Study Abroad In Oviedo, Spain

I'm engaged!!!

2008-06-17T15:26:00.006+02:00

Just a quick update: I arrived in the U.S safe and sound about a week ago (but my luggage didn't make it for a few days after I did... but no matter, everything eventually made it back).

I sent out an email to almost everybody last night telling them the big news with a hefty email attachment but unfortunately I woke up to a lot of return-to-senders where the emails got rejected for being too large. Therefore, I figured this would be the easiest way to share the photos.

For those of you who did not already hear, this is how it happened:

Well as everyone in the Hobson family knows, a birthday celebration is not just a single day... we have Birthday Week, or sometimes even Birthday Month as I extended mine last year. Well, Jay enjoyed the tradition so much he decided to make it a pre-birthday-month on top of post-birthday month; so he proposed to me today (well, now it is technically yesterday since we are getting in a bit late) on June 16th.

We had stopped by Kroger to pick up some nearly-expired bread and headed to the Duck Pond on Virginia Tech campus to participate in one of my favorite activities that I have missed dearly during my time in Spain: feeding the duckies.

Well we were lucky enough to come across a few families of baby ducks even, and all of them very eager for a bite to eat. As I ran out of bread and waited for Jay to hand me another piece or two, I looked down and happen to see a shiny ring on top of a stack of bread! Thank goodness I didn't throw it to the ducks, but I was so excited I scared most of the ducks away by that point anyhow.

The ring is GORGEOUS!!!! Actually, it turns out Bob made it himself (for those of you who don't know, Bob works in my grandmother's jewelry store)! The center stone is a diamond of course and the side stones are actually purple sapphires! Isn't that awesome?

Here are the photos I tried to send out:

continued Buenos Aires

2008-06-11T00:49:00.000+02:00

Here is the crazy wood oven the used to cook our food... it smelled SO good!

More table views

A "madrilena copter" at the Oviedo airport

A scupture of one of the Velazquez Meninas in the airport

Restauraunt: Buenos Aires

2008-06-11T00:40:00.000+02:00

No, we did not go to Argentina, but that just happens to be the name of the restauraunt. Oh yeah, so check out this set up and BE JEALOUS.

This would be Cider Sangria, you know, home made Spanish sangria but instead of red wine, they used local Asturian hard cider.

The whole crew!!! Check out that view!

Mmmm... ribs...

Don't forget dessert!

2008-06-11T00:36:00.000+02:00

I'm in Philidelphia airport right now killing time (woohoo for free wifi for college students!!!) so I thought I would post some pictures from the past couple of days!

Last night we all went to this AWESOME restauraunt on Mt. Naranco and stopped by some pre-romanesque 9th century ruins that happen to be along the way. Amazing!

Santa Maria del Naranco

See the city in the background? Do you see the white things with ribs in the distance? That's the crazy hotel/convention center/mall thing next door to the house!

San Miguel de San Lilio
Pic taken next door to the restauraunt! What a VIEW!

Yes, I'm becoming an old lady.

2008-06-08T12:19:00.000+02:00

Update on my knitting projects:

This was a hat I sort of made up as I went along for Maria... unfortunately it was too small so I had to put in a patch in the back ripping half of it apart and eventually coming out with a rather deformed hat, but she seems to like it all the same.

This is a headband in progress as payment to Becky for her hair salon services hehe... I found the patter on this blog: http://persnicketyknitter.blogspot.com/2006/06/free-arrowhead-lace-headband-pattern.html and it seems to be coming out fairly well thus far.

For those of you who don't already know, my new name now is Nani, as dubbed by Maria and is now commonplace for the locals here who know me. Nani is also the last name of a famous Real Madrid soccer player, but that's besides the point!

I have been in the process of packing, unpacking, and repacking my bags in a cruel game of Tetris trying to get all the breakables situated and everything balanced out so my bags won't fall over and such. It is actually quite a daunting task, especially when I can't really pack EVERYTHING quite yet. Early Tuesday morning Pedro is driving me to the airport though, so time is running out!

Highlights, and walking around Oviedo

2008-06-07T22:09:00.000+02:00

Becky was kind enough to give me some highlights and as payment, I'm knitting her a really cool headband as a surprise... pics to come.

They aren't really very noticeable to be honest, but it just sort of makes my hair look shiny and such which is cool.

Today Merche and I wandered around town and I finally went inside and wow was it gorgeous.

Cathedral in downtown Oviedo during the day

La Regenta statue near the cathedral

Afterwards we wento to the Museum of Fine Arts, which is actually free every day, which was home to quite a few Goyas, Dalis, and Picassos. Right here in town!

And now for another episode of...

2008-06-07T02:14:00.002+02:00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN SPAIN Vol. V

(okay this one is a little short but there are some good ones that I wanted to share before I forget them)

- There is nothing unmanly about wearing a pastel shirt or hoodie with a large daisy on the chest and/or back (actually it is probably Carhartt anyway)

- A “pretty tortilla” means an omelette of sorts with tuna. Apparently anything with “bonito” (Pretty or beautiful) in the title, includes tuna. Who knew tuna was pretty?

- If your husband tells you he’s going out for some “bimbos”, he’s not doing anything shady… he’s just picking up some bread or tea cakes from the store.

- Who cares about Britney Spears? Ronaldihno was picking his nose today in soccer practice! Now THAT is celebrity gossip!

- If someone tells you that a fat man touched them last night, you should congratulate them… it means they won the lottery.

- Spanish people go on diet and exercise programs to get rid of their “Michelins”

- If someone says they have “piel de naranja” (skin of an orange), it means they have a cellulite problem

- According to the Spanish, the American Past-time is getting into wars

- If you are trying to fool someone in Spain, you aren’t pulling their leg, you are pulling their hair.

- If you have a Hake (fish), then you must be drunk.

Valley of the Fallen

2008-06-02T14:11:00.000+02:00

This is the cathedral that was built by the "Valle de los caidos (Valley of the Fallen) which was actually constructed by hollowing out solid rock from a mountain! Very impressive on the inside, again, unfortunately photos weren't allowed. It is also the resting place of Francisco Franco, so we got to see his tomb as well.

View from the mountain

Me and Elephant hanging out outside

Next day: Aranjuez

2008-06-02T14:01:00.000+02:00

The next day we went to Aranjuez, just outside of Toledo and home to another very elegant royal Spanish palace. It turns out that the city declared a holiday that day and therefore not only was the tour of the palace free of charge, but they were opening up a few rooms in the palace just for that day for the first time ever to the public. What luck!!!

...but it gets better. We waited in line for a few minutes before it opened, and when we got to the front a man there asked us where we were from. "Asturias" replied Merce. "Oh really? I have a lot of ties to Asturias, I have a house in Muros actually." Well as some of you may remember, Merce was born in Muros and their little beach house of sorts is still there which they visit quite frequently. Well, apparently this man happen to be the curator of the palace, and was looking for locals of Aranjuez to take on a private tour but decided to take us along as well. There were no guides that day since it was open to the public for free, but we got a personal tour from the curator himself! Naturally, I couldn't take pictures inside, but here are some outside shots:

Some bushes around the palace

Outside view

Elephant waiting for the train with the palace in the background (we took another touristy train around the area just to show us around, it was pretty neat)

Me and Elephant enjoying some lunch at an outdoor cafe in Aranjuez

Toledo continued again...

2008-06-02T13:51:00.000+02:00

I had Julie and Cindy in mind when I took this picture... this is a little cafe run by nuns that make tons of home made treats, specializing in marzapan...

A display of abonicos that are all way out of my price range unfortunately...

Elephant chilling with Don Quixote since we were afterall, in La Mancha.

This is the hotel we stayed in that night, VERY nice... 4 stars, and a lovely dinner that evning with so much veal nobody was able to eat their share. It was very lovely.

Toledo continued

2008-06-02T13:47:00.000+02:00

Elephant looking over Toledo

Walking around town

A random narrow street... the long pieces of fabric above are apparently for providing a bit of shade during the very hot summer months, but they sometimes collect a bit of rain water and occasionally dump out a bit on the tourists walking by since they rock around a bit in the wind.

Toledo!!!

2008-06-02T13:40:00.000+02:00

Well this past weekend was full of traveling. First stop: Toledo.

We drove about 7 hours down to a hotel outside of Toledo where Pedro quickly realized he had neglected to put his and Merce's suitcase in the trunk... needless to say, Merce did not let him forget it the entire trip. Oh well, it was only one night, so it wasn't really that big of a deal and the hotel supplied some necesities anyhow.

Once in Toledo, we decided to take a little tourist train around the city which is a bit cliche and all, but offered some AMAZING views.

Merce and Pedro enjoying the ride with Elephant

Me on the train with a view of Toledo in the background

Seriously, I'm amazed any of these pictures came out at all... the cobble stone streets made for a VERY bumpy ride. I am quite impressed with my new camera!!!

Walls defending the one side of Toledo not surrounded by water from the Moors

Baile Chiki Chiki

2008-05-29T10:46:00.005+02:00

I must share with you this phenomenon that has yet to cease in Spain: El Chiki Chiki.

This is sort of a joke, but sort of not... it is hard to tell if it is one of those things that is so stupid everyone is amused or if it really is for real. Eurovision is this talent contest of sorts where all the European countries enter a representative and people vote on the best one, kind of a big deal, and this was the Spanish representative: Rodolfo Chikicuatre. He is sort of making fun of reggaeton music, but it is still a bit strange just how popular he has become here.

Here is the video: Chiki Chiki

There are a few references to Spanish politics in here so it is probably more amusing if you are familiar with what has been going on here (like when the king of Spain recently said to Hugo Chavez "Why don't you SHUT UP?!"), but here is my rough translation anyway:

¡Perrea, Perrea!

The Chiki Chiki is very cool
They dance it in China
and also in Alcorcon

Give that brunette Chiki Chiki
The Chiki Chiki drives her crazy
Rajoy dances it
Hugo Chavez dances it
Zapatero dances it
(my love, as you know)
"The brothers" dance it
my brother dances it
My mulata dances it
with her panties in her hand

--Chorus--
The Chiki Chiki is danced like this:
One: The Breakdance
Two: The Cross Step
Three: The Michael Jackson
Four: The Robocop

Dance Chiki Chiki
Dance chiki chiki
The Heavys dance it
and also the freaks
The dance it in jail
they dance it in school
my mother dances it
and my grandmother too!

"Tiger-puma" sings it
with his striped suit
and Juan Carlos says to him
'why don't you shut up?'

At the wake of father Damian
they put on Chiki Chiki
and the dead man started to dance
dance, dance

(Chorus repeats)

So yeah... there you go. Enjoy!

Classes draw to a close

2008-05-27T23:13:00.002+02:00

Well, today was my last day of law classes. I still have one more class on Thursday in Milan (translation) but it is always a lot of fun once I get motivated enough to get across town, haha.

Tomorrow will be a day of studying because I have Utilities Law on Thursday which I already wrote a paper for (final grade is 50% paper, 50% exam), Film and Law exam on Friday, and International Public Law exam on Monday. For Civil Law the professor asked me to write a paper instead of doing the exam about nationality law in the U.S and the differences between states and such. He is a bit of an America-fanatic, so I think it was really more for his own interest than mine to be honest! In any case I am relieved, because honestly, studying Spanish civil code for exam purposes was not something I was looking forward to because, well, it is entirely different from U.S law with a whole different logic behind it... and really, who enjoys reading legal jargon for hours on end anyway? Okay nerd, don't speak up.

Today marks 2 weeks until I'll be back on U.S soil. It seems like the second half of my stay has gone by a lot quicker than the first half, but I suppose that is to be expected. Assuming I pass at least a couple of classes here (I expect to pass them all, but I'm just saying...) I will graduate Magna Cum Laude from Virginia Tech whenever the Spanish wake up from their siesta and send my grades over for transfer. Paloma, the International Student Correspondent for my campus, tells me this usually happens around mid July.

I am excited about coming back, but things have already changed so much. Jay is busily getting the new apartment put together in Salem while settling into his new job which seems a bit strange since I'm not around for such a major transition. I'm excited to see the new place though, it sounds really nice.

I suppose it will be a bit anti-climatic for me when I come back without a graduation ceremony and all, and it seems strange not to worry about what classes to register for next. A few days ago I noticed that my backpack is about to give out, and I thought to myself "Aw man I'll have to buy another backpack soon.." and then I remembered... oh wait... I won't be carting books around campus anymore.

I still have a few places I want to visit around town before I leave, but I think I'll have time. This weekend me and the Spanish Fam are going to Toledo and Aranjuez... should be interesting. I sure am glad Pedro loves to drive so much or else I probably never would have seen so many things honestly.

Well that's about all for now I suppose, just a little ranting and a small update as to what I'm up to :-)

Santillana cont

2008-05-24T22:15:00.000+02:00

Ahhh the narrow streets...

Pretty houses with shops! There are tons of ceramic and leather artisans in the area. I bought a little ceramic hand painted bowl actually, really nice.

Santillana/Altamira

2008-05-24T22:10:00.000+02:00

This is the Altamira musuem, home to the infamous prehistoric caves. Unfortunately the caves are not open to the public anymore because all of the exposure was making the cave paintings and such deteriorate very quickly so now they have a replica of it and a lot of the artifacts on display in special containers. It was really interesting to see musical instruments, tools, jewelry, etc that is truly thousands of years old. Jimmy Carter apparently visited the caves and left a message in the guestbook which I had to translate for Pedro, haha.

Here is the town of Santillana, which we have actually visited briefly before but most of the shops and things were closed since it was the off-season so we didn't spent much time there. It is a very cute little town, all with cobblestone streets though which made it a bit of a chore to walk around at times.

Isn't it pretty?

I love how the houses all have flowers and such.

Santander/Santillana continued

2008-05-24T21:59:00.000+02:00

... we stopped off for some coffee at a little cafe in Santander to dry off a bit... Sorry I have to make your mouths water a little bit, they always have some ridiculous selection of pastries everywhere.

This is the Cathedral of Santander... 12th century!!!! Actually it was built on top of some ruins (some of which can be seen from the glass floor) which are even older.

Courtyard type thingy by the cathedral...

... again.. unfortunately I could not take pictures inside. However there was actually a wedding about to happen when we arrived so it was interesting to see all the dressed up people (and we even saw the bride coming out of her car, poor thing trying not to let her dress touch the soaked pavement!)

Trip to Santander and Santillana

2008-05-24T21:51:00.000+02:00

Well first of all, I wanted to give you all an idea of what I've been waking up to every morning before I go to school... I must admit, although I am ready to come home, I will miss this:

... seriously, with home made jams and everything.

Unfortunately, it was raining in Santander, but it still looks very pretty.

A view of the Mar Cantabrica (or Bay of Biscay for us Americans..)

... thank goodness I have a waterproof raincoat now!!!

A Madrid Post devoted to Meredith

2008-05-14T18:30:00.000+02:00

Since Madrid is afterall, a big city, I took advantage of the many ads and Americanisms and took a ton of pictures since Meredith asked me to find some American-esque things but in Spanish.

In the metro station...

Okay, I had to walk into the Burger King when I saw this through the window. Apparently, I am ice cream now.

This isn't actually American, but I thought it was a funny advertisement encouraging people to go to the theater.

This is actually in Oviedo at my bus stop near the flat... sorry for the bad glare, but it is hard to avoid. Merche is REALLY excited about the new Indiana Jones movie coming out so we might go see it in a few weeks before I leave actually.

Last day in Madrid

2008-05-14T18:24:00.000+02:00

At the end of the day I was REALLY exhausted… Telefonica was supposed to come to the hostal to fix the internet, but they never showed up. SPAIN!!!!!! In any case, I got Tuesday morning and decided to seek out the Plaza de Espana with the memorial to Cervantes (featuring Don Quijote and Sancho Panza) before leaving Madrid that afternoon.

