Finals Weeks: Coruña Edition

Another difference between the American and Spanish university system is the final evaluation period.  Unlike the traditional two-semester American university system, in which all students take their finals before Christmas break, Spanish students are evaluated from the middle of January to early February (depending on your major).  This Monday commences the finals weeks, something that I’m really not looking too forward to knowing that a big chunk of my grade is still undecided.  However, one of my professors just let me know that he is altering my exam, so I’m very thankful for that!  A big bummer is that I have my Political Sociology final on my birthday at 8:00 am, although I keep telling myself its better to have the exam on my birthday rather than the day after!

Aside from working on final projects and studying, I’ve been settling back into my routine and continue to enjoy my time here in Coruña.  I’m currently figuring out some travel plans for the next semester, so if you have any suggestions on where to go, definitely let me know!

New Year, New Blog

Alrighty, so I've failed miserably as a blogger.  Not even one post in December.  However, it’s a new year, so hopefully I’ll get my act together and start posting more often... I knew that you all were missing your biweekly dosage of más o menos!!

Thanks to a good family friend, Pati Paolella (pobrecita lost sleep over the renovation of más o menos), I’ve decided to take a new direction with the blog.  Instead of writing an overwhelming amount in a two-week period, I’ll be posting shorter entries every couple days.  

So to start, I guess I’ll rewind and give you a very brief description of my December.  In the beginning of the month, I went to Paris with 11 of my Holy Cross friends studying abroad in Spain.  The city is awesome, everything that I thought it would be and a little more, although I have to say that after my first semester travels, Madrid has been my favorite city.  Upon returning from Paris, I was left with ten days in Coruña.  After handing in a 25 page paper for my political science class (in Spanish!), I enjoyed pre-Christmas in the festive Coruña.  Two days before Christmas, I flew home for a two week vacation; it felt  truly incredible to be home with my family, and catch up with some friends, and although it was very difficult to return, now that I’m back in Coruña, I’m very happy to have the opportunity to enjoy five more months here!

Notre Dame in Paris.

Eating a french baguette... total tourist move.

From the Eiffel Tower!

The main Christmas tree in Coruña, mounted by cousin Paloma's company.

Coruña's Ayuntamiento (city hall) decorated for Christmas.

A Sweet Thanksgiving

Now that I’ve finally caught up on some much needed sleep, I figured that I would take some time to write about my sister and three of her best friends’ (also known as the sweet sisters) awesome visit to Spain!  But first, time for a brief reflection in this Thanksgiving season.  I think that being away from home for so long has truly taught me how thankful I am for everything in my life, most especially, my loving family and friends.  However at the same token, being in Coruña this Thanksgiving season has taught me how thankful I am for this wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Spain and for my amazing host family and friends here in Coruña. 

Back to the sweets.  Before they arrived in Coruña on Wednesday, the sweet sisters spent three days in Madrid, taking in all of the glory that Spain’s capital has to offer: a city bus tour, el prado, and even a Real Madrid game (jealous).  As soon as they landed in Spain last Sunday, I was so anxious to see them, however Wednesday afternoon quickly rolled around and I was reunited with my sister and her friends.  My host dad and I picked them up at the Coruña airport, and as always, the trip got off to a rather hilarious start.  After giving the sweets a big hug, we dropped off their luggage in my host dad’s car and sprinted to catch the shuttle that goes to the center of town.  The shuttle runs every half hour, but we knew it would be close given the time that their flight landed.  In any event, we literally just made and in no time we met up with my host dad who was waiting for us (luggage included) at the hotel.  After they checked in and got settled, I took them on a walking tour of Coruña; even though I got a little lost at one point, I was so proud to show off my little gem of a city and at the same time, it was so great to be in Coruña with people from home.  Later on that evening, we went for a bite to eat at Abica (my new favorite restaurant in Coruña) since 99% of their ingredients come from good-ol’ Galicia and after that, we went for drinks at a chic bar called Dux.

On Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning, we hopped on a train to Santiago de Compostela.  It was so great to show them around this beautiful city with such a rich religious history.  We went to mass at the Cathedral (refer to pics from a previous entry), did a little bit of shopping, and had delicious tapas in the old part of town.  It was really special to be in Santiago with my sister since one day, we hop to walk the Camino de Santiago!  Once we got back to Coruña, we had an incredible Spanish Thanksgiving dinner with my host family.  I can’t tell you how great it was for one of my real family members to meet my host family.  The dinner was so comfortable and relaxing, it really was second best to being home in Rhode Island having turkey day with my family at home; also a big shout out and thanks to my host brother Iago (who speaks perfect English) for helping me with all the translations!  After the dinner, we met up with my friends at our favorite bar, Pato Mareado and went to Grietax, one of my favorite discotecas in town.  

