Food, Wine, and Laughter: Looby Takes On Spain: October 2013

Well, fall is upon us here in Oviedo. The leaves have begun to change colors and the weather is chilly and wonderful (despite the rain that managed to catch me without an umbrella today...). It has been so wonderful, in fact, that I've taken to going to the big park to read my book. The first day, I found the perfect spot to read: a stone bench carved into a little hill. I had my book, boots, sweater, and Red Mug thermos filled with ColaCao (Spain's version of hot chocolate); it was absolutely wonderful. The next day, I decided to go back to the same "lovely" spot and was upset to find some random man, pants dropped, peeing next to the bench. Needless to say, I found a new "lovely" spot and couldn't help but to think that this was probably not the first time someone has peed on that bench. Ah well. The book I'm reading, if anyone's interested in knowing, is Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It's about Dr. Paul Farmer and his endeavors to create a truly global health care system for the eradication of mortality from tuberculosis, mostly in Haiti, but this goal takes him all over - from Peru to Russia and everywhere in between. If you're looking for an inspirational book which proves that one person can truly make a world of difference, this is the book for you.

Back to fall. Fall is absolutely my favorite season. The weather, the smells, the flavors...with that being said, Oviedo doesn't have pumpkin flavored things. It's killing me guys. Literally, killing me. I would do so many terrible things to get my hands on a pumpkin spice latte or pumpkin muffin or my dad's homemade chili (doesn't fit with the pattern, I know. Get over it). Needless to say, this week has been my first account of being homesick while abroad. It's not a bad "get me home right now" homesick - just a "send me fall things and where can I find Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown on the Internet?" kind of homesick. I miss the fall traditions.

On a lighter note, November is quickly approaching! On the 19th, Mom and Marc are flying in and I'm so excited for them to come! We're going to go to Madrid for a couple days and then we're flying to Paris. When they leave, I have two days of school and then I'm leaving to go to Ireland. I've always wanted to go there! I'm working on planning it now. I'm just so excited about it!

Honestly, there isn't really anything new to inform of...I'm taking classes at the university and they're going really well so far. I'm taking four classes (my fifth class was cancelled because there were 3 of us in it...): Oral Expression (literally the worst class I've ever taken), Vocabulary, Hispanoamerica, and Art. I love the art class. It's like taking my freshman year of Humanities (my English/Art History course from high school) all over again, but in Spanish. (There have been so many times in my life where I've thought to myself, "Wow, I'm so glad I took humanities for four years". That is not a joke.) When classes are over or I have a break in between them, I usually go to the gym. It's such a far walk from my house, so I make good use of my time on the far side of the city so I don't have to walk back later. It's actually great: I really love the gym here. After classes, I usually come back to my house and do my homework, siesta, and eat dinner with my host parents before I go out at night. For those of you that know me, you know I'm an old soul, so this "going out" thing is fun, but I get bored of it quickly. I'm kind of at the point where I'd much rather stay in with a couple friends and watch a movie or go out for a couple glasses of wine and then not go to a club afterwards. This is why I love Tuesdays. Let me tell you about my Tuesdays really quick here: I have class, go to the gym, and then come back to eat lunch and siesta for about an hour. Next, I go teach a student English. I absolutely LOVE this. The boy's name is Miguel and he's 8 years old. He's incredibly smart, already taking English in school, and takes major pride in the fact that he's helping me learn Spanish while I'm helping him learn English. Which is very true. I get paid €13 for the hour-long session, which is very good. I honestly have fun with the little guy, so I feel like it's almost unfair that I get paid that much. When I get home from that, it's about 7:00pm. Every Tuesday, there's a language exchange at Boca a Boca, a little bar/café on the opposite side of town. I love going there. There are people from all over who want to speak in Spanish or English or French...It's so nice to go there with my friends, drink wine for €1 (best thing ever) and talk with all these people. I love it. Tuesdays are great.

Really, that's all I can think of that's new! But for realsies, if anyone's feeling generous or loving or anything along those lines, I'd never turn down a pumpkin-flavored anything...

