miércoles, 13 de abril de 2011

Trip to Valle de Jerte and Galicia

The month of April is crazy for me. I will be traveling for 20 our of 30 days. I already want camping for the first weekend in Valle de Jerte, which is known for it's cherry trees. Every year around this time (depending on when the trees bloom) there is a festival and celebration of the cherries. Everything in the towns within the valley is based on cherries. It was really nice to get out into the wilderness and hike in the area called ''La garganta de los infiernos'', or the throat of hell. It sounded menancing at first, but ended up being a great hike with some really nice views. I went with a group of Erasmus (the European version of Study Abroad) students: There were two French, two Italian, one Turkish, one Spanish, two Americans and one Canadian. Everywhere we went we were asked where we were from, for records and statistics of the tourists, and we always had to list six countries. It was quite the international group

Then, three days later I rented a car with my friend Morgan to go to Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña. I am looking at a jewelry design school in Vigo, so I went to spend 3 days there to see if I liked the school. Morgan explored the city and showed me all of the most important parts when I finished school in the afternoon. The school was great, and everyone was super friendly, and helped me with everything I needed. Also, the accent there was so much clearer than in Badajoz! It was much easier to understand. 

After Vigo we went on our way to Santiago de Compostela, where they were celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Cathedral by "hugging" it. People were dressed up in traditional Gallego costumes and they organized people to surround the cathedral holding hands, to give it a hug. It was fun to see. Then, we took a quick trip up to A Coruña, another city on the northern coast of Spain. It was a nice city, but sadly the highlight for us was eating Subway... We were craving American food so badly that we were thrilled to find Subway and Foster's Hollywood Cafe. And we ate at both...

viernes, 1 de abril de 2011

Felipe, Prince of Asturias

Felipe and Letizia getting out of the car
Today there was lots of excitement in Badajoz. Felipe, one of the Spanish princes came to Badajoz to participate in the Congresso Nacional de Jovenes Impresarios (National Congress for young buisnessmen). Lucky for me, my window overlooks the building where it was taking place. The road outside was completely blocked off with barriers, and there were crowds of people waiting to see the Prince arrive. When the motorcade arrived everyone began pushing to see and cheering. There was a group of school children watching, and they shoute 'Felipe, Felipe" as he arrived, and of course him and his wife greeted them, and everyone cheered. The woman next to me yelled, "Felipe, guapo!' His wife, Letizia, is also very popular. It was a very exciting thing for Badajoz.

I was also able to see the democracy of Spain in action. Some of the kids from the dorm brought out a Spanish Republican flag to protest the royal family. Immediately the police went over to them, confiscated the flag, and took their IDs. Nothing else happened, but they were really annoyed, and said to me, "now you know how democracy works in Spain".