After being in Spain for a week, it feels like I haven’t had a minute to rest, let alone time to sit down and write about my experiences. I have blisters on my feet, I have gotten lost at least once, almost all of my clothes are dirty, but I am having the most amazing experiences and I am beyond excited for what’s to come.
Sunday I met my host mom, Angeles, and her husband, Nacho. Boy is Angeles a talker! She never seizes to have stories to share, advice to give, or opinions to voice (all in Spanish, of course). Since it was an unusually hot day for Oviedo, they invited me and a friend to the beach. We drove to the town of Colunga and spent the day at Playa Espasa. The views were absolutely gorgeous. In front of us was crystal clear water and behind were picturesque mountains. Angeles kept trying to convince me to put my head under the water but it was a little too chilly for me to handle.
Afterwards we drove to Lastres where once again, the view was breathtaking. I know, it’s obnoxious how awesome Spain is. Angeles took us to Mirador de S. Roque, which is a viewpoint that looks out over Lastres and the Peaks of Europe. We finished the day with a few pastries and it was back to my new home for the next three months.
Pro-tip: If you ever visit Asturias, sidra is a must. Sidra is a hard apple cider that is aerated by pouring the bottle from above your head into the side of the glass. Trust me, its harder than it looks.
On Tuesday, it was another hot day so I decided to go to the beach in Gijon, which is only a 30 minute bus ride away. My friend David came with me and we spent the day relaxing on La Playa de Poniente, enjoying the unexpected sunshine. Later that afternoon, we met some kids who were jumping off a stone wall at the edge of the beach that must have been 20-30 ft high. After watching them a few times and asking them where to jump so as not to hit the rocks below, we mustered up the courage to jump. All of the kids were watching “los americanos” jump off this stone wall like we were crazy. We then walked around the city and stumbled upon a stairway that led down a cliff to where the ocean collided with the rocks below.
The following day, I left in the middle of the night with two other friends to drive to Madrid since we had a holiday the following day. The drive alone was worth the trip. We coasted all through the northern countryside, transitioning from lush mountainous terrain to the desert planes of central Spain. Our hostel was farther outside of Madrid than we expected, but we ending up seeing a local “running of the bulls” in the town we were staying. Just your normal Wednesday night in Spain, I suppose. Thursday was packed full of sites: the Real Madrid Stadium, La Puerta del Sol, La Plaza Mayor, and finally el Museo de Prado. The architecture of the buildings in the center of the city was gorgeous. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted, but it was well worth the new friends and the incredible sites.
That’s it for now. More adventures to come!