Love from Spain,

Melissa

xxx

Well, this has been an eventful last week! So, my bites didn't go away after doing all that laundry. We finally figured out that the problem is bed bugs. Lord, help me. I began sleeping on the couch to try and resolve the problem. It helped a little, but I would still wake up with a couple new bites every morning. My host mom started getting them too, so we realized that this problem was bigger than we could handle. On Saturday, I had an excursion with Ana (our program director) and she was aware that the problem was not going away. We discussed our options and realized the only realistic and efficient option was for me to move to a different family. I was incredibly sad, because I really loved living with Nieves. Pues (well), all things happen for a reason - I'm a huge believer in that.

On a brighter note, we had an excursion on Saturday and it was awesome!! We went to Gijón, which is the city next to Oviedo, and also where Ana lives! We began by going to the Roman ruins. These bathhouse ruins are underground and are just so incredible. There was an entire bathhouse in this exhibit, but they believe that there are more ruins under the Basilica next to the museum. Because the basilica is there and is a landmark of the town, they can't excavate under it. It's just so cool to know that there may be so much more down there! After the ruins, we jumped on the bus (a big, red, double-decker, "you might be a tourist if..." bus) to take us to Laboral. Laboral is an incredible collection of buildings that used to be a school. I've attached a picture of the plaza in the middle of it. You're looking at the chapel and the big tower next to it. This place is stunning. It was built during the Franco era to house the orphaned children of miners, but during construction, they decided to turn it into a technical school. Very altruistic of them. Next to the chapel, there is a beautiful theatre that is still in use today. In fact, the musical Grease is going to be there in November and I'm really hoping to go!

We had the opportunity to go up to the top of the tower. This was so cool!! This is pretty much Spain's equivalent to Enger Tower in Duluth, Minnesota. I spent a lot of time there this summer and it was such a simple blessing to have something remind me of the incredible summer I had. Here's a photo from the top of the tower.

Since we were all amazed by the incredible view from the top of the tower, we had to run to catch the bus back into the heart of the city. From here, we went to an aquarium. Knowing me, you know that I'm pretty much a child at heart and I love animals and zoos and aquariums. I also love a good playground, but that's besides the point. We had such a good time and I've put some pictures below of some of my favorite fish...

This guy's so ugly, I had to put him in here.

The ugliest things I've ever seen

This fish looks like it just saw Miley Cyrus' VMA performance

I just think this is a neat picture of the jellies

And here begins the best 24 hours of my Spain experience yet. On Sunday, Alex and I went to Ribadesella to explore this beautiful mountain/sea town. We took the bus on Sunday afternoon and arrived around 4pm. After we found our hotel, we took the Paseo de la Guía, which is a walking path that goes up through the beautiful houses in the mountain, lets out by a small chapel on the tip of the mountain cliff looking out over the sea, and comes back around the mountain. We tried to find it, but ended up accidentally finding this natural rock beach. It was gorgeous. All I could think about was how beautiful it would be at night with the stars overhead. I made a mental note to return here at night. From here, we walked around until we found the paseo. It wasn't a very long walk (maybe 20-30 minutes to get up there), but it was incredibly beautiful. First of all, the colors of the sea are UNreal. I actually spent a lot of time just sitting on the railing thinking about how I could recreate the shades with acrylics in a future painting. Since the view was so beautiful and the sounds of the sea are conducive to relaxation, Alex and I sat on the railing for the better part of an hour, simply talking about our lives, the people we love, and whatever else came up. Eventually, we left that railing to walk back down the mountain. On the way down, Alex found a pseudo-staircase leading out onto the cliffs into the sea. Of course, we decided to climb out onto them. Let me just say that, if this were in the United States, there would be a concrete barrier about a mile high separating anyone from being able to do this. Anyways, this was one of the most breathtaking views I've experienced. There's really no way to describe it other than attaching pictures. I know, I don't have words. How ironic, seeing the length of this blog post. You're welcome. All you need to know? It was beautiful. When we returned to the main part of the city, we didn't know what to do, so we just got drinks (shocker). We started out with sidra. This was the BEST cider that I've had yet in Spain. the camerero (waiter) brought the bottle out in this machine which would oxygenate the cider for us (because, if you've been paying attention, sidra is the cider that you have to pour from above your head and it makes a mess and such...). In fact, it was so good, that we had two bottles. Another note, sidra is kind of strong, so two bottles had us glowing a bit. While drinking, Ana called me and informed me that she found a new host family for me to live with. She said that they usually have students from Rollins, but since there were only four of us, they didn't need to host this fall. I was so excited until she told me that they live in the same building that Nick now lives in. It's pretty far from campus. I was so excited to start university because I lived right across from the campus - literally could see the language department from my window. Oh well. I'm so incredibly grateful that they would be able to take me in at such short notice. Back to Ribadesella!

