The Ultimate Party Weekend…

Hola,

I hope this email finds you well and gearing up for spring. This past week was Carnaval here in Spain and let me begin by saying it ultimately shames our Halloween. Image a weeklong celebration for people of every age and people of every age dressing up in elaborate costumes. Thursday night we kicked off our carnival celebration with a group meeting at Cicero bar where we talked about our hiking trip in the mountains, then we hit up the bar street and enjoyed the wonderful lights and carnival decorations. Friday was the same with more costumes bar hopping and dancing.

Saturday began the true Carnaval festivities with our attendance at the Aviles Carnaval. Aviles is a City located about thirty minutes away and it is known for having one of the best carnavals in Spain! We arrived around three with our costumes stored in the train station lockers and we were dressed in ratty clothes prepared for the foam party at six. We really didn’t know what to expect at this foam party I assumed there would be about an inch of shaving cream in the streets. We sat in a park and basked for a few hours watching kids in adorable costumes and families dressed up in intense matching costumes. We began to notice people were wearing full on rain gear and boats, mind you it is a sunny day. We headed into a grocery store a little before six and I suggested we buy some trash bags to cover ourselves just in case, best decision ever made. We headed into the streets where there were huge orange barriers dividing the rain coat people in the middle from the older well costumed adults on the outside. There were big blue cannons positioned all around the streets and people were beginning to gather under them in anticipation. We pushed our way to the middle of a group and admired the incredible decorations and costumes. This parade/foam party takes place around apartment building so it is tradition for people to stand on their balconies and throw eggs and water on the people below.

Finally it was time to start this foam party and they fired up the cannons. Foam sprayed out all over us and we screamed and jumped and everyone squished together under the falling foam. We were all so squished together that the foam began to build up on our shoulders until I noticed I could no longer see the sky. Everyone had the same panic attack that we were going to suffocate in foam at the same time and fought to break out from the pack. You’d think I would learn my lesson after such a near death experience, but I couldn’t resist the draw of the puffy white foam!

The street also served as a parade route and these huge, incredible floats, unlike anything I have ever seen before would  come barreling down the streets as the police pushed people out of the way just in the nick of time, mind you every float was full of people drinking and smoking. People were drinking and smoking pushing the floats! I think my favorite aspect though was the toboggan. They took toboggans and attached wheels then they would ride the streets and scoop children out of the way with long kayak paddles, all while holding glasses of alcohol. We played in the foam party, getting completely soaked from head to toe; our hair looked like we had lathered with soap in the shower, until we were too cold to function. Then we went back to the train station to change and return for the concert and after party. I went shopping at the chinos stores the week before and found a legit Chinese shirt and rice field hat so I obviously went as mulan, my friend Carrie went as my panda bear. We also had with us a police officer, 50’s guy, pajama party girls, cowboy, and several pirates. We stopped for dinner at a donar kebap restaurant, a Turkish food and my new obsession before heading back into the party. The streets were so full of people it was amazing and when they dress up they do it big.

Finally it was time to brave the foam again and make it back into the center of the city. The foam had depressed to about ankle deep but it was still a pain in the butt to walk through. We found two stages, basically facing each other, one was an older band playing classic American hits and the other was a DJ skankily dressed women singing modern dance moves. We switched stages about ever forty five minutes when the other would take a break. We had so much fun dancing and singing and admiring the many, many costumes. Because Aviles is such a crazy important carnaval the buses run all night, we finally got on ours at 4 a.m. The next day, Sunday, I slept in till ten then went to church with my friend Megan. After mass since it was such a glorious day we decided to sit for awhile in the sunny park and bask on the benches with the other old people. We happened upon several groups dressed up in traditional costumes playing the bagpipes and performing traditional dances. We thought we had struck the customs mother load with our find, but apparently they do that every Sunday. That night we headed back out to our favorite bar Cicero’s for more fiestas and carnaval activities.

