Our family in Vigo

They were all here! Heather’s mom, sister, grandma, and two aunts enjoyed almost a week in Vigo. Matt and I cleaned the apartment so that it sparkled like never before and prepared a big supper complete with a fancy bakery-made cake before we took a nervous bus ride to the airport late Sunday afternoon. My stomach was fluttering with nervous excitement as the sign flashed with their plane’s arrival. Just minutes afterwards, however, it dropped family did not make to beneath the floor when we couldn’t catch a glimpse of anyone. Twenty minutes confirmed our fears…our it to Vigo. After listening to a voice message on Skype, we found out they had been detained for a night in Detroit before their flight to Paris and on to Vigo. How disappointing! It was terribly sad to go back home just the two of us and to place the lasagna in the refrigerator and to spend the night worrying about their safety. Thankfully, everyone and all the luggage arrived safe and sound the very next day. I can’t explain how wonder it felt to hug Mom and Hanna and Grandma and just to see everyone, to be with family and to hear the familiar English, to smile at being with a bunch of ladies who even look like me. It certainly was one of those time-stopping moments! That afternoon we ate the lasagna and despite the rain, walked around the city to visit Plaza Espana, Plaza E, and the Corte Inglés. Everyone got to sleep early that night; just think of the exhaustion of traveling across the Atlantic plus the seven-hour time change! The next day Matt and I woke up early and went to the fruit stand to buy fresh fruit for a breakfast salad, and it was delicious. Mom cut up bananas, oranges, kiwi, strawberries, and apples and dashed a bit of pineapple juice to keep it fruity fresh. Everyone just loved the treat! That afternoon we traveled by train to Santiago de Compostela to tour the gothic church. We all liked the menu del día in the cute restaurant and all tried the famous pulpo: boiled octopus seasoned with paprika. Yum yum! On our way back to the train station, we ran into a Carnival parade and so we stopped to watch the bright floats pass by while listening to the pounding music. That night we arrived home so late that we just went back home, but that was one of the coziest evenings. Mom and I chatted on the couch while drinking hot tea and Hanna and Matt played a game of cards while joking around with each other. The rest of the days we spent around Vigo: shopping on the pedestrian Principe and main street Urzaiz, to the beach Samil to touch the icy cold water of the Atlantic, a visit to our university in the hills plus lunch in the cafeteria, as well as a walk down by the port and an afternoon at the shopping center Gran Via. We were always happily busy! Matt and I were proud of everyone, especially Grandma. She has a difficult case of diabetes and usually follows a strict eating/insulin schedule. Not only did she experience a seven-hour time change, but also the Spanish lifestyle of eating breakfast at 10, lunch at 3, and supper at 9. Grandma managed so well and made the week enjoyable with her good attitude and energy. By Friday evening, we were all tired and content. Everyone had their purchases and little gifts to surprise friends and family at home and Mom even bought a beautiful pair of leather boots! The leather here in Spain is just wonderful, and I don’t think I’d be over generalizing to say that every woman in Vigo owns at least one pair of boots (I do!). On Friday, we concluded with a nice meal at Hollywood and enjoyed those free refills and a platter of super nachos plus our separate meals. Saturday morning we were up at three to make it to the airport with the help of our kind friend Juan José and at six we had to say the difficult goodbyes. What a good week we had! It meant so much to us to be with family. It will provide the strength and goodwill we need to make it through the next few months of school in Vigo. How blessed we are by family and we are looking forward to being home with them.

