All throughout the summer I was a little angry at myself for not being able to recall more facts from bspace lecture slides, kostof's textbook, and even Professor Shanken's voice.
But what I realized was that classes can't teach you the experience of being there, how it feels to walk in the middle of narrow streets that weren't paved for cars while looking up at building facades detailed with ornaments; the aerial photograph of the Mezquita in a lecture slide can't convey the mosque's massiveness when viewed from human perspective on the street; neither the descriptive texts nor the pictures of the Sagrada Familia in a book can justify the sense of overwhelming awe experienced when looking up at the basilica in person...
What I liked most about having studio in Guardamar was the chance to really being there, understanding the history of the city while becoming familiar with the streets, the beach, the castle, the dunes, and even the native people. In the previous studios I've taken, although professors usually assign sites that were within the bay area, most of us never had time to revisit the sites more than once or twice, and relied mostly on Google map aerial views to guide our diagrammatic understandings. Thus, by the end of spending two months in Guardamar, I felt more attached and knowledgeable about my project site and its surrounding context than I have for most of my previous studio projects.
One night after studio, some of us went shopping at the local street market at the dunes near our project site. I'm not really sure how we somehow all decided to get these pants that were baggy, thin and loose. We called them the "gypsy pants". Their colored stripes made them look like pajamas upon first glance, but they are tightened near the ankle. I have never seen these in the States, but they seem to be quite popular in Spain. Perhaps to better integrate ourselves into Spain for the summer, we just thought we gotta get us some Spanish pants! Jinah was the first one to get her pair that night, and the rest of us got our pairs at the Mercadillo on Wednesdays before studio.
All of us were also eyeing these Spanish shoes from the shoe store right across from the Pension. So we all got them too. Afterall, these shoes came in all kinds of colors, looked like they could be Toms, and were also dirt cheap (at about $5).
Since we all matched, what could be better than a photoshoot at the Guardamar castle during the week of final review?
I remember on our way up to the castle, the natives stared at us like we were nuts. I remember laughing so hard while taking these pictures that the few groups of visitors must have thought we were nuts too.
But seriously, what are these pants? I felt like Aladdin the whole time I was wearing them.
view of the city of Guardamar and the beach in the background
A few days ago, a friend asked me, in a very serious tone, why would anyone ever pay money to buy those pants and those shoes. I didn't really answer her, but I have a feeling that if she was there, she would have done the very same thing with us. Sometimes pictures can't justify the experience of being there. Meanwhile, those pants, those shoes, and a few little souvenirs, became the only concrete touchable reminders that I was there, as a part of Guardamar Del Segura, in the summer of 2011.
I'm never going to forget this.
-Lu Han-
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