Devon Alter

Military Service and Social Media December 16, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 5:14 am
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Facebook is a great way to stay in touch, reconnect and, let’s face it, even stalk people. But while looking through my news feed, I came up the “Wall-to-Wall” of a friend of mine whose husband is overseas with the US Army. He has been gone about a month of his one year in Iraq, and they have posted on each others’ walls just about every other day if not every day. I have a number of friends in different sectors of the military that have served in various regions overseas, but I have never had a boyfriend over there. And with the recent deployment of more troops, it made me wonder: how do social media sites, such as Facebook, affect the relationships of couples and families split up by military service?

Please vote and discuss below:

 

3 down, 3 to go September 1, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 1:27 pm
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So I have not been very good about updating lately. But that is simply a testament to how much fun I am having. In place of blog posts I have had great times, new friends and better spanish skills than 3 weeks ago. On Friday I will head to Nice, France, and then to Seville. Then one more week and I return to the states and figure out my next life step. Any advice anyone?

 

Europe: A whole? Or the sum of its parts? August 18, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 10:10 am
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Growing up in Southeast Texas, my education on Europe was minimal. Trends were “European.” There were a few things noted about food and traditions in certain countries, but otherwise that was about it. Coming here for the second time, I have learned how much pride “Europeans” have in their own individual countries.

 Some of my friends I have met here include: Jo – Brittish, Lloyd-Welsh and Claire-Scottish. I was speaking with Lloyd and told him I could tell Claire’s accent was different, but that I could not decipher any difference between his and Jo’s. I was then taken aback by the look of hurt in his eyes. He welled up with pride and began to tell me how much he loved his country, how much he wished people knew more about it, that there is a whole Welsh language and how different his accent is from Jo’s.

I was shocked for a moment. I am a Texan, born and raised, and full of Texas pride. And yet, I take pride when I am able to disguise my heavy southern drawl. I am not ashamed but I don’t want to sound like a “hick” and thus be placed into some category by those with predispostions to the accent.

How does this make you feel? Would you be as hurt if someone told you they had never heard of your state/coutry? And finally, is Europe a whole? Or the sum of its parts?

-your fairly typical Southern Bell

 

Fiesta de Paloma August 15, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 5:10 am
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So I have been thinking up interesting post ideas and losing them by the time I get to my computer. But this I remember, so you are about to get a view into my first Friday night in Madrid.

This week/weekend is La Fiesta de la Virgen de Paloma and it is a HUGE street festival with music and drinks all over one area of town. I started my night meeting some of my friends from IH Madrid (where I take my Spanish class) and went to see a Zaqzuela, which is a show between an Opera and a regular show. To me it was not much because the singing was all pre-recorded and the men and women danced. But they were all in costume and very passionate so that made it cool. We then met up with some others and went and relaxed on a small area of grass.

Then was the best part! I went with 3 of my friends to meet the host mom of 2 of them, named Pilar. We went to a plaza and there was live music that was a LOT of fun. We danced with some fun Spanish women in costume and they taught us the dances to the songs. All of the sudden, the band starts playing the Spanish version of AchyBreaky Heart (Mi Pobre Corazon)!! I LOVED it, and yes, I got it on video!

When we went and found Pilar, we started dancing with her and her “slightly” inebriated friends! At one point she started dancing Sevillanas, which I learned while I was in Seville a year and a half ago. So we danced a paso together! We also learned some dances with them. Then one of my friends who is from Madrid and I started to dance a Paso Doble! I won’t lie, I was not bad!  Then we went to a bar with them and heard some of their stories and talked with them a bit. Some of the stories were STRAIGHT from a movie. I could not BELIEVE that they were real life stories. I also got some suggestions for some books!

We left and found some other friends. And while trying to get all the groups together, my phone stopped working! I could not get a hold of anyone I was trying to find! Luckily I was with my roommates. They wanted to leave so we left early. At 3:30 AM. It was a great night and I can’t wait for more!

 

Uni? Bi? or Tri? — lingual August 9, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 6:54 am
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My amazing brother Daniel who is an Eagle Scout once went to a World Jamboree in Chile. When he came back he said this:

If you know three languages you are trilingual, if you know two languages you are bilingual and if you know one language you are American.

And I find this to be absolutely true as well, which is unfortunate. That is why I now find myself in Madrid, Spain.

About a year and a half ago, I spent 5 months in Seville, Spain where I FINALLY learned Spanish. The 13 previous years of bad Spanish teachers had been of little help. But I was thrilled because when I left, I was fluent. I was even dreaming in Spanish which is very weird to do! And that brings me to a familiar saying:

If you don’t use it, you lose it.

And with Spanish this is very true. A year and a half later and I am no longer fluent. So for the next 6 weeks I will be in Spain brushing up on the language. I hope to come home fluent again and I will do my best to remain fluent.

 

Bonnaroo! June 9, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 1:10 am
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Thanks to the lovely people at 101X in Austin, I am heading to Bonnaroo this weekend. I accidentally put my name in their drawing for an all expense paid trip to this music festival in Tenessee and won! (I thought I was entering for free tickets to a Guster concert in Austin – oops!) The trip is for me and a friend, so my friend Randi and I will be camping on site and listening to people like Bruce Springsteen, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Snoop Dogg, Girl Talk, MGMT and so many more. (To see the full lineup please click here.)

I will be tweeting about the music, sites, people and general experience as long as I my phone’s battery holds out. Please feel free to follow my tweets during the festival! I will not post again until after the festival. Thanks! D

*I am also giving up my computer today for some maintenance. Here’s to hoping it’s all better when I return.
 

 
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