I’ve been in Spain for just about two weeks now. It’s a great feeling to be away from everything I know and to reinvent myself out here. I could be anyone while here in Spain—visiting Barcelona, Segovia, Madrid, Toledo, Salamanca, and wherever else we so desire to go. Through and through, I’m just choosing to be real. It is, however, kind of disheartening not to hear from many people from back home. I guess it’s really not uncommon for me to be gone though. I’m always gone—always away for one reason or another, making excuses and finding reasons to stray away and create something new elsewhere. It would be nice to have someone tell me, besides the few givens that already do, that I’m missed and loved. Oh well—I guess I don’t need the justification of words when prayers and love stretch farther than any distance can fathom.
Today, (Monday) really wasn’t the most exciting of days. During my two classes I planned out and found pricings for the two different places in Spain that our little group that we had this past weekend in Barcelona could visit. First, Alex Miller told me of a place in the north of Spain called San Sebastian. This place has one of the top beaches in Europe and isn’t but six hours away from us by bus. So I found bus pricings and hostels for two nights. It looks like a good deal at just under $140 bucks for the weekend and it wouldn’t be much but a little sightseeing and beach relaxation. The other place that I found is a little bit farther, a little bit more expensive, and not your stereotypical beach. The place is in Galicia, which is in the north-northwest of Spain. Ribadeo is a small little coast town that reminds me somewhat of a city you might find in Maine with rock formations on the beaches. Another top-rated Spanish beach, it looked like a good idea, but it’s a bit more expensive. I think the tres toros have decided on San Sebastian, but we will see. Speaking with the girls, they’re not sure if they want to go because they’re not sure how much money they’re going to spend quite yet on their long weekend. We three toros know we won’t be spending too much because while Alex Miller heads off to Madrid for the long weekend to visit with his parents who are flying in from Italy and Romania, Alex Clary and I will be holding down the fort with Marycarmen this weekend, visiting local cities and just exploring Segovia more. Thursday, after class, I think we are going to go hiking in the little town of Cuellar (pron. kway-R) and then Alex C. and I will probably go and visit with Alex M. and padres while he is in Madrid to keep him sane.
After this week there are no more breaks and no more small bits of relief between the monotony of 400 level linguistics and semi-interesting pieces of culture and history of Spain. Linguistics is particularly difficult and dry but I’m glad to have some 400 level Spanish under my belt for the fall. I am supposed to take a phonetics class—I might switch it up and take an advanced literature class instead. I know it will be tough, but I need a challenge that has nothing to do with linguistics or how a language is made. Let’s focus on the more romantic sides of the language and how words are put together in order to form a more perfect union of comprehension.
We came home to paella today, that very traditional Spanish dish that involves rice, saffron, chicken, shellfish, and other fishies. Thankfully, Maricarmen omitted all seafood and it was just chicken. Her paella isn’t too great, but it’s a filling food. I feel as if she jipped us today because we didn’t have a “real” comida. She had all the food prepared and ate elsewhere. There were no two-courses like normal and to be honest, I was very hungry. I like the food courses here because it’s one course, then more of something else, plus delicious bread and whatever else gets thrown your way, which could include fruit, more vegetables, or yogurt. Afterward, I settled down onto my bed and caught up on True Blood, episode 4 entitled “9 Crimes” for the Damien Rice song. It was a great episode and for the first time in a long time, didn’t focus just on Anna Paquin, the main character named Sookie Stackhouse who is in love with a vampire man. Instead, it focused on other characters to develop them and they’ve done a great job thus far. Alex Miller crashed and then I did—and we slept until 7:45. It was blissful to sleep that long and not have a care. We got up and motivated ourselves to do homework for an hour and a half—ate some dinner of ham and mixed veggies, then I talked to Evan Lenehan on the phone for a few minutes. It was nice to catch up—of course nothing has changed. =)
The boys and I worked on our completion of “The 10th Kingdom” tonight and succeeded in finishing another hour of the 5 hour-long movie. Tomorrow we are heading off to Salamanca to find la raña (the frog) on the wall that brings good luck, see La Plaza del Oro (aka The Plaza Mayor of Salamanca) and to see the university as well. It’s going to be a nice little trip so we’re planning on iPods, naps, and conversation.
Hitting back on the vacation thing in San Sebastian, I think that I’m just going to plan the toros vacation this time and the girls can have all the information and make their own plans. Planning a weekend to Barcelona for 8 people (only 7 went) was stressful. Three people shouldn’t be too bad and we can all get one room and it’ll be easy—cheap—and non-stressful.
So once again—Alex M. and are continuing the wonderful tradition of nightly blogs and music sharing. I wonder if when I return to the states I’ll continue this habit of nightly blogging. I don’t think I’ve always got something interesting to say—but to be honest; it’s a good habit to have. There are things that I would love to remember three years down the road and look back upon in writing and photos but I don’t always have the time…however, if I set up this habit now—it’ll stick. Do I expect everyone to read my daily blog? Definitely not, I know how much bloggers aren’t liked in the world of the Internet. Blogs are a dime-a-dozen and everyone has something to say—most times it’s crap anyway. But at least if I can look back upon it I’ll be able to say, “Hey, I remember that.”
Salamanca, get ready.
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