If you know me, you know that I love getting to know people and what makes them tick. I love knowing why people are the way the are; the people they love, the things they love, the things they believe, things they don't believe, etc. I love it. So, I just started asking Alex questions. He'd answer it, I'd answer it, and then he'd ask a question. It was so great to get to know him. If you don't know this kid, you're missing out. He's one of the most genuine people I've had the pleasure of knowing. Haber (this really doesn't have a meaning in Spanish conversations other than a space filler to change the subject - similar to the American 'anyways'). After sidra and changing into jeans because of the cold, we went for tapas and sangria for dinner. Alex ordered, very literally, a plate of meat. There must have been 6 different types of ham on this plate with four pieces of cheese. I ordered patatas con cabrales, which are fried potatoes with cabrales cheese (a mix of sheep and cow milk -- it's literally the best thing ever and I would put it on every food if I had the option to...). It was literally the best drunk food you could ever ask for. The sangria was also really good. Here, we continued the questioning and answering. We were there for an hour or two and then decided to go back to the rock beach. Regardless of the cloudiness, there was still some stars out. It was so perfect. The sound of the waves, the sidra/sangria glow, the conversation, it was all just the most wonderful mezcla (mix). After sitting and talking there for awhile (yes, I do realize that there was a lot of sitting and talking in this blog. I apologize, but I'm an old soul and these things make me happy), we returned back to the hotel to go to bed.

The next morning, we were awakened by the housekeeper opening our door, which wasn't awkward at all. After showering and gathering our stuff, we left the keys on the front desk and left for our incredible excursion: canoeing the river Sella. We got a cup of coffee and were picked up and brought to another town to begin. This company sets you up so well! The pick you up, keep your stuff at their office, give you plastic bags in which to put your phone, wallet, and/or camera, a picnic lunch, and then you put all of these things in a water-proof/tight jug. The jug fits in your canoe. There are three stops that you can dock at if you're tired or cold or just want to stop and eat lunch. There was perfect weather for canoeing - not too hot, not too cold. We ended up canoeing for 3 hours, 3 and a half hours, something like that and we canoed 16 km. The driver picked us up at the end of the river and brought us and our stuff back to the Ribadesella bus station. We returned to Oviedo and I packed all of my things to move on Tuesday and then rested for the rest of the day.

On Tuesday, we all had to go to the university at 9am to take a placement test to determine what classes we would be taking. There was some scheduling errors with the testing time and they were missing between 60-70 students so they told us to return at 10am. After getting a cup of coffee, we returned. The test was so much easier than I had expected and the oral exam was 30 seconds of conversation. They ended up putting me in the highest level of classes. That bumped my confidence a lot! After the test, I ended up moving. My new family is awesome! I live with a wife Consuela, (nickname Chielo I think. I'm still nervous to call her by name because I'm sure I'll get it wrong...) husband, Delphin, their 35-year old son, Delphin, and their dog, Sarco. I GET TO LIVE WITH A DOG!!!!!! WAHOO!! I was so incredibly nervous to move. It's like starting all over again. New school, new family, everything new. I hate transition periods, so I felt very uncomfortable. I prayed about it a lot, and I know my parents prayed too, so as soon as I walked in, the dog greeted me with a happy bark and immediately rolled over for me to pet him. I like to think that was God's way of putting my anxious mind at ease. So, thanks Big Guy. All is well and I'm very happy here so far. I started school today and there's really not that much to say about it. I'm taking 5 classes here: Vocabulary, Oral Expression, Hispanic America (I'm hoping that's a cultural class...), Art, and Cinema. I only have one 9am class on Tuesdays and the rest are at 10am. I had a two-hour break between classes today, so I went to the gym. I'm going to have to go there between and after classes because it's a 40 minute walk from my house, so God knows I'm not walking there before class or or funsies in my free time! Also, if you'd like my new address, please let me know! I don't want to post it publicly so I can send it to you!!

Below, you'll find some pictures from Ribadesella, but I think I'll leave you at that. Thanks so much for reading!