“Rain in Spain” – November

Every plaza has a chestnut cart set up, and I am learning to like them. Roasted chestunts are always something I have associated with Christmas (because of the song, I think?), but they are omnipresent here, even before the leaves have really changed.

November has been full of glorious little adventures, as well as a jump to the UK. On the other hand, the rain really showed up and stayed this month, and I definitely felt some of that impact. You might as well cue the song “Rain in Spain” from the masterpiece that is My Fair Lady, as it was a funny reference that turned into reality.  Additionally, there were times this month that I was just frustrated with myself, from language acquisition to a little bit of homesickness. Seeing friends in London really helped a lot – was the longest period of time I’ve ever gone without seeing someone from my immediate family, and seeing people who know me from before this year is just comforting. I also really really appreciated my friends here, especially as I was realizing that I was maybe still figuring all of this out. I must say that I feel so lucky to have FaceTime and Skype readily available, as it helps immensely to see people from home every once in a while.

I think I’ve really felt what it means to be living abroad, and it’s been a really good process to finally feel that. Most of it has involved patience, which is traditionally not one of my strengths, especially with myself. 

Finally having a sense that fall had arrived was nice, as it is my favorite season and just reminds me of home. I was devastated to realize that pumpkin patches are NOT a thing here, which makes sense, but I was looking forward to celebrating my favorite season with basic fall traditions. However, I learned to embrace other fall festivals and traditions, and the leaves finally began to change and lend a sense of familiarity and home. One of the many wonderful things about Galicia is that there are constant festivals, so there is always something to celebrate!

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Here’s a run down of some of November’s adventures/events/experiences:

Local happenings:

• Oktoberfest in Pontevedra
• PonteTapas –
• a walk along the coast
• time with friends!

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A Coruña

The day after Halloween I went on a day trip to A Coruña, which was absolutely stunning. It was a typical day in Galicia, meaning that the rain was strong and the wind was absurd. Caroline, Amanda, Sydney (one of Caroline’s roommates) and I went and it was a good time, despite the weather. We walked to the Torre de Hercules, and we were dismayed to see that is was closed due to the high winds. However, once we reached the top of the hill and felt the wind, we understood. The coastline is absolutely stunning, and I sat by the cliffs at the foot of the Torre de Hercules and watched the ocean for a good while. We ran around parts of the city, trying to take breaks from the incessant rain as we could. I can’t wait to go back on a day with better weather!

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Magosto

Galicia’s chestnut festival, Magosto, is especially celebrated in Ourense, so I went to visit for the weekend! I met up with my friends Alexa, Adam, and Florian in Santiago and we took the train to Ourense together. There, we met up with some of the Fulbright TAs who live in Ourense, as well as others in the cohort who also spent part of the weekend there. Ourense is known for its termas, or thermal baths, but this weekend was all Magosto. We explored the city a little bit after seeing a small parade, and later we climbed the staircase on the Millennium Bridge, which was really cool. Brook and Elena showed us a great tapas restaurant and then we wandered into some cloisters, where the guide named Constantine taught us an immense amount of information about the building and a variety of other fun facts. Elena let me stay at her apartment (thank you!!!), and the evening consisted of dinner and concerts and generally having a good time. I ended up being awake for 24 hours because it was all so much fun, which meant I slept too much the next day and didn’t quite make it to the termas. Oh well, just an excuse to visit in the future!                                                                                                                                      

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London

After recovering from the weekend’s sleep deficit, I was gifted with an unexpected day off from school. I have two friends living in London, and I knew that if a long weekend appeared, I wanted to visit. Fortunately, both Georgina and Bailey were in town, so I booked a flight and went to London for the weekend. I had been once before for a couple of days during my semester abroad, with Erin and Sam, and I loved it – I was very excited to return! Thankfully I found a reasonable flight into Heathrow, so I could just hop onto the subway system straight from the airport and head to my hostel. I don’t think I will ever quite get over the strange marvel that is the London Tube.

 I have always always always wanted to visit the Tower of London because its history is just so cool and wild, so I went and spent Friday morning there. I probably would have been insufferable to be with while I was there, so in that sense I am relieved I got to explore it on my own. There is something about meandering through a very large, very old, and very busy city by oneself that is oddly freeing.

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Friday afternoon, I went to Canterbury by train to visit Bailey, a friend from Creighton. He doing a really cool grad school program, and it was so fun to catch and also see Canterbury. The Cathedral was stunning, and it was wild to see the place that gave rise to The Canterbury Tales – freshman year of college we memorized that prologue, so it was funny to be in the cathedral nearly four years later. Also, it is a beautiful cathedral and it has lots of fun historical things to see! Canterbury is a really cute city, and being there with all of the Christmas lights and such was fantastic. I was thrilled to not only have tea with scones and clotted cream upon arrival, but I also had some sort of shepherd’s pie for dinner, and I was happy. I was so tired on the train back, but the conductor assured me that they would wake me up for my station if I felt asleep– which I did, and he proved true to his word.

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On Saturday, I spent the whole day with my Georgina. She and I were flatmates during our semester abroad in Glasgow (along with Erin, Gabby, and Maddy), and we hadn’t seen each other since May 2017. It was so, so wonderful to see her and I am just so delighted that we could spend a whole day together. We met up at the British Museum, and spent a couple of hours there. It is stunning, and has pieces such as the Rosetta Stone. It was incredible to see that, as well as other things, but of course while being aware that this museum is a little complicated – its possession of certain collections should be something we all take a minute or two to consider. After that, we went to Covent Garden and spent some time looking at shops and Christmas markets – there was no end of them in London! We had a delicious lunch at a spot Georgina knew, and then we spent the afternoon walking, catching up, and just enjoying the afternoon in London! The Christmas markets were all a little different, and we spent time at one next to the Thames, across from Westminster, sipping mulled wine. For dinner, we went to Chinatown and had an incredible meal, with really good oolong tea. Of course, we wandered along Regent Street, in awe of the light displays. We said a quick “see you later!” on the subway, as my stop came first. The world is vast, but it is comforting to know I have good friends in really neat places that I’ll see again someday!

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Thanksgiving

Celebrating Thanksgiving is so normal for me that I totally forgot that it is not celebrated in Spain – or really outside of the US/Canada. Throughout the week, I taught lessons about Thanksgiving: its origin, traditions, and how we tend to celebrate it in the US. It’s not an easy subject to teach about, because its legacy has caused an incredible amount of pain for indigenous communities in our country; at the same time, it is a big national holiday and different families celebrate it in different ways. Most of my students knew about eating turkey, but many of the other foods were unfamiliar to them. After we all taught, a group of us gathered for a Friendsgiving meal in the evening. It was my first holiday away from family (as in a holiday that is normally celebrated with family), but it was fun and I was surrounded by friends. The spread was incredible, and we all did a shockingly good job with the food. I made a potato casserole thing that Grandma Kathy always cooks, and I also made the gravy as Grammy has taught me to. Most of us, as Americans, had celebrated this before, but for some other non-American friends, it was their first Thanksgiving! It was a great Thanksgiving. 

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Vigo

November came to a close with a wonderful weekend spent with friends in Vigo. It’s only a 15 minute train ride away and is becoming more and more well-known for its Christmas lights. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but a good example is that this year, Vigo’s mayor declared a contest with NYC to see which city had better/more light displays. I’ve never been to NYC, but I will say that Vigo was impressive. Chloe, who lives in Lugo, visited for the weekend so I went and visited her and Kai in Vigo. We were able to see Katie, our mentor, for a bit, as well as meet up with Marco and another friend from Lugo. Between riding the noria, or the GIANT ferris wheel that went shockingly fast, and running around and enjoying the nightlife, it was such a fun day. The next day, Adam joined us from Santiago and the four of us walked a few miles through the city to the beach.  We stayed at the beach almost until sunset, and then hopped on a bus back to the city center. Finding a train back home was a mess, but I was able to find a bus ticket and head back to Pontevedra that night. This was such a fun little staycation? Vacation? It’s practically next door, but an entirely different city and experience. I’m sure I’ll have many more weekends like this one!

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some more thoughts

I finalized my proposal for my Fulrbigh side project,t and I’m excited about figuring out how it will together. I got approved to do a fun history research project, and I’ve been able to do some local archival work and there is just so much exciting information to find. There’s definitely recent grassroots movement to write women back into more local history, so I am excited to explore options with local efforts and organizations, in conjunction with my archival research and other focuses on the history of medicine in this area. There are really interesting records, and I’ll try to keep this updated as I figure out where my project goes!

As I mentioned, the rain became more and more incessant throughout November, and locals kept telling me that it was absurd – even for Galicia. I still haven’t decided if that information is more or less comforting, but it suppose that it simply is what it is. Really, I don’t mind rain, but not seeing sun for days at a time definitely made a slight impact on me. Fortunately, I have good friends and family at home reaching out and keeping in touch, which helps so much. Every little piece of mail makes me so happy! Additionally, my friends here are wonderful, and the more I get to know them the luckier I feel to have met them all.

Some top lessons from November:

Patience – generally speaking

Being patient with myself

Pushing myself to just go – saying yes!

Giving myself time to just be – it’s also okay to say no, or that napping or going on a walk is not a wasted day in any way shape or form! I also don’t need a reason to just let myself be!

Realizing that I can be having the time of my life AND be actively missing something (i.e. home and family)

Realizing what it means to be abroad – this is literally my dream come true, but it doesn’t mean that every day is enlightening or that I don’t sometimes have a down day. Also, I can choose to make each little thing an adventure.

I am sometimes frustrated with my language acquisition: what does progress mean, especially to me? Why does my Spanish come so easily some days and then others I have to actively think how to ask about something? Ugh!

Time difference – ew, the time difference both really got to me and finally clicked for me, in a communication sense with home. Sometimes I just really want to semi-spontaneously talk to a friend or to my parents or brother or really anyone, but they’re in class/at work and by the time they’re free I am asleep. But, it’s a learning curve and that’s okay!

There is so much to look forward to in December and beyond, of course, but there has also been a lot for me to appreciate, especially in November.