happen. And because he’s smart, he made it happen by getting the citizenship and the appropriate job profile to do this. And then, when all the odds were against him, he made them change.”

In spring 2002, Konig was one of 50 students to come to Valencia and study through FSU’s International Programs, the first group to come after September 11, 2001. Although the terrorist attack led to a drop in student enrollment, Konig says that, not even a year later, the enrollment had at least doubled.

Back then, the program was situated in the neighborhood of the Universitat Politècnica de València (Polytechnic University of Valencia). The program was not mainly Florida State students. Instead, there were students from other schools including, as Konig says, “a bunch of Gators.” But college rivalries did not stop Konig from making lifelong friends and falling in love with the city of Valencia. In fact, Konig loved Valencia so much that he returned in the summer 2003 session as a program assistant (PA), becoming the first UF student to be asked back to work as a PA in Valencia.

As many who have studied in Valencia, Konig set his sights on living there in the future.

However, the path that led him to where NOMADIC NOLES

he is now was an arduous one. Konig graduated from the University of Florida in 2004 with a B.A in political science. Though entrepreneurship was always in the back of his mind, Konig went on to obtain a master’s degree in international business from Florida International University and then a master’s degree in political science with a concentration in transatlantic studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. During his program at UNC, Konig had to choose from a list of schools in Europe to study at, so he chose Madrid.

After graduating from UNC in 2006, he moved to New York City in search of a job.

New York and the recession proved to be a string of bad luck, so he went home to visit family in Miami. The day he landed, he received a call from Citco, a huge international hedge fund services group. The job opportunity was too good to pass up, so Konig accepted. He started training in Dublin, Ireland; transferred to the island of Curaçao; and eventually opened an office in Toronto, Canada.

With Citco, Konig worked as a hedge fund trader, buying and selling for institutional clients. Business terms are not always the easiest to understand, but Konig attempts to

Starting a business in Spain, step by step

T

here are several important things to sort out before going through the process of submitting applications to open a business in Spain.

The first is to decide what type of business you would like to open. There are two main types: Sociedad Limitada (SL) and Sociedad Anómina (SA). SL’s require a capital of 3006 euros while SA’s require a capital of 60,000 euros. SL’s have a wider flexibility when it comes to the selection of named administration while SA’s administrators are highly regulated. Once SL or SA have been chosen, there are several steps that need to be taken in order to solidify this business.

NIE (Foreigner Tax ID Number) — This is essential to have for any fiscal transactions in Spain. This can be created at the police sta-

tion. In order to obtain, one needs: Receipt of payment fee, ID, two passport photos, and optional document stating the reason for the request.

RMC (Registro Mercantil Central) — This is essentially a no-name coincidence certificate.

This must be obtained in order to ensure the chosen company name does not match one that has already been used.

AEAT (Agencia Estatal de la Administracion Tributaria) — Once you get a response about the business’ name, you need to apply for a CIF (tax identification code). In order to do so, fill out the tax form 036 and take it to the tax office to submit it.

Bank — If you do not already have one, open a bank account in Spain.

Notary — Once you have all of the documents above, you can apply to be the com-

explain a hedge fund, saying, “It’s an investment vehicle for . . . well off individuals who can take the risk. High risk, high reward.”

Basically, people invest large sums of money into a hedge fund, which is then invested into anything from business stocks, to property, to medical malpractice law suits. Think of a mutual fund, but with a higher risk and a greater reward. The companies make their money from performance and management fees.

“They really don’t have a lot of regulations, so [the companies] can invest in anything,” Konig says. “The craziest things I have seen are gambling funds … and funds that invest into doctor malpractice lawsuits.”

After working in Toronto for a while, Konig felt he needed a change, so he decided to leave Toronto and take a break. Eventually he got a call from a hedge fund administrator based in Miami: Kaufman Rossin Fund Services. The firm offered him a position opening a department in Boston, a city Konig admires, so he lived there for fouryears, when he again felt the itch to change.

At this point, he knew his end goal was to end up back in Valencia, so he decided to make it happen. But to even approach his bosses about moving to Valencia and working for Kaufman Rossin, he needed to obtain a European passport.

Konig has familial roots in Holland, Spain, Poland, and Austria.

His father contacted the Austrian embassy to see if Konig could get European citizenship. In response, the embassy granted dual citizenship in Austria and the United States because he was originally born in the U.S. Oddly enough, the reason Konig was able to obtain Austrian citizenship goes back to World War II. Konig’s grandfather fled from Austria to South America during WWII. Because Konig was a firstgeneration born U.S. citizen, he was granted dual citizenship.

“I noticed things were going on in the company, and I figured out ways I could propose to my bosses,” Konig says. “To them I said, ‘Here’s my idea. I am your most senior person on the investment services team, I need a change, but I don’t want to leave you guys.

So how about I transition over to and become your reviewer—your

pany’s founding director or administrator.

The notary will also help you prepare the company’s constitution.

AEAT (Generalitat) — Once you have the deed from the notary, register the deed.

RM (Registro Mercantil) — The deed needs to be taken here to become registered into the Spanish Register of Limited Companies.

The deed will contain a certificate showing it has been registered.

AEAT — It is back to the tax office to collect a permanent CIF. TGSS (Tesoreria General de la Seguridad Social) — The last step is to go through social security and insurance processes. The administrator is considered autonomo and make monthly payments of about 235 euros.

By Bianca Carbone

primary reviewer of all of the work that comes out of the department.

Because everything needs to be checked before it goes out. “‘I’ll become the reviewer, I’ll stop running the team, I’ll stop dealing with clients,’” Konig says. “‘I will be your reviewer, but I want to work from home. And my home is going to be in Valencia, Spain.’”

He got the approval and headed over to Valencia. Valencia was his “I can´t say ‘Go choice city because he loved everyNoles,’ but I will thing about it, including the food and the culture. The cost of living say ‘Go Valencia was low considering it is the third Noles.’” largest city in Spain with a popula— Elliott Konig tion of more than 800,000. But to Konig, Valencia has a small town feel in a massive city.

“You can walk from top to bottom in an hour, but it is still a city,” Konig says.

Unfortunately for Konig, Kaufman Rossin was sold, and the new administration did not like that he was living in Spain. They said if he were important to the company, he needed to come back to the States. The new administration wanted to send him to Seattle, so instead Konig decided to leave his job and remain in Valencia.

In May 2016, Konig decided to take a stab at starting his own business in craft beer in Valencia. While no set business plan has been finalized, he hopes to bring craft beer, a popular style of beer in the U.S., to Spain.

Konig is excited to start his own business, and his advice for any future entrepreneurs is simple.

“I think the main thing is to go for it,” Konig says. “You have to take that step if you find something you think that people will enjoy, will utilize, and [that] you can make a business out of.”

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Summer 2016 17

W

hen most people think of archaeology, the wild adventures of Indiana Jones come to mind, recalling Harrison Ford’s character as he takes moviegoers along to find the rarest artifacts on Earth. Luckily for students studying abroad at Florida State University, Valencia, Spain, they have their own Indiana Jones to take them through real-life discoveries of history.

Professor Juan Salazar, a professional archaeologist, has been teaching courses in archaeology for FSU for six years. When Salazar talks about how and why he teaches, history no longer seems like a struggle to learn. The process becomes a flashback during which he makes it seem possible that one day you too can immerse yourself into various time periods by going on excavations and digs all over the world.

For Salazar, this is not just any history.

This is the history of the Valencia region,

Students DIG this professor

By Gail Levy

From the ruins of Valencia to the plains of Ethiopia, archaeologist Juan Salazar brings history to life 18 Summer 2016

Photos by Gail Levy

During discussion of an assignment, Juan Salazar shows students bones he excavated (also shown in inset). his homeland. And for students who take Salazar’s classes, his passion for archaeology shines through in his teachings.

“I enjoy his uplifting spirit and engagement with the students in the class,” says Will Parriot, who took Salazar’s Introduction to Archeology in the summer of 2016. “Three hour classes are hard to sit through with boring teachers, but I actually look forward to his class because he makes the course very hands on. He’s hilarious, and I like his ponytail.”

For Salazar’s students to truly learn, he brings in artifacts to show what can be found on archaeology projects. For example, during one class, he brought in human bones from an excavation, and students were required to figure out how the bones fit together. As he explained the assignment, he started to move and speak with more excitement. His enthusiasm for archaeology is contagious.

“This class made me realize the importance of studying our past and how much we can learn from our ancestors,” says Shelby Jabblon, who also took the summer 2016 course.

For the many students studying in Valencia, the rock foundation in the Gold study center, showcased through glass flooring, is visible thanks to Salazar’s efforts. He and two colleagues excavated one of FSU’s study centers, the Gold center, revealing the original structures that have been around since ancient Roman times. The excavation work took two to three weeks.

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Sometimes it is possible to find human remains, as occasionally happens in Valencia, Salazar says, but none were found during the FSU study center work.

“This area [around the study center] has been part of the city limits almost since its foundations in Roman times, and most cultures that have occupied our city place cemeteries outside of the city walls,” Salazar says.

Just around the corner from Café Lavin, near the Garnet study center and a favorite hangout for FSU students and program staff, Café Lavin, Salazar a few years ago excavated a gold Roman leaf from a victorious Roman military, part of a gold crown, and today it is preserved in a museum.

Archaeologists are always uncovering precious artifacts like the gold leaf, and the public may wonder if they are ever tempted to keep anything. Even when discussing this topic, Salazar expresses his deep commitment to the work he does and his goal to help Valencia’s rich history be fully recognized.

“We understand that it’s a public heritage for everybody,” he says. “So keeping it to yourself . . . I mean it would be not only illegal but also ugly . . . you will be cheating the citizens.”

The work can be tedious, but the people who do it love it.

“I will say that 95 percent of the people that are in archeology love what they’re doing,” he says.

Besides teaching archaeology, Salazar has built a freelance business, Panoptic, with another archaeologist. The name of the business comes from the words pan, which means everything, and optic, which means to observe, Salazar says.

In addition to excavating these ruins in Valencia, Salazar has been doing research on the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. In 2007, he and two co-authors, Lucila Aragó Carrión and José María Azkárraga Testor, published Valencia 1931-1939: Guía urbana. La ciudad en la segunda República, which is in its second edition and has sold about 7,000 copies. Salazar also works with a Valencia company that takes people on tours of historical civil war sites in the city.

