Hasta Luego, España...

So I am leaving my apartment in a mere 6 hrs, but I just wanted to quickly update everyone.  Starting at 5:30am I am on the "road" until I finally reach my destination, home sweet home, on Tuesday at 8:30pm.  4,135 miles, 21 hours, and 3 different planes later and I will be in the 12572. 


I promise to sum up my experience more later, but right now, I have to sleep up for my big day of travelling.  Until later Spain, Hasta Luego.

The List

I was recently feeling very sad about leaving Spain, so I decided to make a list of all the things that I don't like about Spain, to make me miss it less.  However, to be fair, I think it would be a nice sum up to my experience here to list my favorite and least favorite things about my time in Espana.  I do not like being negative, so I will get the bad list out of the way:

Things I will not miss:

1) SMOKING.  Not me obviously, but everyone here smokes and it is allowed in more public places than in the states.  I feel like I have lung cancer just from second hand smoking, and I constantly wake up with a sore throat in the morning.  Any of these other things are not real issues, but the constant waves of smoke are the only cultural difference here I can absolutely not stand.  The rest are just interesting comments, this is a serious health issue.

2) Sticking out like a sore thumb:  Apparently I do not look very Spanish, and thus draw a lot of stares on the street.  There is not the notions here of personal space or being rude by staring, so they just stare me down.  Between my blue eyes, pale skin, and abundant freckles I am clearly a foreigner and often feel out of place.  However, I have decided to own it!  I am not Spanish, but I love living here, and that is ok.

3) Lack of dryers: ok, this is obviously not a huge issue, but if I am trying not to miss Spain, this would certainly go on the list.  My clothes are falling off me and I need a belt for some pants now because I cannot shrink my clothes.  Ah well!

4) No hot water: Not really a big deal, I am usually good about taking short showers as it is!

5) Rain: this is not Spain, so much as Asturias.  It rains ALL the time, which comes with umbrella etiquette to deal with as well.

Things I love and will most certainly miss:

1) The atmosphere: there is just a different way of life over here.  One of the most common expressions is "no pasa nada" which literally means nothing happens, but has more of the sentiment of "eh stuff happens" combined with "don't worry about it!"  You can sit in a Spanish cafe for hours without feeling the pressure to buy another coffee, and they never bring you the bill for just that reason, you have to ask for it.  Schedules are non-existent, classes start 10-20 minutes late, and meandering is quite common.  I am so much more free over here, and I love it.  I am hoping I will continue to keep being flexible in the states!

2) The people:  I have met a bunch of really interesting people here that I will miss terribly!  I love the fact that I was able to rotate around groups and not just stick to one.  I met people from different countries, walks of life, areas, and places in their lives.  It was not only a great learning experience, but I have also made some real friends here, even though I wasn't planning on it!

3) Travelling:  It is just so easy over here to get to so many different places with an accessibility that is just not available in the states.  I feel like I have really taken advantage of everything that I possibly could, and I am going to miss that ability.

4) The bus system: Pretty self explanatory, but I love being able to pop over to Gijon for the afternoon, or show Lex around Asturias without having my own transportation here.

5) Scenery/ beauty:  I don't know if I am just feeling sentimental about the end of the semester, but on my bus ride to the beach today, it all just looked so beautiful.  The architecture, the rolling hills, the crisp snowy mountains, the beautiful ocean, sculptures everywhere you look: the whole thing just makes you fall in love with Spain all over again every time you glance out a window.

6) Cafe con leche:  It is just better over here!  Enough said!

7) So much more: Long walks with friends or by yourself, being able to walk everywhere, living in the perfect sized city (not to big, not too small), feeling safe all of the time, that feeling of independence, living on my own, being able to relax and not have a schedule all the time, learning how to do different things, learning Spanish, my bakery around the corner where the ladies know and help me all the time....and I am sure many other things that I am forgetting.

I am going to miss it here, I surely am.  However, I come home in 3 days and at the same time could not be more thrilled!  What an interesting state of limbo.

Eyjafjallajokull... the bane of Europe's existence

If you look at the title of this blog and are confused about the "Spanish" word at the beginning, you would not be completely stupid.  It is the name of the Icelandic volcano that has been within the past month and a half squashing the travel plans of everyone in Europe.  It is the largest disruption of airspace since World War II.

