Hey . . . Ho . . . Let´s Go!

Another weekend. . . another excursion. This time we went to . . . wait for it . . . OVIEDO! I know this doesn´t seem like a very exciting place, but it is the capital of Asturias (region next to Cantabria). It was also where all the Catholics chilled out while the Moors were redefining the Sur. So ya. . . it has a pretty sweet Catedral (granted those are fairly easy to come by around here, but still). It´s super sneaky, though, and has a "secret" upper chamber where they store super important things (at least they did back in the day), such as the cloth that covered Jesus´ face and the chest that they used to transport random religious things that they found on conquests and some snazzy crosses (No worries, Merijke snagged some contraband fotos so y´all can see it). Other than the Catedral we had tiempo libre to do as we pleased. Merijke and I broke away from the group (apparently they all went together with a guy that knew the city well, how were we supposed to know?). We saw the mercado and el parque. Both were bueno pero I was really excited to find some very cute 6 euro tacones. I can now go dancing in style. (I know you were very concerned about that). But Oviedo is fun because they have a ton of random statues everywhere (most notably: the fat lady and her baby, the naked people with lil heads, and the traveller). Unfortunately, Europeans love their naked people statues. Oh, I also got to see some buildings from the 9th century, no big deal : ) One was a party/meeting house and the other was a church. They were legit thanks to their age but overall not super impressing (but I mean really, compared to the coliseum). But ya Oviedo is a worthwhile trip.
Sunday was fun. I spent all day in the kitchen (certainly all morning). I made chocolate chip cookies, meatloaf, and mashed taters for the fam. Les encantan los galletas. And they thought the meatloaf was very tasty as well. But apparently mashed potatoes are not appreciated here (sad day). Oh well, I can now cook without measuring cups! And am fairly good at improvising while cooking. I suppose pics of the cookies would have been good, but they were eaten SOOOO quickly. Anyways, el domingo was lazy besides that. Studying for my final and such. Only 2 classes now!
Let´s see other highlights from last week . . . we had a lil fiesta for the redecoration of the ISA oficina. I did a lot of siesta-ing. But really weekdays are fairly uneventful. Went to the Museo Maritimo. It had fish and boats and stuff. Anyways . . . from here on out I will be going somewhere fun every weekend. Destination for last weekend in Feb: Sur de Francia!

Hasta luego!

It´s my party . . .

Luckily, there was no crying for my birthday this year! I actually had a really great time. Let´s see . . . I can´t think of anything too interesting that happened during la semana. En general, I went al clase y came home to chill with the fam or do homework. Oh, we did have 3 French girls living with us. They were fun, pretty shy and they spoke better English than Spanish, pero they were visiting Spain. I had my first test! It turned out fine, as well.
Back to my birthday festivities, on Friday, we went to a place called Tempo (musica y tapas) because they were having a Bienvenidos party for all the students coming to the Universidad de Cantabria. So it was a Spanish bar full of American students, ugh. I keep thinking I´m going to enjoy seeing more Americans and then I´m reminded how much I don´t really like them (at least the typical party scene). But then the cute French boy, who told us about the party originally, told us that the party was leaving to another bar. Turns out the other bar is "our" typical hangout Eldorado. I didn´t stay too long since I had to get up the next morning to get EMILY!!! So I did a celebratory tequila shot (Merijke´s first shot) and headed out pretty quick.
On Saturday, Emily got here around noon. I got up around noon. When she got here, of course I showed her all around the city, and since I won the family lottery, my fam let her stay with us as well as eat lunch (big meal) here. For my bday celebrations, we went and got tapas at the most recommended place in town. ¡Que rica! Fritos variados and un vaso de vino tinto. Yum! (And the pics are already up!)  Then we went for salsa lessons at another local joint (super fun, except for the few creepy guys). By this point, Merijke had to catch the night bus, because it doesn´t run very much. But Emily and I went on a mission to find free actual bday shots. No luck on the free, but shots none the less. (Luckily it´ll only be 9 mos. before I´m legal in the states ;) Then to bed since once again I was gonna wake up at a reasonable hour.
We went to mass at the Jesuit Church. (Seriously, it´s call the Jesuit Church). Then we got breakfast (nepoliatano and cafe con leche). Emily and I returned home and had a delicious little lunch and then . . . my family had a cake for me! They put 20 candles on it and everything! First they sang in Spanish, then English, then a little diddy (similar to For he´s a jolly good fellow). And they gave me lovely presents! A pretty bufanda and some pulseras. I very much like both. And later I walked Emily to the bus station where I treated myself to some candied nuts. All in all, it was a great cumpleaños!

By the way, we have 3 new French girls this week! I´m sure it´s gonna be fun!

Another Excursion . . .

