Life in Spain

Hola a todos! I have been asked to keep a blog while studying here in Spain, so I am obliging.  I do think it's a good idea though, already so much has happened! We arrived on the 7th, and stayed two nights in a hotel. We were all so tired and overwhelmed by the city that we didn't do a lot of exploring. Last Monday, the moment of truth came when we were picked up by our host families. I was super nervous because I know that it doesn't always work out with the families. My host mom, Cruz, had emailed me prior telling me about herself and her interests. From the email, we sounded pretty compatible. I immediately recognized her because she had sent me pictures. Her partner, Tino was with her. They picked me up in a cab, and I quickly found out neither speak any English. We went to my new home where I will live for the next 5 months. I live on a very popular street in Oviedo; Calle Mon. It is in the part Antigua of town, which means that it's in the older part. Almost everyone here knows how to get there because I live about a minute away from the brilliant La Catedral. I love it already, all the buildings are older and beautiful. My apartment is very decent sized, besides my room. It's very small, but all my things fit just fine. The whole place is decorated very nicely, and it's very modern. The biggest plus? It has wifi, which some of my friends were not as lucky to get. During the week it is just me and Cruz, who is a high school art and history teacher in a nearby small town. This being said, we have almost the same schedule since we both are at school, so it works out nicely. On the weekends, however, she informed me that we will have many guests. Her partner, Tino, lives in a small town nearby, and he comes for the entire weekend. He has two sons: one is 24, the other 19. I met his older son, Danny, this weekend who speaks very good English. It was a lot easier to communicate with him around explaining various traditions and foods I didn't know. They are all so kind and generous, very easy to get along with. Tino is very entertaining and makes fun of my accent by plugging his nose and speaking. He is also constantly teasing everyone and cracking jokes, which I'm plenty used to from my dad. haha. We had a lot of fun this past weekend as they taught me how to dance the Salsa. Sooo fun. I definitely got very lucky with my family.


It is about a 20 minute walk to school, about 15 if I'm walking fast. I have 5 classes: translation, vocab, literature, Hispanic literature, and oral. So far I reallyyy love all but the literature classes. My professor's voice for lit kinda makes me want to go into a coma, and since I still am getting used to the time change, its easy to dose off. Especially since both classes are back to back on Tuesdays and Fridays. I have at least one friend in each class, plus a few other exchange students that I kind of know. I sat by one of them, Freddy, on the plane to Oviedo, so it was nice to get to know someone before class started. Classes aren't too bad though, at least yet, and I definitely needed a break from UNI's business core classes. However, I pulled a "dumb American" mistake while answering a question in class. Instead of saying, "he had 5 months to live", I said,"he had 5 tables to live". The Spanish words are very similar, but it was still pretty embarrassing. Kinda funny though. Speaking of dumb mistakes, last night while trying to remember the word ice to ask Cruz for some for my ankle, I ended up saying something different. She immediately bursted out laughing, and turns out I said something about a glacier. I guess it would be pretty hard to ice my ankle with a glacier...


Me and all the girls from UNI are all involved in ESN, a club here at the college. Last week was welcome week and we did things like went to a movie, went on a city tour, tried salsa dancing, and tried Asturias' famous cider called Sidria. It's like apple cider, only composed partly of beer. It is only available in northern Spain, and everyone here is crazy about it. Also, through ESN we went on a hike up to Monte Naranco to see El Cristo. In total, I think it was over 4 miles. It's really about time that I learn the metric system, and convert everything. I wish globalization was a little further along as far as that goes. The hike was amazing though, and the view was so gorgeous.  I want to do it again. We also went to the town of Gijon, which is about 20 minutes away from here. It is similar to Oviedo, but it has the coast. While it was very pretty, I still prefer Oviedo. Yesterday with the club we went to three towns: Covadonga, Cangas de Oris, and Ribadesella. We took a bus because it was about an hour and half away. The first town, Covadonga, was breathtaking because it is a town in the mountains. It also has an interesting past. There is a beautiful church that the city is built around, as well as another church built into the mountains. Pelayo promised that if they defeated the Muslims that he would build the virgin of Covadonga a church. The Muslims were not used to the rugged terrain and the Spaniards clearly had an advantage being on the mountain tops. Since they defeated the Muslims, the church was built, and exists today. There also was a fountain, and it is said that if you drink out of all of them in less than a minute, you are to wed in less than a year. Don't worry, I only drank out of one. :) The reason for going to the next town is the beautiful, long river that flows through it, as well as its famous bridge constructed by the Romans centuries ago.  While here, I tried churros for the first time. I loved them, but lets just say if I make a habit out of eating them, I'll come back looking like la gorda (check the statue picture I uploaded on fbook). The final town was my favorite, and even though it was raining, so very beautiful. It is an ocean town, and after a short hike up to cliff, we could see the ocean for miles. I took a ton of pictures because I couldn't get enough of it. However, since it was so cold, me and a few friends got drinks and spent time in a cafe playing cards. 


There are also some things here that I've noticed that are so different from the States. Not necessarily bad differences either. First of all, everyone here seems to eat a lot healthier. I rarely see someone overweight walking around. The food is very different, but in a good way. As many of you know I'm pretty picky. However, so far I've eaten so many new things---and liked almost all of it. The first day, I ordered a hamburger, or so I thought. It ended up being lamb. Not my favorite. I don't think I'll acquire that taste...how American of me. I also love all the fish and seafood so far. Cruz is an excellent cook, and we've had a lot of salmon and cod. We also had seafood pasta which I loved. I asked Danny what was in it, because of the unusual texture, and we had to look it up in the dictionary. Turns out, I had been eating baby eel. So. Weird. I honestly didn't that would EVER happen. Another unusual thing I've noticed is how well behaved dogs are. Seriously, hardly any dogs seem to be on leashes. Even the huge ones. They are all so obedient and never, ever bark. But, lets be real. I wouldn't trade Mags in for one of these machines. Also, the culture is so very different. Which, yeah, is to be expected. Spain seems to have the ideal life for me. Everyday from around 2-4 almost everything closes for "siestas" or naps. One of my favorite things, too, is that no one is ever in a hurry. Many people are always late because of it. I guess life is too short to not pay attention to your surroundings, and what is going on around you. Also, drinking seems to be a big part of the culture here. Not heavy or binge drinking by any means, but it is expected and very customary for a family to go out for a glass of wine or sidria before supper every Friday and Saturday. Many other families have wine or beer with supper, but we do not. Speaking of meals, it was hard to adjust to eating so late. Lunch is at 2 or 3, and Supper is at 9 or 10. Another observation about life here is that it seems to be so easy. Hardly anyone seems stressed or unhappy. Things aren't really planned all the way through, and are expected to be a little spontaneous in this way. I especially notice this at school with the seemly disorganization of some of my professors. It's not a bad thing, but it is hard for me to adjust to since I like some structure. 


I can already feel my Spanish getting better and better everyday. However, while I notice this vast improvement, I am beginning to notice a slight decline in my English grammar and especially my spelling. The biggest difference is the sentence structure. In English, the adjectives are usually before the noun, and in Spanish they are after. However, I guess the entire sentence structure is different. I've noticed that I've mixed this up a few times already while translating in my head, and it sort of gives me a headache trying to figure it all out. I'm going to try and keep them separate, and make Rae Larson proud!


However, like clock work, It's definitely time for a nap. This post was very long, but like I said, a lot has happened this first week! I have plenty of pictures to go along with this entry, so feel free to check it 1,2.  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2670660284063.2123741.1182780102&type=1