Dad, Mom and Jacklyne: En España!!

Just from the title alone, you know that my past week was super guay (guWHY), or the spanish coloquial word for cool.  This trip had been planned since October, and certainly part of my “most-anticipated-things” list.  I’ll never forget saying goodbye to my parents in Logan airport early January and them assuring me “don’t worry Nick, we’ll see you in 6 weeks.”  Now that they’re home, and it’s been an additional two weeks after the fact, I seriously cannot control the time, nor can I believe how fast it’s going!

Back to the trip!  The gang was set to arrive in Madrid on Friday the 17th, so to meet them the second they landed, I took an overnight bus from Coruña to Barajas (Madrid’s Airport).  Twenty minutes upon my arrival (7:15 am!) to the terminal, I met up with Jacklyne; ten minutes after that, Paloma, who had already picked up my parents at a different terminal, swung by our terminal to get us.  After a delicious breakfast and checking into the hotel, we truly started our jam packed site-seeing day.  The hotel was in an awesome location, therefore we were able to do all of Friday’s activities within a walking distance.  We saw Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, stopped in a really cool food market, and had lunch in front of the Royal Palace.  Jack and I were feeling extra adventurous so we decided to hit up some of the clothing stores in the Puerta del Sol neighborhood.  After taking a quick nap, we met up with Paloma, Cris and Tia Cece at an excellent restaurant in their former neighborhood of Madrid to end a great first day of the viaje.  

On Saturday morning, we departed early in the morning for Toledo, a beautiful city an hour outside of the capital.  Ever since arriving to Spain, I had always wanted to get to know Toledo because I’ve heard so many great things; now I know why.  Toledo is not only an aesthetically breath-taking city, but it’s unique mix of Christian, Judaic, and Muslim features make it truly charming.  While in Toledo, we went for a walking tour of the city, stopped into it’s impressive Cathedral (filled with spectacular art), and had a great lunch.  Quick shout-out to my high school, Bishop Hendricken, whose choir sang for Sunday mass in the Cathedral... just my luck that I missed them!  After a long day in Toledo, upon arrival to Madrid we had dinner at the really cool market and called it a day so we could catch up on sleep.  Sunday was a very relaxing day since we knew we would be traveling again on Monday, however we still wanted to make the most of our time so we went to El Mueso Prado, one of my favorite aspects to Madrid.  We hired an hour-long tour guide (totally worth it) who really gave some good insight on all of the important Spanish Painters.  After our visit to El Prado, we had lunch with Paloma and took another stroll through the city.  

Monday finally rolled around, and I was really excited because that meant we were going to leave Madrid and head to Coruña!!  Although I love Madrid, I was very much looking forward to showing off my favorite Spanish city to my family.  After a quite long 5:30 hour car ride (with an hour stop in a b-e-a-utiful picturesque Spanish pueblo called VillaFranca del Bierzo) we finally made it to the rolling-hill seaside-green Galicia.  Immediately upon arrival, Dad, Mom and Jack checked into the hotel and we were off to explore the city with my host family.  This was another part to my “most-anticipated-things” list, my family to meet my host family!  Sitting down at dinner and watching everyone get to know each other was truly special and I could not have been more grateful.

On Tuesday morning, my host family wanted to take us around two cities: Santiago de Compostela (refer to a post about this place way back in October) and Noia (a typical Galician waterfront city).  Santiago de Compostela is probably my second favorite city to Coruña since its home to a world-renowned cathedral (remember El Camino de Santiago from October...) and since its rich in history in just about every single corner; the more I go there, the more I discover each time.  After walking through the cathedral and around the old part of the city, we stopped for lunch at a typical Galician restaurant that served authentic Galician gastronomy.  After lunch, we hopped in the car and drove a half hour to Noia which is an absolutely beautiful seaside city.  Lucky for us, Pablo, Isabel and Iago lived there for 10 years (before moving to Coruña) so they were able to show us around.  Quickly after arriving, we were also met by the very kind Carmen and Godo, the best friends of my host parents who still live in Noia.  I’ve been lucky enough to meet/spend time with them before, so it was also awesome to introduce them to Dad, Mom and Jack.

By Wednesday we were all exhausted from all of the traveling and long days... it had to catch up to us somehow.  Therefore, we spent a very relaxing day in Coruña, going for some walks around the city, doing some shopping, some more eating (of course), all leading up to the last suppah, hosted by my host family in the apartment.  I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end the trip, as we feasted on great food and enjoyed a very culturally enriching conversation.  Dinner was sort of abruptly ended when we realized it was already half past mid-night; Americans doing it up big en España!  Dad, Mom and Jack left Coruña  on Thursday early afternoon after a quick bit to eat in the city's center.  The trip was everything that I had hoped for and I’m so glad that I was able to spend a week with them here in Spain; it’s something that I’ll never forget!

In blogger news, Más o Menos will shortly commence a three (maybe four) part blog series, and will even welcome in a brand-new blog-friend!  More updates to follow haha.  

