Starting where I left off, Tuesday was my first day of classes. After basically throwing my placement test in order to be in the lowest level of classes (which I was told is the most basic and helpful), somehow I ended up in the next level up with only two others out of the ten in my group. Everyone else is in the first level...I still have no idea how that happened when everyone else did their best on the placement test. But anyways, classes are going well. No English is allowed at all in the classroom and the professors either don't understand English or are great actors and pretend to not understand a single word of it. They are all very nice, but one that happens to teach both of my lit classes is the most boring teacher that I had in my life. So that's great. Other than that, they are definitely an adjustment but I already feel like I'm learning so much :)
Tuesday night, my madre decided to take they night off of work at the bar so that she could spend the night with me. She took me to her favorite cafe where we had hot chocolate and yummy croissants. Then we went to another place that is known for their Sidra. Sidra is the famous drink in this city that is kind of like a combination of beer, wine, and cider. It has to be poured with the bottle over your head and the cup held at the waist at an angle. Once poured, in order for it to taste right, it has to be chugged right away except for a little bit at the bottom that you swish around and pour out where you drank from to "clean the cup". It is very interesting! So my madre and I shared two whole bottles of that, then Pablo met us to go to another restaurant for dinner. I have no idea what I ate, but it was good! And we shared one more bottle of Sidra. It's safe to say that all of that Sidra made me more brave to speak more Spanish, and I ended up speaking much more than I ever had with my host parents, which they seemed to enjoy. It was a fun night with them and I knew that they would be the best host parents I could have asked for :)
Wednesday I had classes, then there was a university-sponsored hike to Al Cristo, which is a huge sculpture of Jesus....on top of a MOUNTAIN. Yes, I climbed up a whole mountain. It hurt in muscles that I didn't even know I had and I was so sweaty. But seeing the sculpture and the GORGEOUS views of the whole city with mountains surrounding all the way around was unbelievable and made it all worth it. I will try to post a picture or two on here. When I came home, Camino gave me medicine, knowing my body would hurt after that hike (which it did) and we went out to a Pizzeria for dinner. Spanish pizza is yummy yummy yummy! We drank Sangria and I found out that Camino and Pablo have been together for ten years. I don't know if they have any intentions of getting married though. I then went straight home to sleep.
Thursday I went to classes, then the university-sponsored activity of the day was to take a train to Gijon, a neighboring city. When we got there, we hiked to the top of some big hills right along the coast and took some pictures with the ocean behind us. It was beautiful. We then did some more sightseeing and ended up at a Sidra bar where our tour guides, Yoni and Ruben, got many bottles for the whole group, and people learned how to pour the drinks and we socialized and met other exchange students. That night was my favorite night so far. I saw how well all ten of us UNI girls get along and I was so happy with all of them. We then rode the train back home and I went to Camino's bar for dinner. After dinner, I met up with the group and our tour guides at a bar where we attempted to learn how to salsa dance and hung out there for the night. So fun!
Friday was a more relaxed day. I went to classes then came home and took a three and a half hour siesta (nap). It was WONDERFUL. Then my madre made my very first home-cooked meal in Spain! There was so much food for the three of us and Camino really likes feeding me, so she kept putting more and more food on my plate. It was delicious (ham and cheese egg omelets, lots of different kinds of meats, a tomato and mozzarella salad, and lots of bread) and I ate a lot. Then I had my first experience out at the bars with all my friends. Spaniards are crazy but I had so much fun!
Camino woke me up on Saturday saying, "Ellie! Son las tres!" Translation: "Ellie! It's three!" Oops...didn't take me very long to let them know how much I love to sleep! I met my friends for shopping a little while later. It is "rebajas" right now...which means that there are huge sales going on all month at all stores. We all figured we'd buy what we wanted while everything was on sale :) and I will now look much more Spanish thanks to rebajas! I ate dinner at the bar with Pablo on Saturday night, where he decided that he wasn't going to let me speak in anything other than complete sentences in Spanish. The time it took me to translate all that I wanted to say was embarrassing and mostly ended with Pablo either giving me a blank stare or laughing telling me that I made no sense. Great. He did say, though, that he is proud of me and knows that I am improving, so that was good to hear :) I stayed in Saturday night and skyped my parents and friends, then went to bed early, ready to wake up early on Sunday for another big day!
Sunday morning, we met at a bus stop to go on a day trip to neighboring cities, Covadonga, Cangas de Onis, and Ribadasella. Convadonga has a very beautiful church called Palayo's Church that has a famous story: Pelayo was a guy that said he would build a church for the virgin Covadonga if they won a war against the Muslims. Turns out they won, so he built the STUNNING church. Pretty cool! We also went to a church that was built inside a cave on the side of a mountain. Again, it was beautiful. There was also a fountain under a waterfall that has the legend if you drink out of all seven spouts without taking a breath, you'll get married in less than a year! No worries, I only drank out of one of the spouts just for fun :) Cangas de Onis was a very simple town. The only thing of real importance there was a bridge that the Romans built that was really really pretty and the view for the top was spectacular. I ate churros with chocolate there for the first time since I was here two years ago, and they were delicious. Ribadasella was the last town we went to, where we hiked (again) up a huge hill to a church of no importance that I know of, but it was on the coast and overlooked yet another gorgeous view. Thank goodness my camera was fully charged! After that hike, we were completely wiped out so we found a small cafe, ordered Sangria and played card games until it was time to come back to Oviedo. I slept the whole way home and apparently was impossible to wake back up. My friends were poking my face for three minutes I guess. Oops, I was tired! My madre made me a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner, I skyped Stephie, then went to sleep.
Wow, that was a lot. Overall, I LOVE my family and could not be any happier with them. I am completely attached to Longo the dog. He's so snuggley and he loves me back :) I have tried sooo many new foods, some I like, some I don't. I have learned not to ask what most of it is until I finish eating...I've found it's the best idea. Everything is going SO well. This week will be much more relaxed and I will be heading to San Sabastian and Bilbao next weekend for Saturday and Sunday! I think that is finally everything! Hopefully this was not boring for anyone...sorry if it was!
Thanks for reading! Can't wait to hear from everyone :) Love you all!
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