Women of a certain time, age and experience: a decade of Smith in Spain
In 1930, the International Institute received the Smith College group (Smith College Junior Year Abroad) composed of barely a dozen students from Smith and Wellesley College. It was a pioneering experiment in the field of international education and a manifestation of the close relationship between Smith College and the International Institute. This relationship has continued over the years and the Institute continues to welcome Smith College alumni.
To celebrate the XNUMXth anniversary of the creation in Spain of the Smith College graduate club, we publish this article signed by the founders: Tracy Eubank, '65; Sheila Klaiber, '68; Ingrid Perdew, '65 and Carolyn Richmond, '60.
Women of a certain era, age and experience: ua decade of SMITH IN SPAIN
About us? How many? Despite our best intentions, the answer is floating, not just in the wind, but in the inevitable twists and turns that those of us who still constitute the hard core of our Smith College graduate club with residence, permanent or transitory, have witnessed throughout the past decade in Spain. East hard core It is made up of a small group of women of a certain period, age and experience who live in the capital, to which we should add, on certain occasions, female colleagues living in other towns as well as, from time to time, undergraduate students enrolled in programs in this country. Given these circumstances, it will be understood that attendance at our evenings varies from meeting to meeting. In the ten years since our constitution, the International Institute in Spain, located at 8 Calle de Miguel Ángel in Madrid, has welcomed us generously, which is largely due to a long tradition of cooperation between programs of the Junior Year Abroad (Third Year Abroad) of Smith College and that entity (for more information, see: “History of the International Institute” at www.iie.es/historia-del-instituto).
How, then, did these ladies d'un certain age end up residing in Spain? Its history —ours— is a mirror of the times in which we have had to live, grow and leave (in our case, literally) to a world recovering, in the middle of the last century, from the ravages of World War II. Those who, either after letting themselves be seduced by that fascinating Spanish difference that the Minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, preached in the sixties, or because they had a Hispanic boyfriend, chose to stay in that country of brass bands and tambourine still, they chose at the same time to plant roots in a social-historical reality very different from that of the United States of that historical moment... (and of course from the Europeanized Spain of this current moment).
They were —yes, each one in a personal way— very different from those who stayed in Northampton, Massachusetts, those students who chose at that time to spend our junior year (third year of university) abroad, term this one that at that historical moment - that is, in the middle of the twentieth century, many decades before the recent era of globalization - referred to post-war Europe. We were – it is hard to believe today – in a sense pioneers, although in the case, both in Spain and in other countries of the old continent, Smith College, always at the forefront of higher education for women, had counted on a long tradition of programs abroad, including the Spain of the Second Republic (1931-1936).
Our oldest members settled in Spain in the XNUMXs, and thus were able to attend, from a very special perspective, the transformation of this country that we now call our own. Some, mothers, display on the screen of their mobile phones photos of husbands, in-laws, children... and grandchildren born in Spain; we know how to defend ourselves with ease, already, in the language of Cervantes; and we have also learned to see the reality around us from a plurality of perspectives that help us to understand, perhaps better, the socio-historical changes that we are still witnessing: among them, the enormous difference that exists today between our common life experience and vision of the world and those of the young students, or recent graduates, of Smith College who, from time to time —because today's young people hardly stay in one place for long—, perch, like bees, to try the nectar of our ancient company. The times they are a-changin'… However, the solidarity of the graduates of Smith College remains intact.
In the present year, 2016, our club, SMITH IN SPAINcelebrates a decade of life, which is as good an occasion as any to record our modest, and profitable, existence, because in these last ten years we have held interesting talks and debates, shared our experiences as Americans in Spain, exchanged opinions about Smith College today, received an official visit from the former president of our alma mater as well as other informal visits from College excursionists, made trips and visits together, toasted with more than a glass of good wine and —above all— forged good and lasting friendships. What more could you want?
Did you imagine all this Sheila Klaiber, '68 at the beginning of this century when, on the occasion of the commemoration, in 2003, of the first hundred years of the International Institute as well as the 75th anniversary of the Smith College Junior Year Abroad program, it occurred to him to organize, with the support of Ingrid Perdew, '65 y Vivian Aranyos, '70, a first meeting of Smith graduates residing in Spain? With the help of information provided by the Alumnæ Office of the College, he organized a gala dinner at Madrid's Wellington Hotel (also known as the "Hotel de los toreros"... although on that evening the only men in sight were young men, wearing waiter suits, who limited themselves to toasting us with mini banderillas and slices of ham). And although that North American saying When more than two Smithies get together, they form a committee may be true (When more than two Smith graduates get together, they end up forming a committee), the truth is that that time Sheila alone did the bulk of work, for which the rest of us will always be extremely grateful.
Our inaugural meeting consisted of an appetizer with exquisite hors d'oeuvres, a tasty dinner and, after dinner, a talk by the professor of the Spanish Department at Smith College, Nancy Sternbach, about PRESHCO, the cooperative study abroad program based in Córdoba, of which she was director at the time. As a reminder of that first act of our fledgling club, a song is played alongside these words. photo of the founding mothers, whose ranks, unfortunately, have already thinned.
That was in 2006. Shortly after, Sheila and Ingrid recruited two of those assistants, Tracy Eubank, '65 y Carolyn Richmond, '60, to form the usual committee of Smithies, and between the four of us we managed to compile a list of names and addresses in addition to obtaining the approval of the Executive Director of the International Institute, Pinion Pillar, to be able to hold our future meetings at that venue. It should be added that Pilar, who for her part has carried out her own research in the archives of the Smith library, knows in depth the history of the close relationship that has existed between the College and the International Institute over the years. Since our first contact, not only has he unhesitatingly extended the hospitality of this institution to us, but he has come to participate in numerous of our programs. We would like to place on record here our gratitude for all that she has done for our club.
We, the four stalwarts who sign below, along with other Smith College graduates, often enjoy our biannual meetings very much, which among many other things provide us with the opportunity to engage in exciting intergenerational conversations. We keep an updated list of the names of Smith College graduates who are, permanently or temporarily, in Spain, to whom we send invitations to our meetings. (If we have missed any of them, please contact Ingrid Perdew [ingridperdew@mail.com] or Sheila Klaiber [s.klaiber@telefonica.net], which will add your name to the list.)
Finally, we want to warn you that we, too, have a (modest) website (https://alumnae.smith.edu/smithcms/spain/), unfortunately not updated, which nevertheless contains background information that could be of interest. In the coming years, both this task and the future of our club will necessarily have to pass into the hands of a new generation that, hopefully, will choose to continue with what has been done with so much love and dedication to this day. .
Tracy Eubank, '65; Sheila Klaiber, '68; Ingrid Perdew, '65; Carolyn Richmond, '60
Madrid, December 2016