Valencia is not the only location where Salazar carries out his archaeology work, as he has extended his focus, and research, beyond the Valencia walls. These days, archaeology is a way of life as he currently pursues his Ph.D. Earning that degree is his only immediate goal, taking up most of his free time and a lot of his efforts. His advanced studies took him to excavating projects in Ethiopia,

is a very serious reason why he won’t shower.

“People die – they die if the rains don’t arrive...and children die and you cannot do anything,” he says. “So you cannot have children dying and you taking showers. We could carry water in the four-wheeled cars but it would be such an offense to the people there because they are not drinking, and you are taking a shower. It’s not possible.”

Right now Salazar is involved in a project in Ethiopia directed by two British archaeologists, Timothy Clack of Salazar and his two co-authors have sold Oxford University and Marcus Brittain close to 7,000 copies of their book about Valencia’s history with the Spanish Civil War. of Cambridge. Together the three have been working once a year since 2010. which he has visited once a year for seven Even though not showering may not live years until 2016. up to Western European standards of cle“I did a master’s in Valencia University and anliness, the Ethiopian culture has standards started a project among a group of cattle of respect that people in other countries may pastoralists in southwest Ethiopia, the Mursi not understand. For example, Salazar owns – well known for the lip-plates of women,” a bull, and the question “Why?” may come he says. “That developed into a study about to mind. the material culture of this population. Be“Men are supposed to own cattle to get cause they are a present-day people, and not more respect,” says Salazar, who named his a past society, you can ask everything about bull Chest and Pink Ears. He adds that it is the objects they use as a way to enrich the common for animals to have names like this archaeological theory and practice.” based on the animal’s appearance.

For most people, the lifestyle in a place Even though much of his work is now like Ethiopia can be unfamiliar or even un- done in Ethiopia, it comes in a close comfathomable. One fact that Salazar stressed parison with some of the many beautiful aris how little water there is in the region. In tifacts he has found right here in Valencia, fact, when Salazar is in Ethiopia he doesn’t where Salazar was born and raised. shower for several weeks, which some may think is an adventure on its own, but there See SALAZAR, page 34

Photo courtesy of Juan Salazar

Salazar in Ethiopia with his bull Chest and Pink Ears.

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Summer 2016 19

A ‘mind-opening’ education Students in new e-series course learn about positive and negative effects of tourism and how to become more culturally aware Article and photos

by Maryana Boatenreiter

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FSU student Dominique Turnbull visits Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts for an assignment.

20 Summer 2016

hile often not considered such, tourism is a multidimensional subject with both positive and negative effects. The FSU English department’s course Tourist Trap: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly works to show students the importance of taking a deeper look at how tourism affects countries and their local population.

FSU Associate Professor Candace Ward taught this course in Valencia in summer 2016, explaining that her goal for the course was “to challenge students to think differently about tourism than they might have previously” and to understand tourism for “the double-edged sword it is.”

Ward helps students understand that while tourism can boost the economy of the host country, it is not a surface level subject. This course challenges students to think about who actually receives the benefits of tourism, how the actions of tourists affect locals, as well as what steps students can take to be responsible and critically aware tourists.

These ideas often complicate students’ previous understanding of tourism.

The Tourist Trap class was introduced in spring 2016 on the Tallahassee campus as part of FSU’s new 21st century liberal studies requirement, whose slogan is “Engage, Explore, Envision.” These liberal studies courses, also called e-series courses, emphasize cross-cultural awareness, critical thinking, and expansion of ideas outside of students’ own communities.

Ward’s “aha moment” for this class came NOMADIC NOLES

after realizing how prevalent themes of tourism are in Caribbean literature, one of her specialties, and found that “approaching tourism and its effects from the perspective of cultural and postcolonial studies would be an interesting and fun way to meet these objectives.”

Ward thinks these e-series classes, and the tourism class, give students the opportunity to make more informed decisions about what they would like to do after college, as well as a more well-rounded perspective on what other cultures are like.

Bianca Carbone, who studied abroad in Valencia in summer 2016, looks out over the sea during a program trip to Peñiscola.

Students get a unique experience by taking the class in Valencia rather than the class in Tallahassee.

“I ask them to think about how they experience Valencia both as an insider and an outsider,” Ward says.

Rather than just learning and reading, students are able to apply and reflect on the theoretical ideas about tourism and what it means to be a tourist around Valencia.

To begin helping students make these connections, Ward starts the class with the history of British Victorian tourism because her focus as a professor lies in the study of 18th- and 19th-century British literature and Anglo-Caribbean literature and culture.

She uses these specialties to show how colonialism and imperialism from the Victorian Age can translate into similar themes of globalism in the tourism industry today, for example how in many cases it is the large global corporations that receive the monetary benefits of tourism rather than the locals who put in the work.

Ward also discusses how tourists have certain expectations about what the authentic experience should be when they travel abroad, yet these ideas are often warped by unrealistic expectations about the culture.

Nevertheless, to please tourists, countries often “put on a show” so to speak. In Valencia, for instance, people expect paella and flamenco to be around every corner, so those who want to draw in the tourists make these things more abundant.

These differing expectations call for a deeper look into the way students act as travelers. To help students see both sides, Ward assigns material ranging from Lonely Planet tourist guides to films such as Gringo Trails, which highlights the lasting impacts of tourism, to novels such as Tourist Season, by Carl Hiaasen, which tells a story about the ef-

projects that ask them to expand their idea of tourism and to reflect on the changes going on in the world from past to present.

One of the assigned essays, “A Small Place”

by Jamaica Kincaid, details how tourism had a detrimental effect on the island of Antigua, which was altered by large corporate tourist establishments. Ward assigned this work to offer a harsh perspective on the “bad and ugly” of tourism and to show that local residents can have strong feelings about what is being done to their home.

In response to this essay, FSU First Year Abroad student Jacqueline Xerri says that it was “mind-opening to see how a native feels when you come into their place and treat it like it’s your own.”

One class project is to visit a tourist attraction in Valencia that students haven’t been to before.

This includes recording Candace Ward (left) and students gather around the tour the experience in a travel guide at the Silk Museum in Valencia. journal, writing a travel essay about what the attraction is and the tunity to translate these more philosophical history of it, as well as interviewing a local ideas about tourism into real practice. Given who is close to or knows about the attraction that students studying abroad usually stay in to get their thoughts on how it has affected one location longer than the average tourist, Ward asks students to think about their exthem.

FSU student Dominique perience in Valencia “both as an insider and “I ask them to think about how visited the Museu de an outsider.” they experience Valencia both as an Turnbull Students taking this course leave with a Belles Artes de València (the insider and an outsider.”

Museum of Fine Arts of Va- sense of what it means to be a responsible — Candace Ward lencia) as her attraction. She tourist who thinks critically when travelspoke to one of the attendants ing. No longer will they be able to overlook fort to keep tourists out of Florida. One of about tourism and walked around the mu- how local residents feel when outsiders visit her goals is to show students how tourism, seum to view the 14th-17th century art. Turn- their home.

“For example, a long essay on how a small which has an estimated global value of $7.6 bull says this project was “helpful to be able trillion, has become one of the largest indus- to apply what we learned about tourism by island can turn into such a touristy place where locals don’t want to live because it’s tries in the world with all kinds of complica- visiting an attraction.”

As seen through projects like this, students tarnished makes you want to be a little bit tions stemming from that fact.

Using these assigned materials, students have an advantage in taking this course in more respectful,” student Chloe Craig says are required to produce multiple assignments Valencia rather than in Tallahassee because in response to her impression of this course including essays, oral presentations, and they are the tourists. They have the oppor- and the materials.

NOMADIC NOLES

Summer 2016 21

Spend the day touring el barrio del Carmen . . .

You can see a lot in 24 hours with the right itinerary — use this guide to get around Valencia’s old Carmen district like a local

By Valeria Rey

A

s you walk through one of the oldest and most diverse parts of the city of Valencia, el barrio del Carmen (the neighborhood of Carmen), a vast amount of history and architecture can be found.

Ancient, renovated, honey-colored buildings form a labyrinth within the old city walls, adding to the city’s historic feel. The city walls, once protecting the deep-rooted city, were taken down in 1865, but the two main towers, Torres de Serranos and Torres de Quart, were preserved. Long, narrow alleyways wrap and connect around one of the city’s main roads, Carrer dels Cavallers, and the Jardínes del Turia riverbed. On every street, old street lamps can be seen.

Doors around this area are decorated with high hanging antique door-knockers once used by horsemen.

Along the timeworn walls, laughter and conversation can be heard from private, overhanging balconies. This was not always the case, but thanks to government efforts, younger generations have begun to fill the neighborhood, which has culturally evolved into a cosmopolitan hub. The city is flourishing so much that The New York Times published a travel article in summer 2016 featuring where to go and what to see in Valencia. Places in el Carmen district, such as the Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar, were mentioned in the article.

While the district is developing over The city is flourishing time, locals still stick so much that The New to the Valencian tradition of “siesta” York Times published a hours. This means travel article in summer that most stores close from 1:30 p.m.

2016 featuring where – 4:30 p.m. every day to go and what to see in for store owners and Valencia. locals to take a break.

Some stores are even closed on Sundays. Street signs around the city are also written in either old Valencian or modern Spanish to maintain the historic roots of the area. For example, “calle” means street in Spanish, but most street signs will say “carrer.”Both street names, Calle de Caballeros and Carrer dels Cavallers, mean the same thing, but are simply in a different language. It is important to know language differences when traveling to avoid getting lost or to be able to tell someone where you are.

Morning 8 a.m.

Throw on something comfortable, and get ready to start your day in Valencia. El Mercado Central, the Central Market (Plaça de la Ciutat de Bruges, 46001 València), just a 5-minute walk outside of the Carmen district, opens every morning at 7 a.m. except Sundays, 22 Summer 2016

when it is closed. It is a place where locals gather and sell local fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, and cheeses. Inside the market, you can buy a freshly squeezed juice for only €1. Along with a juice, you can walk around and buy a slice of “tortilla de patatas” from one of the vendors’ booths. Everything at the market is fresh and relatively inexpensive. Although the market is not considered part of the Carmen district, it is close enough and important enough to be part of the guide.

9:30 a.m.

