Colinas y Comida

Hola chicos!  For those of you in the states, I heard there's been snow and sleet.  We've just had the typical rainy, nastiness that is "Asturias".

Yesterday after classes I went on a walk to Parque Oeste (Western Park) in Oviedo.  It's actually really close to where I live, but I ended up walking for 2 or 3 hours.  And let me tell you, it was tough.  I found my friend Grace (who's blog is in the right hand column) after being there for about an hour, and then she and I left the park and walked on the roads up.  Just up.  Pretty much as high as we could.  We were in a really high part of the city that was mostly residential.  It was really cool.  There were a bunch of rural houses that seemed like they had gotten swallowed up by the growing city of Oviedo.

A view down the fountain/stairs in Parque Oeste 

Pretty sure these are the Picos de Europa because they have snow :)

This area of town is literally called "Buenvista" (Good View)

My original goal was to find the sunset, and seeing as the name of the park was Parque Oeste, you would think i would be able to see the sun set.  Unfortunately, though, either the sun is still not quite setting in the west because it's January, or the park isn't really very western.  Next time, I'm going to go to the other big park near the edge of the city.  When it's not raining.  If it ever isn't raining.

So it was pointed out to me that the only food I have mentioned was the terrible pizza we had at PizzBit.  So here's a short Spanish food story: After dinner last night, which was a fillet of steak and salad, I went to Il Padrino (The Godfather), a bar close to my apartment.  A bunch of exchange students were meeting there for drinks and minipizzas haha.  It was really fun, but the minipizzas were literally those that you would make from frozen and throw into the oven.

Il Padrino Menu

Alex and the Sangria w/ Crazy Straws

In general, I eat a lot of ensalada with acete (olive oil), baguettes (my mama buys a baguette every other day), and various types of meats.  My favorite, of course, is chorizo, which is a Spanish sausage/salami/pepperoni thing.  Today for lunch I had a vegetable pureé.  Ugh.  It was basically vegetable soup without all the work of having to chew all those soft veggies.  I ate it, but it was basically baby food.  I have also, of course, had Spanish tortilla, which is alright.  A bit eggy for me though.

Veggie Pureé. The croutons totally saved it :).

This weekend we might hike up to the Jesus statue that looks over Oviedo.  I missed it the first time people went, but I heard the view is just indescribable.  We may also go to Gijón, a city to the north of Oviedo, and on the ocean.  We also have been working on plans to travel next week for the long weekend...

*Besos*