Story by Alex Newman TOLEDO, SPAIN–Mariano Zamorano has a 12-inch dagger blade gripped in his right hand as he guides it with his left over a rough stone rotating on a spinning wheel. He shifts and sparks fly up and out, illuminating the darkened room. Then he moves with the blade to the next stone,…
Story by Alex Newman and Ethan Parets MADRID–Several computer monitors and laptops are scattered about the office’s lone desk, used as a communal space for the company’s four employees. The walls are plastered with diagrams of web design, sticky-notes and the close-knit team’s inside jokes – including Arnold Schwarzenegger as Employee of the Month. Among…
Story by Dylan McGuinness and Adam Tismaneanu MADRID–It’s 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday and Elena Wang is sitting alone in the front room of her empty Sichuan restaurant, just before closing between the lunch and dinner rushes. She’s waiting on her 10-year-old son to come back from his school lesson. He walks in, greets his…
Story by Monica Vallejo MADRID–Like any Tuesday evening, people start trickling into the workshop located in the Arganzuela district, minutes away from the center of Madrid. Javier Porres, a retired engineer, has been working most of the afternoon printing parts for his latest project. He is building himself a new 3-D printer. “I didn’t know…
MADRID–The Spanish music industry has fallen on hard times. The government has raised the sales tax on tickets by almost 15 percent, driving down the number of people who attend live concerts. Bands on tour can’t make a profit due to falling ticket sales. Record labels, music stores and venues are all losing money as…
Story by Chloe Bayhack MADRID–Since 1933, Retiro Park has been shoulder-to-shoulder packed on the last Friday of May through the next 17 days. The Feria del Libro Madrid, or Madrid Book Fair, was started by librarians, but quickly gained support from the government as it showed advancement in Spain’s education systems. This year, the fair…
Story by Ellyn Bailey SPAIN–Residents of Spain changed the course of their country in one day late last month when they went to the polls to oust the reigning conservative party and vote into power more coalition-oriented groups. The result, analysts say, will be a more liberal, less corruption-prone government that better reflects the progressive…
Story by Julia Guilardi and Ethan Parets MADRID–The vibrant, multicolored storefronts of Moroccan cafes, Indian spice bazaars and Latin American hair salons line the sidewalks of Madrid’s Lavapiés neighborhood, the former Jewish quarter of the city that now provides a home to thousands of immigrants searching for a better life in Spain. Lavapiés, which spans…
Story by Madlen Gubernick The language is different and the culture is different, but Spanish economists say the fight for Catalan independence means much more than that. As the region in northeast Spain fights for secession from the rest of the country, experts warn that the economic implications of a split could be disastrous. “Secession…
Story by Alexandra Malloy BARCELONA–With a booming real estate and building market leading up to the Spanish economic crisis in 2008, horses were bought by many Spaniards as a symbol of their wealth. Since then, though, many owners have been unable to sustain the costs in keeping the animals and have been forced to sell,…
NU Journalism Abroad · Spain 2015 