The reason for not writing about Spanish politics since my first post is because there frankly has not been any new installments to the procedure until recently.

The Spanish legislative system is organized as a bicameral parliament whereby citizens vote for the representatives of the Senate and Congress of Deputies (which holds most of the power in the bicameral decision making process) through proportional representation of the provinces. These representatives in turn vote for a President of Government which would be their Prime Minister. But before the voting for a President of Government can occur, the political parties represented by the Senators and Deputies must form parliamentary groups due to the fact of the diversity of political parties. The most recent election of representatives produced a situation of “impasse” in which 7 different political parties with a considerable number of representatives were voted in and no clear majority was available to vote in a President. This is the reason why nothing has come about in the months since I last wrong about this situation. Political parties are not very disagreeable. Every political party has a distinct agenda in which their constituency must rely on them to fulfill, for example the Podemos party led by the hippy Pablo Iglesias has a left leaning platform agreeing with PSOE on this matter yet one of its main provisions is that Catalonia should decide its independence. Due to this divisive issue that no other left leaning party agrees with, combined with the fact that Podemos holds 44 seats in the Congress of the Deputies, the situation of impasse has persisted.

Once a parliamentary group has decided they could gain enough of the representatives’ support to vote one of their own as President, their proposed candidate meets with the King of Spain, Felipe VI, to discuss the possibility of being invested in. This procedure is simply a formality given the fact the King doesn’t hold any actual powers, all his decisions are authenticated by corresponding bodies of the government. The leader of the political party then makes a speech in front of the rest of the Deputies and Senators, setting up his plan of action and requests their vote. Once this has taken place, the voting begins. If the invested candidate doesn’t receive the absolute majority in the first round of voting another voting session will take place 48 hours later and if he doesn’t acquire the simple majority in the second round then back to drawing table. If no new president is voted in within 2 months since the first investiture session then new elections are called by the King of Spain.

This is the situation Spanish people find themselves in, their representatives were unable to agree upon a candidate thus new elections on June 25th will take place, in the hope of a different turnout (and not so obstinate representatives).

After onlooking this procedure first hand in Spain, I found it satisfying that in the US we don’t have a multiparty system. Given how difficult it is to come to an agreement with two bipolar parties, I couldn’t imagine adding a third to the mix.

Just a week or so after spring break, we were lucky enough to have another break! This break was for the Tomb Sweeping Festival. This festival is to honor the ancestors and clean out the house and the shrines. My friend and I decided to go to Shanghai to visit one the sites, and also meet up with my old high school friend, Brandon, who has been studying in Shanghai all year!

Once we met up with Brandon, we went to tons of places in Shanghai! We went to all the tourist attractions, some museums, a French market, and also got to visit Brandon’s university.

My favorite part about Shanghai was the Bund and the lake view! Both views were amazing! Even though it was raining off and on during our stay, going to the lake was relaxing and fun! The bund was amazing because it was our last day, and it was bright, sunny, and warm! We got to see beautiful views and walk along the lake. It’s amazing how all the architecture is Westernized! All the buildings were so unique and different, and at night, the lights were amazing! Buildings have moving pictures and saying scrolling across the buildings, and many of them had changing colors!

The next few posts will be posted later. We’re in our last two week stretch with finals! I’ll keep you all updated when I can!

I have successfully waited until the very last moment I could to write this final blog post. For weeks, I have been contemplating how I would face this last moment, and now that the time has come I still do not have the words to adequately express how I feel.

Vietnam has been such a wonderful host; graciously she showed me her culture, fed me, challenged me, surprised me, and made me sweat beyond comfort. No experience can rival the one I have been living for the past almost 4 months.

To Loyola: Thank you for providing me with such a great program, this is not an experience I would have been able to have otherwise.

To Loyola Vietnam: How sad it is that we were only able to spend so much time together. Without you, I would have fallen apart this semester.

To the kids: Our gang of 22 was such a mix of interesting people – it was such a pleasure to meet each and every one of you and get to know you in this bizarre, lovely country.

To my roommates: It’s been a wild ride, and I’m glad to have gone through it with you by my side.

 

Room 1210, out.