Me in front of a fountain at the Plaza de Espana

Cervantes memorial (with Don Quijote in front)

I returned to the hostal to pick up my bags and went to a nearby Vodafone store to add some extra money to my cell phone since I had run out and thought I might want to have the cell in case I got lost or something. Afterwards I hopped on the metro to go to the bus station, even though I had about 2 hours until the bus left… and thank goodness I did.

The day before while I was in a metro station I asked a metro worker (since it wasn’t busy) how I would get from the stop near my hostal to the south bus station. He drew me a route on a map and I was on my way. Well, I went to that stop and wandered around a bit to find the bus station and what appeared to be a bus station looked abandoned. I asked a nearby old man where the bus station was (remember my Things I Learned In Spain? ALWAYS ask the oldest person around, they usually know their way around the city and they are so happy that at young person is talking to them they will happily help you, that is, if you don’t mind getting half a life story while you are at it.) Sure enough I got a mini-history of the bus station and long story short this particular bus station had been closed for months. He then gave me directions to where the relocated station was and I was on my way.

I get to the station (which was actually attached to the metro station… how the other metro guy didn’t know this, I’m not sure, but whatever) and I look at the big board of arrivals/departures, and I didn’t see a listing for Oviedo. Oh boy, I thought maybe I was yet again, at the wrong station. I did however see a listing for Gijon, a city nearby (remember the pretty beach pictures I uploaded recently?) so I decided to ask the info desk if that’s my bus. Sure enough, it was, it turns out they changed the route name on me since it will continue on from Oviedo to Gijon. Whew. I ended up with about 15 minutes to spare, but man, what drama.
I promised Jay's mother I would take pictures from the window of the bus so here is one of about eleventy billion (Shhh it's a number if I say it is!) photos, so this is just one of them. I am pretty sure this is the Picos de Europa entering Asturias again.

All and all I am glad I visited Madrid, if nothing else to see all the statues and paintings that I’ve studied during my college career… it really is different in person. However, I am also glad that I chose not to study abroad in Madrid. The city itself is, I suppose like any other big city… trash and graffiti everywhere, everything seems dirty, and it overall doesn’t seem very friendly. It was most definitely a touristy place, even though this is not "peak season," and as a result, most people automatically wanted to talk to me in English which was a bit annoying for me. I always responded in Spanish and sometimes people switched when they realized that I could communicate perfectly well in Spanish, but others continued in English. Again, one of those places that is nice to visit, but I don’t think I’d really want to live there…. Sort of how I feel about D.C, haha.

Madrid continued: Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor

2008-05-14T18:14:00.000+02:00

After that I went the Puerta del Sol that I’ve heard so much about, which is a major shopping district but also just sort of a major meeting place.
Center of Puerta del Sol

Infamous bear statue in the Puerta del Sol

I walked from the Puerta del Sol to the Plaza Mayor which looks like it used to be a major meeting place for people but nowadays looks to mainly cater to tourists. It looked like they were doing some major restoration work at the time too, but I still snapped a few photos.

Here is another "mimo" remember the guy I snapped a photo of in Santiago? Basically he was standing perfectly still with his arms at his side and when people gave him money he would raise his arms showing the other spider-ish appendages and wave them around in a creepy way.

Main part of Plaza Mayor. There are tons of little touristy shops underneath in those arches and it goes around in a big square essentially.

Royal Botanical Gardens in Madrid (continued)

2008-05-14T18:06:00.000+02:00

Monmument to Carlos Linneus... and ducks!

Madrid continued... churros and flowers.

2008-05-14T18:04:00.000+02:00

After the palace I stopped at a café for a pincho (snack) and was on my way again. But first, I had to take a picture of some chocolate con churros that they were serving there to tempt you all:

Next I decided to hop the metro and buy a 1 day pass which was only 4 euros for unlimited rides all day long. It turned out to be a VERY good call because my legs are STILL sore from all the walking around I’ve done. Next I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens for a stroll. It was a really nice little sanctuary in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of Madrid.

I probably took 100 pictures as a conservative estimate, so I feel like just 3 pictures just isn't enough so this will spill over into the next post:

Madrid adventures, continued

2008-05-14T17:42:00.001+02:00

The next day I was more or less wandering around on my own. I decided to go to the Royal Palace first which turned out to be a good call… when I left the line was wrapped around the building.
Here is me in front of a fountain in the gardents near the Palace

The palace was AMAZING! I got to see the royal armory with real armor from the 1500s, the armor for the horses, and even the child-armor of famous past kings like Phillip the II and Carlos V. It was very impressive, but unfortunately I couldn’t take pictures. I also saw the Royal Pharmacy which had hundreds of bottles heavily decorated and with all kinds of crazy remedies from back in the day and some of the old alchemy tools as well.
Here is the "plaza" of sorts inside the palace walls. On the right is the main palace building with the important rooms, and on the left was a gorgeous overlook.

I went into the main part of the palace and it turned out that I couldn’t do a guided tour since I had a student discount, but since the tours were going through the same area I just sort of tagged along random ones as I went along. First an English tour, then a Spanish tour, and then I hopped on another one that I could understand but I was having a bit more trouble with it…. Turns out it was because it was Italian. It was cool to find out that I can understand my fair share of Italian too though. The palace was REALLY amazing though, with the most ornate decoration and paintings imaginable. I even saw a couple more Goya paintings that remained in the Palace that I recognized which was a nice surprise.

More random pics from bus in Madrid

2008-05-14T00:03:00.000+02:00

Plaza de Colon

2008-05-13T23:57:00.000+02:00

Next was the Thyssen museum, which had some impressive Dali (my favorite!) and some more Picassos. Here is Thyssen

Unfortunately however, I was robbed while I was taking out my student ID at the ticket counter. As I opened up my purse someone “bumped into me” making me drop the card and when I stood back up all the cash in my purse was gone. Luckily I had enough cash in my pocket to pay for the ticket with the student discount and all, but needless to say I was still pretty upset about it all. I had tried so hard to be careful. I don’t even want to think about how much I lost.

After Thyssen I caught the tourist bus and rode around a bit more. I also hopped on the other route since my pass was about to run out but unfortunately the bus routes ended while I was on the other side of town. I actually met a Mexican family on the bus that got ditched off with me so we all went down to the metro together and figured things out to get back to our respective homes. They were really nice, an older lady with her sons it seemed. It was actually nice to be able to use “ustedes” instead of “vosotros” for once, since it comes a bit more naturally to me.

Random pics from bus:

Plaza de Cibeles again w/a tourist bust in the background

More random pics

2008-05-13T23:50:00.001+02:00

This is the Atocha train station

Caixa Forum building.. really strange design.

Neptune

2008-05-13T23:44:00.000+02:00

The next day I went to the Reina Sofia museum which had a lot of Picasso (Guernica among them) Joan Miro, and a lot of other modern stuff. I really enjoyed it a lot, plus it was free since it was Sunday. There was also an Amnesty International party going on outside which was sort of interesting. Reina Sofia was free that day, and luckily since I got there early I didn't have to wait in line too long.

Museo Reina Sofia

Joan Miro sculpture outside

Lady dancing around trying to sell stuff outisde of the museum

Statue outside of Reina Sofia and Amnesty International gathering (in yellow)

Running around taking pics in Madrid

2008-05-13T23:40:00.000+02:00

Metropolis building.. very interesting

Me on the tourist bus

Puerta de Toledo

Random buildings in Madrid

Madrid!!!

2008-05-13T23:32:00.000+02:00

Well my trip to Madrid was definitely full of drama. That being said, I did make a stop off at the Prado for… a few hours. I didn’t plan to spend so much time there but as soon as I’d start to leave I’d catch a glimpse of something else I wanted to see. It really was thrilling to see some of these paintings that I’ve read so much about and seen in so many textbooks, and yet there they are, in the flesh so to speak. There was actually a special Goya exhibition going on too so I even got to see one of my favorites, Saturn Devouring His Son. Not exactly a happy piece, but for some reason it always made me chuckle. It helped me out on the GREs too! When they asked what Saturnine meant, that painting is what popped into my head (and wouldn’t you know, I got it right too). La Maja Desnuda was there too which is another favorite of mine, but strangely enough the Maja Vestida wasn’t to be seen. I even saw Velasquez’s Las Meninas and WOW is it big. I really had no idea it was so tall. It was so amazing to see the paintings I had read so much about and studied so much right there in front of me.

I did some wandering around and such but it was pouring down rain all day so not so great for seeing the sights unfortunately. I did brave the top of a double decker bus though along with a few other raincoat-clad men to get a better look at things.
Backing up a bit: I have to talk about what happened before I got here. I had planned on waking up at 5am to get the last of my things together and call a taxi to come pick me up at 5:50, but… I overslept. I don’t know how my alarm clock got turned off (I’m sure I did it in my sleep actually) and stupid me had the cell phone on silent so the backup alarm was useless. Luckily however, I had to get up to use the bathroom at 6am, and quickly threw the rest of my things in a bag and called the taxi. At 6:15 I was in the taxi on the way to the bus station and believe it or not, I managed to figure out what platform the bus was leaving from and find the platform with 3 minutes to spare.

So: The bus ride. I bought a Supra ticket, and MAN was it worth every penny. This is first class stuff. First of all, I was on a single-file side of the bus so I didn’t have to deal with anyone sitting next to me. Secondly, super awesome bucket leather reclining seats. Here is what I was dealing with:

Also, a girl serving drinks and snacks the whole time. There was actually wifi on the bus too, but I couldn’t find the outlet and neither could the attendant girl so I let it go and got some sleep instead. Once I woke up I started reading through the books Mandy and Bob gave me for Christmas to start making out my itinerary. I’ve already wrecked the itinerary, but whatever, I have an idea of what I need to do while I’m here. As we were about to get off at the bus station, they gave us a free gift…. Wouldn’t you know it, it was an alarm clock. Irony is funny that way.

I had to use the restroom but I thought I would just wait until I got to the bus station instead of going back into the tiny bus-bathroom which is always awkward and such. That was a mistake. The bus bathroom was WAY nicer than the ones at the station. Note to self: next time wait to get on the bus to pee.

Since I had no earthly idea where I was, I decided to take a taxi at least to get to the hostal the first time. I gave him the address and such and well, long story short, he ends up driving me about 3 blocks past where it was and yet was telling me it was further down the street. I’m not sure if he was just trying to take me for a ride, or if he just didn’t know where the hostal was. In any case I finally found it, threw my things in the room, woofed down a couple of sandwiches Merche had made for me, and went off to the Prad.
Afterwards I wandered around for a bit taking pictures and then stopped off at a café for a tortilla Espanola and watched a bit of a Formula 1 race.

I hopped on a tourism bus that Merce had suggested to me where you buy a pass for a day or two and you can just hop on and off the bus as you please. It is a double decker bus with little audio jacks and headphones to listen to little factoids about the sites as you pass by.

Taken from the bus: Puerta de Alcala

Me in front of the Plaza de Cibeles

Much more to come

Bridge-making!

2008-05-09T12:34:00.000+02:00

So I've decided at the last minute to be very Spanish and "hacer puente" (make a bridge) since we have Tuesday off. So, I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off yesterday trying to book a bus ticket and a place to stay in Madrid on such short notice and miraculously I made things happen. I am leaving tomorrow morning at 6:30am on a Supra bus (or Comfy Bus as Jay calls it, haha) which is basically like a plane on wheels with attendence, recliners, and even wifi available. It looks really, really sweet. There was a special deal going on for people under 26 years old and leaving from Asturias so I got 20% off everything. I booked a hostel right in the middle of everything on the Gran Via and is also right next door to the metro, so I'm pretty much set.

I SHOULD have internet access, but if I don't for some reason, I will be back Tuesday night so don't worry :-) If anyone would like my cell phone number who doesn't have it already let me know and I'll drop you a message.

Well I need to return to film class, un saludo!

Some cultural ranting... and bathroom mayhem. (Warning: LONG entry!)

2008-05-08T10:44:00.006+02:00

Well I am less than 5 weeks away from home, and honestly it couldn't come soon enough. I have a wonderful home here in Spain with nice people to help me along (and who spoil me with home cooked meals every day), but I find myself entirely ready to come back to the good ol' U.S of A. The area really is quite beautiful as well, but the culture is honestly starting to get old. Naturally people are a lot more calm and stress-free here, which certainly has its advantages, but I miss the now-now-now American mentality where things get done right away because that's what is expected. We have 4 more weeks of classes left here, and they still haven't finished making my University ID card, for example.

I've told a few people about this already, but I thought I would post it on here as well. A couple of weeks ago there was a story on the news about a fire in Seville I think it was, where several generations of a family was living in this same building including a young pregnant girls and the building caught on fire due to an electrical fault or something. This isn't all that strange in any part of the world honestly, but the unacceptable part was that everyone in the family died because the firemen took over 30 minutes to arrive to the scene. There were riots for a few days afterwards, and it is a terribly tragic story, but the whole time while I was watching this story on the news I kept thinking "...but this culture BREEDS this behavior." Everything is done at a snail's pace, and it's all fine and dandy as people seem to also have endless patience to accommodate this lifestyle, that is, until people die because of it. The thing is, this building was not in the middle of nowhere, we are talking about Seville, a huge city which probably had a fire station fairly nearby.

Another basic cultural quirk that has been "grinding my gears" a bit as Peter Griffin would say... Everyone knows that Europeans are generally, on the whole, more fashionable than us Americans. Okay, I expected this. However, the emphasis on appearance in clothing is just the beginning. I have seen at least 10 different occasions, without exaggeration, where I have seen people painting railings or something on campus, which honestly didn't look half bad to begin with, with some fashionably mis-matched color or just going over the tiny little flecks of paint that have chipped off with wear and tear that honestly, I had not even noticed before. Everything is always freshly painted, very colorful, and on the lawns there is not a single weed to be seen. I must admit, most everything looks very beautiful on the campus and around the city in general.

However, and I'll take the campus as an example since it is after all, a public institution and a major presence in the city with over 40k students... Without exaggeration, about 90% of bathroom stalls don't have functioning locks because the wood on the doors has warped or the hardware has become unscrewed or bent. Seriously, I usually just take my backpack in with me and lean it up against the stall door to keep it closed. About 60% of the toilets don't have seats on them, or the seat is broken and slides all over the place.

Furthermore, I have only found ONE bathroom on campus that has had paper towels to dry after washing your hands. There is often a hand dryer thingy, but it is also usually broken or has so little force that I would seriously be better off blowing on my own hands. Usually there is no soap either, so I suppose it doesn't even matter.

One day on campus Milan I went to use the restroom and there was a janitor coming out with her cleaning cart in tow as I was going in. I asked her if it was open, and she said "Oh yes go on in, I just finished up in there." I go in, and there is STILL no soap, no papertowels, and in fact, there isn't even toilet paper (except the bits that was on the floor). I was half tempted to ask her on my way out "...so what exactly did you DO in there?!"

Every time I see someone painting a railing, I just want to yell at them "...shouldn't you fix the locks on the bathroom stalls instead?! Or put some paper towels in the dispenser?! Or heaven forbid install a new toiletseat?!"

There have been countless instances where the outward appearance was quite obviously priority #1, and functionality was much further down on the list. There is such a huge emphasis on appearance that it just takes up all the time and money it seems. Yes, everything is pretty on the outside, but I just don't think having a shady gas-station-esque bathroom is very pretty, or professional either.... and not very clean without having soap available and such to boot.

Okay, so I have to mention something about the library bathrooms too: Seriously, I was confused about this one. So I walk into the bathroom, which looks very pretty of course, and I REALLY needed to use the restroom. Naturally I run into the first stall I see and close the door, leaning my backpack up against it to keep it closed, and before sitting down I realize there is no toilet paper. In fact, there's not even a dispenser for toiletpaper. Strange, I thought, but whatever I just switched to another stall. Again, no TP, nor is there a place to store TP.

Before trying the last stall I realized that there is a toilet paper dispenser on the outside of the 3 stalls, but no dispenser in any of the stalls. I felt like John Spartan with the 3 seashells in Demolition Man. In this instance I decided not to contemplate it too much and just grabbed a hand full of TP and went into the stall, which was still no easy feat with one of those huge dispensers and 1 ply TP.. not conducive to quick and easy dispensing since it rips so easily.

Afterwards however, I had to wonder exactly what IS the etiquette on this? There have been certain hygienic / cultural differences that I encountered before but it was usually a matter of "Oh, well I guess that does make sense in a weird way.." for example, the existence of bides, the fact that most homes have baby-wipes for adults on hand at the toilet, etc... again, things that do sort of make sense but are just a little different.

So okay, the library bathroom: I asked Jay what his thoughts were on the subject, and he concluded that perhaps people only use public restrooms to take a leak and thus, only need a hand full of toilet paper. I could see this being possible, since honestly, I have really only seen 4-5 women actually enter a bathroom stall on campus the whole time I've been here.... bathrooms are really just for touching up make up, apparently. However, there are certainly instances where a person might want more than a little handful and perhaps don't realize until they get in there you know? Okay, seriously folks, especially for the ladies, think about it... this really doesn't make sense.

One more bathroom quirk: The main door to the bathroom is almost ALWAYS left open. Okay, even if I am just washing my hands, I don't really want the whole world watching me in the bathroom, or peering at the stall where I've got my backpack propped up against the door to hold it shut. I realize that there isn't really any reason for this, I mean, people don't see into the stalls (unless you're unlucky enough to not have a way to hold the door shut..), but it still puts me a bit on edge. Plus, there is always that awkward moment where you have to peer behind the door to make sure you're going into the correct bathroom. Furthermore, the same goes for the men's bathrooms, where the urinals are often in full view. Luckily I haven't encountered a situation as of yet where someone was actually using said urinals, but it still seems weird to me.

Well okay I'll end it here since I have ranted long enough. Less than 5 weeks until I come back to The States.

McDonald's Commercial

2008-05-06T09:41:00.003+02:00

Okay, so speaking of McDonalds, there is this new commercial on TV here that I found to be a bit hilarious just because I've always wondered what an impression of an American accent would sound like according to a Spaniard..... and well, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EyGo_ehnJU

The parts that isn't actually in "English" says: "The Beef Supreme Hamburger: a hamburger with authentic American character."

I thought it was funny at least...

Back to Muros, then to Oviedo again.

2008-05-04T14:22:00.000+02:00

When we returned to the house in Muros, we had a couple of surprises waiting for us in the back yard... Paloma and her son!

Back in Oviedo to pick up some food at the fair, there was a little parade going on with people in traditional dress and, you guessed it, bagpipes!

...last of Gijon

2008-05-04T14:19:00.000+02:00

A familiar face: Pelayo

Some local fare... they like to put their food out on display in shop-windows for some reason.

The little walkway next to the beach of Gijon... lots of dogs and people walking around enjoying the fresh air.

...another view...

More of Gijon

2008-05-04T14:17:00.000+02:00

Another view of the beach of Gijon

This is the Plaza Mayor of Gijon... almost every Spanish town has some sort of Plaza Mayor like this with little shops and things around for people to gather and to have little fairs and whatnot.

This is El Palacio, an old Palace that has since been converted into a restaurant.

This is the "puerto deportivo" (sporting-boats port I suppose would be the best way to translate that) at dusk

Next stop: Gijon!

2008-05-04T14:13:00.000+02:00

Gijon is a beautiful beach-side city a bit larger than Oviedo but with some gorgeous architecture too.

The official building of fishing. I'm not kidding, the government actually controls all the fishing-sales in the region.

The church of San Pedro

Our Roman buddy Octavio Agustus!

..around the lighthouse...

2008-05-04T14:08:00.000+02:00

Some BEAUTIFUL landscapes...

Pedro, Merce, myself, and Merche

More landscape...

Merce and Me

Next, a trip to Muros with some stops on the way...

2008-05-04T14:05:00.000+02:00

On Saturday morning Merche and I caught a bus to Aviles expecting to catch another bus to Muros, but long story short, the lady on the phone that talked to Merche about the bus schedule was wrong and there was no bus to Muros for another 2 hours or so. In any case, Pedro came and picked us up in Aviles (he and Merce were already in Muros at their other house there) and we went on the Muros. After getting a bite to eat we headed out to Gozon to do a little sight seeing:

This building with the lighthouse behind it is a mini ocean-science museum of sorts that we walked through.

Even if you don't read Spanish, you can probably guess what this sign means.

Inside the museum...

...mas fotos....

2008-05-04T14:00:00.000+02:00

Some traditional Asturian clothing and textiles... the bead-work is "azabache" which is a very fragile and valuable stone around here which makes these particular items VERY expensive.

A little taste of home! After touring the fair a bit Merche had a craving for some Mickey D's so we decided to stop by before going home. I say a little taste of home, but it was definitely NOT like the McDonald's we have at home!

...does your local McDonald's have works of art hanging on the walls and flat screen TVs?
...or plush leather seats?

Oh yeah and there were actually 3 different floors in this McDonalds. Oh, and since McDonalds is the only fast-food place in Spain with the concept of a "drive thru," a drive-thru here is actually called a "McAuto." This particular McDonalds didn't have a McAuto, so I'll have to take a picture of that the next time I see one.

...continued...

2008-05-04T13:51:00.000+02:00

Hungry yet? There were lots of local vendors around selling traditional Asturian fare, like a huge farmer's market essentially.

This is an Asturian properly pouring the Sidra (cider). One must "escansar" the cider by pouring it from high up in the air, essentially to let it breathe I suppose. They seriously do this in all the cider houses around town, which makes for a good time but a very sticky floor. That Nitendo-Tetris-looking building in the background is one of several apartment buildings that I think look really cool too.

This is me sporting one of my new Spanish-tops in front of a gigantic cow. Yeah, they sort of have a thing for cows around here, which I think is awesome. As you can tell this is a roundabout/traffic circle (and there are TONS here... seriously, intersections are almost non-existant) and every one of them has some sort of statue, work of art, fountain, flowers, or some combination of those int he center.

Some bagpipe players in traditional outfits... you can really see the Celtic influence in this area.

More Ascension festivities

2008-05-04T13:45:00.000+02:00

A little out of place, but I wanted to include this anyway: This is an "abonico", or a hand fan for us Americans... They are VERY popular among the Spanish ladies who usually keep one in their purse at all times, and usually have several to color-coordinate with their outfits. The nicer ones are made of wood with hand painted designs like this one, and often have really ornate cut-out designs. This one I bought for myself, and I also bought a few as gifts but I don't want to ruin any surprises :-)

Okay back to the festivities... this was a little exhibit they had on display of a traditional Asturian home. That sausage you see hanging up smelled SO good.

It wouldn't be an Asturian festival without bagpipes....

.... and CHEESE! Asturias is home to over 300 native cheeses. There is also some honey there for sale. For you Spanish-speakers out there reading, don't worry, this isn't actually written in Spanish... it is Asturian, which has a lot of similarities but still throws me off from time to time.

A funny sign, and "La Ascension"

2008-05-04T13:40:00.000+02:00

First of all, I've walked by this dentist office several times and never had my camera on me... finally I did, and I had to take a picture. Yes, this dentist office is called Dental Poo, and no, I did not go there for my dental needs! Apparently "Poo", with two syllables by the way, is a nearby town and also a common last name around this area. I couldn't help but laugh.

Okay, on to the Ascension fair! These are some kids playing some traditional Asturian games and such...

Official poster design for this year's festivities...

More pictures to come!

Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to the dentist I go...

2008-04-29T23:42:00.000+02:00

Well as many of you already know, I've been having some pretty bad problems with my jaw the past few days resulting in some rather mind-numbing pain and a puree diet. Yesterday I went to the dentist and just as everyone had already suspected, he said nothing was wrong with my teeth, but the muscles in my jaw had been cramped up and such which caused all sorts of other problems.

So yesterday the dentist took a mold of my teeth and today they made the little mouth piece that I have to wear at night now to give my muscles a rest. Well actually he told me to wear it for the rest of today just to get used to it so it wouldn't be as weird to sleep, so speaking Spanish without full range of motion of my tongue has been quite an interesting ordeal. As I was about to leave the dentist office, the assistant was going to throw the mold of my teeth away and so I asked her if I could keep it. I mean, I need a souvineer right? Here it is:

And here is the little mouthpiece that they made for me:

It has only been a few hours and I can already tell a difference.. my head is hurting a little less, I can open and close my mouth a lot more than before, you know, good things to be able to do. Actually, I still haven't paid for the work, because well.. it's a hilarious story. Well, I suppose I had not taken into account that most people around here don't actually pay out of pocket for healthcare (that's what the huge taxes are for), so the dentist office, although very modern, did not have a credit card reader. "No problem," the dentist said, "just go downstairs there is a CajAstur you can get money out of the ATM." Well I went downstairs to the ATM but my card wouldn't work. D'oh. I called the bank and everything, long story short, I think the magnetic strip has been erased, but the bank said they 'reset' my card, whatever that means, so I'll try again tomorrow. Luckily the dentist didn't seem to care, and said just to pay it when I came back for my check up next week.

Oh yeah, for any of you thinking about studying abroad: Just because your insurance says you're covered abroad doesn't mean that people actually accept it. Basically I'll have to pay it all up front and wait for the refund later. Luckily according to the dentist, who worked in Arlington, VA of all places for awhile, the work I had done would have cost me double up front in the good ol' U.S of A.

In any case, hopefully this will do the trick.. Merce said the exact same thing happened to her and that when she got the mouthpiece she was immediately cured after one night's rest. Hopefully that will be the case for me too :-)

Burgos

2008-04-28T02:24:00.000+02:00

Today we went to Burgos for this litting sewing convention thingy.... I'm exausted right now so I don't really feel like elaborating but I'll throw some pictures up... (Note: the last post was supposed to come second, whoops!)

Me and Pedro... check out my new Spanish outfit!

Pedro sporting an Elephant and Dolce & Gabanna shades
Some girls in traditional local dress

More pics

2008-04-28T02:18:00.000+02:00

Merche, myself, Pedro, and Jonnie

Ever seen an Elephant climb a tree?

Rebecca and Elephant posing

a hilariously mistranslated menu

More statues!

2008-04-24T21:36:00.000+02:00

This is "La Torera"... apparently this was a real woman who used to hang out in the park taking pictures of people to make a few bucks here and there "back in the day."

This is "El Diestro"... kind of strange. There are so many random pieces of artwork all over town.

This guy might look familiar to you... it's Woody Allen. What is he doing here in Spain, you might ask? Well, apparently he was a really big fan of Oviedo and in fact the little plaque in front of him on the ground is a quotation from him (translated into spanish) about how Oviedo is "a fairy tale city" and raving about its friendly people and clean streets. Unfortunately however, he seems to be missing part of his glasses at the moment.

They like big butts, and they can not lie...

2008-04-24T21:26:00.001+02:00

Okay, I have to devote one post to various shots to my favorite statue in Oviedo located just outside of the Casco Antiguo (old town district essentially) and in the heart of the commercial pedestrian shopping area. Officially, this statue is called "Culis Monumentalibus" but the locals call it "El Gran Culo."... Literally, "The Big Ass." I couldn't make this stuff up. I had to take various angles of it just to really capture how big this thing really is.

Snapping photos around Calle Uria and Campo San Francisco

2008-04-24T21:21:00.000+02:00

Well I walked down to C/Uria today to go recharge my bus pass, and since the weather was horribly warm, humid, and sunny, I thought I might as well take advantage of the good lighting to snap a few photos that I've been meaning to get. There are quite a few, so I'll have to break it up into a few posts. Enjoy!

Okay I know I've shown the peacocks before, but I just can't get over it... every time I wander through Campo San Francisco they are just lounging around without a care in the world.

This is the statue "La Maternidad" (The Maternity) by Fernando Botero

A couple of random mini-rants

2008-04-24T14:17:00.002+02:00

So I had a strange craving for root beer the other day... and much to my dismay, I found out it doesn't exist here in Spain. When I found that out I proclaimed them all to be sinners and savages.

Today it was so hot that when I got to class after 20min of walking uphill or so, I put my arm down on my desk, had an itch, and when I lifted my arm back up again I found a puddle of sweat on the desk that I had to wipe up in order to protect my papers from getting soaked. I usually don't sweat much at all, but sheesh, this heat/humidity is ridiculous... AND PEOPLE ARE STILL WEARING COATS.

Whoops, I'll have to cut this short... foodtime!

Looking a bit more Spanish...

2008-04-20T15:19:00.000+02:00

Becky cut and styled my hair today... too bad I don't have anywhere to go! Oh well, I thought I would also model one of the new shirts I got while I was out shopping the other day. Enjoy -)

Folixa Na Primavera

2008-04-19T15:25:00.001+02:00

In Asturian: "Spring Party" more or less, haha. Becky, Jonnie and I went to Mieres (a nearby town) for a little spring festival of sorts, which didn't actually start until 1am mind you... needless to say, I'm exhausted today. Actually I had just finished rushing to get my Tourism project turned in and off we went to the festival I finally got a chance to try some traditional Asturian Cider and it was quite delicious. Becky asked me "do you like folk music?" Well, I told her I didn't know because I imagined that it would be different here.. and sure enough, it really is different than what I was expecting, although I should have guessed I suppose. By folk music here, they really mean mostly celtic. Very interesting.

Becky, Myself, and one of Becky's cousins that lives in Mieres that we met up with while over there.

The entertainment!

I took a short video clip of the band to give people an idea of what it sounded like, but I'm not sure how to post videos here... I'll try to figure it out later.

Today we did some shopping... I actually found a long sleeved shirt at a reasonable price, FINALLY! No skin cancer for me! yay! I also bought another really pretty (albeit a bit more feminine than I'm used to haha) shirt but it is SO comfortable... and it was 50% off. I'm not into this expensive high fashion stuff.

Well just wanted to give you a taste of what I've been up to, but now it is time to EAT!

Around the town of Santiago...

2008-04-13T16:46:00.000+02:00

Some of the streets were even narrower than this.. you know, never meant for cars and such, although they still occasionally do have to accomodate cars believe it or not.

Okay honestly, I have never seen so much dead octopus in my life. Apparently octopus, or "Pulpo" is THE thing to eat in Galicia. We didn't actually partake of any while we were there, and honestly, I'm kind of glad we didn't because it scares me a little and I didn't want Merce and Pedro to spend a bunch of money on something for me that I hated.

This photo didn't really come out very well, but I thought it was funny... there were tons of restaurants with little displays like this in the windows.

...you can see what is going on here. Seriously, seeing these little guys swimming around the tank like little sea monsters put me a little on edge, and yet you can see on the sign it says "divina divina divina"! Divine??? I'm thinking "KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!!!"

Near the Cathedral

2008-04-13T16:39:00.001+02:00

This is the door to the Catholic Kings Hotel, a very impressive 5 star hotel situated right next door to the cathedral.

This guy is a "Mimo" who basically stands on this little platform really still-like and pretends to be a statue, until somebody gives him money and then he'll move or do something funny, but is always silent. He actually really caught me offguard, because of course Pedro couldn't resist giving him a few "centimos" (euro cents)

This picture was taken from the steps of the back-door of the cathedral (the first photo I uploaded)... this is in the "silver district", named as such because there are about eleventybillion jewelry stores specializing in silver (okay, I didn't exactly count.. but there were a lot.)
This is the "Xunta de Galicia" (or "Junta" for the Spanish... I was surprised at just how much of the town was actually completely reliant on Gallego instead of Spanish), just across the plaza from the Cathedral. Anyway, this is basically a government building, since Santiago is the capital of the Galicia region (as Oviedo is the capital of Asturias).

The Santiago Cathedral and San Francisco Church

2008-04-13T16:30:00.000+02:00

Well SOME people, (I won't mention any names such as Audrey, oops!) think I've been slacking off on the posts, but I have plenty of photos to share from our trip to Santiago de Compostela yesterday!

So, I'll start with the Cathedral. The Santiago Cathedral was the destination of a very heavily-traveled pilgrammage for the Christians back in Medieval times who made the trek on foot or on horseback across Europe. After the whole Black-Plague-thing happened, people had bigger things to worry about I suppose, but nowadays tens of thousands of people make the trip often in the traditional way to get to this cathedral. The Spanish call it "Camino de Santiago", but the English-speaking Catholics might know it better as St. James' Way, since St. James is supposedly buried here but nobody really knows for sure.

This is the back side of the Santiago Cathedral

Inside the cathedral, this is the only spot I was really allowed to take photos, although the other areas of the cathedral were much more ornate, and impressive.

The main front of the cathedral, me along with Pedro and Merce. It is ALWAYS raining in Santiago supposedly. However, when we first arrived, it was actually rather nice outside... so Pedro was like "Bah, let's just leave the rain gear in the car, we're not going to need it, look how nice it is outside!" Of course, he had to "stick a prawn in his mouth" as the Spanish would say, because after we had walked to the main part of the old-town just 15-20min later it was raining and even hailing! Pedro insisted on running back to the car while us women stayed relatively dry under some trees. Don't worry, there wasn't any lightning, and even if there was, it had taller things to strike!

This is another smaller church in the area, the San Francisco Church. Pretty, isn't it? Look how BLUE the sky is, and to think, it was hailing just a few minutes before I took this photo.

More to come!

Febreze rules!

2008-04-06T23:14:00.002+02:00

Just a quick note: I had packed some little travel-sized bottles of febreze because as everyone knows, febreze is magical. They sell these little boxes with 3 2.8fl oz bottles of febreze now callled "febreze to go" which was super easy to deal with in my luggage.

Well, I had intended for the febreze to be used in case you know I was out traveling or something and needed to "freshen up" my clothing but couldn't wash them, or if stuff here just smelled like funk to me, or whatever else.... I mean, again, febreze is magical right? Well, I hadn't really intended it to be a "homesickness combatant" but I was surprised at how strangely reminiscent a spray of febreeze in the room was to me. Ah, febreze... for those who are too lazy to actually clean properly. The god of the college dorm.

Yes, I'm still here.

2008-04-05T16:48:00.003+02:00

Not a whole lot of excitement lately, back to the school thing more or less...some more frustrations with the ever-changing classroom for Translation, but I've managed not to kill anyone yet. Nobody seems to know what is going on, ever. Honestly, I just finally had a mini-breakdown last week because I was getting so frustrated with it all. The worst part of it all is that it's not due to a language barrier or anything like that.... no fault of my own, just a completely wacko organization (or rather lackthereof) of the university, where everyone seems to be on a different page and they seem incapable of getting a message across to everyone at once. You see, there's this thing, called EMAIL...

...and yes, there is such a thing as university email... but most people don't utilize it, and honestly, I can't say I blame them. The webmail interface makes VT Webmail look divine, and as every Hokie knows, VT Webmail has got its issues for certain. Okay, aside from that, there's the basic issue of, well, NOBODY CAN REMEMBER THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS. Why? Well, first of all, you don't get to choose it. Second of all, it has absolutely nothing to do with you, your name, or anything like that. It's just a randomly assigned number of sorts with "UO" stuck on the front for "universidad de oviedo". So for example, someone's email address could be something like "UO1859301@uniovi.es"... so yeah, of course nobody really uses it.

Okay, frustrations aside, things are okay I guess. It is starting to get warm here which has me a bit bummed because I was hoping for some cold weather to hit. I have 3 or 4 long sleeved shirts that looks like will never make a debut in Spain. In fact, I went out shopping the other day to try to find just a long sleeved button-down light shirt to wear over my tshirts for some arm protection because I'm actually starting to bust out the sunblock now.

...so the shopping adventure. As I mentioned in the last post, the stores are all completely organized by color. You can't just walk into a clothing store and be like "hmm, I would like to buy pants. I will walk over to the PANTS section." No. First, you must envision exactly what color of pants you would like, and then dig through the shirts, skirts, dresses, etc that also happen to come in that color. Incredible.

Long story short, I didn't find anything that would even work, much less in my size. Bah. Merche is also fair-skinned so she has a bunch of long sleeved light shirts for protection so she said she'd take me to the place she gets most of hers next time we make a trip out to Parque Principado which should be fairly soon... hopefully I can come up with something there.

I know I've mentioned this to a few people but for everyone else who hasn't heard, Becky and Jonnie are moving in on Sunday actually, into Merche's room upstairs, and Merche is moving in next door to me where Andreas was earlier... so that should be interesting. Becky and Jonnie (her boyfriend)'s lease is up on their flat and they have a reservation of some sort on a new place, but it will take a couple of years to be built. In the meantime, to save some money, Merce and Pedro decided just to let them stay here with us, save up some cash, and move to the new place when it is completed. So yeah, little by little over the past week or two they've been bringing stuff over here from the current place, and this weekend they'll finally move out for good.

Well, I'm going to get a bit of work done on the online VT class... coming to the end of the semester over there, but still a good ways to go for me here in Spain. I'm not really sure if I'm even registered yet, to be honest. Who knows.

Next weekend we're going to Muros and then leaving from there to see Santiago de Compostela... weee? More pictures to be had, I'm sure.

And now, for your favorite species of blog-post....

2008-04-03T15:36:00.002+02:00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN SPAIN, vol. IV

- A “yuppi” is not a snobby sophisticate. It is actually a really hip little café and convenience store type of place that is open 24/7. Think of it as a 7-11 except with class, and someone working to serve you sodas, snacks, and coffee.

- Rabbits, baby pigs, and baby lambs are not only cute, but also delicious and fashionable to wear on coats.

- It is unreasonable to expect an ISP to provide service for all of the 24 hours in a single day, much less EVERY day…

- Infants shop at boutiques that look way too high-society for American college students.

- Fred Flintstone’s alter Spanish ego is “Pedro Picapiedra”, and Barney is Pablo something or other.. I can’t remember his last name right now.

- A “Tabaco” stand only carries minimal amounts of actual tobacco products… it is mostly a magazine kiosk.

- Apparently I suffer from some sort of body temperature disorder, since I feel comfortable wearing a tshirt walking around in 17C (about 63F) weather, when everyone else is bundled up like it is the arctic tundra.

- If a person “turns into a Swede,” it means that they don’t care to understand or learn anything new. I have to wonder if this has some Viking roots.

- “Colon” is not a bodily organ, it’s a brand of detergent, or possibly a reference to Christopher Columbus.

- If you want to ditch someone or break up with your significant other, you “send them to fry asparagus.”

- You can buy scotch and whiskey pre-packaged with a liter of coca-cola…. Handy I guess?

- I imagine either the Spanish have more money than me or they all suffer from dehydration, because I have yet to see a single water fountain in any building…. But bottled water is available in any vending machine, of course.

- Symmetry is for suckers. Clothing, buildings, etc should be asymmetrical, for style.

- Coca-colas are ALWAYS served with lemon in restaurants.

- If you went somewhere with your friends and you all had a really good time, you “enjoyed yourselves like gnomes.”

- All clothing stores are organized by color… not style, article of clothing, size, price, brand, or anything like that. I suppose we can see where the Spanish priorities lie.

Packing Analysis

2008-04-02T20:54:00.002+02:00

I wrote this a few days ago but seeing as how my internet has been dodgy at home, I saved it and I'm posting it now:

Packing Analysis

Well, seeing as how I have been here about a month and a half now, I think I can make a fair assessment as to what I did right and what I did wrong in the packing process. I have received lots of questions from people asking what I need, what I didn’t need, etc, so I figured this might be useful information for anyone out there who is reading and thinking about studying abroad.

Well, just like every other study-abroad-packing-guide out there predicted, I did bring too much clothing I suppose, but it wasn’t horribly overboard. Since I happen to live with a family that does laundry once every couple of days or so, I haven’t really needed everything, but then again, with the rain we’ve had recently it is taking forever for things to dry. As a general rule of thumb for anyone thinking about staying in Spain for awhile, bring a pair of jeans if you must as they’re quite useful and can be fashionable, but take another pair of pants or maybe even two because you’ll need something to wear while your jeans are drying for the next week or so, haha.

Before this spirals out of control, I suppose I will break this up into sections with some brief summaries to make it easier to read:

CARRY ON LUGGAGE:

Good calls: Chex mix, granola bars, nalgene water bottle (to fill up after security of course!) knitting project on wooden circular needles, Pringles, mp3 player, toothbrush & toothpaste, deodorant, face wash, and a book. It was really nice to be able to “freshen up” a bit after that flight to Madrid since I was traveling for a full 24 hours by the end of it. Oh yeah, and my eyeglasses repair kit was a LIFESAVER. I had never needed it before but man, was I glad to have it when my nose-pad-thingy broke in Philly.

Bad calls: Pop tarts (they just got ruined and crumbly all over the place)

CLOTHING:

As I mentioned before, I probably did pack more than necessary, but it’s not that bad. I can easily fit it all into one back and then some, and I’m prepared for various scenarios. I

Good calls: waterproof packable raincoat, hoodie, non-denim pants, dirty laundry bag.

Bad calls: I was told that it was cold here… but cold is a relative term. Looking at the latitude, it seemed to me like it would be a bit like New Yorkish weather, but I was sadly mistaken. I packed some long sleeved and/or thermal stuff to compensate for lack of a proper coat but it was entirely unnecessary. I thought there was no such thing as too many socks too but again, with the frequency of laundry-service here it was entirely unnecessary to have more than 5 pairs or so. However, I’m not sure if I’d recommend that to other travelers… socks and underwear are not things you want to have to wear twice, you know? Also, towel was completely unnecessary since I have a very nice and well-stocked host family. Oh well. I went against the advice in other blogs and brought my baseball cap just in case I needed some shade from the sun on excursions… probably should have left that at home too, but we’ll see if I regret this decision or not when May and June roll around. I’m not sure if this is the case with Spaniards in general or not, but it seems that me not having bedroom slippers to wear around the house was a big no-no too. Thanks for hooking me up Julie and Cindy!

TOILETRIES:

Good calls: Basics like shampoo, soap, face wash, etc was nice to have on hand upon my arrival when I desperately needed a shower as opposed to hunting for it in town. By the way, Curel “continuous comfort” is some seriously hardcore lotion for anyone who needs just a non-smelly good overall moisturizer. I’m seriously impressed. Oh yeah, and that DayQuil I brought was a lifesaver when I got a nasty cold early on. Chapstick is nice to have on hand.

Bad calls: I should have brought more anti-acne stuff and some of those sweet nose strips for the blackheads… this change in climate has been really wreaking havoc on my skin. I probably brought too much lotion too, since I was expecting to be super dried out Blacksburg-winter-style.. but instead I’m sweating like a pig.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES:

Good calls: spiral notebook (they don't sell notebooks with lined paper... only grids!), post it notes, a large yet very useful dictionary (thanks Jay!), Sharpies, pens, and my backpack (was my carry-on bag). Even though my backpack makes me very unfashionable, I’m thankful to have it, and I'm popular among my Spanish Fam when we go on excursions since nobody else has space to in their little purses, haha...

Bad calls: Should have also invested in a pocket dictionary (but Merche loaned me hers from when she studied in Ireland), accidentally brought along just one college ruled notebook and the other notebook was wide ruled, hi-lighters weren’t really necessary because the classes don’t really follow any sort of textbook, they are mostly just for reference and research.

HOMESICKNESS COMBATANTS:

Good calls: My jar of peanut butter is god. The DO sell peanut butter here, but only a couple of weirdo brands and I’m not sure if it tastes the same as my Jif. In any case, it certainly isn’t popular here. My photos of Jay and Blacksburg and little removable stickies to hold them up on the wall rock, just wish I had more of them. Webcam helps a lot too.

Bad calls: should have brought peppermint patties or other mint-chocolatey goodness… they just don’t seem to sell much of it here, and it’s my favorite. Luckily my care-packages have been supplementing this quite a bit!

MISC:

Good calls: Little VT gifts for the family, a Skype Pro account, my laptop, a thumb drive, list of phone numbers and addresses, photocopies of my passport, sewing supplies, and my Baggalini wallet-purse to carry around everywhere. Oh yeah, and my digital camera is the envy of everyone here, and I love it to death. The 10x zoom is AMAZING!!! Definitely glad I brought the dual time zone alarm clock and the dual time zone watch that Jay gave me for Christmas too.

Bad calls: Should have loaded some music onto my laptop, should have tested the files I put on my thumbdrive because it turns out they were corrupted.

That's all I can think of for now... perhaps an amendment to this later on.

Hasta luego!

Finished the hat!

2008-03-30T16:42:00.000+02:00

Despite popular belief, I was not making a scarf, I was making a HAT, and it is DONE! I might make a little pom pom to put on top of it though. It is a bit tight for my head so when I tried it on it stretched the pattern a bit (and fit a bit snug for my taste) but overall it's not too bad for a first try!

Unfortunately where I sewed it up in the back I sort of got things out of alignment a bit so the pattern doesn't match up exactly, but hey, it works!

Deep breath... long post ahead!

2008-03-28T22:20:00.001+01:00

Well yesterday was a bit frustrating… my 12:30 class had been canceled (luckily I actually knew about it beforehand this time so I didn’t make an appearance… just slept in a bit and hung out at the house helping out with Maria) so I wasn’t supposed to have a class until 5:30. The last time I tried to go to the translation class at 5:30, nobody showed up. This time was no different. After about 45min of running around asking various info desks if they knew what was going on, and nobody knew a thing, I gave up and called Merche… we were planning on meeting up to have chocolate con churros.
I made my way to Las Salezas to meet with Merche and Merce, did a little window shopping while waiting for Pedro, went to a few cross stitching stores so they could get some supplies (yes, there are entire stores devoted to cross stitch.. and entire stores devoted to buttons… and entire stores devoted to thread…) then made our way to the confeteria. The “chocolate” was like a really rich and syrupy hot chocolate, and apparently you’re supposed to dip the churros (little fried pastry thingys) into the chocolate and enjoy. I must admit, it was pretty awesome. I was so furious over the not-having-class fiasco, it was nice to just calm down and enjoy.

I emailed the professor of the translation class upon my return to ask him, what is the schedule NOW… apparently I’m not on some email list or something, I have no idea. I feel like I’m the Toby of Oviedo, you know, actually being immersed with the locals instead of hanging out with the international kids all the time… and thus, I have really nothing to do with the international student community here, and they all apparently talk a lot. I have a feeling this is how they are conveying some of these messages. I really don’t have any desire to become a part of it either, because all of the British, Scottish, and Irish students just keep on speaking English, and what good is that to me? Anyway, so I got an email back today and he tells me that on Thursdays the class is in another classroom. Seriously. Apparently even the information desk has the wrong time, place, and day marked down for the class. Sheesh. I just don’t understand how people can tolerate this. No notes on the door, nobody is informed, and no messages from anyone, despite the fact that I KNOW the professor and the international relations office have my contact information.

Today was better though, I went to film class and we watched The Cider House Rules, in Spanish of course. I actually thought it was really good, but I was angry with the chatty guys sitting next to me which made it hard to listen at times. The guy sitting directly to my left I seriously thought was a girl too. Whoops. When he had gotten up during our break, someone asked me if someone was sitting there, and I said yes. He asked who, and I said ‘I have no idea, some girl.” He was that convincing. I had no idea it was a guy until I heard him talk and then I noticed the patchy and pathetic attempt at facial hair on his chin. He was so thin and frail, he would make that woman from Ally McBeal look obese. Not to mention the very well-styled hair down to his chin, and the extremely fashionable clothing with matching belt and shoelaces. Seriously, he had me fooled.

All of the guys here seem really, really effeminate to me. Maybe I am just used to ultra turbo-testosterone men after hanging out with Jay and Cammarata for so long, but seriously… I would lose to 98% of these guys in a female beauty pageant. I mean, for you girls out there that like really well-dressed fashionable and non-threatening men, Spain is where you need to be. Me however… not so much my thing. Personally, I don’t think a guy should spend more time than me doing his hair, and certainly shouldn’t look more feminine in a tight pair of jeans than I do. Just my $0.02.

In addition, just for the record, an American emo kid could beat the crap out of a Spanish metal guy, at least, from what I’ve seen around here. Sometimes I can’t help but recall that excellent Colin Cowherd rant about UVA football. “Virginia Tech would walk up and punch you right in the neck.”

Furthermore, apparently mullets are “super metal/punk.” Yeah, seriously.

So when I returned home from film class, I walked into my room to discover a package had arrived for me from Julie and Cindy! It was full of awesome goodies, chocolates, Cadbury eggs, peeps, even some stuffed peeps which are adorable, a huge box of ringpops and pushpops (which I shared with the kids.. they were very amused by the concept.), and some Elephant-green slippers! Merce was happy to see me actually wearing bedroom slippers around the house… apparently going around barefoot is a bit of a faux pas here. Mint chocolate stuff is so hard to find around here, so I was happy to find a ton of it in my goody-box. It just isn’t that popular here.

Poor Jay is sick with bronchitis and walking pneumonia… so everybody send your good health vibes his way! Merce about died when I told her he asked the doctor if he could still lift the next day, haha… GET BETTER JAY!!!!

In other news, I was trying to finish that green scarf I had started knitting months ago but for some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it… I’m continuously tempted to start new projects. So, I finally did start something new, using some maroon and orange yarn I had bought in Christiansburg before I left. Merche thinks the color combination is hideous, but we all know the truth right? Yes, that’s right, maroon and orange is the most beautiful color combination on the planet and in fact, matches EVERYTHING. I taught myself how to slip-stitch knit with two colors at the same time, so the result is really cool. The pattern I was using unfortunately seems to have some errors, so after re-doing the same part about 4 times I decided to just revise it a bit… I think it turned okay thus far anyhow, check it out:

Jay says I must be the oldest lady in the house, you know, knitting and such. Merce seems to want to teach me how to cross stitch, but honestly, while the work is impressive, it doesn't really interest me.

Well I'll leave it at that for now... I wrote most of this earlier today, but since the internet has been really flaky lately... yeah... I really miss reliable internet. I also miss 2-ply toilet paper.

Back to the scholastic grind

2008-03-26T11:51:00.001+01:00

I miss having an mp3 player :-( For those who don't know, mine finally bit the dust a few weeks ago and my warranty has long since run out unfortunately. I don't understand how memory can be so cheap, yet mp3 players continue to be so expensive. 4gigs was barely enough for me before and yet a decent 4 gig player is still $100+, although I would like t have more memory. Grumble grumble bahhhh. I miss listening to music on the way to class.

This morning when I woke up it was raining really hard, so I thought it might be a good day to debut the waterproof trenchcoat Jay's mom got for me for Christmas. Lightweight, packable, but waterproof... perfect right? Well by the time I finished breakfast, it was blue skies and sunny. What?! Oh, no worries, by the time I put my books in my backpack it was pouring again and gray. The weather is really strange here.

As I made the trek to campus this morning for the first time in what seems like forever (but was actually about a week and a half), I was experiencing a great deal of pain in my chest as I struggled to breathe. Normally the air is humid and thick, but today I was literally breathing water, and it made it all the more difficult to climb those hills without good old fashion oxygen. I'm not sure why I seem to have so much trouble with it still, but I suppose I am still getting used to it.

I am in the computer lab right now and I had brought in my practical (homework) assignment for International Public Law, which honestly, I'm not sure if it is due today or if today they are assigning it officially since break started right after the last class. I did it anyway, just in case. Better safe than sorry. I plugged in my new flash drive that I got from MediaMarkt (4gigs for 16 euros I think it was... and yet a 4 gig mp3 player costs how much?!), made a few last minute grammatical corrections, and went to print out my 2 pages worth... nothing. I finally go to the printer to see what the dealio is and the guy monitoring the room tells me that it is out of paper.

I stood there waiting for him to refill it, and then he informs me that they are no longer giving "free paper" to students, in fact, we can't even just pay for it... we have to bring in our own paper from now on. Seriously, for a city that is so anal about recycling everything, it seems like they could invest in some cheap recycled copy paper and just keep another recycling bin nearby for the rest. The guy graciously provided me with a couple of sheets of paper and told me to remember to bring in my own next time. Sheesh. Order a shot of vodka in a bar for 1 euro and you'll get 3 shots and some snacks to go with it... but you can just forget about a free sheet of paper. I guess I shouldn't be surprised... I have to pay to have the copy-center print out my one page homework assignments for me. Heaven forbid an email attachment instead.

I'm getting over the culture shock a bit, but sometimes I just can't help but get a little frustrated with things here.

I miss 7-11 slurpees and high speed reliable internet.

Farewell, Andreas!!!

2008-03-26T00:00:00.000+01:00

Here is "the Spanish fam" with Andreas sitting in front, in the back from left to right is Merche, myself, Merce, and Pedro. Andreas is leaving early in the morning to go back to Germany, and Angelica will follow in a few months.

I start classes again tomorrow... finally. I've already forgotten where my classes are to be honest. This should be interesting.

I need to get some sleep though, more updates later on perhaps.

Semana Santa...

2008-03-24T00:31:00.000+01:00

In absence of the Easter Bunny, I thought I would share a bit about what has been going on here culturally for Semana Santa, this past week. These images are all borrowed from other websites by the way, I didn't take any of them myself, but I've been watching this stuff on the news all week long.

Okay, this creeped me out a bit to be honest. This is the traditional costume for the Semana Santa parades which are particularly big in Seville... you can guess what my first thought was, but it turns out the KKK actually were copying the Spanish who have been doing this for many, many generations.

Okay, the fallas: Every year in Valencia, people work on these really elaborate parade floats. Usually the floats sort of poke fun at something cultural or political. You can see here just how massive they are, and usually they involve lots of detail.

Here is another float from a past year... every year they vote on the best one and then...

....they burn them all to the ground. Yes, that's right, they burn them on the streets. This woman is in some traditional dress watching all of her hard work go up in smoke... literally. On the news it is actually quite morbid, because children and adults alike are all crying and sobbing seeing all of their work get burned to a crisp... and then news reporters interview them asking them just how crummy they feel. If that's not a life lesson, I don't know what is. Brutal.

Elephant meets Baldur

2008-03-23T19:33:00.001+01:00

This is Elephant posing with Baldur, a little rabbit named for the Norse god of light and love, and son of Odin. He travels around with Andreas apparently so the whole idea of the traveling green elephant wasn't so strange to this German. Baldur and Andreas leave on Wednesday, and it is hard to believe it has already been a couple of weeks since they arrived.

Feliz dia del pasqual!

2008-03-23T13:06:00.003+01:00

Not a whole lot has happened in the past few days because it has been a lot of lounging around the house and relaxing, and doing homework haha. Last night Angelica (Andreas' girlfriend) came over and we watched Gladiator on TV in Spanish... I kept on waiting for the commercial to get up and get something to drink, but after about an hour or so of waiting for the commercials I realized they were never going to come.... a long movie like Gladiator, unedited and full length by the way, and NO COMMERCIALS on regular ol' cable TV, not pay per view or a dedicated movie channel anything.

Andreas bought some "Coronitas" because they reminded him of the time he spent working in Hawaii. Coronas, you know, the common Mexican beer, for some reason that we don't quite understand undergoes a name change when marketed to Spain, even though they are bottled in Mexico just like the rest.

I was hoping to do a little shopping and such during my break, exploring of the city and get a few photo-ops with Elephant, but it seems like my plans continue to be foiled... the weather has been pretty lousy the days that the stores are open, and the only days where it hasn't been pouring down rain the stores have been closed on holiday, haha. Oh well, there is time still.

The Easter Bunny doesn't visit the Spanish, although last night during our little movie-party Andreas said "oh Angelica! The strangest thing just happened, I saw a rabbit in the kitchen! Come look!" and when she went to go look in the kitchen, there was a vase full of red and white roses waiting for her. Apparently for the Spanish, the tradition is that the godmothers/fathers give gifts to their "children", chocolate chicks and things like that.

I went to bed a bit late last night (Well okay, late for me, not late for the Spanish) and I got up really early to catch the Formula 1 race at 8am... unfortunately I fell asleep about halfway through and missed the end of the race and Merche didn't bother to wake me up. I woke up during the post-race report and decided to retire to my bed once more. I had never seen a Formula 1 race before, and it was actually pretty entertaining... unlike Nascar, haha.

Well there really isn't much else to say, I just wanted to let you all know I was still alive and well and such. Hope the Easter Bunny didn't forget about my American friends :-)

2008-03-20T01:05:00.000+01:00

Little pueblo we stopped in after the zoo

2008-03-20T01:00:00.000+01:00

A familiar face! He started squawking right when I arrived actually, so everyone around was like "Oh! He recognizes the American!"

Here kitty kitty kitty...

continued

2008-03-20T00:51:00.000+01:00

aww...

Zoo @ Santander

2008-03-20T00:46:00.000+01:00

Prepare for lots of pics!! This zoo wasn't a normal animals-in-cages type of place... there were acres and acres of land for the animals to roam and such. This place was originally an iron mine converted into an animal reserve.

Many of the animals were well.. not on their best behavior, to say the least... They managed to get a few inappropriate poses on my camera, but I'll share some of the G-rated ones with you here :-)

...I think the ducks are squatting on the hippo-habitat...

General view of the area

Ladies and Gentleman, a 3rd edition of....

2008-03-17T22:31:00.000+01:00

Things I have Learned In Spain Vol. III

- The classic yellow school bus is barbaric and hilariously outdated. School children should ride motor-coaches with plush seats about twice their own height.

- The only reason a female would ever wear a backpack to a college campus is because she is going hiking right after class… not to actually carry books and school supplies or anything like that.

o As a subset of school-attire, nor would a female EVER wear sneakers to walk to campus, with one exception: Converse Chuck Taylors which are properly color-coordinated with that day’s outfit are currently an acceptable fashion statement for the “offbeat” types.

- I am the only college student in Spain that doesn’t smoke.

- Carhartt is not a farmer’s boy brand of rough and tumble clothing. In fact, it is a very trendy fashion label for men to wear Carhartt. (On that note, who knew that Jay was trendy in Europe?!)

- When American women age, they get crow’s feet around the eyes. When Spanish women age, they get chicken-feet around the eyes.

- While Americans put their feet in their mouths when they’ve said something they wish they hadn’t, Spaniards put prawns in their mouths.

- However, just like us Americans, the Spanish do “knock on wood.”

- There is nothing wrong with showing nude beaches just in passing conversation during the afternoon news.

- It is perfectly normal for college kids to throw a party on campus every Friday afternoon where they can kick back and have a beer and play loud music, even when classes are still in session next door.

- It’s not a good idea to ask the shopkeeper of a store on holy Catholic grounds if they sell any pagan symbols…. Learned that one the hard way, whoops. (It’s a funny story, ask me if you’re curious)

- The L.A Lakers is the only important NBA team worth talking about.

- The soccer team of Liverpool is no longer property of the British: In fact, they are affectionately called, the “Spanish Liverpool” since so many of their players, and even their coach, are actually Spaniards.

- Last but not least, EVERY meal should have some sort of dessert involved.

Cabrales and Corbatas...

2008-03-17T17:41:00.000+01:00

This is Cabrales, the most famous Asturias-native cheese.... and boy is it strong. If it tells you anything, when we bought it, even though it was wrapped up in several layers of foil and in plastic wrap, the shopkeeper still insisted that she put a few coffeebeans in our bag to help combat the smell for the ride home.

When Pedro told me that we were going to stop in a small town to buy "corbatas," silly me translated that literally my head to think that he meant we were going to buy neckties. I mean, hey, I was just going with the flow. When we arrived at this supposedly famous corbatas shop, I quickly realized that this wasn't the case and in fact, there is a small croissant-like pastery like what you see here which are literally called "neck ties."

Mirador del Fito

2008-03-16T20:44:00.000+01:00

Some excellent views

This is from the actual "mirador" which is a neat little platform which was built to get a better view of the landscape.

Lakes of Covadonga

2008-03-16T20:37:00.000+01:00

Lake Ercina with Pedro, Merce, and of course myself and Elephant

Me and Elephant in front of Lake Enol

Me, Elephant, Merce, and Pedro at the "Mirador de la Reina"... I suppose one could translate that as the "Queen's overlook"

Well, you can figure this one out i think.

Covadonga and more

2008-03-16T20:32:00.000+01:00

Okay, prepare yourselves for a lot of pics, because today was a day full of fantastic views and some massive picture-taking.

We started at Covadonga, which is the famous site where the Christians won their first significant battle against the Moors "back in the day."

This is the basilica of Covadonga. Since this is the Sunday before Semana Santa, people brought in branches of laurel which smelled amazing.

Me and Elephant hanging out with Pelayo

This is below the main "chapel" of sorts and also below the tomb of Alfonso I and Pelayo (and his wife)... People aren't allowed to take photos inside unfortunately, but you can see parts of it from here.

Another view of the basilica.

...last ones of the supermercado...

2008-03-14T14:08:00.000+01:00

Faba beans are native to Asturias, and in fact can only be grown here for some reason or another.

Father's day is coming up here in Spain, March 19th I believe... so there were some really cute cakes on deplay for the occasion. Mmm... marzipan....

...continued....

2008-03-14T14:06:00.000+01:00

Veal is very, very popular here.

The Asturias region is home to the most varieties of cheese in all of Europe... over 300 native cheeses.

Here is some jamon cerrano just "hanging out" in the supermarket. Remember the photo I shared a few weeks ago of Merce slicing off a few pieces? It is everywhere in this area.

At the supermercado....

2008-03-14T14:03:00.000+01:00

This post is for Ms. Hobson's Spanish class mostly, but everyone else can enjoy seeing the supermarket as well :-)

I had to laugh when I saw this... Don Limpio.

The seafood here is always super-fresh since we are so near the coast.

Palacio de Congresos Construction and Formulario Uno!

2008-03-14T13:51:00.001+01:00

Here is the back side of the Palacio de Congresos/5 star hotel/underground mall that they are building next door... you can see the progress of construction pretty well from here. I found out today that those huge white beams on the Palacio de Congresos will actually be able to move up and down like a peacock's feathers in order to let in natural light as they intend to use mostly sunlight to light the place during the day.

Here is the entrance to the shopping mall underneath the Palacio de Congresos... apparently this shade of white is actually patented, believe it of not.

A closer view of the shopping center entrance

This is the acutal Formula One racer that Fernando Alonso, past champion and native to Oviedo, will be driving this sunday in the race. I have a nice picture of Pablo and I posing in front of it too if anybody would like to see it, just let me know. We had no idea it was going to be there when we arrived, and lucky us.. it is going off display tomorrow of course so it can be prepped for the big race.

Well, this afternoon we are going to MediaMarkt to look at some webcams and then later on Merche and I are going to go deal-shopping to try to find a nice trip to Granada or Sevilla. Tomorrow we are all going to Covadonga to tour around a bit which should be fun.

I figured out that I can use Picasa to make blog posts and upload images A LOT more easily than before, so I will definitely be sharing more photos.

Next edition: Some food for thought for Meredith, excuse me, Ms. Hobson's Spanish class, and for whoever else it may interest.

Hasta luego!

Mt. Naranco pics

2008-03-08T23:43:00.008+01:00

It seems I was a bit mistaken about the "German brother" of mine (Andreas)... Yes he has visited Oviedo before, but he has not stayed here before and in fact, will be here for about two weeks staying in the other bedroom here. His girlfriend is staying in another place in town apparently, but they both seem nice. Andres' Spanish is, well, not so good, but he speaks English (and German of course) so he keeps switching to English to ask me what the Spanish word is for something, haha. His girlfriend Angelica was here for a bit too, but she has her own place in town because she is working here as a German to Spanish translator.

Merche made some apple-muffins of sorts that she had learned about when she studied in Ireland, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to teach the locals here some fine American sayings, such as... "muffin top." They were highly amused. Thanks, Meredith. That was all you.

So since I have not updated in awhile, I wanted to share a few pictures that I took from our walk around Mt. Naranco... Becky and Jonnie had asked me if I wanted to go out on a "walk" so I said sure, but it turned out to be an all-day trek halfway up a mountain... only halfway for now, haha.

First of all, here is a nice little picture of the Spanish flag and the Asturias regional flag... nobody seems to know what the flag on the left is, perhaps something local.

This is sort of gives you an idea of the path we were dealing with. About 20 years ago the governor built this really nice little pedestrian trail with little exercises along the way that you can do. A lot of people were out walking for some exercise or with their dogs.

In the photo you can see Pedro and Merce on the left, Merche with the backpack on the right, and in the distance in yellow is Jonnie and Becky next to him... and of course some random old guys with their dogs.

More views of Oviedo from Mt. Naranco... These are the only actual houses or "chalets" I have seen while here, most people live in flats or "pisos" more or less in high rises.

This is part of a small aqueduct which had a small inscription on it dated 1778! (on the left is Merche of course).

Some horses hanging out on the mountain

I have a ton of pictures of course, but I don't want to kill my connection with the uploads so I will leave it at that for now.

A note to Margie: I got your package today, and THANK YOU!!! Mint chocolate goodies are really not very popular here so it is tough to come by. Luckily Jay sent me some York Peppermint Pattis to tide me over, hehe. I don't have your email address because all my addresses were on my thumb drive which I lost a couple weeks ago so I just thought I'd post it in here and you would read it soon enough :-)

As a random side note, my mp3 player died and I am really bummed about that... I really miss having music to wake me up in the morning and to get me up that monstrous hill during that 20min walk to school or so. Sigh.

A heated political debate...

2008-03-08T11:00:00.004+01:00

So the other day, I was having a discussion about politics with Merce as the Spanish presidential elections are coming up this Sunday, and plus the Spaniards are also very interested in the upcoming U.S elections. The two main political parties here are the PP and the PSOE... most people here seem to equate Zapatero of the PSOE to our Obama, except Zapatero is a few kilometers to the left of Obama I think. Actually, their "right wing conservatives" are about like our standard liberals in the U.S. Zapatero is younger, more popular among the young people, etc... similar campaigning strategy to Obama really.

Merce said "People need to vote with their heads, not with their hearts." In the midst of our discussion Pedro interrupted and said "No no no ladies, you have it all completely wrong. You are VERY uninformed." Merce and I paused for a second, wondering if this discussion was about to get ugly, and then Pedro continued: "...you have to vote with your hand, you know, when you pull the little lever down in the booth, otherwise you'll end up with a really big headache. Sometimes they have those touch screens nowadays too but you still have to use your hands for that I think."

As a continuation of this story, this morning Pedro was telling me about how Guinness the cat managed to open a fairly heavy door this morning somehow to let Guillermina (the other cat) through... Pedro said to me "Guiness is very intelligent, he uses his head for everything.... even to open doors." I wanted to make a comment about Guinness being a bit hard headed, but that saying doesn't really translate into Spanish. Instead I decided to ask, "Does Guinness use his head to vote too?" "Of course he does, paws don't work very well for voting... they just don't have the cats in mind when they design those machines."

It really is all relative...

2008-03-08T10:18:00.004+01:00

Just a quick update since I didn't post yesterday...

My "Law and Cinema" class looks like it is going to be pretty interesting, but unfortunately the movie we had to watch yesterday wasn't all that great (well, the movie was okay, it's just that I'm not into really old German films that are poorly dubbed over in Spanish) and I wasn't feeling well so I had to strain to keep my eyes open.

After the movie we took a quote, "short break" by which they meant a 45 minute break, and returned to have a discussion... where got into a bit of a debate with the professor in front of 200 or so other students on the definition of "Legitimacy." Thank you Dr. Nelson! I couldn't help but think back to those hilarious exams where he would give us just one word and expect a "brief paragraph" which enevitably turned into a mini-novel about that word and how it related to the class and readings... I am almost positive I did one of those on "legitimacy."

I am continuously learning these terms in Spanish, and sometimes I just take a wild stab at it and hope that my Spanishified English term works, and most of the time it does. You know, "legitimacy" just isn't one of those words they went over in high school Spanish.

I am also very quickly learning the value of relativity and perspective... They say it gets really cold and rainy here during February and March, but I suppose I am just used to Blacksburg, because honestly, I haven't noticed the cold and rainy here yet. Sure there have been a few drizzles, most of which didn't even warrant me opening an umbrella, and a few slight fresh breezes at night, but certainly not anything like I was expecting to encounter. One guide I had read said to be sure to pack waterproof gear and thermal underwear if traveling during this time... I've only had to bust out the hoodie once or twice, and even then it wasn't really all that necessary. Maybe I'm just more cold blooded, maybe it is global warming, who knows... but I'm still wondering when the cold weather is coming.

Another lesson in perspective: school work. In my Networked Services class, my professor told me that I could do a project comparing the system in the U.S vs. Spain on whatever topic (I am going with Internet privacy and legislature)... So about 2 weeks ago, I asked about how long of a paper she was expecting, and she said "Oh... like 2-3 pages." Okay, no sweat, so I ask, "when is this due?" thinking you know, that it would be due at the end of the week or some time soon. "In May," she responds. Just to clarify, I asked, "so this is a sort of a final project type of assignment?" "Yes, you will turn it in in May at the end of the course."

So okay, I thought perhaps I had just misheard her, since I was still getting used to the accent and all... maybe she said 12-13. No matter, I figured I would just ask again later when it got closer to "game time." However in class a day or two ago, a group of 4 people working on a project together asked how long the paper needed to be, and she responded "Oh... like 4-6 pages, maybe less if you feel like you have covered the material well enough." I don't think I misheard her when she said 2-3 pages afterall. Even so, the Spaniards were groaning about the excessive amount of work. Sheesh.

Well I need some breakfast and some coffee to clear my head... still fighting this cold of sorts. My "German brother" is coming into town today (a former study abroad student that used to live here apparently and is dropping in for a visit) so that should be interesting. I am looking into traveling to Madrid during the Semana Santa vacations because I'd really like to see some of the art galleries while I am here like the Prado and such.

Farewell!

Another day...

2008-03-06T14:18:00.005+01:00

--- Maria's mother asked me to take down the pictures, so if you would like to see them just ask and I can send them to you but she'd rather not have them posted on the internet ---

Today I slept in a bit since I didn't have class until 12:30pm, which was nice. I felt pretty sick last night so I opted not to eat dinner so I was pretty hungry when I woke up. After my coffee and cereal we all went next door to check out the new mall that they built under the Congress Palace/hotel next door. It is so gorgeous, but unfortunately I didn't think to bring my camera. Oh darn, I will just have to go shopping one day right? Actually there is a supermarket built into the mall too, haha. Talk about convenience.

After wandering around the Buena Vista mall a bit we headed to a cafe to grab something to drink in hopes of meeting Becky there but she was busy with a client, so I had to leave before she arrived to get to class. I walked to class, which started at 12:30 supposedly, got there around 12:20, and the professor didn't arrive until 12:55. Such is Spanish life.

I walked home, buzzing from the DayQuil I took earlier, and realized I had forgotten my keys. D'oh. Luckily someone happen to leave the front door open to the complex, so I just had to go up the elevator to ring the doorbell to my flat, so no problems there. I decided to introduce Maria to Elephant, and she definitely took a shine to him.

Next week is Semana Santa so I get the week off, but I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing. I had thought about maybe taking a train to Seville or Madrid to check out some art museums but I think the family has some plans to take me to some sites around here too. We'll see how it goes. I am still fighting this cold or whatever it is that I have, so I don't really feel like planning all of that out right now. I might just adopt the Spanish mentality and just figure it out an hour after I decide to leave, haha.

Elephant getting into the Asturian spirit

2008-03-05T19:56:00.004+01:00

For those of you who don't know, Oviedo is in the region, or rather "autonomous community" of Asturias. Much like our states in the good ol' U.S of A, each region has their own flag, anthem, and also own colors. Asturias happens to be blue and yellow, and honestly, I can't help but think of Sweden every time I see an Asturias flag.

In any case, I saw this the window of a shady Chinese trinket shop for pretty cheap, so Elephant commanded me to buy it for him:

For the uneducated, this is a mini version of a typical European soccer fan scarf. I've seen a lot of the college kids around here hang them up in the rear window of their cars, much like us American college kids seem to all have some sort of sticker indicating which college they go to across their rear windows. People here seem to have more allegiance to their regions rather than their universities or cities.

Also, I saw this my first week here posted on the side of my "facultad," it is hard to miss because it is probably 20ft tall, but I thought it was a bit creepy myself. It is supposed to be an ad for the Red Cross to encourage students to donate blood. Here it is:

So, loosely translated: Tthe top says "Year 3050" and underneath the creepy robots says "They will not be able to donate blood." Then below that with the normal looking people it says "Today you all can" and in smaller letters: "Donate blood, you will feel good. (university campaign of blood donation)"

Personally, I thought it was a bit scary, especially given its enormous size and the rather forbidding Terminator-esque robots that apparently are going to take over the world and need to suck our blood now so they can feed off of it later. Something like that.

Anyway there isn't much else to say, but I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately and sleeping a lot. I actually slept through dinner last night and apparently missed a dinner-party of sorts going on in the house. Oops. Even with all the sleep though, I still felt exhausted today and took a couple naps after school and I'm about to take another one. Dayquil helped me get through class today, although yesterday the expresso machine came to my rescue... half a euro for a shot that really saved me.

Friday I have my first Law and Cinema class since I missed the first one, classes were canceled last friday, and so now we come to week number 3... oh yeah, and there is no class all next week for Semana Santa (easter break). Sheesh.

Things I Have Learned In Spain Vol. II

2008-03-03T21:52:00.003+01:00

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the second edition of Things I Have Learned In Spain:
-----------

- Game shows in Spain are all almost all cloned from American or British shows, such as Weakest Link, Survivor, Wheel of Fortune, etc., with a few key differences:

o First of all, there is always a team of very scantily clad dancers in the background for no apparent reason.

o Secondly, all females must have cleavage and excellent tans with plenty of make up on their faces.

o Also, the set must be at least 10x more colorful than its American/British counterpart.

o Oh, and for the reality show clones, there is almost always a porn star involved.

- Once more I must comment on the weather: Apparently the area of Oviedo, which supports palm trees and cacti by the way, is the “cold region” of Spain.

- The letter “D” is incapable of surviving in between two vowels in a word. Therefore, words like “pescado,” “robado,” and “quitado” turn into “pescao,” “robao,” and “quitao.” Those poor neglected Ds.

- Everyone who is anyone in Spain knows that Pierce Brosnan and Harrison Fords are the biggest hotties on earth, or as Maria would say, “Ay Titis!!!”

- Bagpipes are NOT just a Scottish thing and anyone who tells you otherwise is a filthy liar.

- It is very uncool to smile for photos. The more angry and/or bored you look, the better.

- In the bathroom, having a seat on the toilet is optional. Bides however, are essential.

- My rectangular green and purple glasses are a very conservative, demure, and entirely ordinary.

- A sprinkle of rain is grounds for not showing up for class “due to inclement weather.”

- Umbrella etiquette: When passing someone on the sidewalk, which is always very narrow, the taller person (usually the male, but in my case usually me) is to lift their umbrella up while the shorter pedestrian ducks down as to not bump umbrellas. This is due to the fact that most females cannot successfully walk on dampened ground with heels and must remain on the sidewalk at all times.

A bit of Spanish TV...

2008-03-03T21:29:00.002+01:00

To watch a cute commercial that comes on quite frequently here, Click Here

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, at the end of the commercial the narrator says: "Polo: It will change your life."

I have had the song stuck in my head for days.

Karaoke!

2008-03-02T13:35:00.004+01:00

So we headed out to a karaoke bar, mind you it is about 3 in the morning at this point and the streets are just starting to fill up with people. Everyone insisted that I request something so I flipped through the song book and found something that I recognized, Suavemente by Elvis Crespo. Lucky for me however, they lost my request so my song never came up by the time we left, haha. Next time perhaps, next time. A couple photos:

This is uh... the guy who was wearing orange before but had since changed shirts for some reason. I wish I could remember his name. On the right belting out a tune is Fito.

This is a better view of what it actually looked like inside, and there is Carlos and Juanin serenading us all.

Around 5am we left and made our way around the casco antiguo and to the "zona copa" basically where all the bars and clubs are, and we crammed ourselves into a bar which was full of people. Honestly I didn't really understand the appeal of the mosh-pit atmosphere for socializing... we finally started to go our separate ways and go home around 6am or so I think, and the streets were still full of people.

Since I wasn't entirely sure where I was, Fito and guy-whose-name-I-can't-remember walked me to San Francisco Park which was a landmark I knew and along the way nameless-guy and Fito had managed to strike up a conversation with a group of girls who were heading in that general direction. They said they were headed towards Plaza America which I definitely know by now, so I followed them there and was able to make my way back home.

I have to admit, given my abysmal sense of direction, I'm pretty proud of myself at how well I have managed to navigate my way around the city thus far. I could probably get lost in a Wal-Mart, seriously. The phrase "couldn't find her way out of a paper bag" comes to mind.

In any case, I actually did remember the way home without problems and managed to catch Jay online for a chat before he and Cammarata went to watch a movie they rented.

Meanwhile, Merce, Pedro, Merche, Becky, Jonnie, and Susana actually had dinner reservations at a seafood place at 11:30pm... yes, that is when the dinner STARTED. Apparently they didn't get back much earlier than I did, according to Merche.

My first taste of Spanish night life: Queimado

2008-03-02T13:07:00.006+01:00

Okay, so Fito had told me that the party last night was to start at 11pm, so naturally I take a shower and get ready fairly quickly because I had woken up a little late from my nap... by 11:10 I was good to go, and still no sign from Fito.... then it dawned on me: The party started at 11 Spain-time, which probably meant more like 12ish. Sure enough, at about midnight I get a text from Fito telling me to meet him where he had dropped me off the last time we hung out and that he would walk me to Juanin's apartment so I wouldn't get lost. It was very close by actually, it probably took us about 5 min to get there.

I knew this was going to be a small gathering, and I only knew Fito and Juanin but the others were really nice as well. They had already had a few drinks (apparently bacardi lemon with iced tea and rum & cokes are really popular among the youth here) but when I arrived they decided to break out the ingredients for something completely different: Queimado.

