That was definitely a Scotland flag!

Before I start I should mention that last weekend, IT WAS COLD. Really, really, really, really, really cold. So if we all look a little frost-bitten in the pictures or I happen to mention the temperature a lot I apologise - but it was so cold!!!

I spent this Saturday in Leon; as I've said before Leon is famous for tapas and our entire plan for the day was to eat as much tapas whilst spending the least amount of money possible. To begin, we decided to visit the Hostal San Marcos which we never made it to last time, it's beside the river in Leon and (now I'm not too sure about this) I think it was the main hospital for the Camino de Santiago - which luckily none of us needed during the Camino!!

Two Pilgrims 

Obviously you're allowed to take your shoes off at the end of a pilgrimage, so we totally didn't deserve the dirty looks we got back in '09! 

About ten minutes after this to escape the cold we started on the tapas and wine... and from there the day only got better!! Very successful second trip to Leon!

This weekend I was off travelling again. This time on another ESN organised trip (you'd have thought I would have learned from the last one!) and on this occasion to Santiago de Compostela and A Coruna in Galicia. The shouts of "Vamos chicos" were just as irritating and this time involved SINGING. The little patience the students of Alfonso II had left me with was swiftly removed.

But anyway, no moaning. Santiago de Compostela was absolutely gorgeous and I think I remembered quite a lot about it from the Camino, although walking into the city this time was much more enjoyable when it didn't involve, rain, losing members of our group and teary phone conversations.... instead! We had coffee!

BLUE SKY! BLUE SKY! It was GREY  for miles when we got there last time!!

I should mention. Most random encounter of Spain so far happened just before this picture... We were walking through the city and taking group photos - another tourist offered to take one of the group. After he did, he produced a flag, a blue flag with white diagonal stripes (yes a SALTIRE) and got us to pose with his friends. They claimed it was a Tenerife flag... I do not believe this. Someone was seriously messing with me on Saturday, after the flag incident whilst we took pictures of the Cathedral a bagpiper (cause they are all over Galicia and Asturias) started playing  SCOTLAND THE BRAVE?!?!! What??! I would have started to do the Highland Fling if I knew how! Very, very, very, odd.

This (although a very baaaaaaaaad photo of me!) is from the wall of the University of Santiago de Compostela, the idea is that you stand in front of the tree and point behind you and it tells you what you should study. Mine came up with Philosophy.... don't think so.

Although it was the ESN guys who told us that so it could all be complete nonsense! 

So after the city tour and a quick chill in the park we obviously went out. No climbing down the side of a mountain this time! There involved free tapas, free wine and I think at some point also bottles of vodka for us to use on the bar... Good night. 

The next day, (cue - VAMOS CHICOS) we took the bus for an hour to the east to A Coruna, which is absolutely gorgeous. It also has the oldest working Lighthouse in the world.

It was very very very windy. Slightly windswept by the end of the day! The old town of A Coruna was gorgeous too but for some reason I have no photos of it... I do have a photo of Kate straddling an Octopus though so obviously my priorities were in order! 

All in all a lovely trip to Galicia! Next weekend its back to Scotland for birthday parties and the weekend after I'm off to Madrid with Sarah! So no weekends in Oviedo this month! 

Would be good if I'd been paid....

The day I had my first Starbucks in 8 weeks.

Oh dear, I wasn't very good at updating in December was I? (or most of January for that matter!)
Although I've probably told anyone who would listen to me about everything I've done in the interim I'm going to write about it anyway. Mostly cause I have some nice pictures!

So the weekend after the adventure in the Bosque, I visited Miss Mari-Jane Paterson in her little pueblo of La Granada (not Granada - that's in Andalucia) an hour outside of Barcelona. I managed to find incredibly cheap flights from Oviedo to Barcelona - although as SpainAir has just gone bust I can see that being my last trip! La Granada was straight out of a guide book, gorgeous cream coloured houses and little shops. We had a walk around on my last day and went to mass in the Church - which incidentally starts at 11am not half 11 as we thought, slightly awkward.
On the Saturday we went to Barcelona and shopped! We also took the open top bus tour so we could see as much as humanly possible without loosing our legs.

The last time I went to Barcelona this was closed because the wind was too strong! 

Vamos Barca!

Just don't tell half of my students!!

