We had a day off of school on Monday so I took my family to Ribadesella (which I told you about a couple posts ago. I went there for a long weekend trip with Alex). It rained, but it didn't matter. The paisaje (landscape) is so beautiful! Here's some pictures:
#selfiecity
Glamour shot
Presh
On Tuesday, Alberto and Olaya (my Spanish friends) didn't have class, so they served as voluntary tour guides for my family, pretty much all day. I had class and then I teach English on Tuesdays, so my family was given the authentic Spanish tour of Oviedo. We met up at the end of the day at a sidrería (cider bar) and had great conversations. Turns out, my mother had decided to tell all of my wonderfully embarrassing baby stories throughout the day, so when I showed up, I was greeted with all these inside family jokes. So, that happened. Mom and Marc don't like Spanish food, so for dinner we went to McDonald's. I'm 100% ashamed.
Wednesday was pretty uneventful until after my classes. Mom and Marc slept in and did laundry all day. When I got back to the hotel, I did my homework and relaxed until we went out to dinner. My mom treated Alberto and Olaya to a delicious pizza dinner as a thank-you for being awesome tour guides. It was really nice to sit and have a family dinner together in my temporary home city.
Thursday was so fun. I had class all day and then I chilled out with my family. We relaxed in the hotel and I started crafting a thank-you gift for my host family. Over my stay here, I've been collecting wine corks from the bottles we drink and the bars we go to. Here's the final product for my family to hang on the wall:
At 6:30, I brought my mom to my house so that my host mom could teach her how to make Spanish tortilla. As I packed my bags for Paris (because we were leaving on Friday!!) I served as translator, shouting from my room to the kitchen the steps that my host mom was telling my mom. It was like one of those terrible dubbed-over kung-fu movies, except in real life. After my mom had made the tortilla and my bag was packed, we met Marc (who was napping) outside of my complex and headed over towards the university because my program was holding a Thanksgiving dinner for us! I ended up messing up the times; we were an hour early. My bad. So, in the traditional Looby style, decided to begin drinking. We had some wine and headed back over to the restaurant. The dinner was surprisingly delicious. It's a little nervewracking when someone tells you that a Spaniard is going to be making a traditional American meal. It turned out really great though; Mom and Marc gave it the "picky American" stamp of approval.
After dinner, we went to a bar (of course) and had some beer before heading out for the night. Olaya and Alberto made my mom promise that she would come out drinking with us, so she did. We started off at the place where we play "quarters" with Calimocho. We were there for quite a while until we moved on to Funky, the bar where Nick tends bar. My mom obviously felt uncomfortable in a club/bar with a bunch of youngsters, but I loved having her there. She's so fun. My friends just started talking to her and it was so fun to see. She decided to leave after an hour (a whole hour! So proud of her!) and walk back to the hotel (of course she got lost along the way and took a cab back...). Marc and I were teamed up to play beer pong where we beat both of our opposing teams. No biggie. I broke up a fight and felt like a champion. And that, my friends, was Thursday night. Also, took a bath when I got back to the hotel at 5am. Best part.
All too soon, Friday rolled around and we bid adieu to Oviedo and hopped a plane to París, where my life almost ended. But that's a different blog post.