So this weekend we had yet another excursion to a few sites around Santander. This time we ventured to the "Caves of Altamira", Comillas, Puenta Viesgo, y Santillana del Mar. Ok, so first "Caves of Altamira" were not very exciting considering it was just a replica of the actual caves. Secondly, we have talked so much about the caves in class, it was like I had already seen them. I guess that´s the one plus, ahora puedo decir, Sí, he visto las cuevas! The actual caves were the first discovered with paintings from around 18000 BC. The cavemen actually used the forms of the rocks and cracks to make the pics 3-D. Just google it, if you want to see what I´m talking bout. Comillas is a bonita little ciudad. The main guy there went to Cuba to make a fortune (as was posh at that time), ended up making a fortune, and built a mansion so the king could come visit (and for himself, por supuesto). He was actually más rico que el rey. Anyways, he ended up dying before he got to live in the mansion and his first son died real young, tambien. So there´s a church built right next to the mansion. The second son got to live in the mansion, btw. So ya, Comillas was like the hoppin place for rich people to have beach houses. Gaudi built a cute lil place up there too. (All these places have pics). I ate lunch on a cliff overlooking the beach. I can see why it was so hoppin. Then we went to some real cuevas. That was super cool. There were paintings from 30000 BC (legit). And the rocks were waterfalls. Santillana del Mar (not saintly, flat, or by the sea) (mentiras!) was cool since it was a medieval village that´s been preserved, but it was un poco touristy for my tastes. But ya, overall good to see more regional stuff.

Random

Some random thoughts, since this is the first time in a while I get to just chill at home:

• our dog, Nico, watches the tele. He´ll bark at it and just stand and watch it. So weird!
• I love that español has ¡ and ¿. It´s super exciting for things like ¡Qué divertido!
• in case anyone was worried, the babe likes me . . . we have good times
• I can understand Spanish, SO much better than when I first got here . . . speaking is decent
• yesterday I watched La Ruleta de la Suerte ¡Quality!
• overall I enjoy all the dubbed American cartoons
• surprisingly, I love having a 30 min walk to and from school

Anyways . . . hasta!

¡¡¡PORTUGAL!!!

Another week, another set of new experiences. I really hope it keeps up like this! It certainly makes missing home not as bad. (In case you were wondering, I am starting to get homesick, but it´s more friend-sick). So just a minute of complaining, which is super ironic, because what I'm complaining about is people complaining (wow that's a mouth full). So ya, for the most part, I really enjoy all the people in my program, there´s only 14 of us, so I better, but they are some of the most complaining people I've met. I forgot how lucky I was to have such great friends that put up with everything and have generally positive demeanors. Also, I don't have enough guy friends. But, I love Spain and my family, still. Speaking of the family, we have taken in the great-granddaughter of abuelita. No sé por qué but she a cute little chub, even if she does cry when she sees me. (No worries we´re working on it)
Anyways, I went to Portugal last weekend! It was increible y bonitísima. It was also sunny! In case you didn´t know, there was a heavy Moorish influence in Lisboa during their occupation of Iberia. Which is great because they have super-decorative tendancies. For instance, a good majority of the buildings are covered in decorative tiles (pics to come). On Friday, since it was Dia de los Profesores, we left at like 8am and got into Lisboa at 1030. The hotel was nice, it was a small room with a shower in the corner. (The toilet was down the hall a bit). Merijke and I decided to go to the 11th century castelo that we saw up on a hill. (Another note: Lisboa is all hills, you walk up then down then up again) It was surprisingly dificil para ir al castillo porque todos los calles son diferente. You start going the way you want, then the road turns and goes uphill without another road crossing it. (wtf, mate?). But, the castle was super cool and the views were AMAZING of Lisboa. Other than that we just wandered around the city and found the cathedral after stumbling into 4 other churches. El sábado, fuimos a Fatima. It was nice, but weird after my pilgrimage to Rome (maybe not weird, but different). We had a delicious lunch, though. I can officially check off another language from my "Masses in Other Languages List" (Portuguese). But I have also decided that Portuguese is an ugly language (written, it looks like Spanish; spoken, so icky). Fun random things: saw Picasso´s Guernica on the side of a car, saw a 4-wheeler on the street, and overheard a waiter ask two French girls to a party. Also, in case you were wondering, it is common for random musicians/whole bands(sax, bass, trumpet, accordian) to perform on Madrid's metro.
I also went to my first fútbol game last night! Super fun! I miss sports. We were actually winning for most of the game, but of course, Valencia had to score 30 min into the second half. Afterwards, I walked home with 2 friends and their dad (who came to the game) and we stopped to have a beer. But their dad is a lot of fun. I think that pretty much covers what you´ve been missing. Oh and it´s cold-ish. Blah.

This weekend: Comillas and Santillana del Mar (the city of three lies)