Dobles Españoles

I was actually personally asked by one of my friends to write a new blog post, so I'm heeding her advice and doing so. You're welcome, Lily.

Since SO little time has passed since my last post, I don't have much to discuss in the way of things that have been happening to me lately, so I'm going to take this opportunity to write about something I've been meaning to discuss for a while: Spanish doppelgangers (or as the title says in Spanish, dobles españoles).

I have developed a theory throughout my time here that every single person has a Spanish doppelganger. It was born first of seeing various celebrity look-alikes on the street, then graduated to seeing people who look like people I actually know back home, or just me thinking I recognize someone. Right away during our orientation I thought our discussion leader was someone I knew. That was actually feasible since she studied last year at Michigan while I was there, but I would've had no reason to meet her. I just thought she looked really familiar. This was only the beginning of what will probably turn out to be a presumably semester-long process of me seeing people who look like people I know. The only ones I've kept any real track of (meaning randomly typed their names into a word document) are the celebrities, which I will now list and explain to you.

Karl Urban: Actor. Best known for: Lord of the Rings, Star Trek (the new one), being from New Zealand. Spotted on Calle San Fernando (the street where my university is) standing with two other unidentifiable gentlemen. Caused me to literally do a triple take because I was so convinced it was Karl Urban.

John Turturro: Actor. Best known for: O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski maybe, Mr. Deeds (at least to me because that was honestly the first movie I ever saw of his). Spotted during the flamenco show we watched that first month here. The male dancer looked just like him. Or kind of like a cross between him and David Schwimmer, but two parts John Turturro and one part Ross from Friends.

Carson Daly: TV personality. Best known for: Last Call with Carson Daly, though is no longer really relevant to popular culture. Spotted at the Real Betis game. I mentioned him briefly in my rundown of the game, so I don't think I need to go much further with this one.

Jeff Bridges: Actor. Best known for: Crazy Heart, The Big Lebowski, Tron, True Grit, being awesome. Spotted I honestly don't really remember where, sorry for the let-down. Probably in a restaurant or something, nowhere too exciting.

Jason Schwartzman: Actor. Best known for: The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, his middle name being Francesco (I actually don't know if that's a well-known fact or not, but I just read it on his IMDb page and am determined to make it a well-known fact about him because that's awesome). Spotted again I don't remember where, clearly these were less memorable doppelganger sightings but are somehow still worth blogging about.

Mr. Rogers: America's grandpa. Do I even need to tell you what he's best known for? And while I don't remember where I spotted him either, I do remember he looked EXACTLY like Mr. Rogers, to the point where I turned around to get another look/check out his sweater and told whoever I was with that we just walked by Mr. Rogers. Or rather, Señor Rogelios. I would be his vecino if he asked (just guess what that one means).

Lastly and most convolutedly (is that a word?), a cross between Stephen Root and Penn from Penn and Teller. Stephen Root: Actor. Best known for: Office Space (the stapler guy), Dodgeball probably since that's the only other movie that comes to mind that he was in. Penn from Penn and Teller: Self-explanatory. Spotted in O'Neill's Irish pub when he and some other Spanish guys came over with guitars and serenaded my friends and me for a little while. It was a positively charming experience, but I couldn't help but stare at him thinking "man he really looks like Stephen Root. Or Penn. Or both."

Those are the notable celebrity ones. I've also seen doppelgangers for everyone from friends of mine to parents of friends of mine to random people I know from somewhere. I have yet to see my own, but I kind of hope I don't because it might induce some sort of identity crisis. Seriously, it's a good thing I'm not a twin, because I can't imagine there being someone who looks just like me running around here. Or at least someone within my own country.

I hope this deviation from my usual method of talking about whatever I've done in the past week or two has been just as riveting as any other post. I imagine next time we'll return to our regularly scheduled program, since we're going to Ronda on Saturday and I'm sure I'll have things to say about it, but this was a fun special event. Stay tuned. And for more on the subject of doppelgangers, turn your attention to the How I Met Your Mother episode entitled, wouldn't you know it, Doppelgangers, in which the characters see doppelgangers of themselves, leading them to make life decisions of varying severity. Perfectly understandable, because who knows what will happen if I see my doble.

I leave you with this random thought that occurred to me while writing this post: why do you write something down but type it up? Go ponder.