Head over to el Carmen district and go up to enjoy the view from las Torres de Serranos (Plaça dels Furs, 46003 València). It is €2 to go to the top. About a minute away from the torres, you can rent a bike at Passion Bike (Carrer dels Serrans, 16, 46003 València). The Carmen District is small enough to explore on foot, but bikes make the trips from place to place more entertaining. The day rental will cost €9, but it Photo by Gail Levy is the cheapest and easiest way to move Renting and using a around. bike for a day tour around the Carmen 10 a.m.

Take a few hours and tool around district is easy and the barrio on your bike. Go down the enjoyable.

bike paths of the Jardínes del Turia. Ride around the Plaça del Carme (Plaça del Carme, 46003 València), and stop by the Carmen Monastery to take a look at the Museo del Siglo XIX (Carrer del Museu, 2, 46003 València). There you can see a mix of Baroque, Gothic, and Renaissance style architecture, courtyards, and some of the city’s art during the 19th century.

See EL CARMEN, page 38

Photo by Valeria Rey

Postmodernist painter Erró’s “Wanted” is displayed at Valencia’s IVAM, part of a day’s outing in the Carmen area.

NOMADIC NOLES

. . . or take time to visit the beaches of Valencia Now an important part of the city, this stretch of the Mediterranean draws students and locals alike

By Helaina Cozza and Jennifer Knauf

V

alencia’s beaches are a short ride away from the Florida State University Study Center, and the Mediterranean shoreline is a great way for students to unwind with friends and enjoy activities such as swimming and volleyball or just to relax. Students can get to the beach by taking a 20-minute bus ride, or those who are feeling more active have the option of renting a bicycle for the approximately 7 kilometer trip.

A long stretch of beaches along the coast of Valencia includes Las Arenas, La Malvarrosa, and El Cabanyal, where students and other FSU program members can enjoy some of the differences between the beaches in Valencia and the beaches in the U.S. “Something about it is cleaner than the beach at home,” says Lindsey Sand, an FSU student from Tampa, Florida, who studied in Valencia during the summer of 2016.

While the beach is a popular location for students studying in Valencia, many of them may not know how the beach area and Valencia’s city center have changed and grown together over the years.

“We are a city backwards to the sea,” FSU Program Director Ignacio Messana says, adding that this was not always the case.

To explain this to a classroom of students, he drew two circles, separated from one another, on a white board at the front of the classroom. One of the circles represented the center of Valencia, originally a river city, Messana said, and the other one represented the beach town, originally a fishing village. He expanded each circle, eventually connecting them, showing that as time passed, the center grew and reached the beach town.

The beach is now an important part of Valencia’s tourism, and FSU Valencia students can enjoy many shopping options there, with vendors offering various types of items for home and clothing.

“I think [in Valencia] they sell more unique products than what I usually find when I shop around beach towns in America,” Sand says.

“They sell a lot of interesting jewelry and tapestries.”

Food options from restaurants to grilled corn on the cob stands are located along the Paseo Maritimo, a tree-lined walkway that begins at Valencia’s port and stretches north along the beach. While seaside areas in the U.S. sometimes seem dominated by too many

ice cream shops and too much fried food, the Valencia area offers healthful choices.

“The food wasn’t just crappy beach food,” Sand says.

One main attraction that draws tourists to the Valencia beaches is La Pepica, a popular restaurant next to Las Arenas beaches. But visitors to the area might not know the eatery’s rich history unless they go inside.

According to an article on valencia-international.com titled “La Pepica: if it’s good enough for Hemingway…,” numerous celebrities, including author Ernest Hemingway, have frequented Pepica over the years. Other notables who have eaten there include King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain, Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla, and actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith. Each of their photos hangs on the wall inside the restaurant.

The article says Francisco Balaguer opened La Pepica in 1898 Photo by Rachel Townsend after King Alfonso XIII granted him and 44 other people permission to set up wooden eating houses on the beach. Pepe, Balaguer’s grandson and the current owner of La Pepica, has worked at the

La Pepica is located along the Paseo Maritimo, and the restaurant’s history includes visits by Ernest Hemingway.

NOMADIC NOLES

See BEACH, page 39

Photo By Helaina Cozza

Summer 2016 23

Britain says

goodbye Graphic courtesy of Shutterstock

U

pon spending the first night in Valencia in summer 2016, little did FSU International Program students know they would wake up the next morning to breaking news that would be marked as one of the most major geopolitical events of the decade. On June 23, 2016, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union in a 51.9% vote, according to the BBC. With such a close election result, immediate controversy reigned throughout the EU. Much of the dispute had a generational divide, with many young British citizens being enraged by the vote to “Brexit” and many older British citizens pleased with the decision. Factors that influenced voting included opposition to the distant bureaucracy and oversight of the EU vs. the desire to unify the vast European population through the EU. One question in Valencia is, how will Brexit affect Spain?

“I feel like we really have a big mess on our hands,” says David Nordlund, an FSU professor of Spanish culture and film studies in Valencia and a former U.S. Consulate officer in Valencia. “A lot of questions came to mind, such as how long will this take to transition, and who is going to clean up the mess now? The problem is if you’re in your 20s and 30s, you’re going to be left with the messy junk of having to clean this up, be-

Brexit not popular with Spanish prime minister candidates 24 Summer 2016

cause to be frank, we don’t know the longterm ramifications of this. Therefore, people of younger age groups will have to deal with this in the U.K. much longer.”

Before the Brexit vote, Nordlund assumed it could go either way. But his first thought after the result was declared was to wonder what was going to happen to his Spanish friends who work in London.

Because of the high unemployment rate in Spain, currently around 20%, many young Spaniards look for employment in England and specifically in London.

“Will Brexit affect unemployment here in Spain directly?” Nordlund wonders. “We

Reaction to Brexit varies among Valencia residents, UK citizens, and FSU staff members

By Weesam Khoury the United Kingdom, and 2) it could affect tourism in Spain due to the high volume of tourism that comes from Britain. Thus, Spanish hotels, restaurants, and shops could see a decline in revenue. The fall of the British pound could affect tourism, too.

“In a touristic sense, if British tourism goes down with the value of the pound, the same number of British tourists will still come to Spain but will spend less money and therefore affect other issues of employment

“This has never happened before— that’s one of the unknowns. [Spanish citizens] should be OK for the next two years. But after that, Great Britain will be in charge of their own immigration policies.”

— David Nordlund, FSU professor and former U.S. diplomat don’t know yet. But it could. I think the worst part of all this are the unknowns. This has never happened before—that’s one of the unknowns. [Spanish citizens] should be OK for the next two years. But after that, Great Britain will be in charge of their own immigration policies.”

According to Nordlund, Brexit has the ability to effect unemployment in Spain in two different ways: 1) It could deter younger Spanish citizens from looking for work in

Brexit occurred on the cusp of the Spanish election, affecting nominees’ agendas as the country was preparing to elect a new prime minister. The nominees used the British example to discuss Spain’s current controversy regarding Catalonia’s NOMADIC NOLES

and commerce within Spain,” Nordlund says.

With London being one of the biggest financial capitals in the world, this exit from the EU could have a ripple effect for years that could hinder employment, education, and imports and exports.

However, not everyone sees Brexit the way Nordlund does.

Vladimir Ksieski, a painter and shop owner in Valencia who moved to Spain 35 years possible independence from Spain. Proindependence parties in Spain’s wealthiest region have pushed for independence while national government in Madrid has fought the referendum.

According to El Pais, Spain’s largest

ago from the United Kingdom, was pleased with his home country’s decision to exit the European Union.

“The Brexit is a wake-up call for the EU,” Ksieski says.

Originally, Ksieski worked in the music industry in the U.K. but decided to move to Spain after vacationing there. A few years later, he met his wife and started a family before opening a shop close to the FSU Study Center. The shop, called Casa Monet, sells artistic gifts and items such as jewelry, backpacks, paintings, and purses.

Ksieski views the “faceless bureaucracy” of the EU in Brussels as having excessive control over the population, market, and as pushing “lax” immigration to the U.K., hindering the British citizens’ ability to work and provide for their families. He explained that members of a distant governing unit send commands to the people that they must obey or else their market freedom within the EU is diminished.

“In relation to letting refugees and immigration enter the U.K. by hundreds of thousands, they are essentially taking jobs away from British people,” Ksieski says. “Because of EU rule, immigrants have more privileges than the actual citizens that were born and bred in the U.K. When they get the money, they don’t use it in the U.K., they send it back to their country. It’s similar to the United States.”

On the other side of the dispute, 23-yearold Emma Paterson, the daughter of a British diplomat who is now living in Washington D.C., was taken by surprise waking up to the news that her home had voted to leave the EU. Paterson grew up in a small village about 45 minutes from London.

“I was very angry and shocked,” Paterson says. “To me, it seemed like a small minority of people that were close-minded and ignorant to the wider world had somehow won. It was the first time I had felt ashamed to be British—my British daily newspaper, surveys say Spaniards overwhelmingly support Spain’s EU permanence, but Alberto Garzon of the United Left party says, “The Brexit referendum is not the problem, it is the symptom of a EU made for business

identity is something I have always been proud of but this made me see Britain in an entirely different way.”

Paterson says that many people over age 50 voted to leave to go back to a picture of Britain that never existed and that younger generations voted to stay because it was extremely beneficial to have the ability to live and work in 27 other countries.

“This [right to live and work elsewhere] is not something we took for granted, but when it is being taken away, everyone realizes how much they love being a part of Europe,” Paterson says.

“There is no controversy within my family. We all wanted to remain. My father says morale is actually very low within the embassy and foreign offices back in London, especially among young people.”

Paterson also says that Brexit has the ability to break up the United KingPhoto by Molli-Rose Glickman dom, but that it is unlikely Vladimir Ksieski, a British citizen who owns a shop in considering that the EU Valencia, supported Brexit. informed Scotland they would not be allowed into the EU as an in“To me, [Brexit] was a sentimental feeldependent country. ing,” Garcia says. “I never thought this would Young EU workers outside the U.K. are happen, where I wouldn’t be able to go back also dismayed by Brexit. to the U.K. The open option is not going to Tamara Garcia, a Valencia native be there anymore. I loved it there. That’s why who is the faculty coordinator of the I always had in my mind to go back one day.