Quemado is actually a mostly non-alcoholic concoction from Galicia consisting of apples, orange peels, lemons, coffee beans, and sugar. Oh, and one mustn't forget the key ingredient: Fire. There was some type of alcohol in it but I don't know exactly what but it doesn't really matter because apparently most of it gets burned off in the making.

In old Galician folklore apparently Queimado helped ward off evil spirits and brought good health and good luck to those who drank it, that is, assuming you recited the ancient scripture in a booming voice before partaking. Juanin tried to get me to read it with him off of a website, but it was written in Gallego which is similar to Spanish, so I got the jist of what was going on, but the pronunciation is entirely different.

After mixing the ingredients together Fito lit a little bit of it in the ladle on fire and started to stir it around a bit. Here is a pretty good view of it:

As the fire catches on, one must catch some of it in the ladle, hold it up above the bowl, and let it pour down so that it can "breathe." The result of course is a cascade of fire which makes for a spectacular effect.

In this picture you can't really see the fire, but we had to use the flash in order to see anyone. That is me stirring the queimado of course, and in the orange shirt is.... a nice Spaniard whose name I do not recall, in the back with the striped shirt is Juanin, in the plaid is Carlos, and then there is Eva and Raquel. Eva said that her roommate actually just got back from studying abroad at Virginia Tech oddly enough.

Here is a better view of what was going on; you can see the liquid pouring out with the flames and everything a bit better with the flash off.

After enjoying a bit of quemado, which had a very interesting taste to say the least (it actually reminded me a bit of Chai but with a citrus kick), the guys started to put on their coats and I asked Juanin "Hey where are you going?" He clasped his hands together and says "Well Sandy, we are going to do something that Chinese guys like to do." Jokingly I responded, "What, karaoke?" "Yes, actually." Oh boy. I had never been to a karaoke bar before....

First, some more pictures of Muros...

2008-03-02T12:46:00.006+01:00

This is the church where Merce and Pedro got married, about 40 years ago!

This is a beautiful view from the second floor of the Muros house of the landscape

This is another view of the ocean, I couldn't resist posting another photo. I probably have 30 more, but it was just so breathtaking I wanted to make sure that I got some good ones.

There were some kids playing soccer on the beach there and also this guy with a really nice kite who was also on a skateboard of sorts and was trying to get the kite to drag him along the beach. It is getting a bit chilly in Muros this time of year, but there were still a few surfers out there bearing the cold water.

Muros was a really cute little town with very colorful houses that look like they have been there forever and yet it was obvious that some people had gone to great lengths to keep them in good shape.

Muros!

2008-03-01T21:31:00.002+01:00

Well I am going to take a little nap before going out to hang out with Fito and the others, but we went to Muros today and wow was it beautiful. Muros is a small town near the Asturias airport where Merce grew up, and also where Pedro and Merce got married. We went for a little walk along the road near the beach and got some fantastic photos. I have tons of pictures, but I thought I could at least leave you with this:

MediaMarkt and more

2008-03-01T11:29:00.002+01:00

Hooray! Wifi is working in the house again! If anyone wants to chat with me at some point, you can go to www.skype.com and download the program, hook up some headphones and a mic, and we can talk for free without too many problems. Just let me know and I will send you my username so you can add me to your contact list.

MediaMarkt yesterday was a lot of fun, and I picked up a 4gig thumb drive for a cool 16 euros while I was there... well, Merce refused to let me pay for it, which was very nice of her indeed. I only wanted 2 gigs, but the 4 gig was only 2 euros more because it was on sale so I figured hey, why not. Merche bought a new laptop, which will cost only 100 euros after she gets her rebate back from the government... and man does it look nice. MediaMarkt really wasn't like a BestBuy like I expected, because in addition to the normal stuff that BestBuy sells MediaMarkt pretty much sold anything that uses electricity. Computers, phones, hair dryers, washing machines, blenders, radios, cameras, you name it.

Merce bought a new radio for herself because she likes to listen to the news in the morning while she is in the kitchen making breakfast. She didn't know what to look for exactly so she asked a salesman for an opinion. He asked what she would primarily be using it for, and she said "Well, I need something that can take a lot of hits and still work, something I can throw on the floor without problems." "... m'am, you really shouldn't be throwing your radio on the floor." "Yes I know but I need it to be able to survive that." (You see, Maria sometimes likes to listen to music on the little radio while she is in her stroller and inevitably the radio ends up on the floor sometimes.. but it was hilarious to see the salesman's reaction as he got the impression it was this mature woman repeatedly throwing her radio on the ground)

Merce also bought a "hand blender" as the English translation on the box called it, which is something I had never come across before. Basically it is a mixer of sorts but you hold it in your hand and so you can move it around the bowl or whatever you are doing to puree things. It was actually pretty cool I thought, and looked a lot easier to deal with than an electric mixer like we usually use in the U.S. They also come with all sorts of attachments and such too of course. Here is something like the one she bought:

Oh yeah, and on the way to MediaMarkt I saw this supermarket called Almerika I think, which couldn't be missed. It was painted bright yellow inside and out, and was so bright I'm willing to bet you could see it from space. As we passed it I commented "Ay look how YELLOW that is!" and Pedro explained that it was just another supermarket but that he preferred others because the yellow paint on the walls was really annoying after awhile. As a joke I asked "Well how does one find the bananas in that place?" Merche and Merce didn't get the joke, but Pedro responded "Oh, they have signs labeling where the bananas and the lemons are, so it isn't a problem."

Some pictures of San Francisco Park

2008-02-29T16:29:00.005+01:00

This is another fountain, in the San Francisco Park along the "bombbe pass." Thanks to a recent governer of Oviedo, there have been many improvements to city in attempt to beautify the streets. Almost all of the traffic circles have fountains, flowers, sculptures, statues, etc.

This is an arch from the original door of the Church of San Francisco which was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, but now remains in the San Francisco park.

The peacocks run wild in the park! They also make a lot of noise!

¡Que locura! (What madness!)

2008-02-29T11:30:00.003+01:00

As a continuation of the translation class fiasco yesterday...

So I did in fact find the langauge lab, but I along with 2 others girls were waiting there for 30min for a professor to arrive. Finally the girls went to see what they could find out and asked me to stay behind to wait to see if anyone did arrive. Long story short, the class apparently changed rooms on me (I shouldn't be surprised at this point) so me and the other two girls had missed half the class but we caught the second half. Sigh. I did like it a lot though, I think it will be a good class if it makes. 10 people have to register for the class to remain alive, and right now there are 7 people. I am sure this whole random changing rooms thing isn't helping. The others in the class are really amused by my "cute American accent" in English, haha... they are mostly British, but there is one Welsh girl, and one Hungarian.

This morning there was more "fun"... I was supposed to go to my first Law and Cinema class today from 10am till 2pm and watch the Cider House Rules, but once again, madness ensued. I was looking for the "Aula Magna" and I had remembered seeing a sign for it near Paloma's office which is in the faculad of Economics... so I figured I would be okay. Boy was I wrong. Luckily I went to campus about 30min early to give myself some extra time. After wandering around forever to find the Aula Magna (literally, The Big Classroom, it is named literally as such), I found it and it was locked. A guy came around 10am to open the door so I figured it was the normal nothing-starts-on-time thing. I asked him if this was the room for Law an Cinema and he told me no, that there isn't class there today.

I found an information booth in the building and asked them what happened to the class, if it moved or something. The lady told me that I needed to go to the Aula Magna in the facultad of Law. Another building with an identically named room. Seriously. It was about 10:10 at this point, so I figured hey, by Spanish standards I am early right? So I walk over to Facultad of Law, which I am starting to get to know fairly well, and I find the building with the Aula Magna that I needed. I get to the door of the building, and it is locked. I try 4 or 5 other doors to other buildings but all of them are in fact locked. I found a sign (Can you believe it? They posted a SIGN!) that said that today was a holiday for the facultad of law, so that everything would be closed. So yeah, I guess I won't get to join that class until 3 weeks into the semester. Somehow, I am nolonger surprised.

I walked back over to the facultad of Economics and talked to Paloma again, registered for my classes, and she said she would send me an email if I needed to come back to clarify anything. So, back home I went, and here I am.

Merche is going to buy a new computer today at MediaMarkt and a router, so perhaps we can get the wifi working in the house soon. She told me that there is this deal that the government of Asturias is offering for anyone between the ages of 25 and 35 where they will give you a 500 euro rebate or something like that if you buy a computer with internet capabilities because they are trying to encourage students and the upcoming workforce to use the technology more. Since Merche is not in that age range, essentially Becky is going to put her name down in order to get the rebate, haha.

Fito invited me to another party this weekend, a smaller one, and I will probably go just to get to know some more people my age. We shall see.

Well I will leave it there for now, I think I'll take a siesta since I don't have anything else to do today until we go to MediaMarkt.

Adios!

Ladies and Gentleman, the first edition of...

2008-02-29T00:54:00.002+01:00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED WHILE IN SPAIN, vol. I

(I hope you can note the sarcasm in some of these statements)

- If lost, ask the oldest person you can find for directions. They are so happy that you bothered to speak to them, they will tell you everything you need to know in great detail, plus the history of every building along the way. Younger people however, seem to think they have better things to do.

- It is entirely acceptable, nay, expected, for a woman to add 20-30min to her trip or pay bus fare to any given place in the name of wearing fashionable shoes.

- If a Spanish woman asks if you are hungry, and you are in deed starving, you should respond with “Just a little, I just need a snack.” If you really are just a little hungry and only want a little bit of food, you should respond with “No, I couldn’t eat another bite.” Otherwise, you will be stuffed until you explode.

- Everything is twice as old as the United States.

- There is no need to make men’s pants in sizes above a 28” waist in Spain, because apparently all Spanish men either do not eat or have fantastic metabolisms to deal with their Spanish mothers shoving food down their throats.

- The Simpsons is a children’s television show that comes on with Saturday morning cartoons and after school specials.

- Crosswalks are only a faint suggestion to the elderly as to where one should actually cross the street. In fact, just because the little green crosswalk guy light is on doesn’t mean that the path of travel is actually stopped in any way, it is more of a yield signal to drivers who in fact encounter a yellow light, not red.

- Driving on sidewalks is a perfectly acceptable means of completing a U-turn or just navigating traffic in general.

- Anyone who misses the Formula One races must either be dead or insane.

- Just because a sign in a building indicates that your destination is in a certain direction does not necessarily mean that it will be there, or even in the same building at all.

- A humid 65 degrees F is in fact sweater and parka worthy weather.

- If class starts at 2pm, that means you should start thinking about walking over in that general direction around 2ish.

- Classes have minds of their own, and in fact change rooms, times, days, etc without warning or notice.

- Apparently us Americans have been singing the famous soccer chant all wrong. It is not “Oleeeee ole ole ole!” It is in fact, “oh-ehhh oh-eh oh-eh oh-eh!” “Ole” is reserved for bullfights.

What? You mean there really is a tomorrow in Spain?

2008-02-28T16:45:00.003+01:00

Written earlier, but posted now while I am on Campus Milan:

Today was a bit crazy, I managed to find my way to the international relations office and straightened out the translation class business. Turns out the TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS lady was actually incorrect as well... good thing I didn't trust her or I would have been showing up to Spanish-German translation class. Whoops. The woman I talked to said that I didn’t need to pay right now and that I could go to class tonight and next week to see how I like it and then we’d worry about paying. I will say that is one really nice thing about the “manana” mentality, they are really relaxed about getting payments in on time.

After that I ran around trying to find a kiosk to buy a bus pass so I can get back and forth to Milan. I finally found it after stopping at a tourist information kiosk and was on my way. It turns out the one in that area was actually tucked inside of a McDonalds, of all things. Oh yeah Paloma was totally right about the university ID card... they totally didn't care that I didn’t have it and just took my word for it so I got a sweet discount. 7 euros for 10 trips, not too bad I guess compared to the 12 euros or so it usually costs.

I got lost on the way back and I found myself with just 15 minutes to get to class which was at least a 30-40 minute walk from where I was even if I knew exactly how to get there, which I didn't. The streets don't have much in the way of signs on them so unfortunately a map can only help so much. I decided to just use my new bus pass to catch a bus to the hospital and then it is just a 10 min walk from there, and I would know where I was. It was one of those crazy accordion buses too, about 60ft long with nice plush seats and even a digital sign displaying what the next stop is. I must say, it was a comfy ride, and the maps are really easy to read. You don’t even scan the card in, you just wave it past this weird sensor thingy and away you go.

I got off the bus and it was 12:29, class starting at 12:30. I walked as fast as humanly possible up that tremendous hill, I was sweating like crazy and breathing so hard I thought I would have a heart attack. Since this is one of those classes that counts attendance, I did NOT want to miss it. I finally arrived at 12:35, out of breath and with my bladder about to explode because I had been putting off that bathroom break as I made my way around the city. I and I opened the door to the classroom... nobody is there.

I decided that now would be a good time to take that bathroom break and eat a couple of the pears that Merce left out for me as a mid day snack. They are so juicy that I actually had to eat them over the sink in the bathroom because juice just spills out all over the place and there is no way to avoid it. They really are delicious. Merce had caught wind that I really liked them so she has been leaving a few out for me every morning for me to take to campus. She is so sweet.

I recognized a girl standing outside as being in that class so I asked her what was up and she said that people only needed to come today if they were studying certain topics for their final paper or whatever. No matter I thought, I haven't selected a topic anyway, so it is just as well that I show up. The professor comes along THIRTY MINUTES LATER. I was a little angry that I had used my bus pass when I probably could have walked there, found my way, and still been on time. Oh well, such is life, and I got some backpack hill repeats in there too, as Jay and Cammarata would call it.

After that I decided to make a pass by the departmental secretary’s office again to see about getting those syllabi… miraculously the older woman that had spoken with me yesterday actually was true to her word and had a stack of syllabi waiting for me with the post-it note that I had written for her stuck on top. Manana finally came!

I went to the facultad bookstore which is actually owned by Corte Ingles (like the wal-mart of Spain apparently, but instead of having all the departments in the same building, they are broken up into separate stores) and looked for a few of my books. From what I can tell they don’t actually expect you to buy most of the ones that they list, and in fact, I didn’t see most of mine there. I went ahead and purchased a copy of the “codigo civil” (Civil Code) that the Civil Law professor keeps referring to in class so that I could follow along a little more easily. Apparently I can reclaim the IVA on that too (impuesto de valor anadido, or Value Added Tax in English) if I take it back home with me. I imagine I will, because apparently they don’t do the whole selling books back thing here.

While I was over in that area I dropped by Paloma’s office again and said I had my classes all figured out, but I didn’t know the codes for them offhand. She said it was a bit of a pain to do it without the codes and asked if I could just come back tomorrow. No worries, I figured I’d give it a shot while I was over there. I have to go back over there for film class tomorrow anyway and I can take a little time tonight to look up the codes. Paloma is a busy lady, so I would have felt bad taking up her time so she could look up the codes herself anyway.

I feel a lot better today in general. I am still getting really fatigued and such and I still feel a bit homesick, but it seems that things are finally starting to come together a little bit. I need to choose a topic for Servicios en red class (I suppose Networked Services would be the best way to translate that).

We decided to make the trip to MediaMarkt tomorrow instead, and perhaps I will invest in a new thumb drive there. Even in the university bookstore I noticed that a 2gig was only 19 euros, and everything is overpriced there of course. I toured a little bit of El Fontan, an open market of sorts, while I was lost in town today. There are some really neat little stands set up with clothing, arts and crafts, jewelry, etc that I would like to shop around for gifts for people… maybe next week when things are all figured out. Apparently Thursday is “the day” to shop El Fontan.

