Random bus stops

Well hello everyone! I can’t even remember the last time I posted so I thought maybe it was time to do another one! School is going well, I can’t believe I only have 8 more days of school! That is ludicrous for shizzle…. Right Ryan? Anyway so school is great and I feel so at home in Oviedo. I love my host family so much! And I feel like a total local now.

Anyway this weekend was our free weekend, which meant we had 4 days to travel wherever we wanted! So Lizzy, Jonathan, Will, Clare, Jacinda and I decided to head to San Sebastian, this beautiful beach town on the northern coast of Spain. So we caught the 6-hour bus ride on Friday afternoon and took over the back of the bus. Loud Americans. So we drove and drove and drove and finally made it to San Sebastian. The second we stepped off the bus we knew that the long ride was worth it. This place was beautiful! The town has a river running down the middle into the ocean and there is so much beautiful architecture and buildings everywhere. As we walked to the McDonalds where we were suppose to meet the owner of our hostel we enjoyed the view. So we waited for about a half an hour until Jules our British host welcomed us and showed us the way to the “Beach Palace”. This was probably the sketchiest place I have ever stayed! There were twelve of us staying in a tiny apartment with one bathroom… quiet the adventure. We later found out that this was an underground hostel and that having a hostel in that apartment building is illegal. Oh well! So Saturday we went to the beach and it was beautiful weather. Sunny and warm, and topless old Spanish women everywhere… true European style. Well after the beach we went back to the hostel and got ready for the night. We went out around 11 for dinner and danced the night away after. Such a great night! Sunday rolled around and we slept in until noon, woke up and it was a little overcast so we went and got a big breakfast and shopped for about an hour until everything started closing. Slowly the streets began to fill with men, women and children all dressed in their blue and white jerseys for the soccer game! I have never seen anything like this… people where shoulder to shoulder filling the streets, chanting, drinking and getting ready for the big soccer game. It was amazing, but a little crowded. So we decided to hit the beach again. After the beach we went to dinner and then went to a karaoke bar that night. We sang “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls and made many new friends. It was surprising how many Australians and Irish people were in this town, but we enjoyed the English! Then Monday we slept in again, got a big lunch, lounged around and boarded the bus that took off at 5:10. So, we were all settled in for our long bus ride. Halfway through the ride there is a rest stop where you can get out and eat or stretch for about fifteen minutes. So when we pulled into Santander Spain where the rest stop was on the way there Will, Christian and I quietly exited the bus trying not to wake Lizzy and Jonathan. So as we are sitting in the café enjoying out Spanish tortillas Will looks out the window and says, “I think that was our bus…”. I immediately jump to my feet and ran to the door to find that it indeed was our bus and we were stranded! Will and I found this hilarious but Christian… not so much. Well we finished our tortillas and headed to an Internet café to call Fernando Rubio and let him know what was up. Luckily we knew that there are plenty buses that run through Santander to Oviedo so we would be back in time for school the next day. So we figure everything out but we had to wait until 3:30 in the morning for the next bus! Hahah so we walked around Santander, got some Chinese food for dinner and had a grand old time. Meanwhile Jonathan and Lizzy and all of our luggage are in Oviedo so they put it in a locker for us at the bus station. So we boarded the bus once again and we all slept until we arrived in Oviedo at 6:30 in the morning. I immediately went home and to bed! So this weekend was an adventure for sure!

Today we are heading to Gijon to meet up with the other students from the U to play a soccer game against them. I am excited to see some familiar faces! I will write and let you know who wins the game… GO OVIEDO! Love you all…. Don’t worry too hard about me after reading this post either, getting stranded in a random city is all part of the fun, right?