Barcelona, as a cosmopolitan city, just happens to have a Starbucks on every corner and so I FINALLY got my Starbucks. It had been over 8 weeks coming! But, alas, in Spain they do not have gingerbread lattes at Christmas and so I had to settle for vanilla - first world problem.

One day in Barcelona was never going to be enough so I'm desperate to go back! Luckily MJP is an awesome hostess and looked after me very well.

The Barcelona trip was at the beginning of Puente week - wherein we had Monday, Tuesday and Thursday off school because of various holidays, plus I don't work Fridays. That's right, I had a ONE DAY WEEK! You have got to love the Spanish obsession with fiestas.
The second weekend, with another cheap deal, I went to Leon with the chicas from Oviedo for a night. Leon is about two hours to the south of Oviedo and is therefore, much colder!! Leon is famous for tapas, with every drink comes a free tapas; which could be a little bit of bread and tortilla or a tiny hamburger or cheesy croquettes. All in all, a night in Leon can be very, very cheap! The night we visited was also El Clasico, I was allowed to watch the first half in the flat before leaving and luckily our first tapas bar was a Barca bar and had a TV! The second was unfortunately a Real supporting bar, although by that point they were 2-0 down and the barman had ripped his flag down from above the bar in disgust.
Funniest. Sight. Ever.

Plaza Mayor

Now, we've been told several times that it is odd for a blonde girl to be in Spain, that we might get stared at a bit. Until I went to Leon, all I had experienced was the old ladies at my choir exclaiming at how light my hair was and my students saying I had very "Scottish" hair (the ginger comments are getting old now.)

In Leon, everything was different. To be fair, there were four blondes now - and Alwyn - and walking down the streets we heard "Rubias, rubias!" from everywhere, apparently this is normal in Leon...

Yes I know; me + large "L" = not good.

But to be fair, I'm not standing on it this time...

The Cathedral in Leon was unbelievable! I wish I could have taken pictures inside but apart from it not being allowed it was incredibly dark inside. The stained glass windows were the most beautiful I have ever seen. It was freezing inside, its so big there's no hope of it warming up when it's only 2/3 degrees outside. While we were walking around a Mass was being sung but I couldn't find it! Which just made the music even more amazing, you could hear it from every corner of the Cathedral but no one seemed to know where it was coming from. Frankie and I also went all the way to the top of the ramparts outside - just to be told that we weren't actually allowed to do that - oops!

And that was the beginning of December in Spain. 

Now I'm back in Oviedo after a lovely two weeks at home and four days in Paris! Up till now either the weather or hangovers have been against us so trips haven't been possible. But this weekend, hopefully we're off to Leon once more for a proper explore and another try of the tapas!

El bosque?! Madre!

One thing I've learnt from my weekend in Pais Vasco is that there is Spanish time.... and then there's Brazilian time. I was only just getting used to Spanish time!! Anyway, this weekend I went on an ERASMUS trip to San Sebastian and Bilbao. It unfortunately started with a very unpleasant hour of the morning - good thing was that the bus left from right outside my flat! About an hour and a half into the journey when we were woken up for our quick cafe stop by shouts of "Vamos chicos!" I realised that patience was going to be a very important aspect of the weekend! We arrived at our hostel which was up a very big hill in San Sebastian and then were taken to another hill (it's a very weird looking city) to look at the views.

Sorry for the overload of pictures but OMG HOW PRETTY IS IT?! I can't explain how absolutely bizzare it looks, but it was just gorgeous. Luckily we had really fantastic weather on Saturday too - quite chilly but sunny. 

I don't like that I'm starting to look more and more ginger.... this was not the plan.

After a few more cries of "Vamos chicos!" (it was really getting on my nerves by this point) we walked back along the beach, past some really random blow holes and back into the centre of town. We managed to just quickly stick our heads into the Cathedral before taking the bus back up to the hostel. 

Now, we'd been told that the organisers were going to make us 100 litres of sangria for that night. I was dubious until we saw them load a trolley full of red wine, lemonade and sugar into the luggage hold of the bus - and I do mean the trolley; like, the whole thing! We then put that together with the black rubbish bin that had been loaded on to the bus that morning - and the whole thing made sense...

