El Camino a Galicia

  I have been able to make some truly amazing friends in Spain. To my great fortune, Lucia,one of those close friends, invited me to spend the weekend with her and her family in a busy coastal port town called La Coruna. I enthusiastically accepted the generous offer which would take place over "a puente" the first of two 3 day weekends I would have this semester. How could I miss an opportunity to spend more time with my lovely friend Lucia and her family and get to see another part of Spain?

La Coruna is located in the northwestern corner of Spain in a province called Galicia. Gallego is the language spoken by citizens of this region in addition to Castellano and other regional dialects. Galicia sits above northern Portugal along the Atlantic coast on the Iberian Peninsula and is best known for its seafood.

With permission from my professor, since I needed to leave early from class to make the flight, Lucia and I boarded a late Thursday afternoon Ryan Air flight to Santiago de la Compustela, a well known town in Galicia, approx. 30 minutes by car from La Coruna. I was thrilled beyond words. Here I was on an hour flight  to an area of Spain I never imagined I would get to visit.  When we arrived in Santiago it was raining on and off; just as Lucia had previously warned me. (During the winter in Galicia it rains practically every day.) From the airport,we took a local bus into the city, dropped off our luggage at Lucia’s friend’s apartment and immediately set out to explore the sights.

Santiago is a small, holy, University City. Santiago is famous for El Camino de Santiago (Way of St James), a Christian pilgrimage. Every year thousands hike "El Camino" from France into Spain in pilgrimage to St. James. Legend says that the remains of St James are buried in the Cathedral of Santiago, which  is where the el Camino pilgrimage ends. If you are interested check out an independent film called "El Camino"starring Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. I haven't seen it but my parents loved the film and it's beautiful portrayal of the Way of St. James. 

First stop in Santiago was park that overlooked the famous Cathedral de Santiago. From this park we were able to get the best view of the Cathedral. Afterwards, we headed into the heart of the small city to Calle Franco. Although small, the city is absolutely gorgeous with windy, narrow cobble stone streets. The Plaza in front of the cathedral is the place where many pelegrinos aka pilgrims celebrate finishing El Camino. It is a beautiful place where you cannot help but be overwhelmed with the sanctity and joy of it all; people of all ages and places walking for miles, days, weeks to complete El Camino. Inside, the cathedral is absolutely breathtaking, with an altar completely covered in gold embellishments. We explored the cathedral and went into the tomb of Saint James which is actually under the alter. It was amazing being with 2 people from Galicia who could explain to me the significance of the Cathedral and the pilgrimage. After we walked around some more, we stopped at a local café so that I could try the traditional tarta de Santiago, which by the way, is absolutely scrumptious. After a full day of exploring Santiago, Lucia and I headed to her home town of La Coruna drained.

The following day, Friday, was a national holiday in Spain. So Lucia, her family and I went to El Torre de Hercules. This tower is an ancient Roman lighthouse where legend says Hercules killed the monster Geryon. After killing him, Hercules built a lighthouse on top of Geryon’s bones. Upon arrival at the Torre I was absolutely in awe of the structure. For its age and location along the coast, I was surprised that it was still in perfect structural condition. It was 265 stairs to the top, but Lucia and I climbed away.  After several minutes of climbing we finally made it to the top. What a view! We could practically see all of La Coruna. Just as we stepped out on the balcony, it started pouring rain...typical Galicia!  The view was still beautiful even with all the wind and rain.  After the Torre, we visited a popular bar/restaurant to dry off. It is here where all the trophies of Galicia’s futbol (soccer) team called Deportivo de La Coruna are stored.                          

    Thereafter we headed back to Lucia's for a home-cooked lunch (yeah!!) and a well deserved siesta.Later that night we walked around the old part of the city and the shopping district. Luckily, it had finally stopped raining and we were able to enjoy the night without drenching rain. For la cena or dinner,  we went to Fosters which is an American style restaurant. (I highly recommend it if you are in the mood for some comfort food.)

The following day we went to the largest mall in all of Europe located in La Coruna.  Lucia was eager to show me a store only available in Spain called Primark which she is fond of. Basically, Primark is a department store akin to a higher end version of Walmart without a food section. The store was really interesting and I bought a few scarves and a sweater since winter was coming.

Each Province in Spain has different nightlife. In La Coruna it is typical to go out for a drink first, then go to the local nightclubs all of which are located in the Mall. Next, we met some friends at a local discoteca. It was a really fun night out with Lucia’s friends but unfortunately we had to call it an early night because we had to catch a flight the next day.

La Coruna on the northwestern coast is a  very charming city. It has the best of both worlds; a special combination of city life and shore life.  La Coruna and the Galicia region also have the best seafood I have eaten in Spain and I was so fortunate to have had an opportunity to try some treats like grilled fish and empanadas de gallego. But the very best dish I had was homemade.  Lucia's mom graciously spent time making me a galician delicacy and fabulous home cooked stew called pulpo al gallego (octopus gallego style). It was so delicious. This was by far one of the best dishes I have eaten in all of Spain. 