--------------------------------------

Now I am in the campus Milan, awaiting my translation class. I went to the same building where Tuesday/Thursday lady was since I remembered it having a sign for the Language Lab, where the class actually is held despite what Tuesday/Thursday lady said, but as I combed through the building following numerous signs pointing to the lab, the lab just didn't seem to exist. Eventually I found out that this phantom lab is in fact, not even in the same building. I have to wonder, why was the sign there? I couldn't help but take a picture of it. I had asked a student for help but she was just as confused as I was.

I took some more great photos today since I had to pass through San Francisco Park earlier and there are some wonderful fountains and a few regal turkeys, uh I mean peacocks, were out and about.

I am going to go locate the phantom language lab now, I am told I am on the correct floor in the correct building so it shouldn't be too hard.

Coming soon: Things I have learned thus far in Spain. Stay tuned.

...more frustrations....

2008-02-27T23:19:00.002+01:00

The good news is, it is getting a little easier to understand the professors.... even though some of them talk very quickly. Today my professor for Civil Law even called on me for a question, and miraculously I got it right. Of course as soon as I opened my mouth he asked (I'll translate)
--"You aren't from around here?"
--"No"
--"Where do you come from?"
--"United States" (I usually don't bother saying which state unless asked, since most people here are not familiar with U.S geography anyhow so it doesn't mean much to them.)
--"What state?"
--"Virginia"
--"ah, Tell me, why Virginia is called Virginia?"
--"That's a good question."
--"You don't know?"
-- "No"
--"Well I know! I know why Maryland is named as such too!"
--"Then you know more history about the United States than most Americans."
--"How do you not know?"
--"I thought world history was more interesting than U.S History"
--"Well, that's a good point. I can understand that. For Monday, find out why Virginia and Maryland are named what they are, and you can tell the class. It might not have anything to do with law, but it will be educational."
--"Ok, I'll find out."

People here seem to understand me well enough, but I can't hide the accent. The good news is though sometimes confuse my accent for a south-american, so I suppose that isn't so bad. I am sort of resisting the "ceceo" lisp that the people have around here, but every once in awhile I catch myself doing it anyway.

So, after class I went to talk to Paloma to ask about the magically disappearing translation class. She informs me that it is indeed only offered on the Milán campus. I asked where in Milán, and she had no idea. I asked how I could get there, she said to take a bus. I asked which bus, since there are atleast 5 different companies with busses waiting outside of various routes most of the time and I didn't have the faintest idea which one went where. She told me to talk to the international relations office to find out all this info, even though Paloma is supposed to be the one scheduling my classes. Grr. Since it was already 2:30pm and I had not eaten since 8am, I decided to go home for some lunch. Merche informed me that the international relations office closes at noon every day. Some help that is, I had class up until then!

Meanwhile, I decide to make a pass by the facultad de derecho again to pick up my syllabi. In lieu of distributing copies in class or online, apparently they print up little pamphlets here that you can just pick up at the departmental office. Okay, fair enough. So since I thought I had my classes more or less secured, I should go ahead and figure out what the hell is going on. I look over the pamphlets, and I see one that I recognize: International Organizations. I am probably going to drop it, but I thought I would take a look just in case. However, I did not see any other classes of mine. I ask the secretary if this is all of the classes available, and she tells me that if they are out of pamphets for my classes that I can go downstairs to the photocopy center and that they can make a copy of one for me.

So I make my way downstairs and find the photocopy center, and I ask the ladies down there for the classes I need. They stare at me blankly and tell me that those are all available upstairs with the secretary. "They sent me here, they said you had originals of all the pamphlets and that I could just get a copy from you." "No... we don't have those, they are all upstairs. We could make a copy of this one for you though (pointing the pamphlet I already had)" "... I already have this one." "Go back upstairs, we don't have them here." Ugh.

I go back upstairs, and tell them that they didn't have any. They in turn tell me once again, to go downstairs, I suppose assuming that I simply didn't understand. That is one frustrating thing I am running into: the admninistration hears an accent come out of my mouth and they assume that they are never in the wrong, it's just that I'm a silly foreigner who doesn't know anything. Getting very frustrated at this point, I tell them very slowly and clearly that they don't have any of the pamphlets, and that they had no idea what I was talking about. Finally one of the older secretaries, overhearing our conversation, comes over and tells me to write down the classes which are missing and that she would print up extra copies tomorrow. Mañana, mañana.

For one of the classes, the "Law and Film" class that I'd like to take, she said actually didn't have a syllabus printed up yet and that she was currently typing it up. Are you serious? 2 weeks into class and the syllabus isn't finished? She assured me that she would have them done by 1pm tomorrow. I intend to follow up on that. Why do I get the feeling I'll get another "mañana"?

So I decide to just make my way to Milán campus early and just try to find the class on my own. Pedro gave me a ride to campus because he was headed that way to pick up Merce from her cooking class in that area anyhow. I went into one of the buildings that seemed to still have people around, and found an information desk. Score! However, when I got there, I either caught the lady on a bad day or she just really hates foreigners.. or she hates her job, who knows. Either way, it wasn't pleasant. I asked her which classroom the class was in, and she told me that it is only offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, despite what my paper from the international relations office tells me.

I ask her to please confirm what time the class was, since the rest of my information appeared to be faulty, and she just decided to keep repeating "TUESDAY AND THURSDAY!" louder and louder. I calmly explained that I understood this, but that I needed to know what time since my sheet was obviously wrong. Louder still, she starts yelling "TUESDAY AND THURSDAY ONLY" at me, and finally tells me to just go to the international relations office... you know, the one that is only open for a few hours in the prime time for classes on the other side of town. Ugh.

I gave up on her, because she was for whatever reason livid with me. I don't think it was my speech skills, because like I said, everyone else hasn't had an issue with it generally and I wasn't exactly trying to say anything difficult. I called Pedro to let him know that I wouldn't be in class and to just drop by after getting Merce and I would be waiting at the bus stop.

So tomorrow I'll go to the inernational relations office since I happen to not have class until 12:30 and try to finalize this. I would really like to take the translation class, since it is directly related to what I'd like to eventually do for a living, but I've already missed a class thanks to this insane system that seems to continually change. I'm not really thrilled to pay the 135 extra euros for it either, and money is getting tight already as I am looking at the price of textbooks. We'll see how it goes. I have a bad feeling that the class time will have changed by the time I get to the international relations office tomorrow and that it will have some horrendous conflict with my classes. I really hope not.

I am really starting to lose my patience with things around here. On top of that, I seem to have lost my corsair flash drive. I think I left it in the chemistry facultad the other night when I was taking an entrance exam for what I thought was a translation class. I hope they can use the same assessment test to place me, since I placed in the advanced class anyway. I really wish I had that jump drive though, it was my favorite. I asked people around the computer lab where I was hanging out but nobody had seen it, and there is no such thing as a lost and found.

Well I need a shower... the weather is cooling down a little with the rain, but it is still super humid and I sweat like crazy inside. Hopefully tomorrow something will be resolved. Tomorrow afternoon I am going to MediaMarkt withthe family, which appears to be like a Spanish BestBuy, so that should be fun. Their slogan on TV is "yo no soy tonto" (I'm not stupid) with this somewhat frightening guy in a military outfit and a wicked mustache who is way too excited about their low low prices.

Until next time..

The internet lives... sort of.

2008-02-26T22:29:00.003+01:00

Well we somehow got the internet to cooperate for a moment at least, so I will take advantage and do another quick update.

Today was frustrating. One of my classes apparently didn't exist, another has changed classrooms without notice 3 times now (no email, no notes, nothing... leaving about 20 students including myself milling around the locked door before I finally decided to go to the departmental office to ask what was up. Twice now, for the same class, has this happened.) Tonight I was supposed to start my Translation class, but apparently that has changed rooms without warning as well, and in fact, isn't even on the same campus anymore.

I am going to have a talk with Paloma again tomorrow to figure it out, because I don't know if I can even get over there in time. There are supposedly busses that go that way, but I have no idea how they work, and it would be a several mile walk to get there even if I knew where I was going. I had been placed in an advanced class for "Spanish for foreigners" and no wonder, most of these people had only studied for a couple years, and a few from portugal had never studied before. About 20min into the class I realized there was no way I was in the right place, it was ridiculously easy.

The lack of internet access is very frustrating. The wifi is terrible, the computer labs have ancient equipment that can't get VT webmail for some reason but seems to be okay with Gmail (I have all my messages forwarding to gmail for now, so if you want to still use VT mail that is fine, but I might respond from Gmail). I miss Jay, and it is really annoying not being able to talk to him even though we have the means via Skype, just not the decent connection. I miss being spoiled by superior internet connections on VT campus. It is ironic though, because Oviedo has put everything online much like VT, but with the local ISPs it seems almost impossible for me to access anything. Plus, the computer labs close at 5pm....

That along with a complete overhaul of my class schedule in process, second week in, has got me a bit stressed out. This weekend we're going up to the mountains to see something, what I'm not sure to be honest. More on that later.

Another photo from my walk around the Casco Antiguo, the Cathedral of San Salvador:

I also found a bronze statue of Woody Allen, who apparently won one of the Asturian Awards they do every year and made some nice comments about the town, so now he's in bronze. Hmm.

Quick update!

2008-02-25T19:10:00.007+01:00

Well, I am using the wifi on campus now but it is shaky at best. I can't seem to get skype or any messaging services to cooperate except using Gmail to access AIM. Weirdness. I am thinking that maybe this is on purpose. As most of you already know, I have lost internet access at the house for the time being so I'll be making updates when I can from campus.

In any case, I thought I would give a short update of sorts. I explored the Casco Antiguo (old town) with Merche a couple nights ago and scoped out some neat shops that I need to check out in the next week or so while all the winter sales are still on. Everyone is trying to get rid of the winter merchandise and clear out for spring, already.

This is Plaza de America, featuring the Fountain of Gabinona
This is the church of San Juan, where Francisco Franco was married.

I have a lot more pics but I need to go geting I think because the janitors are turning off the lights... Bye!

Making friends, finding classes... etc etc

2008-02-22T15:42:00.010+01:00

This morning I slept through my alarm... well actually, I think I turned it off in my sleep. I forgot that I usually set 2 or 3 alarms because I can do that in my sleep. In any case, I woke up at 8:45 and I needed to be on campus by 9:30. I took a shower, quickly ate, and walked as fast as I could to campus. My calves still hurt from it actually, and my chest a little too because I'm still finding it hard to breathe. It's not that I'm congested or anything, it just feels like I'm trying to breathe water because it is so humid.

About halfway there I realized that I had not written down the classroom number, so I beelined to the information center in the facultad del derecho (my college), found the number, and off I went. I was about 10 min later arriving, but it didn't matter because the professor had not arrived yet and everyone was just milling around outside. It seems strange to me how the professor generally lectures sitting behind a desk, never writing anything on the board, never pacing back and forth... just sitting still at the desk.

Everyone thinks my name is all kinds of hilarious, and they think I'm very exotic. Apparently American exchange students are rare here, usually the foreigners are from some other part of Europe.

After class I found a computer lab and worked on my online Tourism class for Tech because there is a test due by noon today EST... 6pm for me. Since the connection here is less than reliable, I decided the computer lab was a good call. After studying for an hour or so I took the test, got an A, and then set off to investigate how to get the wifi working.

I found the instructions online as to how to configure the wifi, and when I finally got to the end, I found out that I have to use a uniovi.es email address as a username. D'oh. I decided to seek out Paloma who was so helpful before and ask her what to do. Her office is in another facultad, so I walked over there, waited a bit, and finally someone else asked if they could help me since Paloma was busy. Someone told me that I have to get my email address from the administrative secretary of my facultad, so back to the facultad del derecho I went.

Once there, the confusion ensued. Long story short, most international students are from ERASMUS, a program for E.U students studying abroad, so everyone seems to assume that's what I am. They told me that I wasn't in the system and that I should come back on Monday. I thought about Pepijn, my Dutch friend, who in reference to the Spaniards said "mañana, mañana..." Which is it say, it seems like everyone wants to put off everything until later. Procrastinators of the world unite... tomorrow.

Oh yeah, so last night I did finally meet with Fito and he introduced me to some other students and we all went out for a drink. It boosted my self-esteem a lot, because while my Spanish family seems less than impressed with my Spanish speaking, these guys/girls were astounded. They all thought I had already been here for months!

A few of the girls said that they sometimes rented out a room in their apartment to ERASMUS students, and that it was always really annoying just how little they spoke and understood... so much so that they usually resorted to just speaking English most of the time. I found it a lot easier to understand the younger people and to talk, but maybe it was just because I felt more comfortable talking to people closer to my own age.

We stood around talking for a bit, and nibbling on tapas (little snacks that they serve in Spanish bars which are usually complementary)... I tried out a tapa with cabrales, a common cheese native to the Asturias area. It was really good actually, it reminded me a bit of brie. Usually the Spaniards hop around from bar to bar trying different tapas, but since most of us had class in the morning we retired a bit early and Fito/The British guy dropped me off near my house. Actually, something interesting about Spain: they close down streets for construction and whatever else, but they don't put up signs or anything. As a result, it is entirely acceptable to just drive up onto the sidewalks to make 3 point or U turns. Oh yeah, and people use their horns a lot here when they drive, for any little thing.

To be honest, I don't remember any of the names except for Fito... but here are a few pictures anyway:

The girl on the left in person looks a lot like Courtney Cox, and talks a lot like her too. The guy in the back is Fito's roommate, who is actually from Liverpool but has lived here for a few years now.

Beside me is Adolfo ("Fito"), and some of his friends posing in the back there.

Seriously, I just don't remember their names. Oh well. You'll notice that despite what I had heard, young people DO wear jeans all the time here much like in the U.S, however, I have yet to see a single person wearing a tshirt of any kind. I think I'm the only female in Spain who has sneakers, too.

I must have made a good impression on them anyhow though, because I got invited to a party this weekend. I haven't decided if I'll go or not, but we'll see. It might be a good way to meet some people, and the others that I met last night were all really nice.

Everyone has been freaking out about me not wearing a coat anywhere. It's friggin hot and humid out, I'd die in the sweaters and coats these people wear. Hell, when I go outside with just a tshirt I come back soaked in sweat.

I wish I had bothered to buy some new headphones for my mp3 player though.. mine are giving out on me big time. The sound goes in and out and it crackles pretty bad. Maybe I'll go check out MediaMarkt, which is Merche's brother's favorite store. She said it is like a toys r us for electronics lovers, haha.

Apparently everyone thinks I'm really strange for A) walking around the house in socks or barefoot in lieu of slippers and B) not tweezing my eyebrows halfway off. They would probably be appalled if they saw my legs that I haven't shaved in months, haha. No Shave 08!

Oh yeah, today is Becky's birthday apparently, so last night Merche made some bonbones with crushed almonds as a gift for her and everyone in her beauty school.

Pedro getting the wrappers ready for the bonbones, and Guinness supervising of course.

Merche dishing out the bon-bon goo. She ended up making 160-something of those things! Later on they put them in little baggies with ribbons to give out to the students later this afternoon.

Well I'll leave it at that for now. Tomorrow we're going to tour a bit of the historic Oviedo and such, and then who knows.

Hasta luego!

one more photo

2008-02-21T19:38:00.002+01:00

While I was wandering around town a bit I found this fountain... there are lots of fountains around here actually, I'll try to get more pictures as I go along.

While I was out with Merche one day I saw "el gran culo"... for those of you who don't know what that means, I'll save it as a surprise for when I can post a photo. I'm sure I can find it again one of these days. There are lots of statues and art around the pedestrian commercial areas.. it's really quite beautiful, and the daffodils are starting to bloom.