Cultural Landmarks

Saturday, July 30

On my first day back in Spain, I wanted to take it pretty easy, but there were some definite necessities to be filled.

As I was hungry and I’m trying to go the cheap/easy route and get sandwich materials and eat on the go, I had to find a supermarket of some kind.

Luckily, my hostel has interent, so I jumped online and Googled the nearest ones. There were some about five blocks away, up a street off of Puerta del Sol. Knowing they wouldn’t be too hard to find, I set off.

And when I got to Peurta del Sol, I remembered a very exciting fact. There is an El Corte Ingles right by there. El Corte Ingles is like every chain store mixed together in the world. And they have a supermarket.

Jackpot.

Not having ever fully explored an El Corte Ingles, I took my time to go to every single floor before heading to the supermercado in the basement.

There were seven floors.

El Corte Ingles is not kidding around.

The store had everything from a makeup and beauty section, sportswear, swimwear, children’s clothes, a souvenir shop, two restaurants, a bridal boutique, a tailor on the same floor as men’s suits, juniors’ sections, electronics, and a bookstore. I’m telling you, you’ve never seen anything like this.

I’m thinking world’s most epic game of hide and seek.

Then I headed to the grocery store downstairs, after spending more than an hour just exploring. I got some of the essentials like water and granola bars, and then all of the stuff I needed to have sandwiches and chips at my disposal. The hostel gives me breakfast, and I’m also planning on taking some of the fresh fruit provided there to supplement.

Now officially starving, I hauled my bags back to the hostel and threw myself together a sandwich. I really am going to miss the fresh bread and chorizo here, it’s all just so authentic and delicious. Even though it was from a supermarket, it was still baked and carved right there. You don’t get that in America, especially not on a college-student budget.

After eating I was kind of restless, but I also didn’t want to explore too far away and not be back before dark. So I grabbed my book and headed down a random street in search of a café.

I found a place with some nice open-air tables off of a big street, and sat down to read and watch the world go by. Without even realizing it, I sat there for two whole hours. At one point, the 8 o’clock hour hit, and the hotel across the street had a funny little display of these wooden Spanish characters for the hour mark. 

It was really cute. Everyone applauded when it was over.

At one point in my two hours, I looked up the street to realize that the sun was setting. As I looked up, the sun was just beginning to dip below a building in the distance, and it was shining so that, even though I was looking directly at the sun, the light was above my head. It was one of those beautiful moments where you’re actually looking underneath the setting sun, and it was very peaceful.

I set my book down and just watched the sun sink lower behind the building for a few minutes, not really thinking about anything or focusing on any one image except how beautiful the sunset was.

Call me silly, but it was a profound moment for its simplicity.

Eventually I decide that a setting sun meant I should get going, and I headed back up the hill toward my hostel.

At around 10p.m. I went down to the lobby because they have free Sangria every night, and a cold drink sounded perfect in the Madrid heat.

When I got down there, I met this incredibly interesting man named Jorge. He’s from Colombia, he’s here with his new wife, and he was eager to practice his English (by which I mean he was overly talkative). Jorge mostly just talked about traveling and visiting new places, but at one point he stops me and points to all of the people sitting in the lobby.

Do you know what brings all of these people together? He asked.

Free Sangria, I oh-so-sarcastically replied. (FYI Hispanic people don’t get American sarcasm, oops!)

He just kind of looks at me and then launches into this speech about each of these people looking for something, that everyone was here with a purpose and a story and family and friends who cared about them and wondered how they were doing. That each of them had chosen these dates and this hostel with care, but yet didn’t care why anyone else had.

It was a very rare notion. I hadn’t given a lot of thought to everyone else sitting in that room, most of them using wifi, just like me. How many of them were college students? How many were using that wifi to talk to family or friends from back home? Are any of them keeping a blog similar to mine?

For the most part, I’ll never know, but it was an eye-opener to have someone ask you that, to blatantly point out that I don’t know what brings all of my companions here.

