Carnaval y Salamanca

So my blog is in much need of some love and a good update. Seeing as today I'm not going to class because there is a Huelga General or General Strike, this is the perfect opportunity for me to do it.

Laura and I before Avilés Carnval

Espuma en las calles

I should make a quick note about the weekend before I went to Barcelona. As it was the 'Carnaval' weekend this meant we had no classes on the Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st of February.
The Saturday night was Carnaval in Avilés. My friend Laura and I decided we would go as clowns. This would be easier because we were just going to do dramatic face make-up and hopefully that would pass as acceptable attire. People put a lot of effort into their costumes here. I saw whole families with babies included, dressed up in themes.
When we got to Avilés it was about ten at night. The streets around the main square were full of foam! It was impossible to get to the main square, where the music was playing, without getting caught up in the foam! We spent most of our time in the main square, dancing, and admiring the effort people had put into their costumes, before we headed home.

Restaurant where we ate lunch, Cudillero

On the Tuesday (21/2), I went to Cudillero with some friends. Cudillero is a sweet little seaside village North-West of Oviedo. We had a nice lunch in a restaurant before climbing the hill to get a great view of the sea, mini-port and the village. Two of the guys who came with us were Kiwis, so it was a nice breath of fresh air to have people who could relate to thoughts on Oviedo and Spain in general.

Cudillero, view from the lookout 

From the 3rd-4th of March was the ESN trip to Salamanca. The trip was for the national ESN event with over 1,000 exchange students coming together from around Spain.
When we got to the hotel we were surprised and shocked, the hotel was really nice! With my previous trips with ESN the hotels have been quite budget. After settling in we went to get a bite to eat before meeting up in the main square. The square, I had heard, is supposedly the most beautiful in Spain. It definitely was beautiful but it was full of people (mostly exchange students), so it was so much harder to capture the magic of it.

Salamanca, Plaza Mayor

For the afternoon we went around in our University ESN groups visiting places of historical significance, where we would have to compete in games against other ESN groups. It was definitely interesting but lacked being a proper guided tour, which we were told there would be.

Universidad de Salamanca, oldest University in Spain.
Spot the skull!

The evening was spent with all the exchange students in the hotel I was staying at, with never-ending food and alcohol!

The next day we set off to see Ávila and Segovia! Ávila is known for its medieval wall, which still encompasses the old city today. Segovia and it's aqueduct were declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO. We had tours in both cities and then were left to our own devices. We were in Segovia for lunch and had been advised to try the Cochinillo Asado, or roasted baby pig in English. More because it was expensive than anything else, I did not try it. Those who did said it was delicious.
Segovia is a beautiful city. One of the highlights is the castle, which looks like it's out of a fairytale, so magical.

Ávila

Aqueduct Segovia

Castle, Segovia