"And I lost my heart to [a] Galway..."
This past weekend, I traveled to Ireland with three friends from the Temple group- Shannon, Andrea, and John and I fell in love. We had to leave at 1 AM between Wednesday and Thursday even though our flight was at 11AM- I just love the ALSA's (Spanish bus company) schedules. The flight from Santander, Spain to Dublin, Ireland is only two hours but there is a time difference and so we arrived at noon. We took a bus straight to our hostel because our hostel was conveniently located two minutes from the central bus station. We were able to check in early and we took much needed naps before heading to my friend who is also studying abroad this semester, Amanda's apartment. She spent the afternoon and early night showing us some parts of Dublin like St. Stephen's green (a gorgeous park in the middle of Dublin) and the shopping street. Of course we had to stop and try a few chocolates from her favorite chocolate store. Then all five of us ate at a pub near the Temple bar area. I tried traditional Irish stew with lamb and it was delicious!!! It was also very wonderful to get to spend time with someone from home.
On Friday, the four of us toured the city of Dublin by a Hop on, Hop off bus. It is a cheap and efficient way to see the city, we paid about fifteen euro and it took us all over Dublin and told us history of the city and the places it stopped along the way. You can get on and off the bus as many times as you want for two days. Our first stop was Trinity College, founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1593 on lands that her father, King Henry VIII , had taken. In the old library (aka my heaven, I almost cried at the beauty of this library, seriously shelves and shelves of the oldest books in the library and you would have to climb a ladder to reach many of the shelves), they have the Book of Kells, an elaborate copy of the Gospels in Latin. It was beautiful. Our next stop was Christ Church Cathedral followed by St. Patrick's Cathedral. Dublin has two cathedrals because St. Patrick's was built outside of the city to avoid paying the high taxes and having to follow all the rules. We also saw Dublin Castle, the Guinness Storehouse (the only real brewery left in Ireland, the rest (and there were many) have disappeared), and the Gaol. The Gaol (Jail) has a museum with lots of information on Ireland's history. During the potato famine many tried to end up in jail because jail food was considered a luxury. Friday night we mostly just hung out in our hostel, we cooked ourselves dinner in the hostel kitchen- piles (literally) of pasta. I also played mom on Friday and Saturday and made us a few sandwiches to get us through the day without spending lots of money on food.
On Saturday, we got up early and took a train to Galway. Galway is a small town so we wandered and saw the sea. I want to live there someday, it's absolutely beautiful. We saw Lynch's castle which is now a bank, St. Nicholas' church (the oldest medieval parish that is still in constant use and where Christopher Columbus visited in 1477!), Eyre Park, and the beautiful Cathedral where I lit a candle for my grandma who passed away this semester and who was very proud of her Irish heritage. I also bought a claddagh ring and we found fresh bagels (which don't exist in Spain) at this little market. When we returned to Dublin, we went to a bar in the Temple Bar Area. We called it a relatively early night but it was another perfect day.
We left at noon from Ireland. Our flight was a little delayed and they told us if we were delayed five more minutes we would have had to stay in Dublin for the night. Thankfully we didn't since we had non-refundable bus tickets from Santander to Oviedo (which takes two to two and half hours). Overall, it was an AWESOME weekend, Ireland and Spain are currently fighting for my heart. I definitely didn't want to leave Ireland even if it meant continuing to share a room with fifteen other people (our hostel was set up kind of like camp style but it was clean and great, nothing to complain about). Also in Ireland, I fit in, I looked like the people and everyone on the street didn't turn around and stare at me like everyday in Oviedo. However, it surprised me how easy it was to switch back to speaking in Spanish and the fact that I missed speaking in Spanish.
Muchos besos!
Ana
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Everyday There is Something to Learn
Hola!
I don't have anything in particular to report but I thought I would update about the recent events in my life in Oviedo. The weeks fly by here and everyday I learn something new.