Monday morning we woke up around ten, mind you we have been going to bed around four or five every night since Thursday, and Hanna, Megan and I set off for a hiking adventure in the mountains. We had heard of a trail and hopped on a bus, after stopping in a grocery store for cheese, ham, bread, and snacks. I know I mentioned before that nothing gets refrigerated here, but let me remind you that it is ok to carry around cheese and ham in your back on a hot sunny day for multiple hours before finally consuming it. The trail was absolutely gorgeous and followed a gorge along the trails. The drop was really steep and luckily the trail was pretty empty being a Monday. We hiked for about an hour and a half before stopping for lunch on the side of a mountain.  

We made it back really fast and had about an hour to kill before our bus would be back so we did some wonderful basking right on the edge of the gorge. If you can’t tell yet the theme of basking is very popular here, we treat it like a sport. So we lay in the sun listening to the million cow bells clamoring around us and the wind in the trees until time forced us back to the bus stop. That night was the carnaval celebration in Gijon, another nearby town town so we all got ready and headed out around nine o’clock. Gijon was a lot of fun but not as exciting as Aviles. We arrived just as the parade was ending then spent a lot of time getting lost and trying to locate the rest of the group. That night we hung out with a lot of people from our program not from Iowa, like people from Ohio and California. They can’t party with us Iowans though, they claim it’s because we have nothing better to do in our state.

After dancing at another big stage, this time with strictly Spanish music, we wandered into the bar district and joined other thousands of people. Hanna and I went to the bus station around 3 am hoping there all night buses as was the case in Aviles but we had no such luck. The first bus out was not until 6:30 a.m. There was a serious sea breeze that night and I could not warm up. Hanna and I headed into a Donar Kebap restaurant to join Corinne and Carrie for some wraps and it was decided we would splurge for a taxi home, the total cost was forty euro and we decided we would pay ten euros each to get home at a decent time and be warm. The taxi ride was extremely foggy and the driver could not understand our instructions about where to be dropped off so we ended up about an hour’s walk away from our houses. At this point none of us were happy and I was more than excited to crash in my bed around five am.

Tuesday was relaxing and spent hanging out with friends then that night continuing the carnaval festivities at Bar Campa where we met some people from Africa and shared our life stories. Wednesday we went back to school, lame, but still went back out to Bar Campa that night for more activities. Thursday night was our night out as a group again and we went to Cicero’s and pestered our favorite bar tender and played card games.

Friday night kicked off the carnaval celebrations in Oviedo and the entire city was decorated with lights and costumes, the main event was Saturday night, with a concert and parade but we would be hiking in the mountains as a group. That night we went out to our favorite park to play games and hang out before heading to bed decently early, one a.m., in preparation for our hiking the following day. Saturday morning we met up at ten a.m. and headed off into the mountains. We all stayed in a huge hostel with two giant rooms filled with bunk beds and we left our stuff there before hitting the trails. The trail we took was a new one for our coordinators, Luna and Paula; they are geologist and avid hikers. We walked up a huge hill then somehow ended up in the thick of the forest on the side of a mountain. We kept weed wacking, bush wacking, our way through trying to find a trail. I was wearing Capri’s and my ankles were seriously scratched up from all the thorns. Finally we found the trail again and our hike could continue. We have people in our group from all walks of life and the girly girls were not having it. Paula and Luna kept reassuring us that we were through the worse, or so they thought.

We stopped about two hours in for lunch, they commented on how slow we were walking, I don’t think they factored in the fact that we all left our machetes at home. But they told us we had to pick up the pace or we wouldn’t make it for hours. Challenge accepted. Little did we know we were heading into a mud zone and our shoes would never be the same. We waded through so much mud, and people were losing their shoes left and right. But it was worth it to see some of the incredible views. Along the way we picked up two dogs, and by picked up I mean they literally followed us on the trail for miles ending with us at the hostel. I don’t think the hostel owners were very happy when they had to drive them home the next day.

