Land of Azulejos

This post is dedicated to mi amiga Shannon Sullivan! Shannon and I went to Ball State University together and one of the highlights of our relationship was sharing a trundle bed on Spring Break 2012. After then, Shannon is taking a European tour and basically living the life. She was nice enough (and lucky enough) to make a stop in Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela to visit me! Northern Spain is not the typical Spain people think of when hearing about Spain. Although there might not be an abundance of flamenco music and it's not always sunny all the time, there are advantages of living in Northern Spain. An abundance of bagpipe music for one, and also living very close to Portugal.
Shannon and I took a trip to the city of Porto, Portugal and had trundle bed reunion 2! We city was beautiful and there were many aspects that we enjoyed:

Tiled sidewalks

Funny statues

Cool graffiti

 We took the route of being tourists supreme, and got a special package of a tour bus, boat tour and wine cave tour. Porto is famous for making Port wine, the sweet dessert wine. I think we caught the best glances of Porto on our touristy weekend, seeing the coast, the city and all the tiled buildings we could.

The thing I liked most about Porto was all the buildings made out of tiles or azulejos. Houses, churches and even the train station were constructed with beautiful designs and colors. The blue and white tile designs like the one above and below were the most popular to see in Porto.

Other random facts about Porto is that it is known to have a symbol of a rooster, and there is a famous legend that goes along with that. You will find an abundance of colorful rooster towels, tiles and memorabilia. Also, Porto has great looking fruit. At the open market they have each day, I tasted the best fresh strawberries I ever had.

We eventually had to say goodbye to Porto when the weekend was over.

Shannon has been in Santiago three weeks with me, and when she lives this Thursday Santiago and all my students will miss her. I love you Shan!

The End of the World

Its official: I have seen the end of the world!

Last weekend the girls and I went to Finisterre, which is said to be the westernmost point in Spain, and in Europe. Back in the old days, when Europe was basically it, people thought this point was the end of the world.

We took a bus two hours to Finisterre and hiked up the hill to the end point and the faro, or lighthouse. With views like we had on the walk up, the hike wasn't bad at all.

We made it to the top and it was beautiful! It really did look like the end of the world with waves crashing on the rocks and ocean stretching on for as far as you can see.

I had to clamber down the rocks to the bottom point to say that I really was on the tip of the end of the world and when I was down there, I saw lizards. So now you all know what is really at the end of the world! Lizards. And a lot of rocks.

The walk back was worth every step!

Good Things

Some good things that have happened in Spain in the cold month of January:
1. I went on a field trip with my segundo students to A Coruña for an English scavenger hunt and Spanish opera of Cinderella
2. Ate Skyline in Spain! Melissa (my roommate from North Carolina) approved.
3. My friend Shannon from Ball State is coming to visit!! She came this past Thursday and will be staying for three weeks.
4. No snow or rain in Galicia in January, only sunny and cool days!
5. Four months of living in Spain successfully completed, and four more to experience and until I get to see everyone I love!

My students repping Barcelona on our field trip

Welcome February!