I’ve officially lived in Oviedo for a full week now! Only
four more left :(
The
first couple of days were reallllly rough. I’m not going to lie, it was
definitely difficult to convince myself that this is where I wanted to be and
what I wanted to be doing. When you are surrounded by a completely new place
and new atmosphere, it’s hard enough. Throw in a language that you can barely
understand and it’s even harder. I met my new host mother, Maria, and she is
amazing. I already love her so much, but the language barrier makes things VERY
difficult. I am understanding more and more everyday, thank goodness. I was so
excited to start classes, for the sole reason of not feeling like an idiot
anymore. You can only smile and nod for so long.
In
the beginning, I could tell mi mama nueva
was getting frustrated with me, which is completely understandable. She speaks
so fast, and the accent here is incredibly thick. But I just keep smiling and
commenting and she speaks as though I know everything she is saying, which
couldn’t be farther from the truth. I can’t wait until the day that I actually
do. She is a great cook and the eating schedule is completely different than
what I am used to. I eat breakfast before school at about 9:00am and lunch
doesn’t come until after classes, at 2:00pm. We then have siesta and the rest of the day for homework and exploring before
dinner at 9:30pm. These past couple of days, me and the other students from the
U have spent the evenings exploring the center of the city. It is SO beautiful.
Words cannot describe how much I love this city already. It has so much
character. The city is extremely old and the buildings are breathtaking. The
shopping here is amazing. There are shops and boutiques everywhere you look. I
love the schedule here. It leaves so much time for exploring. However, they
stay up realllllly late which makes waking up in the morning even harder…
The
city is so historic and the buildings are beautiful. The cathedral stands in
the middle of town and everything kind of webs out from it. Meeting places are
always in the plazas. I feel like I am living in a movie or a storybook. It’s
too beautiful here to be real life. I live in an apartment above the street the
school is on. The streets are all lined with shops, with the apartments above
them. I am on the fourth floor (which is technically the fifth in Spain), so I
get a perfect view.
Everyday
has been amazing. The school threw us a party on Thursday so we got to go to a
really cool restaurant and hang out with the professors and students. This is
the city that never sleeps. Even my cute old host mom goes to bed way after me.
She tells me to go out every night after dinner and see how the nightlife is.
This town is so laid back, yet so exciting. There are streets and streets of
only dance clubs. On Saturday, we took a trip to two cities in Spain, Astorga
and León. They both had so much history and character. We had free reign to
walk around and explore. The architecture of the buildings and cathedrals blows
my mind. They are GIGANTIC and so detailed. I wish the pictures did them
justice.
I
can’t believe it has already been a week and I only have four weeks left. It’s
weird to think that life at home is going on without me. It’s not real life
here. As much as I miss friends, family, and the familiarity of home, at times I
never want to leave here. I just think that certain people from home should
take a little trip out here to visit :)
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