After some rather odd drinking games we started to walk down the hill and go out. I'm going to spare the gory details of this walk as it was basically a walk down tiny "paths" in the dark. I was really worried about ruining my new boots!! But once out of the forest we found our way to our natural habitat, the nearest club.

The next morning was tough. Sore heads and throats all round. So what did we do? See that hill behind me and Kerensa's head in the picture - we walked up it. Standard Spanish thinking. At this point "Vamos!" was making me want to be sick. Although at the top the Castle was pretty cool.

Kerensa wasn't very good at looking sad....

I did tell her that climbing on the canons would not be acceptable at any National Trust establishment in Britain. But she didn't listen.

Eventually we hit the road again and travelled to Bilbao. Bilbao was different, it's obviously a really industrial town and there were some parts that weren't that nice to look at, but lots of the old town has been renovated recently and looks amazing. We took a tour all around the old town and into the new town and the Guggenheim.

*Edinburgh people* 

Look, A TRAM!! And it works and everything!!

The Guggenheim was amazing. Obviously. Although, a little too easy to get lost in. 

So that was San Sebastian and Bilbao. Coming up soon; Barcelona with the wonderful Mari-Jane Paterson and Leon with the Oviedo troop. And not long after that HOME!!

Dear God I'm old (part 2)

Following on from that epic picture of Mum and Dad at lunch, the rest of my birthday was spent buying a very expensive pair of boots (as a present to myself) and going for dinner at a really lovely restaurant. After that it was time for the Oviedo lot to "meet the parents" so off we went to "That Robin Hood bar" as Alwyn so eloquently put it, for some more drinking. I was presented with a copy of Pride and Prejudice in Spanish - hours of entertainment to be had! The family withdrew at about midnight and we journeyed on for our classic night out in Oviedo which as always, featured a trip to BATCAVE!

Those tiny little shot glasses could be my favourite thing about Spain...

The next day (hangover in check with a healthy dose of paracetamol and caffeine) we took the train to Aviles. Our first stop was the Oscar Niemeyer centre, which is the first thing you see when arriving at the train station in Aviles, because its HUUUUGE! 

Rachael's pictures are much better obviously. But you get the idea. It's huge. It's white and yellow. It's a crazy shape. And it's built out of concrete (eh?) The idea was to make something really amazing to sit in the middle of the industrial part of Aviles -and it definitely does.

The English Lit geek inside of me was also quite impressed by the exhibition celebrating the 400 year anniversary of Don Quijote, even though I've still never read it...

I don't know if they selected certain parts of the novel to use in these sculptures but I like the idea that "amigos" just ended up on the edge like that by accident!

The rainbow coloured bridge which led into Aviles itself also gave ample opportunity for posing...

See, cause we're all wearing green. Cool innit?

And cause Dad was wearing purple. Coooooool? 

So even though we had a great time at the Nieymeyer Centre, I'm pretty sure that the one thing that my family will be able to tell you about Aviles whilst reflecting on their trip is "There was nothing to eat." This is true. For some reason Aviles was empty. Now I know what a Spanish Town during siesta looks like, but this was no siesta! We couldn't find food for love nor money. Eventually we managed to locate a little cafe who made us bocadillos (which were inhaled more than eaten) but there was obviously something going on in Aviles on Saturday that nobody told us about...

On Sunday we went to Mass at the Cathedral - it turns out that there is no "Big Mass" in Oviedo, as 11.00 was just as quiet as all the others. Afterwards we took a little walk into Old Town to watch the bagpipers play in Plaza de Espana. I was going to upload a video of the pipers but for some reason it's not working properly so I can't. I wanted to get some Scottish opinions on what exactly it is that's different between their bagpipe music and ours. We thought that maybe it was the beat, or the rhythm; I don't think anyone would march into battle against the English to the sound of Asturian pipes!

And kilts are obviously much more manly...

We're still getting along.... promise!

We then took a trip to Gijon and had a walk around the town and along the sea front. For some reason the weather was unbelievable on Sunday so we got to have a wander around in the sunshine!

On Monday morning Rachael came to school with me and was interrogated by my two first year classes, who didn't really know what to say to her, although one boy: was a legend.

George: "Rachael, do you disco in Falkirk?"

Rachael: "No, I don't."

George: "Okay, I have another question. This question is for Rebecca only, do you disco in Edinburgh?"

Me: Yes George I do.

Leg-end!

