Chocolate & Gijón

This past week two amazing things have happened.

One, my host mom recommended a great chocolate shop/ cafe to study and it was absolutely wonderful. This may or may not be a good thing though seeing as every time I go in I consume my weight in calories. 

 Roun's strawberry ice cream!

Death by chocolate (my name for this delicious thing): crepe covered in chocolate sauce with a scoop of chocolate brownie ice cream. P.S. Chocolate in Spain is way better then chocolate in the U.S.

I also ventured out of León on Friday for the day with Roun to find some sun and the beach. It was an almost perfect 80 degree day and I fell asleep on the beach for a good few hours after we arrived to the city of Gijón. After hanging out at the beach we proceeded to wander around the city aimlessly looking for good places to shop, but we had no luck. Instead we ended up cafe hopping around town until it was time to get on the bus back home. We had a lovely day at the beach, but are still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that we cannot use our Iphone's to google map anything! Sometimes it's a little frustrating. It also doesn't help to ask people for directions here because we have no clue what any of the street names are!

 I love the little tea cups on the wall of this cafe that we found!

I love the mini muffins here! We found this great cafe in Gijón that served many yummy chocolate desserts and great tea. Gijón was the perfect combination of a relaxing getaway at the beach and a bustling Spanish city.

Ciao

Survived the First Week!

I have officially survived my first full week in Leon, classes and all. It has been overwhelming, emotional, fantastic, and a very dream-like week. Here a few things I've decided about Leon:

1. It is one of the most beautiful and historic cities I have ever been to

2. Spaniards have pits for stomachs and think that Americans don't eat enough (I know right, who would ever believe that Americans eat too little!)

3. I'm really excited about the fact that a glass of wine costs less then 2 euros here and that I receive a free tapa with any drink I purchase! (A tapa is a small plate of food. Each bar has their own special tapa that they serve).

4. Spanish films are not that great and I'm not looking forward to my film class this quarter. 

5. Every woman I see dresses impeccably. I'm always underdressed with my jeans, flats and my hoodie on. 

6. Sitting at a dinner table in Spain with a large family is like stepping into a war zone. Not only can I hardly understand them because they talk so darn fast, but everyone is yelling and talking over each other to make sure that their voice is the only one heard. So crazy. I wish I could videotape it for you. 

 One of the first night's out with my girls. This cute little guy sat underneath our table outside and we fed him scraps. We weren't quite sure who his owner was, but he was more then happy to hang out with us for a while.

Some girls from class. Love all of them. We are already becoming quite close seeing as our class  consists of 13 of us.

 This weekend and this next week, Leon is having a huge festival to celebrate their history and their city. Last night we went to a light show at the church called San Isidoro. The light show was amazing and the church was stunning.

 The images displayed throughout the light show represent the church's history, which includes many monarchies and the survival of Roman soldiers and citizens. 

After the light show a few of us walked around the city taking pictures and wandering. Roun found a hobbit sized door that was just the right size for her! We ended up at a bar drinking wine and gossiping about our host families. I'm almost positive I've already drank my weight in wine and I've only been here for a week. 

 Today my host mom took me to the festival of Leon which included a giant parade. The entire city of Leon attended (at least that's what it felt like to me). During the parade men march through the streets carrying these giant flags only from a holder connected to their belt! So crazy! There were a few times when I thought the men were going to fall down with these giant flags attached to them.

 All of the flags lined up in the Plaza Mayor, one of the most popular plazas in the city.

 Leon's version of floats.... Carriages carried by horses and oxen. 

 Bonnie, the miniature pony. Very sweet. My host mom stopped the parade just so I could take a picture with this sweetheart. 

After the parade I met up with one of my classmates, Roun, and we went to a cafe to study for a while. We have quite a bit of homework already and we have also decided we dislike our poetry homework very much, especially because reading it in Spanish makes it 10000 times harder to understand. As if poetry in English wasn't already hard enough to understand. This weekend has been incredibly long and so I'm going to lay in bed the rest of the night catching up on my shows.

Besos!

Leon

After a VERY LONG, but fun week, I have finally arrived in Leon! This beautiful city will be my home for the next three months! It has been hard adjusting to living with a host family that I know nothing about, especially when there is a huge language barrier. I am lucky though and have been placed with a really nice family; my host mom Susana, and my host sister Lourdes who is the same age as me! So far, conversation has been a bit slow and there are still a lot of hand gestures used, but I learn something new everyday and I think they learn something new in English everyday so it works out for everyone! Ok, enough talk for now, here are some pictures of Leon.

 The cathedral. Yes, we have a giant cathedral in the middle of our city!

The cathedral again

 The church of San Isidoro

 View from our classroom!

 My bedroom!

Our classroom. We literally have to walk up a spiral staircase  to the top of a tower in El Palacio de Conde Luna to get to our classroom. So amazing!

Madrid

Madrid. Beautiful. Historical. Great shopping. Overwhelming. 

I think that sums up my experience in Madrid. I checked into my hostel late on Thursday evening to meet Roun and Melissa (girls from my program). The next day we took the double deck bus tour around the city to make sure that we were able to see all the sights since we were only there for one full day. Madrid was also really hot and I was not prepared at all for that kind of weather so it was kind of miserable walking around in the sun all day and trying to sleep in a small room with no air conditioning at night. I enjoyed my adventures in the city with these two lovely ladies though. We also had to adjust to time in Madrid because they eat really late and most restaurants close down from 4pm until 9pm for siesta. It will be hard to get used to eating dinner at 9pm instead of eating at 6pm!

 The Plaza de Colon

 Spanish flag

 Palace

 View from the tour bus

 Lunch in Al Puerta del Sol

 A famous park in Madrid

Their giant futbol (soccer) stadium! So impressive!

I am now in Leon adjusting to life with my host family while only being able to speak Spanish. It is harder then I thought it would be, but I'm up for the challenge. Leon is a beautiful city and I can't wait to share the pictures and experiences with you that I have in Leon! Ciao.