Before Shireen Ghanbari arrived in Madrid, Spain, she was told everything would be more expensive as prices rise.
In a nutshell, that was the focus of the third-year Carleton international business student’s introduction to the European austerity crisis.
Three months later, she said she isn’t sure she has learned that much more about what’s happening, but she has had a first-hand look and she isn’t alone.
Ghanbari is one of many Canadian students currently studying in Spain and witnessing the effects of high unemployment and austerity measures in person.
For several of those students, the experience came to a head Nov. 14, when anti-austerity strikes broke out around Europe, including Spain.
What was supposed to be a pleasant evening out Nov. 13 ended with Ghanbari and her friends surrounded by a dozen police cars, with large crowds of protesters approaching and gunshots in the distance. Ghanbari said she “hadn’t felt that terrified in a while.”
While she personally avoided the next day’s protests, she said a fellow exchange student went and witnessed cars being set on fire, violent clashes between police and protesters and destruction of property.
Reporting by Jane Gerster
Produced by Fraser Tripp
Fellow Carleton international business student Christie Gilman also avoided the protests after being warned that they would “get out of hand.” She said she saw the damage it caused and the city shut down for 24 hours with all public transportation closed.
Gilman, who came to Madrid with little knowledge of the situation, is now able to spout off a variety of statistics and give a clear summary of the crisis.
She said levels of unemployment, the country’s austerity budget, and amendments to the Spanish Constitution to help push through balanced budgets both regionally and nationally by 2020 are frequent topics of conversation in class.
More informal conversations with classmates revolve almost entirely around unemployment, Gilman said.
“Many of my friends from school have mentioned how difficult it is to find a job within Spain,” she said. “Many of them are trying to learn other languages . . . so that they are able to work abroad. Also, many have chosen to pursue post-graduate studies as they feel this is the best use of their time.”
Fellow Carleton international business student Vanessa Eyre is studying a few hours’ drive away from Madrid on the coast in Valencia.
She said she has had similar conversations about unemployment with students and despite the poor outlook, Eyre said most are hopeful.
“A lot of people are very, very hopeful . . . the younger generation definitely has a different outlook,” she said, explaining the older generation is less inclined to speak about the austerity crisis.
Eyre said she’s also witnessed the effects first-hand.
“The first week I lived here I lived with a girl from Spain and she had lived in this apartment for seven years and because of everything, her hours were cut at work and the rent was raised so she had to move out,” Eyre said.
“But even her views on it, they were never negative.”
Instead, Eyre said the focus is on getting people prepared for possible employment.
“The way [professors] talk to the students, they’re encouraging everyone to learn their languages and keep their options open for other countries.”
Sarah St-Jean is a second-year international affairs and Spanish student from Bishops University in Quebec. She’s spending the year in Madrid.
Although she said it hasn’t impacted her daily life too much, she’s disturbed by the amount of people asking for money on the streets.
“Things like that wouldn’t happen at home . . . you can see people are struggling with their lives,” St-Jean said.
She said although she also knew very little before going to Spain, between what she sees in the streets and hears in class, she can “tell there’s a big difference from here and Canada.”
“I knew it wasn’t going so well,” St-Jean said, “but I didn’t know to which extent.”
None of the girls said they regret choosing Spain, and as their fluency in Spanish increases, so too does their understanding of the European austerity crisis.