Friday afternoon we kind of took it easy, however Friday evening was quite happening thanks to my host mom.  The sweets were dying to learn how to make a tortilla, so my host mom invited them over to give a private lesson on how to prepare one.  I’ve got to be honest and say that this was one of my favorite experiences in Spain thus far; who would have known that making and eating a tortilla could be such great real-and-host family bonding time!  After dinner, I took the sweets to a bar that is currently displaying my host dad’s art and then later on we met up with some of my HC friends at another.  

A few hours later (now it’s very early Saturday morning), my host dad and I met up with the sweets to pick them up from the hotel and drop them off at the airport.  Upon arriving to the airport, we were greeted with a rather large check-in line and then 10 minutes later, we realized the flight had been delayed.  Thinking that it wasn’t too big of a deal, we waited a little bit until we noticed that people were starting to get stressed out, including us since the sweets had to make it in time to Madrid to catch their flight back to the States!  Turned out that every other flight from Coruña and neighboring Santiago Airport to Madrid was booked that morning, making it impossible for the sweets to make their other connecting flights back to Boston.  After three hours of figuring out a plan, the sweets ended up hopping on a plane to Barcelona, with connection to Zurich, finally leading them to Bean-town.  Quite the travel adventure.  It was really sad to see them go, but as I look down at the calendar, I’m only left with 25 days before Christmas break!  Although I cannot wait to be home, where has this first semester gone?

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures this weekend, but the sweets did, so I’ll be sure to post them soon!

Gotta Love The Puentes

Woah, that was an unforeseen break in blogging.  Sincerest apologies.  First off, can’t believe that three days ago marked my three month period in Spain.  Time really does fly!  All in all, these past three weeks have been really great; here’s a brief timeline of what’s been going on in and around Coruña.  

“Los puentes” (literally translated: the bridges) are one of the many reasons as to why I love Spain.  A puente is basically a long weekend (thanks to a holiday), however some puentes can be 4-day weekends if the respective holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday (because mostly everyone will take off the Monday or Friday).  In any event, I took advantage of the Halloween puente (All Saints Day) by trekking across Spain to Barcelona!  This was a super last minute decision since I was suppose to have a debate on Halloween, but man am I glad that the date got switched.  Not only was I excited to explore another region of Spain, but I was in great company which made the trip even better.  It was so great to spend the weekend with an assortment of HC friends from Spain, Ireland and Italy, however even better was the fact that I met Kit Wallace, who is now my real-life (not just FB friend)!  This meeting ordeal was kept secret from Kit (looking back, I honestly don’t know how Claire, Eva, Maggie and I pulled it off) but it was really funny and I’m glad we know each other now!

Barcelona was absolutely beautiful and I can now understand why its regarded as such a beloved city.  Barcelona is simply awe-inspiring at every corner.  I know that for me, each street (and even each corner) was so different then the next, however equally spectacular.  Eva described Barcelona well by saying that it is sort of dream-like, something I now completely agree with.  Although I got to see and walk around the entire city (thanks to the typical-tourist city-bus tour), I unfortunately did not enter La Sagrada Family, so I guess I now have a good excuse to return (which I definitely plan on doing)!

These past couple months have been extremely hectic and I’ve done quite a bit of traveling, so I decided to kind of take a break from constantly moving and stay in Coruña for November.  As I approach the halfway mark of the month, I can honestly say that it’s been really nice getting to know Coruña that much better and as every day passes, I appreciate the city more and more.  I’ve also come to realize that my study abroad experience is rather unique, however I wouldn’t want it any other way so props to HC for choosing Coruña as a study abroad site!  I’m a firm believer in the fact that you do your best learning in a small yet active environment, which is exactly how I would describe my experience thus far.

