My Two Families…United

About two weeks ago, I was indulging in my biggest guilty pleasure…grey´s anatomy.  After watching the episode, I stood up from my desk and proceeded to smash my new internet connection apparatus (that I had bought two days before) on the wall, and thus lost connection. So, once again, I was without internet for two weeks. And now, being restored with internet, I will forevermore be more careful with my computer.

Despite being without a computer, these past two weeks have been fabulous. My parents flew in from Chicago last week and I showed them around Coruña. I took them to my favorite ice cream parlor, churros eatery, bakery, candy store, and restaurant.  They also took my host mom out to lunch at an excellent Spanish restaurant. I was dreadeding this meal as I knew I would have to be the translator. I was terrified. Will my parents be mad if I am not fluent yet? And likewise, will my host mom start to believe that I will never learn Spanish if I cannot even translate a simple conversation? However, my fears disappeared the minute we sat down for lunch. I found myself translating between my parents and my host mom without difficulty.  However, I must admit that it helped that my parents traveled to South America for a year in their twenties, and thankfully a lot of their Spanish returned quickly. In fact, the lunch went so smoothly, that my host mother cooked a wonderful meal yesterday for my parents. It was great to finally have my two families meet –and be able to communicate!

In addition to having long and delicious meals with my two families, my parents and I traveled to Portugal this past weekend. We visited Ponte de Lima in the North of Portugal. It was a gorgeous town located on a river and at the base of beautiful mountains. In addition, we went to Lisbon. In Lisbon we visited numerous cathedrals, all covered in golden shrines and stain glass windows.  There are hundreds of apartment buildings, store fronts and churches all over Lisbon that are covered in tile. The tiles range in color and design and when the sun hits these tiles at a certain angle, it is absolutely stunning! Needless to say, whomever is reading this, add Potugal to your travel list!

My parents leave for the states next Tuesday, but tomorrow we are traveling to…Morocco! Since last year, this has been my number one travel destination while I am abroad. I am beyond excited to visit this country and learn more about the Arabic culture. My friend Kelsey is also coming, as Morocco was one of her top destination as well. So as long as I have internet, I will blog about Morocco once I get back!

¡Hasta Luego!

Dato Divertido: Spain does not celebrate Halloween to the same degree as the US. At first I was a little disappointed by this information, however, people here celebrate ¨All Saints Day¨ or ¨Día de los Santos¨ on Nov. 1. This holiday is a very important religious holiday in which people honor their deceased family members, friends and important saints. Additionally, there is no school on Nov. 1, which is very exciting for me as it is my birthday! I have never had this day off, so I am excited to celebrate this holiday and learn more about its cultural significance.

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