Lugo. The only city which has a complete Roman wall still
standing is located in Galicia an hour in from the coast. Galicia, not unlike the Basque Country, is
known for its wet weather which makes for its green scenery. So rainy that Lugo
has a store dedicated to selling only umbrellas, una paraguería. Sixty-euro
umbrellas which I cannot afford. On the
other hand, I’ve found the food here to be very affordable, noticeably cheaper
than San Sebastián. Today I paid 95 cents for an enormous chocolate-covered
croissant, and a baguette for only 33 cents. Also, as a general Spain
phenomenon, bottles of wine for less than 2 euros!
My Scottish roommate and I found a piso (apartment) within a
few days of being here. It’s nothing
short of fantastic: fairly new and therefore modernly furnished; we each get
our own bathroom (mine with the most complicated shower I’ve ever seen); and
the location is great, close to la muralla (the Roman wall which contains the
city center/old town), bus station, and apparently a bunch of teachers at my
school. We already had a little
housewarming gathering.
Ah, school. Tuesday is our first official day, and after
beginning I’ll hopefully start to feel like this is real and not just a lengthy
vacation. I’ve already met with my
school’s language coordinator who is very welcoming and helpful. I’m looking forward to getting back to
somewhat of a schedule.
