Tapas

Funny story about the title of this blog. More about that later.

So today was a whirlwind. Actually, the past two days have flown by. Figuratively and quite literally. I feel like I've been away for months. In the past two days, I've racked up a whopping 6 hours of sleep. After traveling for what seemed like ten days, Elise and I arrived in Oviedo and the program director, Anna, picked us up from the airport and brought us to a hotel. After we got settled, we went out for lunch. In Spain, lunch is the mother of all meals. You literally pick two (2) entrees. WHAT. They don't skimp on the portions or the heaviness of the meals either. My Lord. They follow that up with dessert and coffee. Which, of course, is my favorite part. The coffee here is so strong -- thanks to Steph's French Press for 6 weeks, I can now drink straight up black coffee. My host mom thinks I'm a champ for that. After lunch, we walked around the city. If you were to picture the French village that Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) walks around singing that song with the people hanging out the windows, you'd be picturing Oviedo. Except people speak Spanish here rather than sing with you in English. And I wouldn't recommend singing while you walk in the streets like Belle did. No one will sing with you. After the walk around the city, Elise and I went back to the hotel and we went for a run in the park that's in the center of the city. It's not too common to have people running outside (at least that's what I've gathered from the strange looks we got. Those could also be attributed to the fact that I look like a rabid beagle when I run. I haven't figured out which is the source of the looks yet). After the run, we went back, showered, and got ready for dinner. Ana was picking the boys (Alex and Nick) up from the airport and we would meet them for dinner. After dinner, Ana left us and we went out for drinks (I know, first night. Don't judge us). We stayed out until about 2:30. There are "low cost" bars here. They're dangerous --- every glass of wine or one glass of beer is only €1. Dangerous, I told you. We happened upon this square -- La Plaza de los Borrachos (The square of the drunks). That's not the real name, but it should be. Literally, at least 50 people, 50 drunk people, packed into this square with music, loud talking, empty bottles etc. It was a good time, to say the least. Knowing me, you'd ask: But Melissa, you are a grandma. How did you manage to stay up so late? Answer: I have no idea. But it was crazy awesome and I went to bed pretty much the second we got back to the hotel. Old habits die hard.

I slept for a whole 5 hours before I woke up to go to mass. Alex and I went to mass at the Cathedral. It was just unbelievably beautiful and I understood a whole lot of nothing. But that's okay. It'll come. After mass, we walked around for a while and then returned to the hotel to get our things and meet Ana and our host families. My host mom's name is Nieves and she lives acerca de (close to) the hotel we stayed at, so we walked (with my 2 bags and a guitar case) to her apartment. It should only be a 15 minute walk, at most, but I swear my hand was going to fall off from dragging that whale of a suitcase across the streets. I could literally see the Carpal Tunnel forming in my wrists and hands as I walked. Awful stuff. Once we got to the apartment, I talked to Nieves for a while and got a grand tour of the apartment. Here's the lowdown: as soon as you walk in, there's a door for her master bedroom and bath. There is one hallway and all the other rooms are off this hallway. On the left is my bathroom, on the right is the kitchen (with a door at the end of the kitchen that opens to a balcony that looks over the plaza with cafés. There are always people there and children playing. Great view), the living room with the TV, couches, and a dining table and chairs is on the right as well just before my bedroom at the end of the hallway. I'll attach some pictures to the bottom of this bad boy so you can see what it's like in here. After I was settled in, we ate lunch together in the kitchen. Carne asada y papas fritas y ensalada con sandia (roasted meat and fried potatoes and salad with watermelon). Era muy deliciousa (It was very delicious). After this, we siesta-ed. Yes, I did just combine the Spanish word "siesta" with the English form of past tense "ed". So, that happened. I was laying on my bed, looking through my phone, and the next thing I know, it was 10 minutes later and I had just woken up. A ten minute nap that felt like 3 hours. There was drool and everything -- now that's an intense nap.

Nieves and I left at 5:50 to meet up with her friend Isabel to take a walk/hike up to the mountains. We walked for 2 hours. FUNNY STORY TIME: So Nieves and Isabel are talking and I'm pretty much trying to absorb as much Spanish as I can. I can get chunks, but since it's not all clicking, it's really easy to zone out. In one of these zoning out periods, I hear them ask me a question. All I can gather from the question is "Quieres..tapas en Deciembre?" So, of course, I'm all over the idea of making tapas in December. I love food. I say yes. Then all of a sudden, Nieves is talking about how this tapa-making session is actually a 5-hour hike from Oviedo a Santiago. Wait a minute, I didn't sign up for this. I just want to eat tapas. Low and behold, I am now walking five hours to another Spanish city sometime in December. Way to go Melissa. When we walked all the way back into the city, we went to a café for some coffee and had a wonderful conversation. We talked a lot about Spain and Isabel was on her phone googling (is "to google" a verb? It is in this blog...) Chicago. They loved the idea of Lake Michigan and the boats and were fascinated by how many people live there. It was a really nice time. By the time we left, it was dark out. Nieves and walked to where my classes will be tomorrow, and we returned to the apartment. This day has been amazing, but so incredibly long. I feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity and it's been so totally mind-blowing to explore this city that God made. He did a decent job.