FSU Valencia Program, originally Britain was a big part of my life. That will moved to Britain from Spain when never change.” she was 19 and was supposed to Ultimately, the aftermath of Brexit is unstay for three months but ended known. While many factors influenced the up staying three years. decision to exit the European Union, the globe will be forced to adapt to this shift in geopolitical power. Not only will future stuEmma Paterson, dents coming to Valencia witness the effects daughter of a British of Brexit, but International Programs studiplomat at a dents in other countries will see the impact June 2016 rally in of this evolving situation as well.

Washington, D.C. and built against the people.”

Podemos Party leader Pablo Iglesias expressed his concern over the Brexit victory while simultaneously calling for changes in European policies. “It’s a sad day for Europe,” he says. “We NOMADIC NOLES

must change tack. Nobody would want to leave a Europe of fairness and solidarity. We need to change Europe.” His party was the only one to actively campaign for Britain to remain in the EU. — Weesam Khoury Summer 2016 25

The Spanish Civil War and Valencia:

a city forever changed

Editors’ note: Florida State University student Brandon Gonzalez is a junior majoring in history and minoring in English who also speaks fluent Spanish. Studying in Valencia in summer 2016 gave him a remarkable opportunity to combine his two educational interests and to use his Spanish, and he enthusiastically accepted an assignment to write about the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from July 17, 1936 until April 1, 1939. Gonzalez approached the article with questions about not only how people in Valencia view that period of Spain’s history but also about how a student from the U.S. views the complexities of that conflict and the resulting dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Of course, “complex” falls short in describing this war and Franco’s reign, which began at the end of the war and continued until his death in November 1975. What follows are some of Gonzalez’s observations, based on his own research and, most importantly, on the interviews he conducted with people living in Valencia.

By Brandon Gonzalez

S

tudents studying abroad have the opportunity to learn about history in a unique way. In the U.S., those students might read a lot about European history but they are limited to the images in the books. But when students stand atop a castle that was breached by Moors a few hundred years ago or stand on a hill overlooking a plain where the decisive battle for a country was fought, the effect is breathtaking.

In Valencia, historical sites surround students as they wander around the city or even just walk from the Garnet Study Center to the Gold Study Center. In fact, located on Calle Serranos, the street students use to get from one study center to the other, is a former bomb shelter used during the Spanish Civil War, perhaps unnoticed by all but those who know the building’s significance.

While lasting less than three years, the Spanish Civil War has forever changed Spain.

Personal viewpoints Javier Planells, a librarian at the Museum of Military History, speaks with great pride and emotion when recounting his grandfathers’ efforts in the Spanish Civil War. Both of them fought for the Republicans, who supported the Second Spanish Republic, against the Nationalists, who sided with Franco. The 26 Summer 2016

Photo by Brandon Gonzalez

Russian tank used by the Republic of Spain, on display at Valencia’s Museum of Military History Second Spanish Republic was democratic and leaned more to the left, while the Nationalists leaned toward the right and were closely associated with the Catholic Church.

One of Planells’s grandfathers fought in what is considered to be the war’s deadliest encounter, the Battle of Teruel, a city about 90 miles northwest of Valencia. The battle was fought from December 1937 through February 1938, during one of Spain’s coldest winters. Franco’s superior military equipment led the Nationalists to victory in one of the war’s most decisive battles.

Planells says his fondest memories of his grandfather are from when his grandfather would drive him around in his old car, through the battlefield, teaching him about what happened. Planells spoke with great emphasis about how the war was fought between brothers, fathers, sisters, and mothers.

Neighbors fought neighbors, fighting and lying to make sure the other was worse off.

“The shame of war is that brothers must fight and die,” he says.

Planells describes the post-war Valencia atmosphere as an uneasy one, saying neighbors would point fingers at families for having allegiance to the Republic side, landing them in trouble or worse. After Franco’s army won the war, more than 20,000 people were executed.

FSU professor-in-residence B.J. Biringer, NOMADIC NOLES

an American expatriate who has lived in Valencia since 2000, says citizens faced punishment if they didn’t follow simple orders.

“There was a time, when if police asked you to give the fascist salute, you had to give it—if you didn’t, they would question your loyalty to the Republic and take you in,” says Biringer, who Spanish history courses, among others, for FSU’s International Programs.

The years following the war were hard, both Planells and Biringer say, but the situation started to improve a bit in the late 1950s.

People still had limited freedoms and persecution still existed, but people were not living in constant fear. The next two decades leading to Franco’s death were economically unstable, but because Franco wanted to modernize Spain, he had to make improvements to citizens’ living conditions and he became more lenient.

“After the Civil War, when the post-Second World War period comes in, Franco decided that he needed to start cleaning up the image of Spain, because he needed economic help—inflation was horrible,” Biringer says.

“In 1955, Franco got Spain into the United Nations in exchange for giving the United States land for military bases in Spain.”

Still, many people remained loyal to the Republic. Planells says his mother kept a pin of the Republic hidden in her closet, even when Planells says it was almost impossible

to remain loyal. His mother kept the pin hidden in her closet and would not remove it for almost four decades.

When Franco died in 1975, Planells says the mood among Spanish citizens was, “Fifty, fifty. Some people were crying, some people were filled with joy, but everyone was uncertain about the future of Spain.”

During the transitional period from Franco’s dictatorship, considered by many to last from Franco’s death until about 1981, Spain had many obstacles to overcome.

“When you look at the transition to democracy, it’s fascinating how Franco handpicked his successor, Juan Carlos I,” Biringer says.

Carlos became king two days after Franco’s death, although he had been in line for the position for many years prior. Franco had passed over Juan Carlos’s father, Juan de Borbón, Biriginger says, because Franco could not trust the elder to continue the regime. Juan Carlos had been schooled in the military as well as law school, and Franco tried to “brainwash him into the movement, but Juan Carlos was smart,” Biringer says.

“When Franco died, Juan Carlos knew the dictatorship could not continue,” Biringer says. “Juan Carlos had all the power in his hands, and with the help of Adolfo Suarez [Spain’s first democratically elected prime minister], they very craftily and intelligently prepared Spain for a wonderful democratic transition and the opening of the country to the international community.”

Many in Spain took the opportunity to reinvent the country for the first time in almost four decades. Starting in Madrid and spreading throughout other areas of the country, La Movida Madrileña was a counterculture movement that began shortly after Franco´s death, and it represented the emergence of a new Spanish identity, one that preached tolerance over oppression, and that was characterized by freedom of expression and a change of the social norms set by the Franco regime.

The movement resembled the American counterculture period of the 1960s, with increased use of recreational drugs, music that mimicked British new wave, and a film industry led by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.

The movement influenced literature, art, photography, and even graffiti, which is still an eye-catching way for artists to express themselves, as evidenced by examples throughout Valencia’s neighborhoods.

Valencia’s role in the war and after By early November 1936, the capital of the Republic was moved to Valencia, because

many feared losing Madrid. For a while during the war, many works of art from the Prado Museum in Madrid were stored for safekeeping in Valencia in the Torres de Serrano.

Valencia was often bombed during the war, but the front never reached the city limits.

When the war ended in 1939, Franco turned Valencia into a large agricultural center, and the city became the largest producer of oranges for Europe.

The identity of Valencia remained intact because the city continued to host important cultural events, and Valencia has its own language dialect as well, which added to the preservation of the city’s culture. In fact, Valencia remained strong through most of Franco’s rule, and its citizens came together when the River Turia flooded in 1957.

The flood killed dozens of civilians, and Valencia received aid from all across Spain.

Officials diverted the river around the city, and Franco initially wanted to turn the riverbed into a highway. Valencia leaders and residents disapproved of that idea, however, and while the river flows south of the city, the riverbed through the heart of Valencia has been transformed into a lush, green garden.

The war changed the country in many ways and certainly changed Valencia as well, but some leaders think that it is time to address some of the physical reminders from the four decades of the Franco regime.

According to a recent New York Times article, Valencia Mayor Joan Ribó, elected in 2015, set up a local history commission, with one of its goals being to review street names associated with Franco. The Times article reports that the commission could change as many as 60 street names, and its actions could lead to the removal of smaller plaques and

A National Guard flier that reads “Today and tomorrow for the service of Spain." symbols of Franco’s dictatorship. The efforts are not without controversy, though, as more conservative politicians say the move contradicts a 1977 amnesty law enacted to help the country recover after Franco’s death.

Undeniably, the city and her people are still recovering to this day, nearly 80 years after the war ended. Students and other program personnel visiting from Tallahassee and the U.S. see signs of the war and the dictatorship every day when they study in Valencia, likely unaware of the history all around them.

For those who live in Valencia, though, the images and emotions are constant reminders. As Valencia’s Program Director Ignacio Messana, who was born and raised in the city, poignantly says, “It takes about three generations to heal.”

Photo by Brandon Gonzalez

Cannon on display at Valencia’s Museum of Militay History NOMADIC NOLES

Summer 2016 27

Jazz it up

Alexey Leon's Cuban Conection playing at the Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar in July 2016.

Photo by Valeria Rey

Local night spot Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar is a go-to place for music in the artsy, bohemian barrio del Carmen

By Valeria Rey

S

hhhhhh!” The room goes silent and the music starts once again.

At the Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar, the music is the main focus, and anybody disrupting the flow could get shushed by the bar owner, Chevi Martinez, who has managed to make his location in the Barrio del Carmen a top place to listen to jazz.

Dark. Passionate. Cozy. These are a few things one might feel when at the club, which is easy to overlook as you pass by in the day. At night, however, the line to enter is usually out the door.

Hendrik Decker, a Valencia local, frequents the bar on weekends. He loves the atmosphere of the club, but it is the music’s intensity that keeps him coming back.

“There have been other jazz clubs where the atmosphere was more cold, more cool… more speakeasy,” Decker says. “Here it’s the music…and people are serious here about that music.”

The bar has hosted well-known jazz performers, but it is also about the up-andcoming artists playing there. Boston’s Berklee University has a campus in Valencia, Spain and its students and alumni living abroad play at the bar to showcase their talents to an audience.

The bar is not very wide at the door, and grows in length as you go further into the building. A table with a booth and a stool greet you as you walk into the bar. On days

flickering, hanging lights make up the bar’s seating area, details that add to the bar’s character. On the timeworn walls, jazz related posters are hung with simple lights individually lighting them one by one.

As people move through the narrow bar, the stage is the most emphasized area in the room and can be found in the center.

Surrounding the stage, smaller side tables lead to Photo courtesy of Antonio Sambeat the back of the room.