As of this past week, I have three tandem partners (speaking partners, we speak half the time in English and half the time in Spanish to practice). My first tandem partner, Carmela, is a librarian (perfect, right?) and she treats me like a daughter. We spend at least three hours a week together. We usually go to cafes or walk through the park. I have been meeting with her since the second week I was in Oviedo. She is really easy to talk to and my dates with her are some of the best parts of my week. My second tandem partner, Paula, is studying English here in Oviedo. She is eighteen and VERY shy. She is a sweetheart but it's like pulling teeth to try and get her to talk. My third, Alicia, I just met this week and we were twins in another life I think. She is the friend of my friend Shannon's tandem partner, but we share a very large love of books, and her favorite book is also Pride and Prejudice (Orgullo y Prejucio). We spent a lot of time talking about books and she took me to a secondhand bookstore in Oviedo. She is a law student who also studies English. Every time I have a tandem date I learn something new. For example Carmela taught me "hacer autostop" = to hitchhike.
This week we also had our third "Jaime dinner." Jaime, our director, takes us to nice restaurants about once a month and they are so much fun. We also get to try lots of different foods, for example we had duck liver covered in white chocolate, salmon, risotto with mushrooms, and other interesting foods this Thursday.
Shannon and I make an effort to walk daily in an attempt to counteract the amount of food we eat. I spend a lot of time with her family, her little three year old sister is precious and named one of her dolls after me.
I think I really do learn something new everyday. I continue to love Spain but I definitely miss friends from home and Philadelphia.
Besos,
Ana
I don't have anything in particular to report but I thought I would update about the recent events in my life in Oviedo. The weeks fly by here and everyday I learn something new.
As of this past week, I have three tandem partners (speaking partners, we speak half the time in English and half the time in Spanish to practice). My first tandem partner, Carmela, is a librarian (perfect, right?) and she treats me like a daughter. We spend at least three hours a week together. We usually go to cafes or walk through the park. I have been meeting with her since the second week I was in Oviedo. She is really easy to talk to and my dates with her are some of the best parts of my week. My second tandem partner, Paula, is studying English here in Oviedo. She is eighteen and VERY shy. She is a sweetheart but it's like pulling teeth to try and get her to talk. My third, Alicia, I just met this week and we were twins in another life I think. She is the friend of my friend Shannon's tandem partner, but we share a very large love of books, and her favorite book is also Pride and Prejudice (Orgullo y Prejucio). We spent a lot of time talking about books and she took me to a secondhand bookstore in Oviedo. She is a law student who also studies English. Every time I have a tandem date I learn something new. For example Carmela taught me "hacer autostop" = to hitchhike.
This week we also had our third "Jaime dinner." Jaime, our director, takes us to nice restaurants about once a month and they are so much fun. We also get to try lots of different foods, for example we had duck liver covered in white chocolate, salmon, risotto with mushrooms, and other interesting foods this Thursday.
Shannon and I make an effort to walk daily in an attempt to counteract the amount of food we eat. I spend a lot of time with her family, her little three year old sister is precious and named one of her dolls after me.
I think I really do learn something new everyday. I continue to love Spain but I definitely miss friends from home and Philadelphia.
Besos,
Ana
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
A Love Affair with Spain
First, have a little patience with my English skills, I have found that I am losing my ability to properly communicate in English as I continue to spend more and more time surrounded by Spanish and I have said some interesting sentences in English. I am 100% fluent in Spanglish.
Anyways, I think I find a new reason to love Spain each and every day. Each day has something new to offer me whether it be a new phrase, a new word, a new friend, a new food, or a new setting. This weekend we celebrated Carnaval, the Spanish fiesta before the start of Lent. On Saturday, my friend Shannon and I took a bus to the neighboring city of Aviles for a huge Carnval celebration (the exist all over Spain but some are well known and Aviles is the most well known one of the Asturias). The city has foam machines that completely cover the streets in foam, it looks like a Minnesotan winter day. Also for Carnavl everyone dresses up- Shannon's host aunt let us borrow a few of her costumes from years past and I was Snow White (Blancanieves). While we were getting dressed to go to Aviles, Alejandra, Shannon's three year old host sister, said to me "You have to eat the apple" and I responded "Well I don't want to sleep yet" and she said "Well you won't die" but I explained to her "I don't have a prince though" and she goes "Why not?" (this conversation was actually in Spanish). She is super cute... except of course when we're trying to study and she likes to turn the lights on and off repeatedly. Anyways, we had a really great time in Aviles, I think just about everyone in the Asturias went there to celebrate.