So after five hours of hiking we were bloody and muddy and exhausted. We spent a few hours just hanging out in the backyard/field of the hostel playing soccer, rugby, exploring, and telling stories. The whole trip felt like a trip back in time where people still use crazy clog shoes to wear outside, and till their fields with old tools. We took a quick nap before dinner, only in Spain do they make you walk all day then refuse to feed you till nine p.m. Finally it was time for dinner and we had the most delicious chicken, bread, and soup I have ever tasted. Our coordinators brought some of their Spanish friends to go hiking with us and I sat next to their friend Miguel. Miguel didn’t speak any English so my friends and I decided we would tell him crazy stories about everyone at the table and see if he would believe us. We had a lot of fun and I still don’t think he actually knows that we were kidding. After we ate it was time to dance.

The hostel bar was suppose to stay open for us all night and we turned it into our own special dance floor. We played different dancing games and card games. We taught the Spaniards the cha cha slide and the cupid shuffle in exchange for some shakira dancing moves. We also interlude with all the Spaniards and taught them all the moves, we have it filmed on facebook.  The party lasted till about three a.m. when the bartender was too tired to keep watching us.

The next morning we woke up around ten a.m. for a breakfast of bread, hot chocolate, and cookies, then we returned to bed and lounged around giggling till our bus came at one p.m. that afternoon I spent time watching tv with my madre and going to church at the Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. That night was recovery time and I was in bed real early. All in all it was probably the craziest week of my life and I loved every moment. Spain does costumes and party right!!

Here are some more useful tips/observations:

1.      Costumes are meant to be inventive and expensive not slutty.

2.      Spanish movie titles do not translate correctly in English, like at all!

3.      Cows still wear the traditional cow bell, and when they are all walking in the pasture it sounds like a banjo playing.

4.      Picnicking is not common place.

5.      Sheep dogs are huge and aggressive.

6.      Spain will literally make your liver ache.

7.      Safety is not the number one priority; it actually probably doesn’t make the top ten.

8.      Children were out till four a.m. with their parents on carnaval.

9.      Meat without fat is rare.

10.  Eating a half loaf of bread with every meal is normal.

I love you I miss you, I have pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=341827&id=563560128&l=64eedda559

Kisses – ELIZABETH 

London Bridges

Ello Gov’nor,

Greeting from dreary Londontown. Monday and Tuesday were rainy days spent with school, homework, and cafes all in preparation for our Wednesday London departure. Carrie and I left at noon for the one hour bus ride to the airport, we were flying easyjet to London, a cheap airline company that sold us flights for 80€ round trip, taxes and fees included. The flight itself wasn’t very long, only an hour and a half but the plane was not very high quality. Easyjet allows one free carry on that can be stowed in the overhead compartments so everyone has a roll suitcase and then struggle and fight to push it into the space. My ears popped probably close to one hundred times, not well pressurized and Carries popped then never unpopped. So eventually we make our way into London and approach customs. We fill out our little entry sheets and pass the machine gun carrying police men to the counter. One of the questions on the sheet was where we were staying, address, and I didn’t know my friends address so I left it blank. A big black woman starting yelling at me in a British accent, thrilling and terrifying all at the same time, she asked me the address and I told her I didn’t know and she responded, “You better know.” Carrie and I pow-wowed in the back and luckily had a small tourist map with us we had just picked up for free off the plane. We picked a street and a number and hoped for the best, luckily 76 Oxford street London, seemed legit enough. The lady then began drilling us with questions like where we were going, what we were doing, how long we were staying, show me your ticket home, blah blah blah. Honestly London, you are not that special and the whole thing was not necessary.

