It's only been a few days since some pals kindly helped me lug suitcases up several sets of stairs to my new piso, and I am already liking Santiago de Compostela. Of course, moving to a new city no matter the size is always exciting. So much to discover! In Lugo I seemed to know all the shops, bars, and cafés by heart. It happens. But in Santiago I have been noticing a lot more signs for activities that might interst me. Concerts and classes galore! And perhaps one of my greatest discoveries: an authentic Galician bar, where the cuncas (bowl of wine) are only FIFTY CENTS!
I went to scope out my new school as well. They've never had a language assistant, so hopefully they are left with a good impression of the program by the time I'm done. It's also bigger than my last school, which thus reminds me more of an American school. It's still probably half as big as my high school though, so it's tiny by American standards.
I have also realized that similarly to Lugo, Santiago is really just a big town. Maybe this is Galicia in general. Two degrees of separation. But well, this is advantageous even for a newcomer. Because I have friendships in Lugo who have friends here, I've met a handful of folks here through these connections. Which is way easier than just walking up to strangers and saying, ¨Hi I'm new here, will you be my friend?¨ (FYI: I would not advise doing that haha) This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
