Defend the Keep!

This weekend was the CIEE organized trip for Session I. We took a nice seven hour bus ride up to Asturias in the north. We stopped in the capital of Oviedo to weather that was about 20°C cooler. Yessss. Then we walked up a big hill outside Oviedo and saw some old buildings. It felt like my art history class, but I’m in Spain so I can’t complain. Then we went to our hotel in Cangas de Onís. I really liked this hotel. It had real keys. It was crazy. Cangas has this really old, sweet bridge over a stream. Like a mountain stream, not an Iowa stream, which wouldn’t have been as cool.

The next day we went up the mountains to the Parque Nacional de Los Lagos de Covadonga (The Lakes of Covadonga National Park). This was pretty cool. Someone said it felt like our own little world up there because we were above the clouds but there were still clouds above us. Once she said that (I say she because odds are it was a girl since the program only has three guys) I really did notice it. The world felt smaller. It was like I could focus on smaller things rather than the big picture. I felt like I could appreciate the scenery, the situation, and the feelings more. Then the world felt gigantic as I remembered that there was a world outside our sandwich of mist. It was weird.

Next was the Basílica de Covadonga. I actually was listening to our guide, but I can’t remember exactly why it was important. I’m pretty sure the king fended off the Muslims in Asturias. Asturias served as the foothold for Christianity’s 800 year comeback in Spain. That’s why the prince of Spain is Prince of Asturias the same way the English prince is Prince of Wales. This was all said in Spanish so I’ve probably got something important very backward. What I’m trying to say is that we found a dog eating a muffin, so we named her Muffin and tried to steal her.

Then we went to the beach. We had some doubts because it was pretty chilly in the mountains, but the beach at Llanes was perfect (Llanes is famous for some enormous painted cubes on one of the piers). It wasn’t too hot and was sunny. The water was freezing, of course. I lost a gymnastics contest, I realized going topless at the beach was socially acceptable, and I almost speared a man with a lance…would that be “almost lanced a man?” I don’t know. A friend and I built this Gothic sand castle, hoping we would get extra credit in art history. We started building the castle just fine, but the waves got closer and closer so we really spent the whole time building a giant wall to protect our mound of a castle. No, it wouldn’t have been easier to find a new spot. We decided to take a break from our toils and labor. As soon as we left, this jerk face lied (laid? Aaah, Spanish is messing with my English.) down on our wall and used it as a back rest. I was ready to fight and tried to rouse the troops by shouting, “Defend the keep!” Sadly, the only movement was from laughter as no one moved to arms. The city was lost.

The next day we went to Comillas in Cantabria. They were having a medieval festival so we spent most of the time looking at the booths. I was kind of sad we had to leave because there were stages setup for what looked like would be pretty big concerts. There was also a sidre pouring contest that I wanted to watch (Sidre is a drink typical of the north. It’s poured from above the pourer’s head to a glass around waist level because the bubbles are apparently what make it taste good. You have to drink it before it goes flat and super bitter.). The program director said that Alcalá has a medieval festival that’s four times bigger in the fall. Too bad I won’t be here.

I’ve been warned and expected that studying abroad would be a roller coaster ride of emotions. You know that feeling you get when you just got to the bottom of that first and tallest hill, when your stomach feels like it’s being pushed through your seat and you’re dangerously close to vomiting? That’s what happened to me only I puked emotionally, mentally, and physically. I wanted to go home so bad. I hope that was the low point of the trip because if I feel lower than that later, I might just fly home. I tried not to let it affect the other people in the program, although I’m sure it probably did. I know that when I’m around someone who is constantly putting something down, it sometimes affects my view of that thing. I didn’t want to be complaining all the time and possibly influence their views. This actually helped me too. I tried not to let my crappy health affect how I felt about the trip, the people, and the places. Of course, there were times when I blamed everything on Spain. I hit my head on my shelf. Stupid Spain. I forgot to save my blog in 2003 Word format for the school’s outdated computer software. Arrrgh, Spain! My water bottle is empty. What else do you want from me, Spain, seriously?! I could write a lengthy anecdote about my episode with the Spanish medical system and how I feel it compares to that in the US, but I’d rather not remember that experience or the health related experiences that ensued. And it wasn’t an STD, Michelle, but thanks for asking. Let’s drop it, eh?

I did a lot better in art history than in phonetics, which was genuinely a huge surprise. Art history is a thousand times harder. We’ll see how finals go. Clearly, since I’ve got finals, it’s the end of the first session. There’s a long break between sessions (five days or something like that). A lot of the people that are here for only one session are travelling as are the people staying for both sessions. I was invited to Milan, Switzerland, Granada, and Iowa City. The problem is I didn’t get any of the gajillion scholarship dollars Iowa claims to give to study abroad students, so I have no money to do this. However, I just got off the phone with Noelia and she is going to hike up some giant mountain up north and said I could come. My weekend plans went from nothing to mountain climbing with eight Spaniards. As far as I know, Noelia is the only that can speak English, so I’m going to get lots of practice, which I desperately need and want. I’m pretty excited to own this mountain too. I’ve got some reliable sources that tell me people have died on this sucker. It’s kind of a big deal. Don’t worry, I’ll carry a walking stick or something. If that mountain tries anything, I’ll give it a good poke. Also, I hope I see another goat.

Random thoughts:

I have a feeling my family struggles to understand me just as much as I struggle to understand them.

I’ll never get used to the way Spaniards say ‘piss.’

Swear words aren’t as bad as they are in the US, at least that’s what I’ve been told. If you want to swear, you swear. The context and intonation affect how it is interpreted; whether it’s a ‘bad’ curse word by American standards or if it’s a curse word like ‘crap.’