Lisbon

“We’re having a party tonight!” a very stylish young Portuguese man says to me, “they’re lowering the credit rating of Greece again”. I giggle, and we go on to discuss politics and education. Is an education in Political Science just an ivory tower? Will theory cause you to lose your connection to anything real? Will it drive you crazy? These questions, and others, keep reflective students awake at night.

Beyond the constant internal struggle though, my weekend in Lisbon was an absorbing investigation of the collision point of politics and the real world. Though Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, life here in Madrid continues with impressive normalcy. The crisis is a number one topic of conversation, but the bars and cafes are full and there is very little homelessness to be seen on the streets. By contrast, Lisbon is palpably crumbling. Around half of all buildings have shuttered windows and doors chained and padlocked shut; weeds already grow up from sills caked thick with grime. I saw more homelessness just walking to the nearest café than I have in my six months of living in Madrid; and graffiti on the walls of almost every building called for anarchy, solidarity with the Greeks, or spoke of the desire that the “Nazis” should return home.

My stylish friend had no delusions… “They don’t want to save Greece,” he said, referring to the so-called ‘Troika’—the IMF, European Union, and European Central Bank. Still, as a student of Political Science he had to recognize the utility of a European federation, which to me connoted some level of faith in the Union. I frowned, and wished I could explore the sentiments on the streets. Hindered by my lack of language skills and the all too swiftly passing time, however, I find myself back in Madrid with a head full of stories built around the powerful images of a collapsing capital.

Lisbon, I’ll be back.