Picture of the explosion from the Huffingtonpost.com

I was perfectly fine observing this situation from afar while the cloud was hovering over northern Europe, but the minute it started closing down the major airports of Spain, a cloud of not ash but panic settled over Oviedo.  People start leaving for their various hometowns this Wednesday, and there is no guarantee of a flight until the wheels leave the ground.

I think since I am leaving so much later, not until Tuesday, hopefully the ash will have cleared?  Please feel free to cross your fingers for me, it would be much appreciated and certainly can't hurt!  I am panicked and terrified, but as everyone has been reassuring me, I will EVENTUALLY make it home, it just may take more than the 19hrs it was already supposed to take...so we shall see! Buena suerte...a mi!

Comida Japonesa/ Japanese Food

My roommate was not here for this whole past week, so my friend Tomonori and I hosted a dinner party in my apartment!  He really wanted to make Japanese food for all of his new friends, and since I am one of the only students with an apartment practically all to myself, we invited a bunch of friends over for a night of fun.

Tomonori, me, Sam, Scott, and Aaron enjoy our delicious treat.  

Our valient chef, Tomo!!

Patrice chopping and helping. 

Hunter lends a hand with the meat. 

Even I pitched in (though reluctantly haha)

Others, like Kelsey and Shani, took a more relaxing route.  

The end result!  It is called Okonomiyaki, and is the typical dish of Osaka, the city that Tomonori and the other Japanese kids are from.  It is made of flour, eggs, cabbage, green onion, pork, and then fun Japanese spices.  I was not expecting to love it, but it was absolutely fantastic.  I wish I could have it all the time!

Madrid 3: Bullfighting Ring...

For some reason I had this craving to go and see a bullfighting ring before I left Spain.  Bullfighting is such a part of the culture, and the rings are even more important than baseball stadiums in the United States.  So I wanted to see if we could get a tour, find out some information about the Corridas del Toros, or something to that effect at least.

However, when we got to the ring, it was closed!!!  Apparently, there was an actual bullfight that night, and they needed to set up!  Now our bus tickets were for 6pm, and it was already 4pm, so we were thinking to head back to the bus station.  But we suddenly thought, wait, what if we could actually GO to the bullfight!  It is such a traditional part of Spanish culture, that it seemed like something that we should do!  

It was such a spontaneous move on our part.  We sprinted (on the metro) back to the bus station, begged to be able to change our tickets, and with the help of a very understanding (yet kind of mean) bus ticket-vendor, we rushed back to the bullfighting ring and bought relatively cheap tickets!  We were very proud of how we managed to coble together a new plan within no time at all, and were so spontaneous!  

Us being so excited before the fight started!  Little did we know...

It was packed!  Apparently it was a really important fight.  

So bullfighting... You hear people say that it is an important part of the culture, that it is traditional, that it is just a different society, blah blah blah.  Here is the truth though: it is absolutely brutal.  I really really tried to appreciate it for what it was, and eventually I was able to look at just the technicality and skills of it all, but originally it was very very hard to watch.  

There are 6 fights in total, but we never thought we were going to make it through more than one.  It starts off with a parade of horses, which was very nice.  Then out come the fighters and practice their moves, fine as well.  Then it really starts.  The fighters tire out the bull until the real torrero comes out for the main event.  

He does everything that you would imagine of a bullfight, with the poses and the flag and all of that.  But in between his flag action, the man on the horse comes out with a long spear and spears the bull really hard until it starts bleeding profusely.  It is like movie blood, that is how intense it is.  I will try not to be that gross about it, but just know it will make you a vegetarian for a little bit if you see it in person.  

As far as I can tell, everything with the fight is done in order to tire the bull out so that the torrero can eventually take him down.  It was just so sad to watch the bull slowly get tired, and eventually fall down.  This is seen as a huge disappointment to the crowd, until the bull gets up again.  Finally, the end comes, where the torrero takes a sword and plunges it into the bulls neck.  If we are lucky, it is a clean shot and the bull dies almost instantly, but that does not always happen.  Eh, I will not go over it anymore, but lets just say it was really really sad to watch for me.  

I REALLY tried.  I did.  I had always been one of those people who is accepting of other cultures, but this one was hard to understand.  HOWEVER.  I was still thrilled that I was able to go.  I really was.  This is such an important part of Spanish culture and the atmosphere was very enjoyable.  The spectators get really involved, the cheering reminds you of baseball games, and the general feeling in the air is a good one.  And eventually I semi-enjoyed it, because I was able to focus on the technical aspects of it all, what made it a good fight and what didn't.  It was a really good experience.  

