Welcome everyone (except for wifebeaters, rapists, murderers and the kind)!
Well...what's this?
This is The Bull Skin, a new project that sets sail today towards the immense abyss of the Internet- and beyond, hopefully. Actually it was founded yesterday -sunday- but then I thought it would be a genuine thing to leave it for monday.
What's TBS about?
Basically, the aim of this blog is to bring about some topics inherently related to the country I come from -Spain- and try to explain/discuss them entirely in English, and so make them accessible for non-spanish speakers.
Ongoing events will be a natural source of many of my posts, but mostly everything related to Spain and its people and culture might fit in the blog's content.
About me.
I was born and raised in a small town called Motril (Granada province) around 24 years ago. Since then I've travelled and lived in several places, such as Granada, Madrid, Utrecht (The Netherlands) and London (UK). I studied Biology and Physical Anthropology, and today I pursue a researching career, wherever it takes me to. Besides the scientific stuff, I always liked learning new languages, and that's one of the reasons to start this blog, as it will force me to read and write in English.
Since I've been living abroad for some time, I've become rather critical about certain aspects of Spain's mentality and political system, but with time I'm trying really hard to see beyond the crap and spot some good aspects that sometimes the spaniards ourselves overlook.
Why 'The Bull Skin'?
I first came up with this idea one night some years ago in which I was talking with a German friend of mine about the vision that countries in Europe have of each other. At some point, he stated that, while Italy seems the crazy, reckless and not-giving-a-fuck guy in the class, and the English look like the serious, stingy and self-righteous guys, Spain plays the silent-guy role. At the beginning I was a little shocked, as I had never seen it that way, but after thinking about it I realized that it had a fair amount of truth.
There are many reasons for this, and our well-known language skills should be one of them, but in the 21st Century Spain seems to live at a great extent giving its back to its neighbours.
Therefore, I approach this project as an attempt to make Spain more accessible for most people around the world, and show you what hides beyond the footie, sun umbrelas, bullrings, tapas, flamenco dresses and more well-known clichés. I consider this of a certain importance especially in these days, when thousands of spaniards have to flee the country while the international media projects a poor to downright false image of Spain.
My goal at TBS will be to contribute promoting a better understanding between Spain and abroad, tearing down some walls and wiping out as much bullsh*t as I can.
Can I participate?
Please do! Although initially I'm planning to write it on my own, any collaboration, ideas, remarks, or any topic would you might be interested in and would like me to go into a greater detail will be very welcomed. Any constructive critisize will also be taken into account.
...And here it comes the DISCLAIMER!
- English is not my mother tongue, so there may be some spelling or grammar mistakes! If you spot any of them, mea culpa.
- As I'm only one guy with a life, and since I'm doing this for free, I can't guarantee a regular post frequency. Patience will take us a long way toghether ;)
- I may use other's pictures to illustrate my posts. I'll try to take only those under a Creative Commons licence, or ask permission to use it. If you own one of them and don't want me to use it, just let me know.
- TBS is not a serious nor official blog whatsoever. It will reflect my personal views, which may differ from others as Spanish as me. Sometimes I will ask other, better-informed people for information, in order to add some robustness to particular topics. There's still a lot out there for me to learn.
- If you are Spanish (or live/have lived in Spain) and think differently to what I state here, please share your views!
- If you're Canarian or Balearic and are upset because I forgot to include your island in the logo...well, what do you want me to say, shit happens bro!
So now, please serve yourself a caña (small glass of beer) and feel the sun coming through the window!
