I was trapped in an airport riot at midnight in Barcelona.
That's intense!
Yeah it was nuts how about you?
I can't think of anything crazy I've done... I must be boring!
I'm sure there's something crazy.
Skipping class and flying to california for a few days?
That's fun!
It was!
Sounds like an adventure from the seventies. I can see it in my mind, bell bottoms and all.
If only bell bottoms had been involved! Just leather boots with fringed buckles all up the sides
That would really be the cherry on top of a crazy sundae. Nice! What did you do while you were there?
Went to a concert with a friend It was AWESOME
That's awesome! Which concert? Who performed?
BTS, because we're huge dorks
Is that a K-pop group?
yep My friend and I made a pact that we would see them if they ever came to the US and we've been waiting years for it
Well you can cross that off your list! So fun.
Best concert I've ever been to. They did like 25 songs. It lasted forever
I just got a bowl-cut and a bunch of Korean people have been giving me some wonderful compliments.
Ha!
That's amazing!
So wait, tell me about this airport riot
Ok! I was serving as a missionary and we were in Barcelona waiting to catch a flight home to the North where we lived.
What was the riot about?
We had been in Barcelona for a meeting and finished around 6 pm. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8. but it was delayed every half hour for another thirty minutes. This happened until midnight when the plane finally arrived and once everyone had gotten off they announced over the PA system that our flight was cancelled.
Oh dang
This happened to three different flights at the same time. Spanish people are very passionate and not to be inconvenienced in the slightest.
Is that what caused the riot?
Cancelling the flights! three hundred passengers rushed the lady at her desk and started swearing at her and threatening her.
Oh my gosh, that sounds horrible
It kept escalating until the police literally left the airport.
wow
One older fellow was trying to get everyone to smash the glass panelling in the airport and break everything haha.
That's intense! What finally stopped it?
Another fellow was screaming that he was going to burn down the plane. A lady came out of no where and screamed at them to shut up. They had the worlds longest staring contest and then they got back in line and she disappeared. It was the weirdest night of my life.
Yeah, that's pretty crazy!
They refused to let us get our luggage until the next day because it was already loaded on a plane that was somehow connected to the bombing in Brussells. It was crazy,
That's even crazier
Yeah I was so tired the next day. But we finally got a plane home and arrived around 1 pm. The night we got home was even weirder though.
Oh really?
In Spain they have what's called the passing of Christ. It's a tradition in the Catholic church where they dress up in costumes that look like the KKK.
Oh boy
Each congregation takes a statue of christ on the cross and parades it throughout the city walking barefoot and carrying pitch forks, torches, etc. Some of them even play trumpets and a bass drums. It was super creepy. and bass* You could hear them circling through the city and they went until midnight.
That sounds like a super eventful few days! wow
Yeah I was so tired after that.
Haha I bet
All I wanted to do was brush my teeth when I got back but we were bombarded by these swarms of pointy-headed, cloaked people.
At least they weren't trying to go after you guys, right?
We had to sleep in the mission home over night in the clothes we had on. No they weren't trying to get us. That would have been worse. There was definitely a bad spirit about it though. No one could tell me what the origin of the passing was though. That was the weirdest part. I tried asking everyone we knew but nobody seemed to have thought about it.
That's weird, you'd think they would be all over telling a story about why they do that
Exactly
Maybe it's a big secret conspiracy
Mind you, a lot of them have become atheist after the reign of Franco. It very well could be. They were under communist rule until the mid 1970's
*x-files theme song* It's definitely a conspiracy
Their ruler Franco used the Catholic church as political leverage and would execute mass burnings of villages . LOL That's hilarious. It was really sad to see an entire nation disillusioned by religion and turn their backs on God.
Yeah, a lot of monarchical countries went that way, didn't they?
Communist? Or utilitarian?
I just meant like France turned all atheist after all of their kings forced them to be a certain religion
Yeah I see what you mean. I think it makes a lot of sense. I don't blame them really. Especially after all the trauma they experienced. Their ideas of God would definitely be negative if what was done to them was in the name of religion.
Yeah for sure
I didn't know that had happened so recently in our history. I suppose it was around fifty years ago when his reign was over, but it still seems so strange.
Yeah, it's hard to imagine struggles in other countries when the US is so comparatively free
Exactly. I think that's why travelling is so powerful. The internet can only provide so many sensory experiences to illustrate how life is in other places.
Sometimes when I have lots of homework I just think about running away and like backpacking around the world just to see what life is like in other places
Yeah I think that's a common thought.
I mean even sometimes when I don't have homework, but still
Do you ever wonder why we have the rules we do in University? For example the amount of work that is required? Or the idea of testing the way we do? Who decided it was the best and only way? Who decided that education would be so unattainable?
It didn't used to be
No?
the original system was just, like, hanging out and having lectures and discussions like, plato and those guys
Oh I see. Philosophers.
Modern universities, I imagine, have to get testing done so they can prove you know stuff
I suppose. However the knowledge seems fleeting.
Probably because we're so focused on passing that we don't really immerse ourselves
I agree. I think it's also because we are required by the laws that be and those in power to take courses that we don't need in our professional pursuis. pursuits.*
When my dad was in high school, they tried a policy where students just showed up and went to whatever class they felt like
The volume of information versus the time given is greatly disproportionate.
Obviously it didn't take them long to figure out nobody was going to class or learning anything
YAEH! Yeah I can imagine no one wanted to go haha!
Oh totally I agree that we never hit any depth until you're taking like 500 level classes and graduating
I think that it's so wrong,. wrong.* I think we're using our time as children and youth wrong. We should be learning about how to take care of ourselves/ I think that the University culture and requirements impose unhealthy expectations on students. Everyone wonders why our generation is depressed. I bet that's a great contributor.
I think a lot of professors just forget that we have other classes, you know? And they assign so much and expect so much
I agree!
I actually transferred out of a class after the first day when I realized the professor was so intense
I can see where they're coming from in the sense that their lives are dedicated to a single subject and their output has to be dramatically filtered. Yeah I have done that too.
Sometimes I think it would be cool to be a professor who was like, "No homework, tests are open notes and book, whatever, just learn something cool"
I have a teacher like that right now. He's not a professor but rather a very successful entrepreneur. He's anti-busy work.
That's the best
I also think that while achieving a masters degree or a PHD is impressive I don't think it necessarily qualifies you to teach.
True, but I mean, six or so years studying a subject, that would certainly qualify you in your field. It's just that not everyone who's qualified in their field should teach
Exactly. While their knowledge is great, their ability to give others that knowledge is not always sufficient.
True
I think it's funny how they changed everyone's user name.
Haha I noticed that I'm sure the same people are still in the lead, whoever they are
Yeah they probably are. And then there's us peasants. Alright I better go. I have to finish a paper.
Good luck!
It was really nice talking to you. I hope you have a great night. Thank you.
You too!