Perhaps I’ll make it a mission tomorrow to make a new friend or two and find out exactly what their story is, despite being in the final chapters of my own tale. 

Traveling To and Fro

Saturday, July 30

You have your choice of ways to travel in Spain.

As a foreigner, I am still able to rent a car, take a train, ride a bus, or really use any form of transportation.

So in heading back to Madrid I had two main choices (cars are out for me, scary enough when I’m regularly driving, let alone in a foreign country). I took the train up to Oviedo, so ultimately I decided to try out the bus since it was a new experience and it was cheaper.

It was a toss up either way.

Luckily I turned out pretty well. The bus right was supposed to be 5 hours, with a stop half way at a small gas station with a café for both the bus and the patrons to refill.

For the first half of the trip, I was one of only two people who got to sit by themselves. I don’t know how that happened, but I made the most of my two seats, stretching out, leaning against the window, falling asleep for a bit, reading, and generally enjoying the ride.

It was actually much more pleasant than the train, and I would recommend bus travel (in Spain, no guarantees on Greyhound in the US).

We got out halfway, and although I didn’t realize it was a bus station, apparently it was enough of one that my ride-buddy joined us for the second half. He was nice enough, but a little odd and talkative (Talkative Spaniards are an interesting blessing/curse. You learn a lot, you get overwhelmed quickly.). Overall, he was not a bad partner, I just longed for my double seat back.

And then, in typical Spanish fashion, our bus that was supposed to arrive at 1:15 in Madrid arrived at 3p.m. instead. Typical, but annoying.

And then, because I couldn’t figure out the metro system at the bus station because it’s on a separate line, I ended up paying for a taxi.

Traveling from Oviedo to Madrid wasn’t quite like the trip before. This time, I recognized some of the landmarks, I was more awake for the ride, and I could tell as we approached the city.

It got even more exciting in the cab ride, as I started recognizing landmarks: a church we had been too, a park we had walked in, the train station we had thought we were going to until we caught our mistake only a few hours before. It all was familiar to me.

How surreal is that? How can I be familiar with Madrid?

But then, this trip has made me familiar with Oviedo like the back of my hand, is it really absurd to think I might develop some of that with Madrid as well? When I’m done, I will have been in Madrid for 8 total days of this trip, and that’s a lot of time to get familiar with a city.

And while I certainly won’t know the whole thing, I’m looking forward to being familiar with the area around Puerta del Sol. 

It’s nice to be back.

Goodbye Until Tomorrow

Friday, July 29

I can’t believe I’m leaving Oviedo tomorrow.

I can’t believe I officially finished classes today, including getting a diploma.

I can’t believe I’ve already said goodbye to friends from classes for the last time, and friends from Mizzou until next month.

I can’t believe a month of my life has flown so quickly that I don’t remember where all it’s gone.

I can’t believe I’m eating my last dinner with my host mom tonight.

Overall, I just can’t believe how the time as flown. Wasn’t I just arriving and trying to get a feel for my host mom and classes and Oviedo and all of it? And now it’s over.

There are so many things I’m excited to go back for: my family and friends, getting to see my dogs, training starting next Saturday, new residents, playing with my dogs, RHA for this year, getting my toe fixed, hugging my dogs, and all of it.

But there are so many things I’ll miss here as well: hanging out in the parks around Oviedo, coca-cola light, maxibon cookies, laughing to myself every block because there’s always a new grocery store, the view from my window, the beautiful sights of Oviedo, Spanish people and their good-natured, too-relaxed, deadlines-schmedlines attitudes, and all of the rest.

So the title of this blog is a lyric from a good song. The lyrics are a great summary of how I’ve been feeling today. The song goes: “Goodbye until tomorrow, goodbye until the rest of my life, I have been waiting, I have been waiting for you.”

I have been waiting for this experience all of my life, and now that it’s over, I know it isn’t really over. The reality is that it’s only goodbye until I figure out how to come back, until I spend more time here, until I travel again.

So Oviedo, goodbye, and thanks for the wonderful memories, the new friends, and the summer of my life. 