In the meantime, I’ll be finalizing some travel plans with CT for our mini-Eurotrip to Rome, Florence, Palma and Madrid.  I’ve also got Dublin/Galway and Sevilla/Granada (thanks HC!) booked and ready to go!  All smiles for this kid.

Mom and I at KM 0 in Puerta del Sol, Madrid!

Mom, Dad and I in Plaza Mayor, Madrid.

The Royal Palace, Madrid.

Refer to my Madrid post in September...

Museo del Prado!

With Don Quixote himself in Toledo!

The streets of Toledo.

At the top of the Jesuit church in Toledo, great view but scaaaarry stairs.

Nice and snug, roadtrip to Coruña!

Pit stop in beautiful Villafranca del Bierzo to eat lunch.

Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.

 

The Families Meet!

Jacklyne and I in front of Coruña's city hall.

Tapa Negra, my favorite tapas bar in Coruña!

This Is Why I Love Being Abroad...

Since my only Monday class begins two weeks from today, I took advantage of the fact that I didn’t have school and explored two parts of Coruña, one that I barely knew and the other that I had never been to.  This morning, I took a walk with Claire to “la cuidad vieja” or “the old city.”  I truly believe that the old city is one of Coruña’s many hidden gems since every humble-corner has a chunk full of history: ranging from a church that is a starting point to the “English Way” of the Camino de Santiago, and even a church whose facade is unfinished (pictured below).  Another reason why I love the old city is because it looks like a typical European neighborhood.  I live and mostly hang around in the modern section of Coruña; even though I always feel like I’m in Spain and not the United States, whenever I take the mile-long stroll to the old city, I get that wow-I’m-really-in-Europe feeling.

After eating lunch with my incredible host family, Eva and I decided to take a bus and go to Marineda City, one of Coruña’s four shopping malls.  What sets apart this mall is the fact that it’s the largest in Spain, and the second largest in Europe!  Marineda City is home to a bunch of European and American (Hollister!) clothing stores, as well as a Cortes Inglés (which is like a Macy’s on steroids, since it’s eight stories high!), an Ikea, a movie theater, food court, bowling alley, mini-golf course, bumper cars, and a go-kart racing track... needless to say, I was basically in heaven, and will most definitely head back very very soon to get my bowling, golfing and go-karting on.

As great as today has been, there is one minor negative.  A couple of days ago, for some weird reason I decided to countdown how many days are left in my study abroad experience... 100.  Tomorrow commences the double digits.  Although I’m super bummed at the fact that I only have 100 more days here in Coruña, I truly am getting really excited to go home and be a Holy Cross senior (weird, don't want to talk about it) next year.  Here’s to 100 unforgettable days!

The Church of Santiago in "La Cuidad Vieja"... also the starting point to the "English Way" of the Camino de Santiago.

Notice that part of the facade isn't finished!!!

A random, but cool park in the old city.

My favorite building in Coruña: el ayuntamiento, or the city hall.

Marineda City!!!

American stores in Spain: Hollister... right when I entered, the kid greeted me "hey, what's up?" in a really good, scarily accurate American accent!

Kit Visits Coruña on Super Bowl Weekend

A blog post that I drafted, however neglected to publish... enjoy!!

If you assume that my weekend was stellar based off the title of the blog post, you’re right.  It was an awesome weekend here in Coruña, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.  For those of you who don’t know, Kit is a fellow Crusader (studying in Florence this year) and a very good friend of my fellow Coruñesas Claire, Maggie and Eva.  Although she only had two days in Coruña, we wanted to make the most of them, so naturally we made sure to check off our favorite Coruña activities: walking around the city/port/beach, tapa hopping (eating all day, everyday per the usual), and visiting/taking pictures at our favorite mosaic octopus (who we like to think of as Coruña’s mascot).  To elaborate on the tapas, tapa hopping is what I like to call going from bar-to-bar and eating a different tapa at each.  My friends and I have pretty much mapped out our favorite tapa bar’s and our best tapa at each place, so that way we are always changing scenery, and always eating the most delicious tapas... it’s a win/win in my book.  It was really really great to see Kit, and I’m so happy that she loved Coruña; she’s actually blogging about her own experience in Florence, and just wrote an entry on Coruña, so you should definitely check it out!

Two days went by too quickly, and it was really sad to see Kit go, however last night’s awesome Super Bowl Fiesta certainly lived up to its expectations.  Ever since the beginning of my study abroad experience, I was really bummed to know that I’d be missing out on some of my favorite American holidays/traditions; the Super Bowl was definitely high on my list.  Pablo, our housing director in Coruña, saved the day by inviting us over to his apartment to watch the game since he has American television channels.  He also prepared us some delicious bacon cheeseburgers and left out some chips and dips... it almost felt like we were back home in the States.  Although it was a lot of fun and we had some good laughs, unfortunately the Pats lost; third time’s the charm!!!

The pulpo!!!

One of my favorite corners in Coruña... my study abroad site ain't that bad ;)