For the rest of Monday we walked around Oviedo again and had a look at the Cathedral Museums and Cloisters, which were worth a look. And kind of creepy because it was getting dark! After that we went for a drink in "the sparkly bar" as I have dubbed it, which is the cutest bar ever with lots of fairy lights and bottles hanging on the walls. And then finally it was time to say goodbye....

And although this didn't happen over my birthday weekend, I want to tell you about it anyway.

So my first years found out that I speak Spanish today, and proceeded to interrogate me in Spanish - which let me tell you, is just stressful. They also asked me to sing to one of them who's birthday it was. 

Not to mention, last night I got a note from two of the girls (via Holly who tutors them) regarding the state of their love lives. 

I LOVE THIS CLASS!!

And, I might make them some scones soon, but only if they keep being this awesome! 

Dear God I'm old. (part 1)

This weekend was indeed my 20th Birthday and so I have lots and lots of exciting things to write about, and PICTURES!  A replacement camera (its purple and so much cooler) was my birthday present and so once again the Brits of Oviedo are cowering in fear of my lens and my tagging obsession!

A week ago today I received a lovely surprise from the Bilingual Department and Alfonso II when they brought out a birthday cake for me during our weekly meeting and sang Feliz Cumpleanos. Epic.

They also bought be a pendrive... its a running joke that I always rock up to classes with my laptop and thne it never works with whatever technology they have in the classroom. Although funnily enough, the next day I went to class with the pendrive, and it wouldn't work either. Talk about the irony.

Then on Thursday evening the Sweeney Wells's arrived from Madrid at half past ten (note to the Hotel Iiiiiibis, as according to my disgruntled taxi driver, that's how to say it!) and I met them at the hotel and then got on with the very important task of showing my parents just how many different types of alcohol I know how to order in Spanish!

Friday morning was my birthday and I stayed at the hotel with the family. I was given my presents, the awesome new camera (including matching purple case!) a "Keep Calm and DFTBA" t-shirt from Rachael, which I might have got a little bit too excited about and lots of cards from the family back home. They also gave me a Harry Potter from page to screen book which I think must have been most of their luggage allowance. And what did I do? I told them to take it home and put it in the freezer (Friends Reference) because really I'm still in denial that Harry Potter has finished and that book might just kill me. 

Then it was time to take my case (full of presents and other goodies from back home) to the flat and show them around Oviedo. We started with the classic Spanish lunchtime event - Menu del Dia, and I took advantage of my new camera.

I love this picture. 

Lots more happened but I have to go to the Gym now, so I'll finish the weekend later!

Gijon and other adventures

I must apologise for the lack of information on my exciting Spanish life... but that's because it hasn't really been that exciting over the past week. Unless anyone would like to know about my lesson plans or lack there of?

But wait! This weekend we took a trip en masse to Gijon which is the biggest city in Asturias (I think, at least that's what Google Maps says). Luckily the appalling weather which had plagued us for a week disappeared and we had a beautiful sunny day! And even more luckily, the lovely Frankie has sent me some of her pictures from our day trip to make this post a little less boring!

Just in case we forgot where we were, the Spanairds put a massive sign up to remind us!

And the Brits being Brits - we take a picture inside it!

I think the world is aware that Spanish food is amazing. What the world may not know is that the best Spanish food ever comes in tiny baguettes. Pinchos is their name and being tasty is their game! On arrival in Gijon we were all a little peckish but pinchos to the rescue!!

Can't explain how good they are!! That and a cafe con leche and we were good to go.... to the beach!

Basically we spent most of our day in Gijon either eating, drinking, or lying on the grass at the top of a hill and talking about how sunny it was. It's cause we're hardcore party animals like that! The city was absolutely beautiful and just walking around it was enough for our first visit. 

I look really tiny in this picture... I promise they aren't really that tall! It's probably just Alwyn's sunglasses making her look bigger!

My favourite picture of the day has to be this! Which was taken outside a tourist shop - everyone had to get a picture and so a poor six year old Spanish boy was forced to wait while 6 twenty-somethings posed inside a Knight's Head. 

(For Jacqueline - TO CAMELOT!)

So that was our day out to Gijon, can't wait to go again! Hopefully should have some more adventures to recount soon, although the biggest plan I have right now is to wait for the Dairy Milk package that's on it's way from Falkirk!