Cuban trumpeter Carlos Sarduy Dimet is shown playJimmy Glass seems to be ing at the Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar with Alexey León and a great place to represent el Dany Noel.

Carmen district. The bar is inexpensive and the crowd is made up of to me and welcomed me into what could people of all ages and cultures. easily be compared to a neighborhood get “The dim lights, the together,” Davis says.

On weekdays, the bar is open only on “The dim lights, the people, and the people, and the music all combine to create a night certain days for paid concerts and closes music all combined to create a night unlike any I have ever around midnight. If the concert goes any experienced in the US,” later, the neighbors complain. unlike any I have ever experienced says Janelle Davis, an FSU On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, in the U.S.” sophomore and cultural however, the bar usually has quieter groups — Janelle Davis, FSU student anthropology major who play, like a duo such as a singer and a guitarist, studied in Valencia during so that the bar can stay open past midnight. the summer of 2016.

“I felt very peaceful, it was relaxing to with special concerts, a man at the door will Many would describe this bar as an just sit and enjoy the music in the company greet you as well to check your ticket. On your right by the entrance you can order a unpretentious place for jazz aficionados to of people who were there for exactly the drink and find a seat in any of the vintage go, casually share the space, and enjoy the same reason,” Davis says. “I really got the performers. opportunity to appreciate an art form I was tables around the middle of the room.

“People were more than happy to talk previously unfamiliar with.”

Scratched, blue and red tables and 28 Summer 2016

NOMADIC NOLES

Appetite for Almalibre

Students flock to the Valencia restaurant within walking distance of the study center

Photo by Molli-Rose Glickman

The sign for Almalibre is a welcome beacon for hungry students seeking vegetarian and vegan-friendly fare.

By Rosalie Peyton

W

alking through the streets of Valencia, you may stumble upon a little restaurant that seems to be solely occupied by Florida State University students.

The Almalibre Açaí Bar “feels almost like part of campus,” says Lauren Webb, an FSU student studying in Valencia in summer 2016.

Carlos Ballaminut, who can be seen running through the restaurant, taking orders, and chatting with customers, opened the restaurant in March 2015. As he rushes through the small restaurant, his girlfriend works in the tiny kitchen, cranking out customers’ orders. Ballaminut, originally from Brazil, says the idea of the restaurant was to combine the Brazilian fruit, açaí, with healthy cuisine so that customers could, for example, just come for açaí, or could come to have dinner with açaí as a dessert.

The food options at Almalibre are mostly vegetarian and vegan friendly, which is part of what attracted FSU Valencia student Molli-Rose Glickman, who went to Almalibre every day that it was open during her fiveweek study abroad session in summer 2016.

“It’s one of the few places that has a menu where I can eat almost every item, and as a vegan that’s been hard being in Spain,” Glickman says.

Not only does the food attract customers, but so does the atmosphere, which is important to Ballaminut, who spends most of his days there. Light colors keep the small space feeling open and airy. The booth that runs along the white brick wall is adorned with pastel pillows, and the tables are a soft color. This theme of pastel colors is also carried into the painted wooden tables and chairs that serve as the outdoor seating.

As FSU Valencia student Lindsey Sand

Almalibre’s chickpea and quinoa burgers (left) and acai bowls (bottom) are popular menu choices with customers.

Photos by Molli-Rose Glickman

says, “I always feel welcomed when I go [to Almalibre]. It’s not just food, it’s the workers, and the environment.”

According to FSU Valencia students, Almalibre was brimming with customers during summer 2016—not just students but with locals and tourists alike. Because of the restaurant’s popularity, Ballaminut plans to NOMADIC NOLES

expand to Barcelona in March 2017. He even hopes to bring his restaurant to Tallahassee one day.

Almalibre is open from 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m. on Mondays and from 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Tuesdays through Saturdays. It is located near el Mercado Central (the Central Market) at Carrer del Repés 3 in Valencia, Spain.

Summer 2016 29

Valencia party

experienced. It was engaging because I met new people daily, and I had to step outside of my comfort zone more than I ever had up to that point. When I initially went to Valencia as a student, it was the most fun I’ve ever had while in college! The other students and I became great friends when we returned home, and I still keep in touch with many of them. I’m very grateful for the memories and experiences that we shared, which created a unique bond. I’m almost certain every participant of this program will express the same sentiments.

As a PA, it was a dynamic experience. I was somewhat of a peer to the students, but also somewhat of an authoritative figure as I was somewhat of a peer to the faculty members. I enjoyed it very much because it was interesting and fun to maintain both perspectives.

Not to mention the other PA is still one of my best friends.

This is very much a testament to [Valencia’s Program Director] Ignacio Messana and the faculty as they pair the participants of the program really well.

As an adjunct instructor, it was very much a learning experience he FSU Valencia Program is hosting a party June 1-3, 2017 for me. It was my first real experience as an instructor, and it was to celebrate its 20th anniversary. All alumni, staff, faculty challenging and gratifying at the same time. All the while I was in members, families, and friends are invited to attend. Inter- an awesome host country and city, so I was culturally stimulated all national Programs has started a Facebook group (facebook. the time. I have wondered if I could really live and work in Spain, com/events/586594844845188) for people to stay updated on de- and I try to envision myself outside of that proverbial nostalgic petails, and people also may email IP-Anniversary@fsu.edu for more riod. I envision myself living and working in Valencia, Spain, for six information. months, a year, 3 years. This is still a recurring thought, and my conDamien Condo is an alumnus whose first experience with the Va- clusion is that, without a doubt, I could live and work in Spain with lencia program was in 2002, when he studied there for a 13-week no problems! summer session while also working as a computer lab monitor. He What role was your favorite? returned to FSU Valencia in summer 2004 to work as a program I’d say that being a PA was my favorite role because I was someassistant (PA), one of two that year. He then returned as an adjunct what of an intermediary for the students, the staff, and the faculty.

It was a neat experience for me because I was in between my underinstructor during summer 2008.

He emphatically responded “Yes!” to a question about attending graduate and graduate degrees, so I wasn’t particularly degree seekthe 20th anniversary celebration. What follows is an edited version of ing while working for the program. I took Spanish classes during the session, so I was working an email Q&A he participated in with Mackenzie Sadler, a Nofor and participating in the madic Noles reporter and student program simultaneously. That editor studying in Valencia and summer was a lot of fun and in London in summer 2016. ended as quickly as it began, which seemed crazy as fast as Could you describe your the time passed. time as a student, PA, and What initially drew you to faculty member? the program as a student?

Each role was awesome— To be honest, when I got the best collective experiences my associate’s degree from and memories of my life so far!

Valencia Community ColThe people are what make lege [in Orlando, Florida] and the program as great as it is. transferred to FSU, I figured, “What the heck – if not now, And that’s what made my time as a student, PA, and faculty Photo courtesy of Damien Condo then when?” I always wanted eye-opening because of the dif- Damien Condo, left, and FSU Valencia Program Director Ignacio to travel to Europe. But I preferent cultures and settings I Messana during Condo’s time as a program assistant in Valencia. ferred to be somewhere rela-

FSU International Programs commemorates a benchmark anniversary in Spain

T

30 Summer 2016

NOMADIC NOLES

InstaSpain

instagram.com/nomadicnoles/

Students in the summer 2016 program took to Instagram to highlight their adventures.

Follow @nomadicnoles for information about studying abroad and to keep up with the student-produced magazine.

The “Devil’s Bridge,” an ancient aqueduct in Segovia, Spain.

(Photo by Gail Levy)

One of the favorite activities among locals and students alike is grabbing a café con leche at one of Valencia’s many quaint cafés. #fsuip #fsuvalencia (Photo

by Bianca Carbone)

Santa Maria la Blanca in Toledo. A Jewish synagogue with many Arabic influences. #fsuip #fsuvalencia (Photo

by Alison Wilson)

Nature mixes with architecture in Valencia near the City of Arts and Sciences. #fsuip #fsuvalencia (Photo by Rosalie Peyton)

tively warm and near water, so I was considering Italy and Spain. I chose Spain because Valencia is a coastal city.

How has being a part of the Valencia Study Center family influenced your life and career?

It has incorporated a cultural appreciation in me that I most likely never would have had. It also showed me how important and possible it is configure a space for both learning and living. I’m a business owner and I’m still working to create a productive, comfortable, sensible, practical space that I enjoy both living and working within. Much of my life, both at work and at home, has many subtle cultural components that have all pretty much derived from Spain and the Valencia study center.

Even my business name is an example of this: Facillitee, Inc. My company is an energy efficiency consultation and product supply firm. When I was considering the name of business, I wanted to incorporate some aspect of Spain. So, Facil, easy in Spanish,

Lit, lit up as in energy efficient LED light- tunity to study abroad, and if they’re lucky or fortunate enough to choose Valencia, Spain, ing, and EE, energy efficiently. they will enrich their lives, in a variety of arWhat does Valencia’s 20th anniversary eas, so much more than ever imagined. mean to you?

It’s a great testament to the program and the staff. It’s a celebration that the program has persisted, thrived, grown, and evolved for 20 years. It’s exciting to think how the program will continue to grow and evolve in the future under the leadership of a great director and staff.

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about the Photo courtesy of Damien Condo study center or your (From left) Faculty member Larry Gerber, Damien Condo history with it? (when he was a program assistant), faculty member B.J. I truly hope that every Biringer, and Program Director Ignacio Messana perform student has the oppor- karaoke during the program’s farewell dinner.

NOMADIC NOLES

Summer 2016 31

Views from the Turia Text and photos by Molli-Rose Glickman

There's something in the air in the Turia. Trees are greener, people look happier, neon lights illuminate the night, and flowers adorn the park.

32 Summer 2016

NOMADIC NOLES

Pitts from page 5 Since then, Messana and Pitts have worked together a lot, and Messana thinks of Pitts not only as a mentor but also as “a very good friend. I have learned a lot from Jim.” Messana says the years that Pitts has de-

In his own words...

voted to FSU makes him “one of those persons that has shaped the university into what it is. He has a passion for education and for life.”

Pitts has played soccer with the students and staff in Valencia, he has served as “professional” photographer for ice skating students and staff in London, and he never

misses a commencement exercise or passes up a dish of corvina in Panama.