So by the time those shenanigans were all over the time was 3:50, London is an hour behind Spain. This particular airport is located an hour outside of the city and I had bought us bus tickets for four p.m. We were literally running across the airport trying to find the bus terminals, and made it just in the nick of time. Already so much excitement, I know. So we enjoyed an hour bus ride through foggy, rainy London and we were dropped off at Liverpool Street, where Megan Furey, my friend from high school who is studying in London, was waiting for us. Carrie and I decided to only take out 50 £ which is about 85-90 dollars, in an ambitious attempt to save money. I didn’t think we were going to make it considering our first metro ride on the tube, a one way, cost us 4£. But we made it back to Megan’s around 6 p.m. and stopped in a grocery store to buy some food. We got cookies, cereal, peanut butter, milk, popcorn, and juice. Megan made us a delicious pasta dinner that night and we played some cards and relaxed watching zombieland and leap year. Megan lives in the dorms of her university, everyone has single rooms that are clustered in groups of ten and share a big kitchen. Her room was decently sized and Carrie and I slept on the floor, her floor was hard cement with a thin layer of carpet, luckily I was still exhausted from Granada so I was able to sleep better than expected.

The next morning Carrie and I woke up at nine and got ready to go to Buckingham palace to see the changing of the guards. Megan wasn’t feeling the well the whole weekend and stayed home to rest. Thursday we bought an all day metro pass for 7.30 £ that ran all day except during the peak hours of 4-7, inconvenient. So our metro ride took about thirty minutes, then we had a 20 minute walk to the palace. By this point I was in accent overload, I loved it. Children, old people, teenagers all speaking in British accents was the most glorious thing my ears had ever heard. If it wasn’t so expensive and I had the opportunity to study abroad again after Spain, London would be a great choice. So we made it to the palace and we are walking in front of the gates when we are stopped by the police and asked to step back so a car can pass through the gates. After police escort we see a man dressed in military attire, blue suit with tassels and lots of buttons and pins, pass through and everyone is like that’s Charlie, that’s princes Charles, Charlie. So yes…I feasted my eyes on the prince Charles, clarification, not the young cute ones, but the father of the young cute ones. So we were feeling pretty excited and we went to take our spots and wait the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard ceremony is a huge tradition with a big parade and music and the fury hat guards march all around the palace and the streets. The place was packed but we managed to find a spot and stand and wait. We got there an hour early, and after an hour of waiting, the guards put up a sign that said, no changing of the guards today. We were livid. So we took some pictures of Buckingham and decided we would return tomorrow even earlier and see this spectacular sight. We left Buckingham and walked through a park full of people and swans towards the city center where all the great tourist attractions are. This is the area of Big Ben, Parliament, the eye of London, and Westminster Abbey. Everything costs about 16£ to get into and see so we settled for taking pictures of the outside and imagining. The summer 2012 Olympics are being held in London, so unfortunately a lot of things were being renovated in preparation and everything was covered in scaffolding. We walked on the outside of Westminster and walked all the way around parliament. We crossed the river to get a better view and took lots of pictures and avoided the many joggers of London. After our downtown adventure, it was about 2 o’clock and hunger was setting in. We hoped back on the metro and went to kings cross station, hoping to get a picture with platform 9 ¾ but it was closed off and being renovated. Boo. Kings Cross is located really close to the British Library, and Carrie is a nerdy English major so we decided to go. Great decision, the thing was free, plus number one, also this houses the king’s library and the oldest collection of books I had ever seen. We saw the oldest written works of Shakespeare and the original Alice in Wonderland books. Also they had original Beatles lyrics that they had handwritten on napkins and envelopes. There was a whole biblical section and had parts of pages from third century bibles. They also had original illustrations from Leonardo Da vinci and other famous scientists, oh and the original music of Bach and Beethoven.

