Hello again! I have a very, very busy month ahead of me, so I am trying to get this all caught up so that I can be more on prompt with my blogging :)
The weekend after Portugal, it was Oviedo’s turn to celebrate Carnaval! On Saturday , February 25, a group of my friends and I went to watch the Carnaval Parade that goes all the way through the main streets of the city, and ends in the huge plaza in front of the Cathedral. The streets were PACKED with people all the way from the beginning to the end of the parade. I had no idea it was such a big deal! People came from surrounding towns and even as far as Madrid to watch this parade! Crazy! The costumes that people wore ranged from anything to everything – Smurfs, peacocks, Barbies, animals, cowboys/cowgirls… everything you can imagine. There were even some overly amazing, elaborate, gorgeous costumes that made my jaw drop. I could easily say it was the coolest parade I’ve ever seen, and they didn’t even throw out candy!
After the parade, everyone congregated in the Cathedral Square for the costume contest. The Square was so crowded; the atmosphere was crazy! The YMCA song was played while we were waiting for the contest to start, and that was when all of the Americans throughout the whole plaza could be easily spotted…Spaniards don’t know that song. With the music playing, people singing and dancing all around, there was no where I would have rather been. :)
After the contest, we all went back to our apartments and put on our costumes to go out to experience the night life of Carnaval! I wore an elaborate mask over my eyes, a golden dress, pink tights, and black boots. Other costumes that my friends wore were a bird, a cat, black swan, an Indian, another mask/dress combo, and a member of the mafia. It was so much fun to dress up and go all out. That night, the streets were crazy, loud, and super full of people in costumes. Oviedo loves Carnaval, that’s for sure!
One Sunday morning, Bailey and I got up to go to the market together. The market is another very big deal in Oviedo. It is open three days a week, but Sundays are the best, busiest days. When she and I found the plaza, we were shocked by the numerous stands lining up and down the streets all around us. There were all kinds of people everywhere, and so many choices of things to look at. It was probably about 25 times bigger than I had imagined. We spent a few hours wandering around, bargaining down our purchases, and people watching. Afterwards, we wanted to go find a café to eat some lunch, but since barely anything is open on Sundays, we were in for a search. Unfortunately, weaving throughout the streets so many times, we both lost all sense of direction and managed to end up completely lost. We were to the point where nothing looked familiar, and we were starving. On the bright side, the weather was gorgeous, and we were seeing buildings/fountains/sculptures that we had never seen before, so we couldn’t complain too much. Eventually we found a candy store, brought some of our favorite candy, asked for directions, and headed towards my favorite burger restaurant. After about another hour of walking, getting lost again, and calling Camino for help, we found the burger place…closed. Stomachs growling, we ended up at the first open place we came to on our way home, Yuppi. We both ordered huge meals and ate every last bit. We decided it was one of our favorite days yet in Oviedo. :)
When people say that Europeans love their soccer, I never understood the extent of the phrase…until I went to a restaurant during a Barcelona/Real Madrid game with Bailey and Drea. Not only do people line the streets/bars to watch, but the people are CRAZY! Bailey and Drea talked about wanting to go to a game sometime this semester, and that brings me to Sunday, March 4. Bailey, Madison, Heather, Drea, and I all bought tickets to see a Real Madrid vs. Espanyol futbol game! We all took the 12:30am overnight bus to Madrid and arrived around 7am. After hanging out in the café at the bus station for a couple hours until the sun came up, we took the metro to Puerta del Sol and began touring. I was the only one that had been to Madrid before, so we had to do all the touristy things such as see all of the plazas, go to the market, the Cathedral and Royal Palace. We were tired after all of the walking on little sleep, so we went to a café for a couple of hours to relax before the soccer game! Drea, Bailey and I had bought Real Madrid Ronaldo jerseys ahead of time, so when we rode the metro with all of the other fans on their way to the game, we fit right in. The stadium was all lit up and beautiful, with people and scarf stands everywhere we looked! We wandered around a little bit, then made our way into the stadium. I had my first experience with a pick-pocketer within the crowds. All of my things were safely zipped into my backpack, but when a man behind me started slowly unzipping the pockets, I was lucky that my friends noticed and stopped him before he could snatch anything. I’m so lucky! Don’t worry, I was very careful after that. We found our seats eventually, took lots of pictures and watched our first ever professional soccer game! Danny was jealous that I was watching both the number one player and the number one team in the world. :) It was very fun to watch. The crowd was wild and loud, and although the score was 5-0, we got to watch Ronaldo make some sweet goals. After the game, we took the metro back to the bus station, were we waited for two hours for our 2am bus back to Oviedo. We all snuggled up in our own row of seats for the ride home and slept until the bus arrived in Oviedo at 8:30am, then made our way to our 9am classes. It was a long day, but so much fun!
This past week was called Cultural Week. There were eight classes offered to choose from, and the point is to widen our cultural knowledge. I chose to take a video class, and a photography/newspaper class. In video, Emma and I made a Spanish video about a guy asking a girl to be his girlfriend, and the rapid decline of their relationship, ending in a break up. Emma and I found it to be awkward and hilarious, and when it was shown in front of the class, they agreed. It was voted to be one of the three shown in front of all of the exchange students on Friday when the projects from all classes were presented. Ours got the most laughs, and Emma and I were proud. The photography/newspaper class focused on the theme “Spain is Different”, and we were to find pictures to support the theme, and write about our thoughts. It was fun, but I much preferred the video class. After all of the dancing, singing, acting, radio broadcasting, video watching, and many presentations on Friday, we were served free wine and tapas (snacks) through the university!
Now for a quick life update:
Everything is still going perfectly. My host parents are beyond awesome; we’re getting much better at communicating, and they have been complimenting me on my Spanish improvements lately. I plan on teaching Camino how to make “American cookies” (chocolate chip cookies) sometime soon! I still eat at Camino’s restaurant every day for lunch and dinner, and the food is wonderful. I spend a lot of time during the week in the café in the building where all of my classes are. Whenever we have a break from class, we sit together at the café, play cards, do the little homework that we have, and talk. We also love the pinchos de pollo (chicken sandwiches) and donuts that they sell for so cheap! The weather is getting super nice here. I’ve been going to the parks after school a lot during the week! I have successfully started and finished the entire Hunger Games trilogy, but the movie doesn’t hit theaters here for about a month. We’re all planning on going to that as soon as it opens in English. We just got back from a trip to the mountains with our advisors, Paula and Luna, this weekend, which I will write about in a separate blog. And, of course, I was lucky enough to travel to Prague with Stephie, Mom, and Nana two weeks ago, and then show them around my beautiful city. That will also be in a separate blog.
As I mentioned, this is about to be an incredibly busy month. This weekend begins my Spring Break! I will be traveling to Grenada, Mallorca, and Sevilla then heading to the Canary Islands to relax on the beach, parasail, learn to surf, and much more I am sure! The weekend after that, I am headed to Paris to bring in my 20th birthday! And at the end of April, I’ll be going to London and Ireland for a long weekend! I have so much to look forward to, and I cannot wait:)
I hope you all can tell how happy I am here:) I have 55 days left abroad, so I am making sure to take every opportunity I am given! I can’t believe it’s past the half way mark…ah! Other than that, I don’t know much more to report! I will hopefully be posting a Prague/mountain blog in the next few days before I leave. Love and miss everyone lots!
No comments:
Post a Comment