    Overall,  my trip to Galicia was amazing, spiritually uplifting and loads of fun filled with delicious seafood. Lucia’s family were wonderful hosts and treated me like a daughter. Mil gracias to Lucia and her wonderful family!!! On my way back to Madrid so for now chao!

La Vida en mi Uni (Parte 2)

 Lately, the majority of my posts have been about my travels throughout Spain. Rest assured however that my primary focus here is educational and I promise, I study too!

Let’s talk a little about what the Uni (university) life is like here.  I take 4 courses and work in a materials lab for credit. So far, all of my courses have been fair to med in difficulty-----except one which is disproportionately challenging, that is, Control Engineering. The engineering course material itself is not extremely difficult. What I can't seem to overcome with this course however is teaching style and schedule. The way that this particular course is taught  really confuses me.  Coming from an American University, I am used to loads of homework and a strict library schedule of 2 -3 hours minimum every day.  Here, I get no homework, just lecture, pop quizzes and periodic exams. Not having homework makes the Controls material even more difficult. While I study a lot, by Spanish standards, I have no framework, no homework to guide me.  Also, the Controls text book does not provide examples or illustrations on how to do the problems. The book only provides information about definitions and theory. I find it extremely challenging to learn in this fashion. Shockingly, this experience has made me come to appreciate the value of homework, graded or not.  Homework keeps you on your toes, requires you to practice the concepts you learned to ensure greater understanding of the course material. Additionally, tutoring is not available to students. Honestly I am not sure why?  So I am virtually on my own to learn the material. Very different from what I am use to back in the USA.

Yet, aside from Controls, my other courses have been going really great, especially my lab research. My research is focused on a medicinal putty/glue for joint replacements. The entire research team at the university is extremely friendly and helpful. They have assigned me large independent tasks, like mixing different chemicals to make cement. I truly enjoy the responsibility and work. Much to my surprise, I have found that working in a lab is extremely soothing and relaxing. I get there, set up, put on some jams and go about doing my assigned work independently pursuant to my schedule. I have also learned a lot about chemical reactions and materials engineering during this lab experience.  I hope that when I return to my home university I can continue working in a laboratory setting like this!

Another thing that I have found difficult about school here is studying during the very elongated Spanish day. Spaniards, cherish their night hours, the majority of people consider only the hours 8am to 2pm and 4pm to 8pm “work hours”.  These “work hours” are used for studying, working,  or running errands so that you can eat, socialize and relax during the rest of the hours of the day.  This schedule has thrown me for a loop. So far the only public libraries I have found in the city close at 10 pm every day and are not open on weekends at all. This makes things problematic for somebody like me who is accustomed to studying all night until midnight or later. I actually consider myself a night owl who thinks best between the hours 10 pm and 2 am. The university library at home normally closes at 2 am everyday and is open 24/7 during midterms and finals. So at home I make very good use of the library for studying, and I study a lot. While I love my residence hall here ( I will talk about my experience in my residence in a later post), it's not the best place to study because of the many (social) interruptions. Moreover, my room at the residence hall, while cozy,  is quite small with inadequate (energy saver type) lighting. Unfortunately , the longer days in Spain combined with different time schedule and limited library facilities has made my school adjustment extremely difficult. This has caused me a lot of anxiety in Controls, my most challenging class. I never imagined that libraries in the university city area would close so early. I am a creature of habit. I need my library study time! For that reason I don’t think I have adjusted well to the Uni life here but....I am still working at it!

In other news, I recently went to the Palacio Real aka the Royal Palace and formal home of the kings and queens of Spain in the Capital of Madrid.   I especially enjoyed this touristic visit because the friend who accompanied me is a native Spaniard. As such, he was able to offer me a lot of inside information about Spanish royalty and the history of the palace. The building is enormous and breathtakingly majestic.   Surprisingly, its' architecture has a lot of Roman and Greek references as well as statutes of mythological Gods and paintings of the Trojan war.  It is absolutely beautiful and is just as extravagant on the inside as the outside. I highly suggest visiting this hugely popular touristic attraction if you come to Madrid! Beware, taking pictures inside is prohibited except for in the arms room, thus I only have pictures of the exterior, but enjoy nonetheless.

Salamanca

​Salamanca, the location of the oldest University in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe. was my latest weekend excursion. Salamanca is situated approx. two and half hours north west of Madrid and located in the autonomous community of Castilla y Leon. It is known to be largely a University City. In fact, it attracts thousand of international students annually who seek mostly to learn the Spanish language.  This trip was organized by my university, Comillas. For the meager price of 65 euros, the trip was a true bargain. It included transportation, hotel accommodations for one night, breakfast, various guided tours and entrance into various museums.  

         Once again at 8 am on a brisk Saturday morning I boarded a bus with about 70 other exhausted foreign exchange (Erasmus) students. Yes the reason everyone was exhausted of course was because we all stayed out the previous night until 6 am.  Btw, "Keepers," a night club in Madrid, is highly suggested!  As soon as we arrived in Salamanca, we placed our luggage in our rooms and set off on our first tour of the city’s center. We started, where most tours begin in Spain, in the Plaza Mayor and moved towards the Cathedrals. 