So that is Madrid!  It was my last trip here in Spain which was a little bittersweet.  But it means I am going home soon, which is also fun!  At least...if this volcano would stop acting up!!!

Madrid 2: Reina Sofia, random things, the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor

After the gardens our next destination was the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum.  I was on a quest to see the Guernica before I left Spain and it was WELL worth the wait.  You were of course not allowed to take pictures, but I am going to put in a picture from the internet for you to see.  

These are elevators to go up to the top.  I went on them even with my intense hatred of elevators.  

This just does not do it justice however.  It takes up an entire wall of the museum, and people just stand and stare at it.  It was such an important piece of artwork for Spain, historically and politically.  I could just feel the weight of it as we looked at it.  It was really awe-inspiring to see, and I felt so lucky that I could see it in person.

You know...a random statue and me :)

The town hall.

Next on our itinerary was the Royal Palace.  I just love the fact that they have palaces!  It is so fun!  This one is really quite impressive as well.  It is all orderly and beautiful.  We did not go inside, but the outside was amazing enough!

I would live here too...as a second choice I suppose. 

After the palace, the Plaza Mayor was next.  This is one of the other things that most people would picture when they imagine Spain.  It was just as impressive in person as it is in pictures.  If it hadn't been so rainy, we would have sat down and had a cup of coffee, but alas, the weather got in our way.  

All of this took us until about 3:30pm, so then we headed over to the bull fighting ring...more on that later...

Madrid 1: El Prado, Parque de Retiro, Botanical Gardens

To refresh your memory, I went to Madrid this weekend, but only for the day!  It was a whirlwind trip: we left Oviedo at midnight and got into Madrid at about 6am on Saturday.  Then we spent the whole day there and left at 11pm to return to Oviedo at 6:30am on Sunday!  As you can only imagine, we were exhausted by the end, but it was well worth it.

Our first stop was Atocha train station.  These pictures do not do it justice, but it is a gorgeous space.  As you may remember, it was recently bombed in 2005 in a terrorist attack, but it was beautifully redone.  The top is all glass, and there is this huge "park" in the middle, with a pond and everything.  Really neat!

Next we headed over to El Prado, one of the most important museums of Spanish Art.  I got to see important pieces by Velázquez, Goya, and many others.   It was really impressive to see everything we have been learning about in Art History class here.  

Me in front of El Prado. 

Such a beautiful building!

Me and Shani in front of the museum.  Of course we were not allowed to take pictures inside...typical Spain.

After El Prado, it was still really early, so we went to El Parque del Retiro.  It is what one of the things I personally think of when I picture Spain.  It is a huge park, with playing fields, tons of walks and paths, a huge lake in the middle, and gorgeous palaces and buildings.  

This is pretty much where I want to live.  It is the Crystal Palace of my dreams :)

Seriously, can I live here?  Please?

Next we trudged onto the Botanical Gardens.  I was not expecting to be that impressed by gardens, but it was really extensive and fantastic.  

Alrighty, this is too long now...so I am going to cut it off now!  More Madrid coming up!

Mi cumpleaños!

I was originally skeptical about celebrating my 21st birthday in Spain, without any of my friends and family, but everyone made my bday week here very very special and fun.  Everyone was over the top nice to me, but in a fun way.

On Thursday (even though Friday was my actual birthday), the girls took me out to Indian food and then to my party.  I have to say, I was really touched by how many people showed up.  I was sharing the party with another birthday girl, but I know that many of the people who were there (and I would say there were 40 -50) came just for me.  It made me feel like I was in fifth grade again and was popular :)  

The two bday girls with their cake!  Jesika and I.

Aubrey cutting the cake. 

Jackie and I, with her bday present!

Hiroto and I, and my bday sash haha. 

Kat, Sam, and Jackie.

Cota, Aaron, Liz, Shintaro, Tomonori, Hiroto.

Scott wearing my birthday crown. 

Liz, Celeste, me, and Aubrey.

I loved that everyone dressed up!

Anyway, it was just a really enjoyable night.  I loved that it was such a mixture of groups and everyone had a blast, and I just can't go on more about how much I loved it all.  I am out of words.  It was one of the best versions of a 21st birthday I could imagine.