I am finally here. Greetings from Santander, Spain- my home for the next month. I am currently sitting in a little cafe downtown with Amy and our new friend Molly, drinking a refreshing afternoon cervesa and eating pinchos. Amy keeps snickering at the television behind me and everytime I look at what she's laughing at a sloth is staring back at me. Spanish Animal Planet, I can dig it. Studying abroad, so far, is one of the most interesting/intense/eye
opening/confusing/uplifting/overwhelming/motivating/frustrating/beautiful/freeing experiences I have ever had- and it has only just begun. My mind has been stretched from left to right and sometimes I feel like i'm not even operating under the same reality anymore. Not only am I adjusting to a whole new time zone (jet lag is not a fun thing), but i'm also adjusting to a whole new culture and language (culture shock is not a fun thing either.) Okay, i'll be completely honest- I should have paid more attention in my Spanish classes. Lesson learned, it's really (REALLY) hard to communicate when you barely know the language and the locals barely (if any) know yours. I am such a foreigner here, I guess we all are, but man, language is such an important thing to know. I'm really interested to see where I am at at the end of this journey. I have set so many intentions and goals, first being to hold a steady conversation with my host family. Not only has it been a really interesting experience adjusting to the time and culture change, but i'm literally living with a family who I have never met before and they barely speak English (and I barely speak Spanish). It's mind-blowing, but i'm slowly becoming more and more used to this lifestyle and being surrounded by so many unfamiliar things.
Sandander is beautiful. It is a peninsula so almost every direction I look I see the ocean. It is also made up of a bunch of hills so it's very easy to find great views, and believe me- i'm taking full advantage of this opportunity.
When we first arrived the city was a bit overwhelming. We all had in mind that we would be living in a tiny, Boone-esque town- but Santander is actually a lot bigger than we all expected. Now that i've been here a couple days and have spent some time walking around the area I realize it is pretty easy to navigate to and from, but it definitly is a decent sized city, which i'm actually really happy about. However, Santander seems to have a perfect mix of it all. As I mentioned before there is the beach, but there are also mountains close by. There is an active city life, but also patches of green gardens and towering trees all over. I would consider it a fairly artsy town as well, sculptures and graffiti find refuge in the random places. One day I am going to spend hours solely dedicated to walking around the area with my Nikon taking pictures.
The school where I will be taking classes is called the Universidad De Cantabria. Yesterday was the first day of my final Spanish class in college, which was taught by this goofy spanish professor named Manuelo who I can tell is going to be a lot of fun even though he only lectures in (very fast) Spanish. It's interesting going to school in a different country, everybody stares at you when you walk by and they don't seem to care if they are being really obvious about it. I'm definitly gaining a whole new appreciation for non-American individuals who come to the States to study.
This is our classroom, which I am in love with because of those big windows and the green walls. The atmosphere is comfortable here, and I enjoy being able to see the ocean from the classroom.
Here's the proof, I am officially a student in Spain. A year ago I didn't even have this opportunity in mind, and now i'm here. Life is such a funny thing, so many possibilities- I know being impulsive can sometimes be detrimental, but so far it's done wonders on my end.
Amy's student ID photo was so legit that she is now the official face for the Universidad De Cantabria photobooth. Dreams really do come true....
Okay, only kidding..but maybe one day..
On a more serious note, I really hope this happens:
Most of the classes that the university offers are already full or have already started, but theres a few (including SURFING) that a few of us really want to do. I've already signed up for it but it's just a matter of deciding if it's worth the money to do it when we don't know how the weather will be. I'm about 98% sure it's going to happen, but sun would be a great addition. So, if you're reading this- please send good sunny-day-weather vibes our way. I really want to learn to surf in Spain. Thank you kindly. A few of us signed up today for a hiking class. I also think I may be going on another hike this coming weekend. I am glad that hiking is actually happening- that was one of my bucket list goals for this trip and it's so far been absolutely worth it (updates about me and Amy's intense little voyage-hike will happen later in this post.)
As I mentioned before (and probably will continue to mention), this town is great. There are so many neat little shops and cafes on every corner. We've all fallen in love with this one cafe which sells a variety of coffees, pastries, and sandwiches. Plus, the atmosphere is so inviting:
I hope to stumble upon more street art while in Europe. So far I have been really impressed with all that i've seen. I think that's a new bucket list goal of mine, be commissioned to do a mural on a wall in Europe. Ah, the possibilities.