Finally Finals

Thursday, July 28

The amount of work we’ve had here has not been overwhelming by any means (previous post excluded). We’ve had a little to do each day, but it was all very simple to get done and still have plenty of time to experience Oviedo and Spanish culture.

But nonetheless, coming out of finals and knowing all of the studying was over was such a releasing feeling.

It’s strange how sometimes you don’t even realize you’re worried about something until it’s over and the tension lifts from your shoulders, you crack the first smile of the day, and you just kind of feeling like running down the stairs and out the door.

My two finals for the day were not that bad, both were exactly as I’d predicted they’d be, which is comforting. And we’ll see grades tomorrow, so the quick turn-around will be great.

As an end-of-the-trip celebration, Professor Zemke took all of the Mizzou students out to lunch at a small restaurant up by the main shopping district. Not having really eaten out here, since eating dinner is so different, it was fun to sit through a Spanish lunch.

We got a choice of soup or salad and then of chicken or fish. My whole table chose both salad and chicken (so much for trying each others!) and the salads were deliciously colorful. It had everything from tomatoes and carrots that you’d expect, to radishes and tuna (I gave mine up) and an egg that are a little different, to the distinctly Spanish potato included on top.

The chicken was served family-style, fell straight off the bone, and was sensational. It came cooked together with potatoes and peppers, and the whole meal was just delicious.

Finally, we got our choice of chocolate cake of cheesecake for dessert. Since everyone else around my table chose chocolate, I went for the cheesecake, and got to share bites since everyone wanted to try mine. They were both delicious, though it was a little thin for cheesecake.

And apparently all of that extravagance is just a typical lunch!

Afterwards, Maddy and Craig and I walked around Oviedo on the South end, past the Cathedral. It’s an old and very beautiful part of town that none of us had yet explored. We ended up walking in a giant circle and found Campo San Francisco (the big park in town) in the end.

We, naturally, chose to go play on the playground equipment! In doing so, we discovered that there was a whole section of “exercise equipment” in the park. It was hilarious as we played around on these incredibly odd machines that didn’t feel like they did anything to work out your body.

The “abs machine” was a circle that you held onto while standing on a rotating disk and twisted back and forth. We all jumped on and spun around for a while and just laughed and had fun. That is, until some woman actually began using the other equipment and we felt like we should probably stop disturbing the peace.

We all headed home and got ready, and then went out for our last night in Oviedo, since people start leaving tomorrow. It was a happy, yet slightly bittersweet evening as we all made the most of our last evening together.

A Walk in the Park

Wednesday, July 27

The title of this blog is a joke, and not a very good one at that.

Being that today is the final day before our exams, I knew going in that I had a lot of studying to do. But then, in the last minutes of our Hispanic Poetry class, Professor Zemke informs us that we have to turn in written analysis from every one of the poems we did in the last two weeks.

And while he had told us to do them originally, he had made it clear to several people that he didn’t intend for him to read them and that they were our notes.

Or so we thought.

So on top of studying for two exams, I now had exactly 18 1-page poetry write-ups to do in the next 24 hours.

So after lunch, I took my book and headed to the park that’s just down the street. (Hence the walk in the park thing…) It was an incredibly unsuccessful trip; I think I got one whole analysis done. Instead I spent the time talking with Maddy and Matilda, soaking up some Spanish sun, and enjoying being outside.

No regrets, but my walk in the park certainly made the rest of my evening no walk in the park.

 At around 9 p.m., after I’ve finished 8 of the 18 write-ups, I realized that I desperately needed internet to be able to understand one of the poems. So I gathered my stuff together and hauled it over to the mall, where I’ve gotten internet access.

But then, when I log on, I run into a very pleasant problem on Facebook. Turns out, one of my best friends got engaged!

I was so happy for her, and still am (MY CONGRATS TO LINDSEY AND BRETT!!), but it was also bittersweet because I couldn’t be there to congratulate her and celebrate with them and be excited.