In the Q&A with Pitts below, he reveals more about his job responsibilities as the director of International Programs, more about how he got the job, and also how his previous experience has helped him get to where he is now.

on two occasions and as vice president of university advancement. I think that both the faculty experience as well as the administrative experience prepared me well for the administrative aspects of International Programs and the faculty selection and curriculum development aspects of International

year. My wife will usually accompany me on one or two of the trips. My wife and I try to make one trip to Tampa to visit my older Nomadic Noles: How did you get into son and one trip to Colorado to visit my this position? daughter each year. My younger son lives in Jim Pitts: In 1991, I was serving Florida Tallahassee.

State University as Vice-President of UniIs there any place that you have traveled versity Advancement, and President Bernie to that has stuck out to you Sliger called me into his ofas a favorite? fice and asked if I would go Not really. I love all of our to London and buy a campus international sites. They each for the university. I told him have their special strengths.

I would, but I would have to Of course, London and Vaget a passport first. I went to lencia have a special place in London and found our curmy heart since I was personrent campus, which we bought ally involved in the purchase in 1992. In order to make the of those two campuses. purchase, we created a direct Do you enjoy any aspects support organization, Florida of your career more than State University International others?

Programs Association, Inc. I enjoy seeing the impact that That organization issued a taxstudying abroad has on our free bond issue to fund the Photo courtesy of Ignacio Messana students and the impact that purchase, and I was the initial teaching abroad has on our treasurer, an office I still hold. Former FSU President T.K. Wetherell congratulates Jim Pitts faculty. I also enjoy the deLater in 1995, Provost Larry during a ceremony to celebrate the 2007 opening of the Garnet velopment of a diverse curAbele asked if I would serve Study Center in Valencia, Spain. the university as director of International Programs. In my previous university experi- riculum where the courses offered are enence there was some travel involved, but it hanced by the geographic location.

Programs. was not extensive.

How involved are you with each of the Talk about your experiences throughout Talk a bit about your younger self and study abroad programs? your schooling and how they prepared where did you grow up?

I am very involved with the four year-round you for where you are now.

My undergraduate degree was a bachelor’s I grew up as an only child in Louisville, campuses. The directors report to me, and I of science in physics, which I think helped Kentucky. I attended Louisville Male High am in regular contact with them as it relates me develop analytical skills as well as critical School, which was co-ed at the time I attend- to major decisions impacting their operathinking that has been an immense help. I ed. It was an excellent high school, and my tions. With the summer-only programs, my then received a master of business adminin- math and science teachers were also adjunct involvement is primarily with the selection of faculty to lead the program and with budstration, which provided a background that faculty at the University of Louisville. get and logistical review. has been instrumental in a lot of what I do. Did you do a lot of traveling when you What accomplishments with Finally, my Ph.D. was in economics, which were younger? has been very helpful in assessing the impact While I grew up in Louisville, my father was International Programs are you most of world events on what we do and the im- from Idaho. Every two years from the time proud of ?

I was 6, we would drive from Kentucky to The purchase of the two campuses in Lonpact on foreign currency markets.

What sort of background experience did Idaho. By the time I was 12, I had been in don and Valencia; the expansion of the every state west of the Mississippi. At this curriculum and locations where students you have that helped you to get into this position? Was a lot of traveling involved? point in my life, I have been in every state can study abroad; the First Year Abroad program; the quality of the International Within the university, I had over 30 years on but Hawaii, which is on my bucket list. the faculty and served as president of the Do you travel a lot now? Is your family Programs team both in Tallahassee and internationally; the financial soundness of the Faculty Senate on three occasions. I had also involved in your travels? served as assistant to the university president I normally do 8-10 international trips per international program.

NOMADIC NOLES

Summer 2016 33

teenage years, things had changed in Spain.

Five years after I was born, Franco died. So my sisters were teenagers with Franco still whom was seven years older, meaning that alive, but I wasn’t.”

Messana’s sisters grew up in a Spain under However, even the differences between dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled from Messana and his sisters’ childhoods do not mean that he grew up with different rules at 1939 until his death in 1975.

“I am almost a different generation than home. His family was very strict.

For most of his life, Messana’s father my sisters,” Messana says. “When I got to my worked two full-time jobs.

He had also served in the Spanish army. Like others of that time, Messana’s father did not play with his children, instead delegating responsibility to them to help them develop their character and work ethic.

“I think my dad was probably my most important role model,” Messana says, “but not until the age of 25-30.”

Despite their distance during his younger years, Messana’s father gave him great motivation to work hard in life and to finish his Ph.D. “My dad got his Ph.D. at the age of 85, and he told me something sad to hear, but it’s not,” Messana says.

“He told me more than once, ‘I’m going to die without seeing you being a doctor.’ And he was right, but I got my Ph.D. in the same When Ignacio Messana earned his Ph.D. in December year that he died. So I hope 2015, students took to Facebook to congratulate him. he was looking.”

Messana from page 7

Salazar from page 19 Salazar was born in 1975, right around the time that Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died. Spain struggled with financial issues when Salazar was growing up, but that changed in the 1980s because Spain joined the European Union, which increased finances and brought multiple infrastructures, including roads, hospitals, and schools to the country.

In 1992, when Salazar was 17, he studied in the United States for a year, living with a family in northern Vermont, “maple tree country,” as Salazar calls it.

“I always wanted to see the American wilderness, so I asked the program in Spain to send me to a rural area…and they did,” he says. “I enjoyed the stay a lot, a place with se34 Summer 2016

Another big influence in Messana’s life was his “Irish dad,” the father of the family in Ireland with whom Messana spent seven summers as an exchange student.

From age 13 until age 20, Messana lived in Dublin during the summers, which he admits was hard at first, being that most people there did not speak the only language he knew.

“It was tough only for a week or so, and then I got to adapt, which I think is probably one of my abilities when necessary, and then it started being wonderful,” Messana says.

The first four years he was in Dublin, he studied English in a program akin to Florida State’s program in Valencia, and the two years when he was 17 and 18 years old, he worked as a program assistant. Messana also made sure to set aside time to party with his Irish friends.

During those seven years, Messana perfected his English, and Dublin became a second home.

“I am like a citizen,” Messana says. “If you take me there now, and close my eyes … I feel as if I’m home. I could walk around and all of that.”

Even after his strict childhood, there was more discipline in store for Messana.

When he turned 18, by law, Messana had to either enlist in the military service or an equivalent social service. He was in college at the time, working toward a business degree.

After his first three years of school, Messana enrolled in a special program that allowed him to apply to be an officer after graduation.

During training, he endured mental and physical tests that involved written exams, running, and exercises such as pull ups.

asons and forests, not like the Mediterranean with incredible natural landscape, which is partially true.” area in which I lived.”

Salazar’s love and passion for archaeology He found it strange that everyone drove cars in this scenic area. He would walk home began when he was just a child. His parents from school every day and appreciate the na- enjoyed art—many summer vacations included trips to the British Museum—and they tural environment around him.

“It was like being in a dream,” he says. “I’d created a home environment that enriched see huge trees or beavers by the road. I saw elk and deer. Cros- “It is always fun to be with him sing the forest almost daily, while being serious and funny at the for me, made me wonder why same time. There is never a moment everyone wasn’t doing this.”

Salazar learned to apprecia- of silence. I trust and respect him te the contrast from the urban as a friend as much as I do as a feel of Valencia.

“The stay made me develop professional.” a strange idea or stereotype of — Eduardo Robles, Florida A&M what the U.S. is like,” he says. professor and instructor in Valencia “We often have in Spain this idea of U.S. as still a wild space NOMADIC NOLES

“The worst was the pull ups—you can still see my arms,” Messana says. “I struggled to get the minimum.”

But make no mistake, he passed his exams, ranking fourth of 100 people from his cohort admitted to the cavalry division of the Spanish Army. Further, he was promoted to second lieutenant after only three months at the cavalry academy, which allowed him to choose Valencia as his home. At the time, he was dating the woman whom he would later marry, so Valencia was his top choice.

Six months later, he was promoted to lieutenant, and when he turned 40 he was promoted to captain, at which time he moved to the Passive Reserve.

Despite Messana’s strict upbringing—or perhaps because of it—he still knows how to have fun, a big part of what makes him such a hit with students. Not only is Messana their program director, but he is their friend and fellow teammate during athletic activities.

“I play soccer with the students every week,” Messana says. “And then I play tennis … once per month if I can.”

But on the weekends and during his August vacation, Messana, his wife, and their young daughter enjoy some family time on their sailboat, the Agua Marina, or Aquamarine, which they dock in Javea, a town on the Mediterranean south of Valencia.

The couple bought the boat in 1999, when they were newly married.

“The crazy thing that we did that I think our families will never forgive us for,” Messana says with a laugh, “is that, before we bought our first house or our first car, we bought a sailing boat.”

Messana recalls that many of their friends

at the time, who mostly owned motorboats, thought the purchase was pretty funny. “Our friends were saying, ‘Well, you’re kind of smart because you’re buying something that is good for transportation and for living,’” Messana says.

Not only did they buy a boat before they bought a house or a car, but they bought the first boat they looked at, without even putting up the sails. “It was a decent deal moneywise,” Messana says, “but it could have been

his understanding of history. In addition, his aunt is an archaeologist, which helped to inspire his own career.

Salazar recalls his father taking him and his brother every Sunday to La Lonja, which is a silk trade museum, where the children would buy small coins and stamps of animals.

“History was very much alive at home,” Salazar says.

As well as these learning expeditions close to home, his family traveled and camped, giving Salazar the opportunity to explore, opening his eyes to treasure hunting. Eventually he realized he wanted to study archaeology from an anthropological perspective, which ties into his current Ph.D. studies. He hopes to finish his studies in December 2016.

In addition to his Ph.D. coursework, Salazar has been teaching Introduction to Archeology and Ancient and Medieval Civilization

at FSU Valencia for six years, and he wrote a book with FSU colleagues.

In 2015, Salazar, Eduardo Robles, a professor of architecture at Florida A&M University and frequent instructor in Valencia, and FSU Valencia Program Director Ignacio Messana co-wrote A History of Valencia, which visitors to the FSU study center can find in the library. The authors covered a vast amount of territory and history of Valencia.

Robles says he appreciates not only working with Salazar as a colleague but also that he is a great friend.

“It is always fun to be with him while being serious and funny at the same time,” Robles says. “There is never a moment of silence. I trust and respect him as a friend as much as I do as a professional.”

