¡¡¡HOLA A TODOS!!!
¡Mucho lo siento!
It has been quite some time since I have updated my blog and while not too much has happened since then I am sorry for keeping you all in the dark! Basically, I actually had to start doing work for school. Midterms and papers are just finishing up now so hopefully I will not be so distant again. (Haha, get it? Distant?) Anywho, on to the update!
I think three weekends ago now marks the beginning of my story. It was the weekend of Carnaval (what they call Mardi Gras) and a few of my friends and I made a trip to Ciudad Rodrigo. Ciudad Rodrigo is one of the few places that celebrates Carnaval with "Encierros de toros" or as we like to call this tradition, "Running of the Bulls". That's right! I got to see dressed up drunk people get chased by massive mammals with horns!! So entertaining. Oh yes, for Carnaval everyone dresses up. Actually, for practically any special occasion/feast day/holiday in Spain, they dress up. My friends and I just bought some masks and wore them around all day. I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone traveling to Spain, it's a huge part of the culture and it is a great experience. However, if you are an Animals' Rights activist, then I highly do not recommend you go. It's pretty sad the way the taunt the bulls and rile them up during the encierros, but it's even more sad when they kill these majestic creatures in the corrida de toro (bull fight). I did not get to watch the corrida, I decided to save money and not pay to see that part of the culture of Spain (besides I can watch it on TV here for free! There's a whole channel dedicated to it.) and bawl my eyes out. All in all, the trip was a major success.
Other than that fun little excursion, I really have not been up to much. I actually started doing work and had to study for midterms and write papers and all this stuff I was really trying to avoid. It's funny how much life in Spain really isn't that different from life at home. I get up, eat breakfast, go to class, eat, study, workout, study, eat, go to bed. It's just cooler because I'm in Spain and studying in a library that used to be a palace and eating homemade Spanish cuisine like Torjillas (a french-toast-like dessert that they usually eat during Semana Santa). Oh which reminds me, the other night we went out for paella with my program. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! We went to this nicer restaurant and the dueño (owner) was so nice and welcomed us and explained what we were going to eat and everything. We started off by pouring some tinto (red wine) and enjoying some artesian bread that had been toasted. The bread was SO GOOD though because before eating it, you took a clove of garlic and cut it in half and then lightly rubbed the garlic on the bread to "perfume" it. Then, you took this tomato sauce and spread it over the bread, added a little salt and drizzled some olive oil over it. Familia, we will def be trying this when I get home. The paella was a paella mixta, so there was chicken, mussels, calamari, shrimp, and probably some other stuff that I could not identify. Best paella I have ever had in my life! Ok, so I have only had paella three times in my life now. One that I made (so it wasn't really Spanish and prob tasted nothing like real Spanish paella) and one my host mom made (unfortunately, it just couldn't compare to this paella). For dessert we had this sort of vanilla pudding dish and we got to caramelize the top of it ourselves. Literally, I poured sugar on top of it and was handed a mini-blow torch. Yeah, I totally want one of those now.
Let's see, I don't think there is anything else to update you on so far. My next big trip will be to Portugal in the first week of April, so until something exciting happens or until then...
¡Hasta luego!
I miss you and love you all VERY VERY much.
Hope