Luckily she was online, so I was able to chat with her via Facebook for a few minutes and I got filled in on the details. But then she asked me where I would be next August, when they’re planning on having the wedding.

And the real, kind of terrifying answer is that I don’t know.

I have no idea where I’ll be in a year. There are about 10 possibilities for what I want to do after I graduate, I have no idea which ones I will be accepted to or denied from, I can’t say where I’ll be living, and more than half of these options would make it impossible for me to attend her wedding.

And as I explained to Lindsey, I’ll try my best to be there, but I can’t make life decisions with things like that in mind. I realize that if I want to spend the next ten years or so of my life traveling and experiencing a variety of countries, foods, customs, jobs, cities, and people, then I’m probably going to miss out on a lot with the people I love back home.

Missing her engagement was only a small slice of that feeling, but it has made me realize that I have to embrace the reality of living far away.

And then I realized that I still had a mountain of homework and studying awaiting me, so I raced back home and got to work!

It Hurts So Good Part 2

Tuesday, July 26

Spain has not been easy on my body.

Take the two most recent complaints added to the list: I officially destroyed my toenail on my big toe, left foot, and I am sun burnt to bejesus and peeling like an orange.

As both of these things are remnants of my fantastic birthday, I really can’t complain, but it does kind of suck keeping my toe wrapped all of the time. Especially when I have two pairs of shoes here with straps around the big toe.

Luckily, I’ve been able to get an appointment at home to get the toe taken care of (sounds like Mafia-style business, and it just might be that serious).

Thank goodness for my mom on this trip, she has been making all of these phone calls for me, running errands to get me ready to go back to school, and just basically keeping my American life going while I’m enjoying my Spanish one. 

Ten Paz

Sunday, July 24

I don’t really make a secret of the fact that I’m no longer a very religious person, but today I made an effort to go to church at the Cathedral in Oviedo, and it was probably one of the highlights of my trip.

There are a few things I’ve always loved about Catholicism in particular - the ritual of the weekly service and how much of it stays the same, making it possible for everyone to follow along; the power of knowing that a billion people across the world are being read the same passage as you that day; the smell of the prayer candles in the back; and the music. The music is what brought me to church every Sunday.

Each of those things made my experience today really wonderful as well, but I think what did it for me was the people. The Cathedral in Oviedo is huge - it’s a town of 200,000 and the capital of its province, so naturally it’s a large place. But there were probably only about 75 people sitting through our service and all of the Spaniards were singing along to the mass (they didn’t have a hymnal, otherwise you bet I would’ve joined right in), enjoying themselves, greeting each other across the aisle, and then shaking hands at the “peace be with you” part.

And when we got to that part, the man in the row in front of us turned around, shook my hand and said “ten paz” or “have peace,” which I promptly repeated back to him.

The beauty of it - to me - was that he knew nothing about me. He didn’t know he was shaking hands with an American, or that I had to mentally translate that phrase before repeating it, or that I’m not sure how I felt about the sermon, or that I haven’t been to church since I started college. He just wanted to offer his hand in fellowship, and it was kind of perfect to experience.

Probably no one will understand what I’m trying to say here, or why that trip to the Cathedral was so wonderful for me, but it really was. And I’m not saying I’ve had some magical conversion that will send me back to church every Sunday.

But I think most of the beauty came from the unity of it. Like I said, I’ve always been struck by the power and magnitude of the idea that a billion Catholics here the same readings each week, and I had the opportunity to witness a chunk of that first hand. That mass was in Spanish, those people wouldn’t understand a thing that was said in my church, but we all still receive the same message and repeated the same basic phrases in our own language, we all still sang hymns, and we all still walked away feeling a little elated and brighter and ready to tackle the day. 

Feliz Cumpleaños

Saturday, July 23

Birthdays are always weird experiences for me, mostly because I always feel so old by the time I hit a birthday, that it’s just natural to already be calling myself that age. Since almost all of my friends are older than me by several months, I feel like I’m constantly playing catch-up.

