¡¡Para Vigo me voy!!: "Ese tipo gallego habla bien inglés": Still alive and kicking

Who's that angelic, handsome beast?

Hello all! So I’ve got another 5 day weekend on my hands, and the Galician weather (“choiva, choiva, e máis choiva….”) has set in pretty well, so I’ve got a few spare moments to update my humble little blog. I know it’s been a while and you’ve all been dying to know what kind of adventures I’ve been on, but I’ve got a good reason: Have you ever seen the movie Taken with Liem Nieson? Let’s just say it’s been an eventful month and a half…

To set the mood, a nice traditional Galician tune with some enchanting lyrics: Túa nai é meiga

So I know how it must seem to all of you, studying in Spain: just imagine me having to go to the beach whenever I want, staying out late enough to grab breakfast the next morning, going to at least one class a day during the week…but we need vacations here too! So we had a week off of classes for Semana Santa (the week-long Spanish version of Easter), which we used to its fullest potential to see what Spain has to offer.

Me and my girls started the week off in Porto, a nearby city in the North of Portugal, one of my favorite places to go. We’ve visited a few times before, but this is the first time I’d remembered my camera.
We only stayed the night- eating, drinking, being merry, shopping –and we caught a flight the next morning, and we were off to Madrid!

View from the other side of the river at night.

Panoramic from the cathedral.

A statue...and the sun!

I get out of the subway and step onto the Puerta del Sol, where the tourist season was in full-swing. There were tourists and street performers and peddlers EVERYWHERE!!! Despite that, I absolutely loved the city. We went to the market (got some really cool stuff!), enjoyed a bit of the nightlife (a Venezuelan named Jesús took care of us), and visited the museums and the park. I still have a giant to-do list for Madrid, so I guess I have to go back some time…

Shopping at the market!!!

Lunch break...then more shopping!

Two Spongebobs O.o

View from the balcony of my hostel.

The pond at the city park.

Next, I said bye to my friends and headed to Atoche train station, which has a jungle in it!!! Then I hop on the train to Toledo, former capital of Spain. Definitely a stark contrast to metropolitan Madrid, this was an incredible, historical city, sitting on the top of a hill. I did a lot of exploring here. After a 2 hour hike around the city, I found an abandoned mill with an awesome view of the Fortaleza. I also got a lot of my souvenir shopping done here, the city being known for its metalwork and desmaquillados. Also, I happened upon a special procession one night for Semana Santa: there was a sort of parade around the main square with drums and the processioners all dressed in purple capes and carrying lanterns and an image of the Christ- it was incredible!

View from my hostel in Toledo.

Looking out onto the hills surrounding the city.

Another cathedral...

Looking back onto the city from my hike.

Yup, pretty much...

Back on the train to Madrid: I was only in the city for a few hours before I had to leave again, so I posted up in a bar to have a copa or two until my bus left…at midnight. Yep- I took a bus from Madrid to Barcelona that ran from 12 o’clock midnight until 8 in the morning… I wouldn’t recommend it, to be honest.

In any case, I finally got to Barcelona! I actually liked the city a lot more than I thought I would, despite the numerous occasions that I got lost in her. I made my way to my hostel, located just off of las Ramblas, AKA: tourist central, AKA: hell on earth. There were a couple of awesome open markets nearby though that I enjoyed. And in order to avoid las Ramblas as much as possible, I did a lot of exploring, and coincidentally, a lot of getting lost. I went to Gaudí’s park, his cathedral La Sagrada Familia, the zoo, the botanical gardens, and the castle at Montjuïc. I ran into a lot of interesting people too… I met a prostitute in the Gothic Quarter (I had to decline her invitation: “¿Quieres follar?”), and a man in l’eixample handed me an invitation to this place: Bearcelona.

A little drizzle in a small plaza.

Sleepy guy.

Jealous Tony is jealous...

View of the city.

At the Botanical Gardens.

These guys aren't kidding around...

Panoramic from on top of the castle. Yeah, I said it: I'm on a castle.

And then I had to get up at 3am to head out to catch my flight back. I was changing in the shower room of the hostel, in nothing but my skivees, when a charming American with a baggie of grapes coming back from a night at the bars comes in and starts talking to me and we had a great conversation (I have some things to say about other foreigners though- see below). In any case, a bus ride, a flight, another bus ride, a train, and yet another bus ride later, I’m finally back home…at 11am. But all my friends were there waiting and we had a lovely Easter dinner together!

A few things I noticed during my travels: Tourists suck. The worst: Americans, Frenchies, and Germans. (I know I’m generalizing, but) Seriously, they were awful. I hear often enough in the States, “if you’re in America, you should speak American!” (which makes me want to vomit for so many reasons), but I witnessed on several occasions Americans getting upset that Spanish people were speaking Spanish to them…in Spain… C’mon, guys!!!

Also, a cool thing: being without my American/other foreign friends, the Spanish people were more apt to speaking Spanish with me. An even cooler thing- tons of them thought I was Spanish!! (It still surprised them, because 6’2” blond Spaniards are hard to come by, but nonetheless.) There were a couple of American girls at my hostel in Barcelona that were having trouble talking to the guy at the desk, and he said “you can ask that Galician guy over there- I think he speaks pretty good English.” Study abroad is working!

So after getting back, I haven’t really been doing much of anything exciting. Just the usual: going out, going to class, hanging out. I did go on a class trip to Guimarães, Portugal this weekend though, which has inspired me to plan a couple more (more budget-friendly) trips to other places in Galicia/Northern Portugal. We’ll see how that pans out.

Also, this past week was the Marvel Movie Marathon. A friend and I watched the Marvel movies (en español!) in preparation to watch The Avengers. It was EPIC!!! I highly recommend it (I mean c’mon, another chance to watch this guy in action: Chris Hemsworth)

Spanish Gnomes:

Haven’t seen these fun little guys around as much lately. Guess I’m going to have to start getting into more trouble again…

Café Count:

So this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, but I definitely haven’t been keeping track of this so much lately… suffice it to say I have continued to drink a substantial amount of this life-sustaining liquid per diem. And while I was in Barcelona, I stumbled through this article (written in Catalán) that informed me of all the good things caffeine does for your body! ...I think.

The Ropa Española Initiative (REI):

I haven’t been keeping up with my shopping needs lately (traveling during Semana Santa put a considerable dent in my budget), but I’ll get back on my feet soon hopefully. But we’ll devote this edition to the bufanda, the scarf.

By some miracle, this wonderful article of clothing has escaped the feminine connotation that it has in the States: it’s quite normal for men to throw on a scarf here, an idea and custom I’ve taken to without hesitation. Just a couple of my acquisitions during my stay here: