Week 1 Seep a cup of tea and find somewhere comfortable to settle in. This is a bit of a long one... 19 January Our first full day It was such a relief to finally arrive in Vigo. After a year of planning my dream had finally become a reality. Thanks to jet lag we slept for well over 12 hours before finally emerging from our cozy hotel room. Around 2pm we headed out to find some food. The thought of fresh fruit made my mouth water, but we quickly discovered that nearly everything was closed. Although we weren't entirely sure, we thought it might be siesta time. Despite the feeling of near abandonment in the area surrounding our hotel we found a market that was open. We took two apples, two bananas, two oranges, and a bundle of grapes to the cashier. Pulling out a €5 bill we were prepared to pay €5 and change. You can imagine our surprise when all of this was only €2.63 euro! When I dreamed of going abroad I imagined sunny days in Spain. I was incredibly misinformed. Vigo, as it turns out, gets quite a lot of rain. During our first venture to the town it was raining. I wore tennis shoes and immediately regretted the decision, so, I began the hunt for reasonably priced rain boots. After buying our fruit we wandered into one of the many shoe stores nearby and I found the perfect pair. I asked questions about the shoes and in Spanish and, after making the purchase, asked for directions to the closest grocery store where we could buy water. Ben and I can already tell our Spanish comprehension is improving! I will tell you that I have worn my new boots more than any other pair of shoes that I packed. Around 7pm we left to meet Libby for dinner at a tapas place called Tapas Areal. The rain was really coming down now and we walked a good 20 minutes to find this place- TripAdvisor said it was supposed to be pretty good. When we finally found it...it was closed. It was 7:20pm and they opened again at 8pm. This was the second night in a row! So, we went into the sports bar next door that was full of old men watching soccer; and, when we sat down the bar tender brought us chips and olives. Then when the bar tender delivered Ben's beer he brought us something that tasted like cheesy potato pancakes. (I still have no idea what it was, but it was delicious!) We discovered that we don't have to pay for appetizers- at least in the bars. And apparently the longer you sit, the more food you get. Finally it was 8:30pm and we went back to the restaurant to have dinner. Our waiter Paco was so helpful and very patient with us. My favorite part about dinner was that he helped us practice our Spanish and learn new words while we helped him with his English. It was a win for everybody. For dinner we shared prawn kabobs, and being that I had never had prawn I was shocked when my dinner still had eyes! Paco recommended a delicious wine to go with our meal and we sat for another 2 hours. After dinner we walked Libby home and headed to the port. Although it was a little chilly it had finally stopped raining, and the lights along the skyline were beautiful. 20 January Today was a far less eventful day. We slept late before venturing out just after noon in hopes of finding more open stores. There were a handful of places open, but it still felt like most businesses were closed. Siesta time? Maybe things were closed because it's a Saturday. We did happen to come across the cutest bakery. It was quite small and could fit no more than three people at a time- there was a line of locals out the door. Ben decided that if it was full of locals it must be worth trying- and it was! We got two chocolate croissants, a full sandwich, and a ham and cheese croissant for less than €5. I could get used to the price of food here. Taking our lunch we walked for 15 minutes looking for somewhere to sit and enjoy lunch. On accident on purpose we stumbled upon Parque de Charlie Rivel. We had hoped there might be a park nearby, but we had no idea that we were so close to one of Vigo's most prized parks. After picking us from the airport, Nicolás mentioned that this park is something that many locals are very proud of, and is definitely one worth visiting. We hiked a giant green hill to find an old fortress and a stunning panoramic view of Vigo on top. It was the perfect place to have lunch. After our 3 hour walk up to the top of an old fortress and back to the hotel we laid down for what was supposed to be an hour nap. We ended up sleeping until 9pm and then, although we woke up starving, we didn't want to leave the comfort of the hotel room. Thus our adventure of ordering pizza for delivery begins. As I am the one deemed Spanish communicator I dialed one of the few restaurants we could find that would deliver. The man I spoke to on the phone had a very thick accent and spoke at lighting speed. I put the phone on speaker hoping that Ben might be able to understand bits of what he was saying, but really neither of us knew what was going on. I understood two questions- arguably the most important. "What is your address?" and "How will you pay?" I told him we would pay with card and gave him the address from Google Maps, but I was incredibly confused when he asked us what room number we were staying in. I hoped I had given him the right address, but I had no idea if the pizza would make it. About 45 minutes later there was a knock at our door-turns out they deliver to your hotel room! 21 January Today was our first day going to campus! The locals and other students who speak English refer to the campus as "uni," short for university; and, those who don't speak English call it "cubi," which is short for I-don't-know-what. I'll let you know when I figure it out. We met Libby and two other girls at the bus stop to find our way up the mountain together. We got on the bus at 8am and the sun wasn't up yet. It didn't rise until after 9am which made it very difficult to get going in the morning. Navigating the bus system was incredibly confusing for me- good thing I have Ben! It was a piece of cake for him. As we began the hour long bus ride the windows quickly fogged up and before we knew it we were packed in like sardines. This was a very dangerous combination for Libby as she gets extremely motion sick. Luckily, she was able to sit on the ground of the bus and we made it off the bus just in time. Although campus is sort of in the middle of nowhere, it is beautiful; and, we've been told that there are wild horse that sun bathe in the main plaza when it warms up. Students and professors alike are far more friendly than in the States. At 9:30am we had orientation with all of the other ISEP students and our program coordinator, Javier. We learned that there are two groups of exchange students: ISEP students are those from the States and Erasmus students are those from other parts of Europe. For lunch we ate in a cafe on campus with 6 other ISEP girls and I finally had a cup of iced coffee. It was so satisfying. Although they still serve it differently. I got a hot cup of coffee with milk, sugar on the side, and a glass of ice. I think they give it to you hot so that you can dissolve the sugar and then pour it over ice. Smart, but it'll take some getting used to. When we finally made back to town we had lunch with our new ISEP friends then took a nap. We were finally getting the time right- or so we thought. Come 10pm we headed out for dinner and found that everything was closed except for the bars. What!? On the weekends nothing opened until 8pm, and now it's Monday and everything is closed by 10pm. I don't think we're ever going to get it right. 22 January Another relaxed day. For the first two weeks we are supposed to sit in on classes so we can decide which ones we want to take. Ben and I decided that our two goals are to not have class on Fridays, and to go to campus as few times as possible. Spending €1.35 every time we take the bus will add up quickly. Not only that, but an hour ride each way really sucks up a good chunk of the day. So, we picked classes that looked interesting on Mondays and Wednesdays, and we decided to try and take an art class on Tuesdays. Since we're waiting to hear back from the art professor regarding the classes offered on Tuesdays we focused on apartment hunting today. Via Facebook I was able to get in touch with members of a network of student volunteers known as the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). I'm so glad another ISEP student introduced me to the group because we wouldn't have found an apartment otherwise. I thought we would spend the day visiting available flats, but we didn't look at any until 7pm. Spaniards seem to do everything after the sun has gone down. To say that the first apartment we saw was vintage would be putting it nicely, and it also seemed to be really far from everything. The owner didn't speak English, so I did my best to communicate with him. Considering I've never been apartment shopping I had no idea which questions were the right ones to ask, let alone know how to do it in Spanish. Luckily, an ESN student who spoke English very well took us to see the next flat. It was gorgeous. This one was very new and about a 10 minute walk from the city center. We loved it, and as a bonus there were two other Polish girls looking to rent the other two rooms! Perfect. I think this might be the one. After looking at the second apartment we had about 45 minutes before the restaurants opened, so we went to a bar near the hotel. There were no nerves this time. We sat down at the bar and I ordered our first pitcher of Sangria. Wow this stuff is good. It tastes like juice and the fruit in the glass is like dessert! We visited (in Spanish) with the bar tender and watched as a man on a Game Show won 1.5 million euro. I could buy a lot of Sangria with that much money. 