Although this month has been very relaxing, I’ve got two upcoming things that I’m beyond excited for.  First off, my sister Eliana and three of her closest friends (the sweet sisters) will be arriving in Spain in just four days!  They are spending the first three days in Madrid, and then on next Wednesday the 23rd they are flying up to Coruña and will we spend two days here and one in Santiago.  I cannot express to you how excited I am to see my sister and her friends, to show them Coruña and Santiago, and for at least one member of my real family to meet my awesome host family.  Second and lastly, I just booked a trip to Paris for December 6th-10th!  I’ll be spending the December puente, which is the puente of all puentes since the two national holidays fall on a Tuesday and on a Thursday (oh how I love the Spanish) in a city that I’ve always dreamed of visiting.

Casa battló, a great example of Gaudi's work.

Claire and I enjoying a quick Dunkin Coffee break... sad to say it is certainly not the same.

Barcelona's bull ring that has been converted into a shopping center.

Kit, Eva, Claire and Maggie on the city bus tour!

Parque güell, Gaudi's infamous park in Barcelona.

Bring on the rainy season Coruña... I'm ready!!!

Settling In, And Some Other Fun Stuff

As per usual, I’m still loving my study abroad experience in La Coruña.  Although it’s very difficult to be away from family, friends, and Holy Cross for one year, I’m really enjoying my time here and I wouldn’t change it for anything.  I know that I always mention it, but I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to live and study in Coruña.  The dynamic of the city is truly incredible since it’s small (which allows for you to get to know it easily) but there’s a little bit of everything: a cosmopolitan, hustle-bustle downtown, a relaxing, wave-crashing beach, and an impressive, awe-inspiring port.  Whaddup parallel structure, maybe I’m not forgetting how to speak English (as my fellow study-abroaders and I always wonder)!  The city is even home to a soccer team: Real Club Deportivo; unfortunately Depor got bumped down to the second division, so Madrid, Barcelona and the other big-time teams won’t be making the trek to Coruña.  Last Saturday, Pablo (our house director) took the group to a Depor game against Tarragona.  Although they tied, we still had a blast and are really looking forward to the next home game!

Now that school is picking up, I’ve definitely started to develop a daily routine, one that is becoming centered around school and comida, also known as lunch.  I know that it sounds whacky, but my fellow Coruñeses can attest to the fact that our days revolve around comida.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, everyone stops their day at two in the afternoon to head home for lunch, a tradition that I find really nice, and actually quite healthy.  Speaking on the topic of food, the gastronomy of Coruña is dangerously delicious, so it’s probably a good thing that I’ve joined a gym.  I’m still looking for a good glass of sangria though!  Aside from the university, comida, the gym, and hanging out with my awesome host fam, I’ve also added something very exciting to my daily routine: tutoring.  Shout out to Kendra for setting me up with two of the most adorable kids I’ve ever met, Marta (8 years old) and Manuel (6 years old).  Every Wednesday night I’ll be tutoring them, which should be a lot of fun and a great way to make some extra cash!

Yesterday, Pablo took us to Santiago de Compostela, the capital city of the Community of Galicia, or better known as the finish line of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James).  For those of you who don’t know, the Camino is literally a spiritual journey; it’s a pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, home to the remains of the apostle St. James.  There are many routes of the camino, but the most important is called the Camino Francés (the French Way), which begins in Saint Jean Pied de Port and continues all the way through the northern part of Spain, finally ending in Santiago; it’s amazing how two months can become full circle, since when I was in Pamplona, I visited this tiny French town and now I made it to the finish line.  Aside from taking in Santiago’s rich history, as per usual, we really enjoyed each other’s company and had a great time just walking around the city.  Below are some pics from the Depor Game and Santiago!

Estadio de Riazor.

Go DEPOR!

Depor 2 - Tarragona 2.

La Catedral de Santiago.

El Campus de La Universidad de Santiago, or better known as the Spanish Kimball Quad!

Los Coruñeses 2011-2012 (menos Eva and Kendra).

Weekend Rewind: Porto, Portugal

This past weekend I visited Porto (o Oporto en Español), Portugal and absolutely loved it!  Although the trip was extremely last minute and rather spontaneous (we booked our transportation and confirmed our hostel just two days in advanced), it was so worth it and I’m really glad I went.  Like every other study abroad tale, I look back and laugh, not only at the funny memories and quotable gems, but at the slight panic attacks (more details to come later on in the entry).