But turning 20 wasn’t really like that, because everyone here is a variety of ages and I’m not the youngest by any means. Everyone was just happy for me, super nice, and a little jealous that I got to spend my birthday in Spain (even I can’t believe how awesome that is).

So today I spent my birthday doing things that I love: first and foremost, I slept in (granted I got in late, so 11:15 wasn’t actually a lot of sleep, despite the lateness of hour), then I went and sat on a beach all day, and finally I went home and had a wonderfully quiet night in where I just sat and read.

And despite the fact that I got burnt to a crisp, it was still just a lovely day and a great way to spend turning 20.

While it might seem weird to enjoy staying home alone on the night of my birthday, it was actually very peaceful. I’ve always actively disliked being on vacation on my birthday (I’ve protested it several times before to no avail), but since living in Oviedo doesn’t feel like vacation, coming back to the apartment and just being lazy and relaxed was plenty to allow me to enjoy the day.

And of course, another reason to celebrate would be that turning 20 officially means escaping teenage pregnancy! I’m so proud!

Puttin’ On My Dancin’ Shoes

Friday, July 22

Shopping in Oviedo has been an adventure.

There are good reasons for that, such as the fact that it’s rebajas (month of sales!) or that the styles are different and things sometimes make me laugh that they’re even in stores.

And then there are bad reasons; such as the fact that sometimes you’ll love a skirt and then pick it up and realize it’s a pair of hideous goucho-esque pantaloons that are so popular here or the fact that Spaniards really don’t have clothes for the bigger gals.

So I knew going shopping on Friday in anticipation of my birthday could potentially be disastrous, but we decided to hit up the one mall in town we hadn’t been to and try it out.

The mall is literally all the way across town from where I live, and I’m not sure exactly, but it was about a 35 minute walk, so that’s got to translate to close to two miles.

Oddly, this mall is also the Congress building (Capitalism at it’s best?) and is shaped like a giant spaceship and/or the Sydney Opera House.

This is what the aliens did post-pyramids.

Luckily, I managed to find a really flattering full-length black cotton dress, I borrowed a necklace, and I bought/might be selling to Matilda a pair of wedges that are really cute.

So for my birthday, about six of us went out to dinner at this little café on some side street that we found, and then we went to Gascona (a district of town that is famous for it’s Sidra) and got a table and chilled and relaxed until nighttime got started and we hit up a couple of bars and met up with other people from the program.

To understand how nightlife works in Spain, here’s the timeline for all that:

Dinner - met at 9, walked around, ate at 9:45

Drinks in Gascona - 11:15 to midnight

Bars begin to open - Midnight, sometimes later

Spaniards return home - 5 or 6 a.m.

We didn’t make it quite the whole night like Spaniards, I believe we all made it home closer to 4:30, but that is by far and away the latest we’ve managed to stay out here.

And my birthday celebration was fantastic and full of people from our trip and good friends and fun and dancing.

Let’s just say, that nothing we did was illegal here! Overall, I think it’s going to be very high on my list of best birthdays of my lifetime!

A Routine Sort of Day

Thursday, July 21

The issue with keeping this blog is falling behind on days when nothing exciting really happens.

Today was a typical sort of day for me - I went to school, I ate lunch with my host mom, I siesta-ed, I went to the mall to use the internet for research for my paper, and then we went to have tapas and a drink later that night.

It was a great day; don’t get me wrong. But there was nothing really exceptional about it. And that is kind of cool on it’s own. Sure it’s taken three weeks, but I have enough of a routine here to have something I consider normal.

It’s odd how quickly you become accustomed to a place. It took me three weeks here to get to know Oviedo, and I remember that October of my freshman year was the first time I called Mizzou home.

We haven’t moved houses in my memory, since we moved to Petersburg when I was three, so I’ve had to discover some of this on my own, probably later in life than most people do, but I believe that you can be comfortable anywhere.

The most important things in life are people, and having friends and comfort and someone to talk to makes living anywhere bearable. And when it’s somewhere beautiful and full of life and culture like Oviedo, it’s easy to begin feeling at home.