The other day a little group of us went to this rooftop patio bar and sat in the sun (yes, the sun has finally started poking it's head out- thankfully) watching people fly their kites on the beach. It was like one of those pictures that comes on your computer to use as a background, except it was actually happening right there in front of us.
A differnet day a bunch of us went shopping around the downtown area and at the end of our adventure we stumbled upon a live orchestra performance happening right in the center of town. This city is so lively and entertaining, there always seems to be something going on. I've been enjoying walking around with others or by myself just seeing what we get into.
Sunday the whole gang went to the Santander futbol (soccer) game, which was a good time. It reminded me so much of being in Peru and going to see the Peruvian futbol game years ago. Unfortunately neither team scored, but it was still a fun experience. Made me miss Peru, and playing soccer.
My host family is so far a really great group of people. Ana is the mother and she has two daughters named Carmen (19) and Cristina (15). Carmen and Ana came to pick me up from the airport and I knew I loved them instantly because they were both wearing tiger print. Ana also has a fiancé named Enrique who doesn't speak a lick of English but has thus far been real nice when I have tried to communicate. Ana, Carmen and Cristina don't speak much english either- so it's been really interesting trying to communicate (by interesting I mean a perfect mix of educational, frustrating, and humorous.) When I first arrived I was literally passing back and forth a spanish dictionary with Carmen trying to communicate, but already within these first five days I am starting to pick up on spanish vocabulary and phrases. It's pretty neat. Anyways, this is Ana and her fiancé:
I don't have pictures of Carmen and Cristina, but I do have one of their little pup Duke, except they pronounce it Doo-Kee (which I find humerous as well.)
Duke has become my buddy and sometimes will sneak into my room and run either under my bed or lay on my bed. He's not allowed to do this, but sometimes I cant help but let him because he's so cute. I'm pretty sure he knows more Spanish than I do, i've accepted this though.
This is my little room:
And here is the view from the living room. I think I took this the first day I was here when the weather wasn't looking too hot. However, I love the view and love living in an apartment. Call me strange but I have always found apartments to be so much more cozy than houses.
This was the view from the apartment one night during a really great sunset. This picture doesn't do it justice, but hopefully my Nikon captured it a bit better.
As I mentioned earlier, Santander is built within a bunch of hills. As you can imagine, this makes walking around a bit of a workout, but there's one area that i'm still in awe about. As you can see in the picture below there is literally a giant escalator/elevator machine that connects downtown to the upper level of the town (which convientietly is where Amy and I live.)
It's called the Funicular and it not only saves time and our legs from being outrageously sore, but it also hosts one of the most beautiful views I have thus far found in Santander.
The street is so steep it's kind of ridiculous. But this is also the party street at night during the weekend. I was shocked the first Friday I used Funicular to get downtown, the streets were literally flooded with people drinking and enjoying themselves. Spain is like one giant party, yet some how seems twice as safe as a lot of places in the States.
We've only been here for about a week, but it's already starting to feel a bit like home. I really enjoy the group of girls that I came down here with and even though we all differ as far as personality and age, I feel we all mesh together well and are helping one another stay grounded. I know that eventually we will all start to meet locals and explore outside the group, but for now I feel good vibes and good connections brewing.
Real good connections... :)
Okay, now for the part i've been aching to share. This past Saturday Amy's host family invited her and I to go on a hike with them and a group of their friends. I don't think any of us, including Amy's family, knew what to expect- it was hands down probably the most intense, yet incredible, hike I have ever been on. Amy and I had set an intention before this trip that we wanted to do as much outdoor activity as possible. Unfortunalty, neither of us brought appropriate attire (NONE of us were expecting the weather to be as cold as it is, chacos have yet to be used, unfortunately), however- we were showered with amazing people giving us warm layers, shoes, hats, and gloves. The mountain we hiked up was about an hour drive out of the city where there was barely any civilization besides a small Spanish town that we got a glimpse of once our hike was over.