23 January Today was our second day going to campus. We had a new student welcome meeting with the Erasmus students, and Ben had a meeting with a potential professor. The meeting was supposed to start at 9:30am and I was worried about being late. When the meeting didn't start until 10:30am I wished we had been late. Before leaving for our semester abroad we were warned that the Spanish culture includes a very laid back lifestyle and a lacking sense of punctuality. This has proven to be true on a few occasions. In the meeting we learned about upcoming events at the university and the many clubs on campus. As the president of the university finished his welcome speech, he mentioned the basketball team nonchalantly. Ben was beginning to loose interest, but you can bet your buns that when he heard the president of the university announce that "If you play basketball come talk to me at the end of the meeting because we're in serious need of players" he jumped out of his seat. Ben was ready to run to the front of the auditorium and talk to the president right then and there. We skipped the campus tour- as campus was blanketed in fog it was impossible to see anything that wasn't directly in front of you- and met with the professor of computer science. He didn't speak a lick of English, so I did my absolute best to translate the meeting. There were words I wasn't understanding, and I couldn't tell if it was because they were unknown Spanish words or because it was computer science lingo. Ben understood even less of the meeting than I did, so he decided it probably wouldn't make for a great semester if he wouldn't be able to understand the lecture. A good idea I think. Today we saw 6 more apartments with the ESN students. We quickly learned that we were looking at renting a room in an already occupied flat rather than the entire apartment. Over a span of 24 hours we saw 8 apartments. Many were 4+ rooms (one was an 8 bedroom flat!) and all except one were relatively old. We ruled out a few flats for the simple reason that they smelled like mildew. I had wanted to stay in the same location as our hotel, but being that Ben had just joined the Vigo basketball team he wanted to see if we could find a place closer to where practice would be. By chance, the two Polish girls who were looking at the new flat were on our tour. We all agreed that we'd like to live there, but we'd see other options just to be sure. It was also an opportunity to get to know each other before signing a lease together. With two apartments left, the two polish girls decided they wanted to live in a different flat. It was cheaper and had better views- I don't blame them! They felt really bad, but I told them not to worry about it. When we got to the last flat, after a 4 hour apartment tour around Vigo, we found one that was in a good location for basketball. It also had a room available with a double bed, a terrace, and an on-suite bathroom. Awesome! I still wasn't crazy about the location, but there were three Mexican girls who were really interested. So Ben spoke up, made a decision, and one of the ESN students began to negotiate with the landlord on our behalf. (We couldn't negotiate in Spanish.) To our disappointment the three girls spoke up seconds before we did and they brought cash with them. We didn't know we would need cash right away, and we both thought it would take some time to sign a lease like in the States. Since the girls had the cash on hand they got the apartment. Now the Polish girls had a place, the Mexican girls had a place, and we were about to be homeless. But, you can breathe because the story doesn't end there. As we closed the building door behind us the student who helped us negotiate, Rut, got a phone call. The landlord had gone down to get her receipt book, and in the 5 minutes she was gone the three Mexican girls received a call about a previous place they were looking at. They took their cash and left. It was ours if we wanted it! We went back upstairs and signed a contract. Way to make a decision Ben- good job. Just as we finished signing the lease the two Polish girls came up to the flat. The apartment they had decided to take was just rented to two other students. Now I felt bad! I hope they can find something. I'm just so glad we found a place. Otherwise we would have been in a hotel for another week. Come 9pm Ben headed to basketball practice and I went to a bowling event hosted by the ESN group. I met a lot of great people and had some delicious pizza! My bowling wasn't so good (I bowled in the gutters four turns in a row), but my team applauded me anyways. What nice people. I can't wait for the next event. This week was a whirl wind, and we're off to Porto tomorrow. Thanks for staying with me and stay posted for this weekend's adventures!
3 Comments
Grandma Nan
2/1/2019 10:18:39 pm
I'm enjoying the journey! So glad your sharing the adventure of a lifetime! Hey Ben, does your basketball team have a mascot? How about school colors? No detail too trivial! Enjoy! XOXO
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Mom
2/1/2019 11:14:59 pm
I hope I get to meet Paco when I come! Your dinner sure looked like fun. It's nice to see Libby. What a week. Whew! I'm glad you're settling in & Ben found a basketball team too! <3 Mom
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Sandy
2/3/2019 08:45:22 am
Good morning Kaitlyn and Ben, Finally got around to reading the blog and thoroughly enjoyed - although some of the situations put me a little on the edgy side - of course, you know it is my job to worry! HA HA
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AuthorCoffee addict. Chocolate obsessed. I'm ready to explore. Archives
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