When Messana introduces Salazar during the program’s semester orientations, he good-

Jávea The most beautiful place in Spain?

Photo courtesy of Ignacio Messana

Ignacio Messana´s boat, the Agua Marina, setting sail in the port of Jávea at sunset.

An hour bus ride south of FSU’s Valencia study center is a small town called Jávea.

Also spelled Xàbia, the town is a quaint and intimate place that smells of salt water and looks like a Hawaiian postcard.

When standing in the marina, you will notice a watchtower to the left of the boat docks that is a representation of the town’s history, dating back 700 years when Jamie II created a settlement to use to attack Andalucia, a Muslim-controlled area.

Home to perhaps Spain’s best paella, stunning views, and clear waters perfect for snorkeling, for many, Jávea is Spain’s hidden getaway.

By Andrew Loeffler

NOMADIC NOLES

a bad boat and we never would have known.

Luckily for us, it was a very good boat that we still own 17 years later.”

In retrospect, the turn of the century was a pivotal time for Messana. About a year after they bought the boat, Messana made another big life decision without knowing exactly where it would lead: He took the job at FSU Valencia.

For that decision, hundreds of students are forever grateful.

Photo coutrsey of Prehistory Museum

A few years ago, Juan Salazar excavated this Roman gold leaf, part of a gold crown. naturedly refers to him as Indiana Jones.

Students who sign up for Salazar’s class are lucky to have such a likeable professor who is passionate about his teaching, and they certainly will learn a lot about the city they call home for a semester.

Summer 2016 35

Insights from international interns Can you describe a memorable moment while interning?

Alexandra Pina, intern at BSV Produccion, a video production company in Valencia, summer 2015 We were working on a project for the company to promote one of our new products, and there needed to be a voiceover of someone explaining the product.

The company had hired a person to this job, but my bosses didn’t like how the product was coming out since that person had a ‘Spanish’ accent. They asked me to read the script for a second, since my Spanish accent is different because

Internships from page 13 While shouldering workplace responsibilities and making new memories are important parts of interning overseas, just getting used to a new workplace and its cultural differences might be one of the most challenging tasks for students.

Alexandra Pina, a marketing assistant in a production company called BSV Produccion in Valencia in summer 2015, at first found it challenging to work in a country

Photo courtesy of Sara Griffin

Sara Griffin, right, with British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard.

36 Summer 2016

I’m from Venezuela, and apparently they liked so much how I did it that they chose me to be the voice for the project…. It wasn’t part of my job description or my comfort zone, but I loved the experience…. It was truly one of my proudest moments.

Can you describe a memorable moment while interning?

Sara Griffin, campaign intern for the Harrow East Labour Party, London, spring 2015 One of the most memorable moments during my internship was attending a that was not her own and with coworkers who were unlike herself.

“As the days passed,” Pina says, “I found myself being able to relate to them, as we had to work together in upcoming projects.”

After overcoming this initial barrier, Pina realized that the internship helped her find what she truly wanted to do in life: pre-production, which involves choosing talent, locations, and coming up with the idea, rather than the production/post-production aspect of a career in video.

“The idea of doing an internship is to be able to see if the job the student thinks they want is actually what is best for them,” Pina says. “If I had never done this internship, I would have never realized what specific area I really liked.”

Fisher agrees that internships can play a pivotal role in a student’s career choice.

“Students get a better idea of what within their field they would like to focus on,” Fisher says. “Sometimes a student will have a particular area in which they would like to intern, but while interning they find that they did not like it as much as they thought they would.”

Occasionally, the company or organization that interns are working for overseas will even offer a job to the student after internship is completed, as in the case of Chris Carroll. Currently, Carroll is the director of emergency and risk management NOMADIC NOLES

BBC Debate with the Harrow East Labour candidate, who was my supervisor for my internship, and candidates from other parties. The debate was held at the BBC Broadcasting Center off Oxford Street, a large, exquisite glass building, something out of the future. I sat in a green room where many famous persons and reporters have sat before, while we waited for the debate to start.

While my supervisor was on stage debating, I was able to stay back stage and awkwardly peep my head around the curtain to hear what was going on. I was a total fan girl. I saved my visitor’s pass (and Instagramed it of course!). I was raised watching BBC World News and

Photo courtesy of Alexandra Pina

Alexandra Pina, an intern for BSV Produccion in Valencia, on set during an assignment. in FSU’s International Programs office, but in fall 2000, she interned in London with Member of Parliament (MP) Nigel Evans.

After her internship, she was offered a job

never imagined being given the opportunity to visit their headquarters.

What impact has the internship had on your career and life?

My internship has opened up many doors in my career and in my personal relationships. After completing my internship, I kept in contact with my former coworkers and developed lifelong relationships. I will invite my coworkers to my wedding (to Prince Harry).

The individuals I met and worked with during my internship have made such a positive impact on my life, my confidence, and my career. These lifelong relationships also opened the door for me to volunteer on Sadiq Khan’s London mayoral campaign in fall 2015 to spring 2016 while I was attending King’s Col-

lege London for my master’s degree.

The former campaign organizer for Harrow East was hired after the general election to work on Sadiq Khan’s mayoral campaign. I enjoyed my internship so much at Harrow East that I reached out to my old boss and offered my services for Sadiq. He won! The first Muslim to hold the office of mayor in the United Kingdom!

Besides the memories I made during my internship, now that I am applying for jobs I am constantly asked about my time interning abroad. Employers are always impressed that I have internship experience, but even more that it was abroad. I will forever be grateful for the amazing opportunity Florida State University International Programs offered me.

Photo courtesy of Alexa Hehl

What did you learn?

Alexa Hehl, intern at the British Hospitality Association, London, spring 2015 I learned way too much to list here, but these are some highlights: I learned the ins and outs of British politics, how to navigate the insides of Parliament (also how to get in without any documentation . . . oops), how to run a Twitter account for a political campaign, how to use WordPress/manage a website . . .

British lingo, how to understand accents over the phone (once I thought a man was calling about ‘Russian terrorism students,’ but really he was calling about ‘Russian TOURISM students’ and had a Scottish accent), and most importantly, I learned how to make a great cup of tea.

Photo courtesy of Chris Carroll

Alexa Hehl (left photo, center), celebrates her 21st birthday during her internship with the British Hospitality Association.

Chris Carroll (right photo) working in Member of Parliament Nigel Evans’s office during her internship. that would have allowed her to stay in London and continue working, but ultimately she declined the offer and decided to return to the United States.

Nonetheless, because of her internship experience, Carroll accepted a job in the FSU IP office as its first internship coordinator.

“I’ve spent the last 15 years in different positions and have dedicated my career to helping students study abroad,” Carroll says. “So needless to say—the experience had a direct impact on my career.”

Over the past 30 years, IP has matched

students with some impressive and interesting internships, allowing students to gain professional experience and giving them a chance to immerse themselves in a culture often unlike their own.

What advice do former interns have for anyone considering such an experience?

“Just do it,” Pina says. “Doing an internship abroad forced me to immerse myself in the host country’s culture and everyday life in ways that I wasn’t able to as a student.”

But, as Carroll says, “Be sure you are willing to prioritize the internship experience.”

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Interning overseas not only sets students apart from other job applicants, but they become global citizens and critical thinkers.

“You’re gaining work experience in a place out of your comfort zone” Pina says.

Fisher sums up many of the benefits. “[Interning abroad] is an opportunity for a student to gain experience in their chosen field, get global understanding of the work force, and develop both professionally and personally,” she says. “It is an opportunity to put to use what a student is learning in the classroom and to ‘learn by doing.’ ” Summer 2016 37

el Carmen from page 22 Afternoon Noon Even though most Spanish locals tend to eat lunch around 2 p.m., head back toward the direction of las torres. Order a typical Valencian paella for lunch at Café Lavin (Carrer de Conde Trenor, 16, 46003 Valencia) or Restaurante La Maruja (Placa dels Furs, 6, 46003, Valencia). Valencian paella is a rice dish known for having rabbit and chicken in it. If you do not feel like eating rabbit and chicken in your paella, don’t worry. Most restaurants have other options of paella, such as seafood or vegetarian paella.

1:30 p.m.

Ride toward IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern – Calle de Guillem de Castro, 118 46003 València). The museum, which costs 2€, holds temporary exhibits to the public year round. Among those temporary exhibits are permanent ones that showcase iron sculptures made by Picasso’s friend, Julio González, as well as local modern paintings of Ignacio Pinazo. On the walls and buildings of this area, you will see a variety of street art.

3 p.m.

Stop at Montaner (Carrer de Roteros, 5, 46003 València), and enjoy a pastry while seeing how the bakery integrated an 11th

Photo by Valeria Rey

Places like Cafe Paris line the streets of the Carmen district. century Muslim wall into the design of the location. Stroll along the streets and take a coffee break at Restaurante Café Paris (Carrer dels Cavallers, 30, 46001 València), or take a look at the boutiques and street vendors down Carrer dels Cavallers (Carrer dels Cavallers, 46001 València).

5 p.m.

Take a few hours to discover the religious

buildings around the Carmen district. Visit el Carmen´s hidden gem, the Parroquia de San Nicolás Obispo (Carrer dels Cavallers, 35, 46001 València), built in 1242.

There you will see amazing murals on the ceiling. Another interesting church is the former chapel of the Casa de Misericordia, now the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Puig (Plaça de Vicent Iborra, 1, 46003 València), built in 1875. Finish your bike ride with a stop at one of Valencia´s oldest churches, Parroquia de la Santísima Cruz (Plaça del Carme, 7, 46003 València), built as a convent in 1281.

Evening 7 p.m.

Return your bikes, and walk a few minutes to a Mediterranean restaurant, Refugio, Restaurante del Carmen (Carrer de Dalt, 42, 46003 València). In this former bomb shelter from the Spanish Civil War, you can order tapas for the table, and enjoy a glass of wine or sangria to end the day in el Carmen.

Photo by Valeria Rey

Parroquia de San Nicolás Obispo, built in 1242, is located next to the popular nightclub Fox Congo.

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10 p.m.

Can’t sleep yet? Walk down Carrer dels Cavallers (off the Plaza de la Virgen), and you will find many places to enjoy a night in Valencia. Café Bolseria (Carrer del Moro Zeit, 12, 46001 València) is popular for dancing or go to Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar (Carrer de Baix, 28, 46003 València) for a sit-down musical experience.

