Taking a Snow Day

Being from Colorado and growing up in an area where it snows a lot means that when I leave for a place where it doesn't snow, I miss it a lot! Since the city I live in now, Gijón, is on the coast, I probably won't be walking to work in the snow this year.

But a couple of weekends ago I got lucky and got to make a trip to the snow! We went to an area in Soria called Piqueras, and even though I have a sprained ankle and can't hike far, we made the best of the trip with lots of snowballs. I also taught my boyfriend how to make a snow angel...he'd never heard of one before!

Ringing in 2013- London Style!

For the first week in January this year, my boyfriend and I went to London! It's been on my list for a long time, also my dad told me he would disown me if I left Europe without visiting this age-old city, so I decided it was about time to go.


Everyone always told me "London is awesome!" and "You're going to love it there!" so I really didn't have high expectations going in...just kidding! The best part is that in the end it lived up to my dream-like expectations! These were my favorite things:

Home Sweet Home...Gijón Version

Hi everyone, I'm back!! I know it's been an incredibly long time since I've written anything, and I'm sure most of you forgot that I even had a blog! Lets just skip over all of my excuses and just say, I'm glad to be back. Also, I forgot how hard it is to keep something like this going. I've been gone so long that I'm not even sure how to begin! But let's begin with the most recent. 

This year I moved to a different city, this time on the northern coast- right on the beach! It's called Gijón, and it's in the region of Asturias. This map shows the region, not the city. (source)

Lessons Learned in Barcelona....

In Spain, Easter is quite the party. At my school, I had a two full week vacation! I spent the first part of my vacation relaxing in Logroño and then I headed out for the first leg of my vacation...in Barcelona! I've never been to Barcelona but we only had a couple of days to visit. (After that we headed out to Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice.) I'm going to have to go back sometime because it's such a big city and there's so much to see. But, we did see a lot for how long we were there. I also learned some very important lessons.

Pamplona...Much more than corridas de toros

A couple of weekends ago, a few girlfriends and I went to visit Pamplona for the day. I have been wanting to visit for a while, and while I've driven through a couple of times, I've never had the chance to actually wander around in the city and see the sights. We started off the day getting "breakfast" and drinking coffees, of course.

Got caught in the running of the bulls!

(Quick, someone take the picture before we get in trouble for being on the statue!)

Nacimiento Del Rio Urederra- The Birth of the Urederra River

Today, a big group of friends and I all went on a hike by the river Urederra. It's about an hour and a half drive from where we live, in the neighboring province. My friends went back in October, but I wasn't able to go that day, so I'm so glad that I finally got the chance to go! It is about a 5 mile hike round trip, following the river up to the place where it is "born" or where it comes out of the mountain. This hike is full of breath taking waterfalls and crystal clear blue water - I think pictures may describe it better....

Partilho a tentação com quem mais gosto- Portugal!

Partilho a tentação com quem mais gosto- this is from a sugar packet...sometimes you find great tid-bits on sugar! This one says, "I'll share temptation with those I like the most."

Felices Fiestas Part 1: Madrid

Puerta del Sol- everyone together now!

Since I found out that I was accepted into this program to live in Spain for a while, my family has been really excited to come out and visit me...and they finally made it! I know I'm a little late on the uptake, but this is part of our journey, starting on Christmas. The three of them flew into Madrid on Christmas day, so I took the bus down to meet them. We rented a piso for a couple of days and from there we discovered Museo del Jamon, the Puerta del Sol, the Palacio Real, Parque Retiro, Plaza de Torros, and way too many museums!

Amor por el mar- Cantabria

Here in Spain there is a thing called a puente. They have a lot of holidays that are on a Tuesday or a Thursday and they take the days off in between. So if there is a holiday on Tuesday, they will take the Monday before that off and call it a puente (bridge). In the beginning of December, there was a week where we had two puentes in one week! Actually, most schools took only one puente and worked two days in the week. I was supposed to work two days of the week, but I somehow weaseled out of it and ended up having to work only one day- and got two puentes! So two of my roommates and I went on a road trip up to one of the northern regions of Spain- Cantabria. We had had a few girls from Santander come visit and stay at our place a few weeks before hand so we figured we would call them up and see if we could stay with them and explore the area. My one roommate has a friend native to the area, so we had a list of awesome villages around Santander that we needed to visit.

Los Pirineos

Since we live so close to the Pyranees, we decided that we needed to go visit them! So one weekend we rented a car and drove up there.

We were looking for a tiny little town named Sallent de Gallego, just a mere 30 minute drive from the French border. It was quite a beautiful drive through the Spanish country side, ending in breathtaking views of the Pyranees. Once we got to Sallent de Gallego, we had a quick bite to eat and then went as quickly as we could to try and get some hiking in before the sun went down. After hiking, we drove over the French border to have a coffee, just so we could say we'd been to France! We also ran over the border because there was no border patrol....

Viva Italia- Milan!

My first international trip....from Spain! A few weeks ago a group of us who wanted to go on an international trip met up to decide when/where to go. After perusing the flight prices, we decided on Milan, Italy. Mainly because the flights were so cheap. Now I know why- it was freezing!! And foggy. Oh well, it's still a beautiful city.

So after stuffing ourselves repeatedly with pizza, pasta, and gelato, we toured the city and also took a day trip out to Como Lake. I also happened upon a traditional Milano dessert, called meneghina. It's a raisin bread, layered with cream in between, toasted and covered in Grand Marnier. Delicious!!

I love Donostia! (San Sebastian)

San Sebastian.... known to the locals as Donostia, is my new favorite city in Northern Spain. A big group of us decided to go up to San Seb together last weekend to hopefully catch some of the last days of the year when it would be warm enough to go swimming. My roommate from Belgium has a car, and she said she could drive so we decided to pack as many people as there are seats in her car. That was a bad idea- her car is tiny. But we survived the long and cramped drive and finally made it without getting lost too many times!

La Concha- the tourist beach, and the harbor on the other side of the mountain

Porque la vida es como te la tomas...

I realize that it has been quite some time since I wrote my last post, but it has also been quite some time since my life has felt any sense of "normal." I think that probably has to do with the fact that I just moved to another country, but I digress.

La Calle Gran Via

These first couple of weeks in Spain have been quite the whirlwind. My very first weekend, in Madrid, consisted of an "orientation" and meeting heaps of new people that I soon learned I would probably never see again. Although, we did have a good time. We went to visit the Museum of Reina Sofia, which was jam packed with modern and crazy art, including some cubism and an entire floor devoted to Pablo Picasso. We also found ourselves wandering around around the Plaza del Sol and sampling more than one pitcher of Sangria. But, we only had a short time in Madrid and then quickly moved on to Logroño.

Only two days left?!

I know I've really fallen off of the blog train here, but I haven't really been doing a whole lot, so don't worry! You didn't miss anything. Since I am leaving on Tuesday morning, I have been doing my best to get everything done and see everyone that I want to see before I go. I put my car up for sale, and 17 hours later had the money in my pocket and the car was gone. I spent my last days at the boat today, and these past few days I have been hanging out with all of my friends and saying goodbye. I still have some goodbyes to say; some will be for much longer than others!  I can't believe I'm leaving in only 3 days!!

Since I haven't shared any pictures in a long time, here are some from this weekend. My last day at the lake for  a long time! I sure will miss sailing; I will have to find a way to do some of that in Spain.

My first 14er!

I don't know how I've managed to live my whole life in Colorado and never climbed a 14er! It's been on my to-do list for a while, and it was about time that it got done! I wanted to do Grays and Torreys because they are one of the easier 14ers to start with.