We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to be on the bus by around nine. Amy and I were the youngest people in the group, I would say that the average age was around 50. Barely anybody spoke English but the few who did were interested in talking to us and trying to practice their English with us. It was nice to feel welcomed into the group even though we weren't from Spain.
If you've picked up on the weather pattern so far during this trip then I doubt you'd be suprised that, once again, the weather was not working in our favor. When we started on our treck we could barely see 50 feet ahead of us. Fog slithered on every side of the group, making the views impossible to see. I could tell that people were a little frustrated and upset, especially those who had been on the hike before and knew how beautiful the view was. It was definitely a little shocking, but part of me thought the fog gave the hike a really mystic feel. It was literally like walking in a cloud, and somewhat cool that you had absolutely no idea what was around you. So surreal.
Regardless of the unfortunate weather, Amy and I were still in awe by what little we could see and at one point found ourselves in the very end of the group because we had stopped to take pictures. Out of nowhere we started noticing that the fog was becoming more transparent and slowly seeming to creep away. Once the rest of the group was in view we noticed that Amy's host dad was waving his arms motioning for us to come quickly down the join them.
Once we did we all stood together peering over the ledge watching as the fog finally dispersed and allowed for the most beautiful view i've probably ever seen to become visable.
I'm aware that I probably sound extremely cliche, but I truly couldn't believe my eyes. It was as if a giant gift had been unwrapped right there in front of us once we were finally able to see the view that we had been walking next to the whole time. Amy and I were speechless, and to be honest I was sort of glad that we couldn't see the view the whole time because it made it that much more special the moment we could.
As I mentioned before we were not prepared to go hiking in such cold and rainy conditions so complete strangers had given us their shoes. At the risk of now sounding extremely corny, it was kind of cool to be literally (and figuratively) walking miles in others shoes. I feel like during this whole trip so far I have been gaining a whole new perspective on how difficult it is to function in society when you are unable to communicate or voice your opinions or thoughts. Even though I was barely able to communicate with anyone I was hiking with besides Amy, I felt like people were still looking out for me and making sure that I was comfortable and having a good time. Everyone was so genuine and looking out for one another, it was a beautiful journey.
These are Amy's host parents. Probably the most incredible part of the experience was watching these two kick some serious ass. Amy told me that they are both in their 70's, yet they were keeping up right there with all of us- and as I mentioned before this was not a piece-of-cake route. I felt so inspired by their strength and I can only hope that I'm still charging up mountains when I am in my 70's.
Altogether the hike was visually and mentall so refreshing. The atmosphere was so colorful and brisk, and it was beautiful to see cows, bulls, and windmills every so often. I love the city, don't get me wrong, but it is so healing to get away and be imersed in the company of some genuine soil.
The hike started around 10 in the morning and didn't end till around 8 in the evening. Our only break was to sit and eat lunch on the hillside.
Shortly after lunch ended and we were on our way again the fog started to seep back onto the mountain. This time though it was even thicker, and we were much higher on the mountain. We were walking through the clouds and althought it was beautiful it was it was starting to get a bit dangerous to stick to the normal path.
Our guide reminded me of McDonalds. He was dressed, as you can see below, real bright. Once the fog came back I realized this was probably a really smart deicison on his part. It became so hard to see anything around you that we had to change routes because the normal route came too close to the edge and it was too dangerous to be that close with such limited visablility.
The alternative route we took was, no joke, straight up the mountain with barely any type of path cleared for us to follow. I don't think anyone was prepared for this, but we all did it and made it to the top.
It was freeeeezing up there too. At one point we saw snow, which was not on my bucketlist for my SUMMER excersion to Spain. Too bizarre, yet somewhat hilarious.
Amy and I both ended up buying some new shoes in order to do more hiking. We have at least 2 more excursions planned, but hopefully more will fall in our lap.
I'm sort of running out of steam on this update. It's really hard to recap everything that has been happening to the full extent. Hopefully the pictures have been filling in the gaps. It's probably a combination of all the travels, time change, and trying to intertwine two langauges together constantly, but i'm exhausted (in the best way possible.) I'm already sort of bummed that this trip is only two months long, but i'm already excited for whenever my next overseas adventure is. I think i'm addicted to traveling, and i'm absolutely okay with it. Once again thank you for checking out this blog, hopefully some of this has inspired you in some way to get out and do something you never intended to do.
