The rain in Spain falls mainly here...

So on my third week of being in Oviedo I finally went to uni, shocking I know. Monday was a little unsuccessful as Spain being Spain was having another fiesta so there were no classes, luckily I remembered this before walking all the way to university and standing outside the room for half an hour right? Oh no wait...

However, I attended my first lecture on Tuesday afternoon which was part of my 'Introduction to Modern Cultures and their Literatures' module. So this lecture was about German writers and their literature, taught by a German lecturer, in Spanish. I managed to follow the majority of it, the fact that Spanish wasn't her native language helped me as she spoke a lot slower than a native Spanish speaker! I then went to purchase pens and paper, as I had gone to my first lecture with a scrap of paper and a pen that barely worked. 

Caja Negra

On Wednesday I slept through my alarm and hence my lecture. I'm really fitting in with Spain's laid back culture, a little too well possibly. We went to Tapas Night at Caja Negra again in the evening, the tapas is wonderful, there's always a selection of dogs running around and they play planet earth in the background, what's not to love? We then went for 'just one drink' at a bar afterwards, but were then plied with free beer by the barman, so it was more like 4...

Thursday I attended another German culture lecture on the German education system. Many many German words, all I remember is Kindergarten. Then I braved a 4th year French to Spanish translation class which aside from confusing my poor little brain was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. Thursday evening was 'curry night' at some of our ERASMUS friends' flat and both the curry and the company (as always)* were lovely.

Now very uncharacteristically of me, I had the most productive day since, well, since I can remember, on Friday. I went to my last lecture of the week which was on German energy usage, yes it was as thrilling as it sounds. Cleaned the kitchen, I said it was productive not exciting! Then walked to town to collect our tickets for 'Sonrisas y Lagrimas' which is the Sound of Music in Spanish, yes I'm very excited. I went food shopping, made a wonderful pasta bake, went on a trip to Carrefour to buy food for Sunday's roast dinner extravaganza, carried the heaviest chicken back from Carrefour and then watched all the TV in the world. Productive. 

The result.

Saturday was, let's say, less productive. I slept until about 3 o clock, reviving myself from the aforementioned productive day. On the evening we went out to a bar that was about as close to an English pub as you can get in Spain. We took cards and played a risky game of Ring of Fire, the risk being there was only 4 of us. Needless to say, several rounds and beers later I was more than merry and headed home.

Sunday I woke up with the room spinning less than it was when I fell asleep. We had invited everyone round to our flat for traditional Sunday Dinner so had around 5kg of potatoes and 2.5kg of carrots to peel and chop, chicken to cook, yorkshire puddings to make and yeah you get the picture. The preparation was going well when everyone arrived, except the fact having the oven and all the hobs on was tripping the power every few minutes. A huge mess was made but the result was so worth it, what Sundays were made for. Followed by a lemon cheesecake and the best selection of 80's and 90's classic hits made for a fantastic end to the week.

Sunday dinner!

Today I've been to uni and for a run in the pouring rain. Now at this point I'm going to be stereotypically British and mention the weather. The weather here is strange and changes so quickly because we're in a valley. This past week we've seen some quite sunny and warm days which I hope is a sign of things to come! Because of the aforementioned ever changing weather, everyone in Oviedo carries an umberella. Now after 3 weeks I think I have more or less mastered the Umberella etiquette required to walk in the rain without a) taking someones eye out b) getting caught up in someone elses umberella or worst of all c) getting wet. It involves either raising or in my case lowering your umberella so the other person can pass with their umberella, including a knowing 'nod' makes you more accepted into the umberella community. 

*Anyone need a bucket?

Happy Monday! 
Enjoy this Spanish treat on me; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFuqbH7FEts