That seems to be a pretty accurate picture of Spring to me (courtesy of Frances Hodgson Burnett), although, of course, in Lugo there's a great deal more rain than sunshine involved. Actually, this past week at school I found out that this March was the wettest one Lugo has had in 60 years. It might even be the wettest one they've had ever, because apparently they only started recording this information 60 years ago. So yeah... Lucky me! What a year to be here :p
We're at what I hope is the end of a cold snap right now; the past couple days have been really chilly (also unusual for them in the Spring). BUT before that happened, things were seeming distinctly more Spring-y. And on the rare occasions when the sun shines, I am in such a good mood. This Tuesday I was sooo happy in the sun, looking at all the flowers, and I even succeeded in finding a place that sells actual smoothies. I've also been managing to get back into my exercise routine, slowly but surely. If I can keep up jogging 3 times a week I think that will be a solid start. Spring beats the heck out of winter.
Here are some pictures of flowers and things:
Tulips and daffodils in the Plaza de España (Plaza Mayor) ^_^
Rose tree on Avenida de Ramón Ferreiro
Love those little daisies!
So those are rhododendrons. I never knew what they looked like.
And of course: *The Smoothie* haha.
Let's see, what else to include in this update... Well, while I'm in the business of uploading pictures: I went to the Museo Provincial (Provincial Museum) yesterday. Really I can't believe it took me this long to go, especially since it was free. It's not a huge building, but it had way more stuff in it than I thought it would. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I mean, it's a collection of artifacts from the entire province of Lugo, starting with pre-history, plus some modern Galician art, too. I can't believe how old this place is. I mean, the amount of people that have lived here, all the stuff that's happened here... it's crazy. At one point in the museum, there was a map of what the city's layout was like in Roman times, and, I mean, holy cow. This is the place I live, these are areas I walk by everyday... and there were so many people here before me. It's a little mind-blowing. Also, thanks to that map, I'll never be able to walk by the Plaza de Ferrol again without remembering that it used to be where they cremated people :-/. Thanks, history. I probably would've been OK without that knowledge. Anyway, here are some photos:
The outside of the museum, and the church it's next to.
Apparently a traditional, Lugo-style kitchen.
Pretty cloister.
Relojes! (Sundials)
Roman ruins from the 2nd century.
More Roman ruins. A bunch of these were discovered on streets that I walk down every day. CRAZY.
Roman mosaic undergoing restoration. Found in Lugo.
And some Roman oil lamps. Really I took this picture because I thought the one on the bottom right looked like a gator. hehe.
Also, for updates, I'm starting my online Galician class! Finally. I just finished the first unit this morning, which means I can say "Ola! Bo día. Como te chamas? O meu nome é Sarah" haha. And a little bit more, though I'd probably have to consult my notebook to actually remember it. It's not much, but it's a start! And it's fun. I miss being in classes.
That's pretty much all that's been going on lately, although I guess I never did go back and add more pictures from Semana Santa... I don't actually have that many, but I did succeed in seeing a bit of one of the procesiónes. I also went to mass in the cathedral on Easter (my birthday), which was interesting. I've never been to a mass or a church service in Spanish, so just being there and observing and trying to understand all the Spanish was pretty cool, but the mass itself was a little boring. I found myself wishing I was at my church back home where people get happy and excited, I'd go so far as to say they get stoked, on Easter. My favorite part of the cathedral experience here was probably at noon when they rang all the bells like crazy for a while. That was jubilant. And really cool because normally the cathedral is just this huge, stony, silent building. Nice to see it come to life a bit. Afterwards I went out for coffee at this place in the plaza mayor with the girls I'd gone to mass with. It was nice, and felt very Spanish hehe. I also went out to dinner the night before at Lugo's only Mexican restaurant (and it is fabulously delicious) with some friends who were still in town. Here's that, plus a couple pictures from the procesión:
That's pretty much all that's been going on lately, although I guess I never did go back and add more pictures from Semana Santa... I don't actually have that many, but I did succeed in seeing a bit of one of the procesiónes. I also went to mass in the cathedral on Easter (my birthday), which was interesting. I've never been to a mass or a church service in Spanish, so just being there and observing and trying to understand all the Spanish was pretty cool, but the mass itself was a little boring. I found myself wishing I was at my church back home where people get happy and excited, I'd go so far as to say they get stoked, on Easter. My favorite part of the cathedral experience here was probably at noon when they rang all the bells like crazy for a while. That was jubilant. And really cool because normally the cathedral is just this huge, stony, silent building. Nice to see it come to life a bit. Afterwards I went out for coffee at this place in the plaza mayor with the girls I'd gone to mass with. It was nice, and felt very Spanish hehe. I also went out to dinner the night before at Lugo's only Mexican restaurant (and it is fabulously delicious) with some friends who were still in town. Here's that, plus a couple pictures from the procesión:
^_^
Pretty elaborate paso.
And another one covered with a plastic tarp because it was raining lol.
So things are good right now. And I have so much to look forward to! In just 12 days I'll be in Naples (as in, Italy) with some Spanish friends, and I am super excited about that. Pizza! Sunshine! Italian! Ah, I hope I remember at least a good conversational level. We're going to check out Pompeii, and might even make it to the Amalfi coast, too, so that's pretty sweet. And then the first week of May my love Cristine will be here, and we'll be in Porto, Portugal together :D Everyone I've talked to who's gone there says it's really cool, and I can't wait to see it. And then a month after she leaves, James will be here with me! We're going to try to go to Barcelona and Rome before celebrating Arde Lucus and then stopping in Dublin on the way home. Epic sibling vacation. Spring 2013 is going to be pretty freaking awesome.
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