When in Spain

Apparently I look Spanish. Several of the girls have talked about how traveling in Spain is difficult because they often receive weird looks and less-than-friendly exchanges even though some of them are native speakers! I piped in that I had not been on the receiving end of any hostility, however mild, and that everyone has been perfectly kind and helpful. The Spanish even go so far as to ask me directions and questions of clarification randomly on the street. This has prompted me to wonder what part of me with luggage in tow and map/camera in hand does not scream absolute tourist. One girl Jessica took a long look at me and declared that my short stature, pale skin, curly hair, and facial features all combine to make me appear, at least APPEAR, Spanish. Of course the minute I open my mouth, the cat is out of the bag. But hey, I'm not complaining. I fit in!

Today was the first day of class, and it relieved any worry in my mind that this would be even slightly difficult at all. We only have class from 9:30 am to 1 pm, and from 1-2 there is a module option for conversation, movie, art & history, or business. The Spanish professors are all very chill and funny, a lot like Eugene professors, and class goes by really fast with games and convo. In our class, we have several of us norteamericanos, along with some Germans, Australians, English, one Italian, one Cambodian, and some girls from a place I had never heard of that is Eastern Mediterranean. It is kinda cool that Spanish is all we have in common because it forces us to use it even after class.

After class we had our "walking tour of Oviedo" with the art history professor. We went to the catedral, walked around the Old Quarter, and drank cidra, which is not as sweet as hard cider, but tastes more like an appley beer. They pour it waaaaaaaay over their heads like the Spanish coffee at Huber's in Portland. The waiters make such a show of it, and look into your eyes rather than at the bottle or the glass. Apparently it absolutely MUST be poured this way, so we all took turns unfortunately spilling most of our cidra :(. After you pour, you must drink the whole thing in one gulp, and empty the remains on the ground. I forget why this is, but I am thinking its an ashes to ashes kinda thing. Here are five things you didn't know about cathedrals (or maybe you did): 1) There is only one in every town. 2) They all face east. Why east? Jerusalem is east. 3) They are built with the money of the townspeople, not the church. 4) They are modeled like a body: head, arms, torso. and, 5) They have relics. The Cathedral in Oviedo is famous for its relics, which include a cross the Asturian king used when he rode into battle against the Moors, a cloth with the face of La Virgen, Jesus' used nappy, etc, etc.

I am finding it very easy to adapt to the Spanish lifestyle. It suddenly makes an incredible amount of sense to eat a big lunch after class, and take a siesta to sleep it off. Why on earth wouldn't I eat dinner at 10:30 pm with the elderly and families alike, and go out with friends after? In America, the nightlife gets started around 8, and by 1am bars are closing up shop and people are dragging themselves back to bed. But in Spain, if you arrive at a bar at midnight, they literally have to turn the lights on for you... Extrano, no? That being said, I am off to dinner!