In my last post, I left off on Friday, before Rosa and Juanjo took me to Valladolid to return a phone I had bought and decided against needing. We explored the other side of Valladolid that I haven’t seen yet. They took me to what I can only describe as a hidden gem – the Plaza del Viejo Coso. It was tucked away and once you walk through a short tunnel, there’s a beautiful round plaza (see photo below!). You can’t hear the hustle and bustle of the city that lies steps away, only the birds chirping in the trees. It was incredibly peaceful, but doesn’t have a peaceful past as the plaza was the first plaza de los toros, where bullfighting took place. Now, where spectators used to sit has been converted into homes and AirBnBs. After the plaza, we stopped in to see the courtyard of the Palacio de Fabio Nelli and finished our exploration in the best way – with churros and chocolate!!
Saturday was family lunch at Juanjo’s parent’s house and the fiesta with my new friends! We stayed local in Tordesillas, which was nice because all of the bars are within walking distance to my house. Fun fact – Spain has more bars than the United States! We learned this during orientation and I was shocked, given the size of Spain compared to the US. However, after learning that Spaniards don’t really drink at home and don’t necessarily have “house parties” like in the US, it makes sense. This upcoming week, it’s two people’s birthdays in the friend group, so Teresa, Claudia, and Andrea got candy cakes to celebrate. Candy cakes are round disks of styrofoam that have candy stuck to the outside and they’re very yummy! We had so much fun dancing that we got home at 5 am!! I couldn’t believe how late it was and how packed the bar was throughout the night. 2 am was peak time!! My first time in Spain we had stayed out late, but I didn’t realize that ALL of Spain does that. Wild. No idea when anyone sleeps.
From left to right: Teresa, Kike, Fran, Andrea, Claudia, me!, and Gema (I’m trying to hide a marshmallow under the table thinking that the camera was higher!)
Sunday I slept for a while to make up for the night before. No hangover! We had family lunch at Rosa’s parent’s house and I met her sister. Her cousins came over (they’re super nice!) and I learned that we were going to a flamenco show at 7. I was pretty exhausted, but I like flamenco so was excited to see the show. It was at a new bar, where they have shows every Sunday. Another fun fact, flamenco isn’t common in all of Spain, which I had thought before coming this second time. Flamenco is native to the south of Spain and the north doesn’t really “do” flamenco. Jota, a type of folk dance and song, is typical of the north. I’ve also found that people here don’t really enjoy flamenco, but we went to the show anyway! The music was great, the singer… not so much. We didn’t stay long and I was very thankful to go home.
Yesterday, I laid low at home after school – I’m obsessed with Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD now after seeing Captain Marvel and needing more Marvel in my life, so have been watching a bunch of that. Today, I had private lessons with Lola, the physical therapist. She’s so sweet and we spent the hour talking about a variety of topics to help improve her speaking. Everyone keeps telling me they’re afraid to speak English and I keep saying that I’m also afraid of speaking Spanish, but we’re not going to get better if we don’t try! It’s been fun to help my students at school and everyone rushing to say “Hello Ah-LEE-sah!” has been my favorite part of my school days!
This post turned out to be longer and less about the fiesta than expected, but I hope you enjoyed it! 🙂
aventuras de alyssa 