Monday and Tuesday of this week we didn't have school because of the holiday so Shannon, Lily, and I decided to venture over to Basque country (also in Northern Spain but a different state). We took a bus at 1AM between Sunday and Monday and arrived in San Sebastian a little before 7AM on Monday. Since no one believes in early mornings in Spain, we spent the first couple of hours sitting on the beach watching the sun rise over the Cantabric Sea. The rest of the day we spent wandering around the streets of San Sebastian, we visited a Basilica and walked to the Cathedral, ate pinchos (a little sandwich essentially- they are particularly famous in Basque country), and ended the day back on the beach. It was a very relaxing day that really didn't need any structure. At around 7PM we took a bus to Bilbao, another city in Basque country, where we spent today going to the Guggenheim Art Museum, eating more traditional Basque food, and wandering the streets of another new city. Both cities are beautiful and I think we took the right approach to visiting them by disregarding the more structured plans we made and taking in the city by wandering the streets and going where the wind took us.
I got back to Oviedo about an hour ago and enjoyed the intense sandwich my host mama, Silvia, had waiting for me. The time I spent in Oviedo this weekend was also wonderful. I took two long walks, one on Saturday and one of Sunday, in a park called el Parque de Invierno (Winter Park) that my tandem partner took me too earlier in the week. It's kind of on the edge of the town but it's HUGE and absolutely wonderful. It has great paths and a wonderful view of the mountain ranges as you're walking through it.
So all in all, I really don't have anything to complain about, I'm continuing to enjoy my love affair with Spain. When people here try and say Spain in English they say "eesspain" because they just figure out how to drop the 'e' from the front of Espana.
Besos,
Ana
PS I will post pictures to facebook of my recent adventures within a few days.
Anyways, I think I find a new reason to love Spain each and every day. Each day has something new to offer me whether it be a new phrase, a new word, a new friend, a new food, or a new setting. This weekend we celebrated Carnaval, the Spanish fiesta before the start of Lent. On Saturday, my friend Shannon and I took a bus to the neighboring city of Aviles for a huge Carnval celebration (the exist all over Spain but some are well known and Aviles is the most well known one of the Asturias). The city has foam machines that completely cover the streets in foam, it looks like a Minnesotan winter day. Also for Carnavl everyone dresses up- Shannon's host aunt let us borrow a few of her costumes from years past and I was Snow White (Blancanieves). While we were getting dressed to go to Aviles, Alejandra, Shannon's three year old host sister, said to me "You have to eat the apple" and I responded "Well I don't want to sleep yet" and she said "Well you won't die" but I explained to her "I don't have a prince though" and she goes "Why not?" (this conversation was actually in Spanish). She is super cute... except of course when we're trying to study and she likes to turn the lights on and off repeatedly. Anyways, we had a really great time in Aviles, I think just about everyone in the Asturias went there to celebrate.
Monday and Tuesday of this week we didn't have school because of the holiday so Shannon, Lily, and I decided to venture over to Basque country (also in Northern Spain but a different state). We took a bus at 1AM between Sunday and Monday and arrived in San Sebastian a little before 7AM on Monday. Since no one believes in early mornings in Spain, we spent the first couple of hours sitting on the beach watching the sun rise over the Cantabric Sea. The rest of the day we spent wandering around the streets of San Sebastian, we visited a Basilica and walked to the Cathedral, ate pinchos (a little sandwich essentially- they are particularly famous in Basque country), and ended the day back on the beach. It was a very relaxing day that really didn't need any structure. At around 7PM we took a bus to Bilbao, another city in Basque country, where we spent today going to the Guggenheim Art Museum, eating more traditional Basque food, and wandering the streets of another new city. Both cities are beautiful and I think we took the right approach to visiting them by disregarding the more structured plans we made and taking in the city by wandering the streets and going where the wind took us.
I got back to Oviedo about an hour ago and enjoyed the intense sandwich my host mama, Silvia, had waiting for me. The time I spent in Oviedo this weekend was also wonderful. I took two long walks, one on Saturday and one of Sunday, in a park called el Parque de Invierno (Winter Park) that my tandem partner took me too earlier in the week. It's kind of on the edge of the town but it's HUGE and absolutely wonderful. It has great paths and a wonderful view of the mountain ranges as you're walking through it.
So all in all, I really don't have anything to complain about, I'm continuing to enjoy my love affair with Spain. When people here try and say Spain in English they say "eesspain" because they just figure out how to drop the 'e' from the front of Espana.
Besos,
Ana
PS I will post pictures to facebook of my recent adventures within a few days.
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