After our cultural lesson, we hoped back on the subway and shipped out to Camden town, a shopping market area Megan told us to explore. In Camden town I found the typical London I was looking for, everyone dressed in Gothic clothes and people protesting in British accents on megaphones about the evil of coca cola. We found a little outdoor stand area with a million types of food and settled on chicken sandwiches and French fries for only 4£, the bargain hunters strike again. We sat by the river and ate with the other million Londoners there then explored the shops laughing at everything American there. They have an obsession with Mario, and if I had had the money/suitcase space my brothers would have been completely outfitted. After wandering we decided to hop back on the metro while our passes were still valid and go back to Megan’s. At Megan’s we played more cards and rested debating whether or not we wanted to go back out that night. Our decision became easy once we discovered Megan had the Lord of the Ring extended versions and we spent our evening watching the first one and eating a popcorn and peanut butter dinner.

The next morning, Friday, Carrie and I were up and out the door by 9:30 heading back to Buckingham to see these damn guards change. I had youtubed it the night before so I knew the best spot to stand, pretty resourceful eh? We got there around the same time and took our spots right against the railing outside the main gates. People didn’t realize they make you move behind the metal barriers so they would be S.O.L and out of my line of vision. The ceremony began with a huge parade of horses, men with guns, a band, other guards all walking into Buckingham palace. A lot of pacing and weird marching took place, then the band set up to play music. You will never guess what the royal band played outside of Buckingham palace. First came Indiana Jones theme, followed by the Star Wars theme, then the Olympic theme, and the performance ended with some old British songs, I was laughing hysterically. Then they open the main gates of Buckingham, where I was standing, and march back out into the street, front row baby, great pictures. After Buckingham and the hour long ceremony, we hopped back on the tube and set off on our hour long metro ride to Wimbledon. Wimbledon is located on the outskirts of town but Carrie is a huge tennis fanatic so I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss it. After our hour metro ride we then had a half hour walk to the museum. Of course it is under renovation, but we could still see a lot. We paid our 9.5 £ and toured the museum, where they had original trophies, uniforms, and rackets, then went to the 360° glass view of center court. It is a lot smaller than I imagine, Carrie was spouting out a million and one tennis facts and we left about an hour after arriving. We were both, again starving, it’s around 2 p.m. now and the half a cup of cereal from the morning just wasn’t holding us over. We bought some cheap food at a little convenient store and started our hour and a half metro ride back to Megan’s. Megan was finally feeling better so we decided we would hit up an English pub that night. We relaxed and watched more Lord of the Rings and ate a popcorn dinner before heading out. We went to a place about ten minutes from her door and enjoyed strange English beers and talking. She had a field trip the next day really early and we had to leave early so we headed back around eleven to finish our Lord of the Rings marathon. The next morning Carrie and I left around 8:30 and hit up the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We then moseyed our way back to Liverpool Street and we were picked up by our bus back to the airport at 11.

Our flight back was easy, a little bumpy, and scary when we landed into a very foggy Spain. We couldn’t see the ground until the tires touched! After our hour bus ride home I spent the early evening relaxing and watching TV till ten. Around ten thirty, I met up with the rest of the Iowa group and we hung out dancing etc. till late. The next morning I went to church then spent the day talking to my madre and finishing up some homework.

All in all it was a pretty incredible weekend full of new sights and the blessing of English, we could read everything. This week’s list of things I learned is England inspired.

1.      English Children are spoiled and throw tantrums everywhere.

2.      The crowd outside of Buckingham palace was the most diverse I have ever been a part of, from several languages to many different styles of clothes and ethnicities of people.

3.      People still do wear chains on their clothes and dress strictly in black.

4.      Pigeons beg to be kicked.

5.      You can’t actually get close to the guards to try to make them laugh.

6.      Driving on the other side of the road isn’t as thrilling as expected.

7.      Old British couples are cutest, especially when you over hear them gossiping.

8.      There are Ben and Jerry’s vending machines everywhere.

9.      Always mind the gap.

10.  Lord of the Rings is better in England.

I miss you and I hope you have a great week, I can’t believe it’s already March. Click here for pictures, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=338916&id=563560128&l=713635f1cd

Elizabeth