My early attempts at crowdsourcing on Facebook for clever column tagline ideas gave me gems like, “In My Mind I’m Going to Caroline” and “LeLand of the Pines.”
Though not quite what I was looking for, I liked that the suggested name/school/state-related puns hinted at some of the things that are central to my identity: who I am and where I come from. I also wanted my tagline to convey where I’m going to be for the next five months of my life: the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
So I went with a Spanish translation of a classic Carolina phrase. Maybe you’ve heard of “The Carolina Way”? In Spain, it would be known as “El Camino Carolina.”
According to the Carolina Annual Fund, The Carolina Way reflects “the spirit of this University: excellence with integrity and heart.” We all know The Carolina Way is a cultural pillar that unites us in a shared expectation of the general quality and trust one can find here at UNC.
But I’m a Public Relations major who also knows that a lot of those nice-sounding words are BS. We see cracks and holes in the veneer. And that goes for anything — gaining a more critical eye is an unavoidable (and not necessarily regrettable) part of growing up. At some point you learn Taco Bell “beef” actually isn’t, and then it’s just not quite as delicious as it used to be. You start noticing flaws in your parents and in other heroes. You learn ugly secrets about your best friend.
Sometimes we need to accept those flaws and secrets we find in the world around us, because we all have plenty of our own. And sometimes we need to highlight them and work to change them. When my glorious freshman-year honeymoon phase at UNC started to wear off, I didn’t love UNC any less. I recognized that it was real, and I loved it even more because I could talk about problems I saw, knowing I would be heard.
I want to celebrate what’s good in the world, to applaud and rejoice in the inspiring people and beautiful moments I’m sure I’ll encounter in Spain (just as I do in the States). But I don’t want to ignore the ugly either. In finding a balance of both, I want this column to be a space that sparks conversation — thoughtful conversation that might even lead to positive change.
This semester I’ll be exploring a country with a deep and fascinating history and a royal family tangled in an unprecedented fraud scandal. I’ll get to know a place with an unemployment rate stubbornly above 25 percent and a people known for their fiery enthusiasm for life. The specific topics I’ll find to write about here will probably be as varied as the myriad interpretations you can find of The Carolina Way. I can only know they’ll be based on whatever I find on my journey through the individual challenges and adventures I expect to have in this semester abroad.
I hope you’ll follow along as I wander and wonder — seeking my Carolina Way — throughout the limitless potential of a semester in Spain.