Beach from page 23 restaurant his entire life and even knew Hemingway.

He recalled a time when his father and Hemingway switched clothes and Hemingway took orders from diners. When he was 10, Pepe would sit at and reserve a table for Hemingway and his party. Some of Hemingway’s favorite foods at La Pepica reportedly were octopus and clochinas, local mussels.

Hemingway visited Valencia and La Pepica so often that he even wrote about the restaurant for three pages in his nonfiction book The Dangerous Summer.

The locals’ perspective of the beach differs in some ways from how the students view the area and from the romanticized images of big names hanging out there.

Jose Martos, maintenance coordinator at the FSU Valencia study centers, has lived for 20 years in Ayora, an area in Valencia 300 meters from the beach.

“Valencia without the beach wouldn’t be anything,” he says.

The beach is a fun place to visit, Martos says, but it is a developing tourist attraction, one that has not always been that way. It is surrounded by areas that contrast the popular, tourist feel of the beach itself.

In Valencia, for instance, people who make more money often live in city areas, while those who make less money live near the beach.

Some of the surrounding areas are more dangerous, and some of these streets are home to people who are temporary residents.

Messana even admits he is more cautious and aware of his surroundings when he is in these places alone at night.

The people of Valencia love the beach, he says, but sometimes “it is difficult to assimilate that it is part of our neighborhood.”

Photo by Helaina Cozza Martos thinks that the neighborhood is becoming Visitors to Valencia’s beach area can find a safer area to visit and live, vendors selling various wares. although there is room for improvement.

One event that was a huge boost for the area was hosting the America’s Cup, a yacht race founded in 1851. Valencia hosted in both 2007 and 2010, encouraging the investment of more money to improve and revamp the beach areas.

For people who might want to stay at the beach and enjoy some luxury, the Hotel Las Arenas Resort, originally opened in 1898, now gives visitors a 5-star experience. Places like that attract tourists from other parts of the world, and students visiting Europe for the first time witness some of the contrasts between Valencia’s beach and most U.S. beaches.

“People are topless here [in Valencia],” says Bianca Carbone, an FSU senior who studied in Valencia in the summer of 2016, pointing out a cultural difference that many students are not used to experiencing.

Still, one of the attractions for Carbone and other students is an opportunity to step away from Valencia’s city center for a day and enjoy the sun, sand, and climate.

“There’s definitely a tropical feel [in Valencia], even though it’s not in the tropics,” Carbone says. “It has a tropical feel in an urban place.”

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Tips on how to be a responsible tourist

By Maryana Boatenreiter

1

Learn the lingo

2

Avoid cultural assumptions

3

Live like the locals

4

Remember respect

While it’s understandable that tourists usually are not fluent in the language of the country they are visiting, locals definitely appreciate the effort to communicate with them. Learning simple phrases for greetings, ordering, and condolences before you arrive will make you more comfortable as a tourist and bring you closer to the culture.

A typical practice in one country is not necessarily going to be acceptable in another.

Reading up on cultural practices can be beneficial for travelers and will help you not to stand out as a tourist. Things like dress, greetings, and time vary greatly depending on the country. For example, wearing a spaghetti strap top is not permissible in a cathedral in Valencia. You will be glad not to be surprised by these rules, and the locals will appreciate your effort to adhere to their practices.

Another way to be a more responsible and more aware tourist is to venture out of the tourist “traps” run by large corporations and to instead support local businesses. This helps the local economy and will also bring you closer to the local culture. Going to local shops and eating at local restaurants will show that you care about the locals and what to support them.

The most important thing for a tourist is to show respect. Being aware of how you are acting while traveling and what you are leaving behind shows that you are not indifferent to the country you are visiting. Always abide by local laws and norms, and think critically about how you are behaving and treating others. For example, watch the tone of your voice in public spaces. It is important to uphold your own reputation, as well as that of your own country, by showing that you value your host country and the local inhabitants.

Summer 2016 39

About the contributors Maryana Boatenreiter Boatenreiter is a senior majoring in English with a concentration in editing, writing, and media (EWM).

She has worked as the managing editor for Tallahassee Community College´s art and literary magazine, The Eyrie, and she has interned in Florida State University´s Reading and Writing Center. She has a passion for effective communication and hopes to attend graduate school to study rhetoric and composition. When not reading or writing, you can find her updating her Spotify playlists and drinking way too much coffee.

Bianca Carbone Carbone is a senior at FSU majoring in English (EWM).

She also has a double minor in communications and Spanish. After graduation in spring 2017, Carbone hopes to move north in search of an editing job with a publishing house. Some of her favorite things include giraffes, iced coffee, and singing.

Helaina Cozza Cozza, originally from Pittsburgh, is a junior majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and minoring in communications. Cozza hopes to write fiction novels as well as go into a type of journalism that involves travel. She would love to do something such as food reviews.

Molli-Rose Glickman Glickman, a native of Boca Raton, Florida, is a student at the University of Central Florida, and she studied in Valencia as a transient student through FSU’s EWM program. She begins her senior year in fall 2016 as a human communications major, and she plans to eventually attend graduate school for industrial psychology. With a passion for photography, her photos grace this magazine, and she claims Spain was one of her most scenic adventures yet.

40 Summer 2016

Brandon Gonzalez Originally from Miami, Gonzalez is going into his junior year and will graduate in 2018. He is majoring in history and minoring in English. After undergraduate school, Gonzalez wants to attend law school, and he later hopes to be a tax lawyer. While falling in love with Spain, he has decided that he will one day live there.

Jenna Kelley Kelley is a junior majoring in English (EWM) and minoring in communications. She found her wanderlust in the summer of 2016 as her independence thrived abroad in Valencia. She hopes to move to New York City after college and become a writer for a magazine. One day, she may even type words into the blank pages of a novel.

Weesam Khoury Khoury is double majoring in international affairs and English (EWM). She also is receiving a certificate in Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Khoury is entering her senior year at FSU with absolutely no idea what the future holds for her, but she hopes to return to Europe to pursue a career post-grad.

Gail Levy Levy was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is majoring in English (EWM) and minoring in communications.

Since Levy was about 10 years old, she has had a passion for broadcasting. Throughout her middle school and high school years, she participated in producing the school news. In high school, Levy was accepted into a special television and film production magnet. She plans to continue on this path, and one day she wants to be an anchor on a show like Good Morning America.

Andrew Loeffler Loeffler is a senior majoring in English (EWM) and minoring in business. While having lived in Tampa,

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Standing, left to right: Maryana Boatenreiter, Bianca Carbone, Rosalie Peyton, Helaina Cozza, Valeria Rey, Brandon Gonzalez, Andrew Loeffler, Molli-Rose Glickman. Sitting, left to right: Mackenzie Sadler, Gail Levy, Weesam Khoury, Jenna Kelley, Alison Wilson. Photo taken on rooftop of HolaHotel del Carmen, two blocks from FSU's Garnet Study Center.

Florida, for 15 years, he was born in Houston and currently lives in Pensacola, Florida. He is a musician, interested in fashion, and passionate about cooking.

After graduating from FSU, Loeffler intends to attend law school in either Florida or Chicago, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

Rosalie Peyton Peyton, from Belleville, Illinois, is in her junior year, and she is an English major (creative writing). She hopes in the future to be able to write and illustrate children’s books.

Valeria Rey American and Peruvian student Rey is majoring in English (EWM) and minoring in communications.

After graduation, she hopes to work for a social news and entertainment company, such as Buzzfeed or E! Entertainment Television, allowing her to use her digital skills and creative mind. As a curious Leo, she enjoys

interacting with others and learning more about the world.

Mackenzie Sadler Sadler, born and raised in Orlando, Florida, is a senior majoring in both English (EWM) and media/ communication studies. After graduation, she is interested in working in either political communication or for a lifestyle public relations firm.

Alison Wilson Wilson is a junior majoring in English (EWM) and minoring in film. She comes from the small town of Auburndale, Florida, and she hopes to use her degree to take her to a big city to get a job editing movie scripts.

Advisors: Susan Hellstrom and Jack Clifford Student editors: Helaina Cozza, Andrew Loeffler, Mackenzie Sadler English department intern editor: Jennifer Knauf

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Summer 2016 41

A favorite study abroad memory from Spain . . .

Text and photos by students in the summer 2016 magazine course

“

Growing up I had always watched bullfights on TV with my grandfather, but watching a real one in person was way more than I could have expected. I was also able to take a selfie with one of the matadors of the night, fellow Peruvian Andrés Roca Rey. – Valeria Rey

”

“

My favorite part of Spain was pretending to be the Queen of Meereen in Peñiscola.

– Bianca Carbone

”

“

I will never forget sitting on the quiet and peaceful beach in the port of Javea with my friends while we enjoyed wine and breathtaking views of the sunset.

– Andrew Loeffler

”

“

I particularly enjoyed all of the beautiful views of the cities that I got to see. One view that stood out to me was the one from the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

– Rosalie Peyton

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”

“

Seeing the castle in Segovia was truly breathtaking. Walking around the castle was an enriching and powerful historical experience.

– Jenna Kelley

”

“

I enjoyed the thrill of free falling for the first time in Enguidanos. It makes me want to do it again!

– Gail Levy

“

”

“

I will always remember camping in the mountains of Pamplona, meeting new friends, and enjoying nature.

The city of Toledo – hot but heavenly.

– Alison Wilson

”

”

“

This photo shows the incredible view from cliff diving in Mallorca, which was my favorite memory and an amazing experience.

– Helaina Cozza

”

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Photo courtesy of Erica Gleeman

– Brandon Gonzalez

Summer 2016 43

A favorite study abroad memory from Spain . . .

Text and photos by students in the summer 2016 magazine course

“

My favorite memory was going to Park Guell in Barcelona and pretending to be the Fifth ‘Cheetah Girl.’

”

– Mackenzie Sadler

“

A favorite memory was being in Madrid with newfound friends and seeing breathtaking architecture, such as San Jerónimo el Real Catholic, a 16th-century church outside Museo del Prado. – Maryana Boatenreiter

”

“

My favorite memory was running through Toledo to zipline over the Tagus River and making it back in time – with four minutes to spare – before the buses left for Valencia.

– Weesam Khoury

“

”

Taking a day trip to Montenejos was my favorite memory. The natural views were breathtaking.

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”

– Molli-Rose Glickman