Interestingly,Salamanca has two cathedrals, one attached to the other.  The older cathedral was built in the 12^th century in romanesque architectural style; while the newer much larger Cathedral was built in the 16^th century and completed in the 18th century in gothic style. FUN FACT: When the new cathedral was being restored a restoration artist took it upon himself to “contemporize” the cathedral, so he carved an astronaut figurine into one of the arches.

Try and spot the Astronaut!

       After the cathedrals, we also toured the Casa de las Conchas ( the house of sea shells) which is currently a public library. This early 16^th century building was constructed when the son of the building architect married the daughter of the Count of Benavente. It's facade is decorated with conches and lilies symbolically representing of each family. Legend says that a gold brick lies under one of the conch shells.

Finally at 2 pm, we had a food break! I, as always, was starving. We headed back into the plaza mayor and found a nice terrazza outside to enjoy lunch. So I along with a bunch of other students sat down and enjoyed a nice long 2 hour lunch in the sun.  I ate "entremeses" (appetizers) which was comprised among other things a plate of chorizo and jamon serrano, some of my favorite meats!

​After lunch, we took a tour of the University of Salamanca the oldest University in Spain and the third oldest University in all of Europe. It was founded in 1218. The University is absolutely beautiful and can be best described as a real life version of Hogwarts! And let’s be honest… who doesn't like Harry Potter? Every room has large tapestries covering the walls and wooded benches instead of desks.  While most of the university buildings are still in operational use, one building has been historically preserved for tourists.  How cool would it be to say you attend the oldest University in your country?

            After about 5 hours of touring, the lack of sleep was finally catching up to me. I NEEDED sleep. So, my friend and I attempted to return to the hotel to take a much needed siesta before the FIESTA. Well, the unique thing about Salamanca is that the entire city is made out of the same white stone. While beautiful, it makes getting around the city extremely challenging and confusing. So what should have been a 10 minute walk turned into an ordeal of over an hour. Along the way, we stopped at a local bar to watch the end of the Real Madrid versus Barcelona soccer game, then we stopped in a grocery store to buy water and afterwards took several wrong turns. Finally at 8pm we made it back to our hotel.  After a quick siesta we were ready to begin the night! We started the evening at a pub called Gatsby! That night we went to several other pubs each with different themes and met some interesting people along the way (For some reason, many people were wearing animal outfits, an animal rights fundraiser or pre Halloween festivities???..I don't know.) We also accidentally attended a bridal party at a local “Spanish" themed bar and ended the night at "Camelot," a medieval themed discoteca (nightclub).  We finally made it back to the hotel around 4 am and beyond exhausted.

             A mere five hours later, I was up again getting ready for day two of tours! Thankfully, our tour guide understood that everyone had a long night so she took it easy on us.  We began by walking toward the Thormes River to appreciate the marvels of Salamanca's roman bridge. Here we spent half of the tour taking what seemed like a million group photos…tourism at its finest. 

          We spent the rest of the tour walking leisurely around the city. But how can our tour end without an aerial view of this historic city??? So a determined group of us bought tickets to climb the Leronimus bell tower located near Plaza Juan XXlll. Well worth the effort! How I mustered the energy to climb hundreds of steps still puzzles me!  It was absolutely beautiful at the top. Once inside the bell tower, there is a smaller spiral stair case that leads to the actual bell.  The entire bell mechanism was extremely fascinating. I really loved it. 

        After the bell tower, I was completely beat and ready to go home. I thought I would get some much needed rest on the return trip. Even though we were back in Madrid by 8pm, I was still completely exhausted. WHAT A LONG WEEKEND!  Time to hit the sack. 

Coming up next… some more info about Madrid and a trip to Santiago de Compostela and La Coruna!

But, chao for now!

Me Gusta Comer!

One thing I have not talked about enough is the FOOD! The food in Spain is FANTASTIC, DELICIOUS and just plain YUMMY! There are so many places where you can eat; ranging from different local bars with tapas to just regular restaurants. Here are a few tapas places I highly recommend if you are in Madrid.

•       El Tigre –One drink = free tapas!
•       100 Montaditios
•       Granada – located in Cuatro Caminos
•       Taquería mi Cuidad
•       Casa Alberto – restaurant where Cervantes wrote half of Don Quixote
•       Fosters - "American" style food  

Additionally, there is one place in particular that I have patronized that I absolutely love, that is, El Mercado de San Miguel, a gourmet food market situated near la Plaza Mayor. The food here is phenomenal. They have everything from paella, burgers, sushi to sangria and seafood. I have been quite adventurous with my palate while in Spain. At El Mercado of San Miguel I have tried so many delicious new foods like oysters and sea urchin. Enjoy the photos!

I would  like to give a special shout out, a mi amiga espanola, Maria, for being the first person I have ever seen eat a hamburger with a fork and knife!!!

Chao for now!