Teachers on Strike and Carnival Festivals

First and foremost – we finished that paper! We are entirely over and done with the first semester at the University of Vigo, affectionately referred to as CUVI (Central Universidad de Vigo) by the townspeople. With that behind us, Matt and I were looking forward to beginning a new set of classes and meeting the new Erasmus and American students coming for the second semester only. Sadly, meeting new friends also means saying goodbye to friends who are only staying for the first semester. On Tuesday, Matt and I went to a farewell party for two of our favorite friends, two girls from Germany and Poland respectively. We enjoyed hot chocolate with cinnamon and whipped cream and several Polish dishes with the traditional Spanish tortilla while a rainstorm raged outdoors with the power of a fierce wind. On our way home, we were battered by the wind for a few seconds before coming to the conclusion of taking a taxi as it was too late for a bus and we thought it would take twenty minutes or more to walk. We shared a taxi with Carolina and told the man our address, and surprisingly he took a road we were unaware of and we ended up at our apartment door in two minutes. We couldn’t help but laugh at our surprise and thankfully the expense of a taxi only cost 3 euros for our two-minute ride in the rain. As far as our new classes we cannot say too much because…the teachers and faculty went on strike! Honestly! We had class on Monday and everything seemed to be normal but indeed, nothing was normal on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The strikers formed a roadblock that forced students and non-participating members to park alongside the road instead of in the lots. Even the buses did not enter the university; the students were booted out ahead of the roadblock. Furthermore, there were not any classes during those days even though many students were milling about and we couldn’t determine why. So quite truthfully, we haven’t had a full week of class since December. When we returned in January, we only had two of our four classes, and then there was the long exam period, and now a strike. Now Vigo is enjoying its festivities for Carnival, a celebration similar to Mardi Gras. Last night, Matt and I went to an evening parade and discovered children in Halloween-like costumes and a number of adults dressed in intricate costumes. My favorite was a family dressed as Native Americans: the father as a warrior, the mother as a beautiful princess, and the baby with war paint wrapped tightly in a blanket like a papoose. The parade highlighted Asian exotics and American icons and hidden political messages in its displays. My favorite was a group of girls wearing poodle skirts and Spanish John Travoltas dancing along to the soundtrack from Grease. Matt and I both had a good laugh at men dressed as Vigo’s green busses whirling around and people dressed up to imitate broken down houses and shacks with writing that stated “abandoned neighborhoods.” It was a distinctively Spanish parade and certainly entertaining. Now this next week, my family from the Midwest will be in Vigo! I am so excited to see my family and to show them around our European home. Class can wait another week!

Finals Done, Woohoo

We made it! We are (almost) finished with the fall semester at Vigo! On Wednesday and Friday Matt and I took our exams and were certainly grateful to be finished with such a daunting task. Our literature professor marched into the classroom and seated us randomly; three students in each row with the foreigners (Matt, Nicky, and me) separated. She then handed out six sheets of printing paper, followed by the exam itself: two essay questions. We then had the next two hours to scratch out our complete knowledge regarding the questions, everything in Spanish of course. Thankfully, we had the help of our Spanish/English dictionary, and even though we didn’t completely fill out six blank pages, both Matt and I were satisfied. On Friday, our history professor sat us in alphabetical order, resulting in my sitting between John and Matt and in front of Jenny. Nicky was in the very first row! The history exam was very similar to the literature exam, only we had three essay questions with the choice of choosing two to answer and a longer time limit. Afterwards, Matt and I were giddy, happy, and exhausted; we decided to celebrate by eating dinner at an American restaurant aptly known as Fosters’ Hollywood. We enjoyed a nacho appetizer and our main plates: I chose a barbeque chicken and Matt devoured a chiliburger. We lingered over our Cokes (free refills!) and discussed the accomplishment of completing (almost) one full semester in Spain. Our happy weekend continued into Saturday evening when we went to a dinner party at our French friends’ home. We received an email in English saying, “We have organized a party and want to see you!” Though we didn’t know what to expect, Matt and I happily went along because we really do like the three girls, though their names are incredibly French sounding and hard to remember. It turns out Matt and I were the only non-native French speakers in a party of ten or so lovely French students. We were quite comfortable though because our three French friends also invited the group of three French girls in our history class and we knew several others. The highlight of my evening was when “Come What May” sung by Ewan McGregor from the movie Moulin Rouge played on Emilie’s iTunes. I know the words by heart and happily sung them out and was surprised when two girls joined in with me. There we were singing in English, drinking orange juice and Coke and munching on bread and pate, in a cozy little apartment surrounded by French friends. The night was incredibly fun. This morning we went to Playa Samil, the beach, to catch the circus that is in town. When we discovered, however, how much tickets cost, we decided to walk along the sand instead. The day was warm and sunny and we sat talking with Nicky and watching the waves, joggers, and a game of soccer. What a beautiful day! After we write a paper, the semester will be officially completed, and we finally get to choose new classes! What will life be like without two hours of Spanish history twice a week? We can’t wait to find out.