Leon

So this weekend James and I headed to Leon, Spain where our friends Emily and Andy are studying for the year. Kelsey and Nora also joined us for the 5 hour bus ride (yes, you read that correctly, 5 hours) but they went to a ski-resort about 45 minutes away for most of the weekend.

Leon is a smaller city located in the region of Castilla-Leon (here is a link to a map with all of the regions, I'm in Galicia). Compared to Galicia, which is it's own very strong culture and distinct vibe, Leon is very much a typical, interior Spanish city. It was fun to walk through the quiet cobblestone streets, and check out the old architecture. Although Coruña is by no means a big city, I can understand why Emily and Andy were looking around our city as if it was NYC when they came to visit. While Coruña always seems to be bustling with people walking, talking, shopping and eating, Leon just seemed calmer. They do have a gorgeous, and huge cathedral that we were able to see. We also were able to go up it, and learn all about the stained glass restoration that they've been doing.
That being said, the Leoneses (the people of León) sure do come out at night, for the WONDERFUL system of tapas. Let me just pause here for a second and address some comments I've received about the focus that I often put on food in my blog posts. While my mom claims that I may be developing a food obsession, I beg to differ. I believe that the food of different countries can teach a lot about different cultures. I also think that food is something that can always bring people together. No matter what language you speak or where you're from, as humans we need food to survive. Thankfully, throughout my travels I'm not eating for pure survival, so I get to enjoy everything that I try, and in the end isn't that what you people want to hear about? The fun, the enjoyment, and my ever expanding knowledge of different cultures? Well, you've got it in food. Maybe I should rename this blog to: Kristen's European Eating Adventure. Nahh. That makes me sound obese.

morcilla

Okay, I digress to TAPAS. So most of you out there must be a little confused. Don't they have tapas everywhere in Spain? Hasn't she talked about getting tapas in Coruña? Yes and yes. What makes León different? They're free. That's right, you don't pay any extra for them. So here's how it works, every bar in León has there own specialty tapa. So you go to the bar, give your money to a friend who's in charge of ordering, get small beer, wine, or beer/lemon-soda mix (more on that one later, it's delish though) for one euro, and then wait for the friend to hand you your drink and bring back a plate of food! The tapas that we got were this ham/fat/onion mixture (ehh, it got better from there), chicken wings and chorizo tapa similar to pigs in a blanket, a platter with a piece of sausage, chorizo, ham and cheese for each person, and last but not, morcilla. So what is that dish called morcilla, that frankly looks like poop spread onto bread? Well no worries, it's MUCH less gross, it's a paste made out of blood sausage! So a lesson that I've learned from studying abroad? I am definitely an adventurous eater. It pays off too, because the morcilla was actually delicious, it tasted kind of like chili. After tapas we went out to a bar which was offering free beer until 1 AM. Unfortunately, the lesson learned that nothing that comes free is ever good. I don't even know how to describe the taste, and even worst aftertaste of that beer. We were tired from our early wake up call, and long bus ride though, so we headed back to the apartment soon after.
James had decided to stay out with his boys (Andy and Dan) so Emily, her welsh friend also named Emily, and I went back and decided to watch glee. I legitimately fell asleep within 15 minutes, and Emily was out pretty quick too. However, we were roused from our peaceful slumber by our 3rd roommate, James. We learned that James snores. We also learned that he'll stop snoring for 5-10 minutes if you hit him. Therefore, we were awake most of the night, hitting him every 20 minutes or so.

The next morning we met up with Andy and walked around. The welsh roommate, Emily, was going to cook dinner, but we were in charge of going to the outdoors farmers market and getting the vegetables. It was really fun to walk around the farmers market since there's nothing like that in Coruña. I got an apple for breakfast, and we found everything we needed for the vegetable dish. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, and we ended up getting sucked in to watching about 8 episodes of Pimp My Ride in a row. The best was when a girl named Spechelle got her car "pimped". Yes, her name is pronounced special. Ohhh America. Emily then cooked us a chicken curry dish which was delicious, but probably the spiciest thing I've ever tasted. A bunch of European students who are part of the ERASMUS program (a huge, solely European student exchange program) came over for a little party before going out. However, Emily and I were both exhausted, so when everyone else was getting ready to head out, we decided to be lame and just stay in. Even though we felt bad, we were able to bond for the 30 more minutes that we were awake for.
It was so nice to see León, and even better to be able to spend time with Emily, Andy, and Dan. I'm really excited because Andy and Dan will be here next Sunday for a few hours. Given that Holy Cross is completely integrated with the Erasmus program in León, they get tons of free trips (so jealous, so unfair) and next week they're going to Porto, Santiago de Compostela, and then Coruña to see the Torre de Hercules. James' host mom said that there's a good octopus restaurant up there, so we're gonna try and find it and bring them there.

In other news, on Monday I made a bank account and joined the gym! It feels so nice to be exercising! Today though Elena and I decided to be bold and take a class. So we decided to "Step, level 2". There wasn't a level 1 at the time, and we're both in decent shape so we figured we'd be fine. We failed to think through the fact though that everyone who was in level 2, had probably done level 1, and therefore new all the moves. To say that we were uncoordinated would be an understatement. There was clearly an ex-semipro dancer next to me, who was flying in the air, pointing his toes, while simultaneously doing jazz hands. Me on the other hand, decided to eliminate any spin/turn that everyone else was doing, and almost ran into the people in front of me, behind me, and to the left and right. We looked like walruses in a room of dolphins. Regardless, it was a good workout. We might try level 1 though next time.
Shout out to my friends in León! Thanks to Emily, Debs, and Martin for letting us take over their apartment and more thanks to Andy, Emily, and Dan for spending time with us, showing us around their city, and bringing us for tapas!