On Friday morning, Ali, Steve and I hopped on a Porto-bound bus to meet Claire, Eva, Maggie and Katherine (we missed you Briana and Kendra!).  Immediately upon arrival, I fell in love with the city.  As I was toying around with the idea to visit Porto, I heard mixed reviews; most people told me that they adored the city, while others commented that they thought it was ugly and decayed.  After my visit, I can see both sides, but I’m definitely on team-Porto.  Located in northern Portugal, Porto is an old-school European city that is very well known for its exquisite Wine, beautiful river, and happy people; other important aspects to note include a Harry-Potter-esq bookstore, various breath-taking churches filled with golden statues and the awesome hostel we stayed at: Hostel Dixo (strongly recommend it).

Even though I think I laughed more than half of the trip, I experienced a serious panic attack, a story certainly worth sharing.  Before my visit, my host parents informed me that the Portuguese speak English very well and that we wouldn’t have to resort to Spanish; this in fact was very true, since most Portuguese learn English at a young age and even watch television/movies in English with Portuguese sub-titles since they are not dubbed.  As Ali, Steve and I were walking back to catch the Coruña-bound bus, we decided to speak Spanish to one another in order to get back into a Spanish-mindset.  At the time, we were very impressed with our ability to maintain a fairly smooth conversation, so much so that we took a wrong turn in the city, one that led us to complete a giant circle.  With only 15 minutes to spare, and 5 euros to our name, we frantically stopped three people in the street to ask for directions; assuming that they spoke English well, it turned out that none of them spoke English nor Spanish (go figure, the people we really need to speak one of the two languages we know!).  Luckily we found a parade of taxi’s and hopped in a blistering hot cab.  Although the bus stop was legitimately two minutes away from where we ended up, I’m glad we took it since we arrived with three minutes to spare.  Talk about a struggle bus.

As per usual, whenever I travel I always keep Coruña in the back of my mind.  Even though I’ve loved every excursion, I cannot express how much I love Coruña and how fortunate/thankful I am to have the opportunity to spend a year here.  Speaking of time, I’ve been in Coruña for a total of 34 days, Spain for a total of 58 (WHAT!?) and home for Christmas in 62!!!  Where has the time gone!!!

View from the Hostel's balcony.

Porto's infamous Douro River and Luís I Bridge.

Beans Beans, They're Good for Your Heart

After a guilt-free three weeks of not really having classes (thanks to the Spanish education system and holiday calendar), my school schedule has finally begun.  Just as if I was at Holy Cross, I’m taking four classes this semester: Political Sociology, Colloquial Spanish, Aesthetics of Literature Film and Art, and a year-long conversation and grammar class through Holy Cross.  Although I really like my schedule since my earliest class starts at 10:30, it’s a little out of the ordinary since the majority of my classes meet after la comida, or lunch.  In case I haven’t touched upon this earlier, la comida is considered to be the most important meal; literally everything, and everyone, break between 2:00-4:00 to go home for lunch and take a siesta.  Some afternoons I’ll be hanging around the University during these hours since with my schedule, it doesn’t make sense to head back to my apartment, a huge bummer since I look forward to la comida with the host fam everyday.

Speaking of my host fam, I spent this past weekend at my host dad’s parent’s summer home in Lourenzá, Lugo, a tiny Spanish-countryside pueblo that’s about an hour and a half outside of Coruña.  Every October, the town holds a festival to celebrate their infamous faba beans, rightfully so might I add since I’m still full from my faba-overload.  Spanish festivals typically include an overwhelming amount of food, family reunions, lots of artisan markets, and staying out until way past midnight (we actually headed back home at around 12:30, verrry early, but the music was still blasting throughout the city until 3am!).  My favorite part of the trip was definitely getting to know my host dad’s family, most especially his parents; they sure are a great bunch, and their constant energy certainly reminded me of my family (Christmas is coming sooner than we think, it's already October!).  Other pretty cool activities during the weekend included taking two afternoon beach trips (another reason why I love Galicia), hearing Sunday mass in Gallego (quite the experience) and learning how to “escanciar la sidra” (the very specific way to serve Spain’s notable cider).

Although this week has been mentally exhausting now that my classes are in full-swing (it’s hard to learn a language!!), I just booked a weekend trip to Portugal with seven of the HC kids in Coruña.  We’ll be heading to Porto, Portugal early Friday morning and heading back to Coruña by Sunday afternoon.  Can’t wait!

Lourenzá's Church in the Center of Town.

Playa de Las Catedrales, Galicia, España.