Day Trip to Ponferrada

Hi chums!

Whilst I'm studying in León, I want to travel as much as possible, including within the region that I'm in - Castilla y León. So this week I decided to do a day trip to Ponferrada, a small town on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.


I got to town just before midday and as it was a bank holiday it was pretty quiet. Also the bus station is a bit out of the main part of the town so when I got there I was like hmmm whaaat... But I soon found my way up the hill to where everyone was hanging out in the sun.



The cathedral was on one of the sides of the main square and was super pretty!




My favourite part of the town is the street which leads up to the arch/clock/bell tower. The buildings are super colourful and the street is lined with shops and bars.











I had lunch at this cute little cafe (below). It was adorable and the cafe owners were so friendly and nice - small time charm is the one!




Maybe the main sight in Ponferrada is the castle. It is really impressive from the outside and I would have loved to have gone inside but unfortunately it was a bank holiday so it was closed. :(








So that was my trip to Ponferrada! I was so lucky with the weather and had a fab time wandering around and taking photos. Like I said, it's not very big so you don't need long here, but I'm glad I went to visit and am excited for more day trips like this!


Love as always,

Emma
xxx

Term Abroad: Week 3

Hi chums!

Week 3 has been super fun - I'm really enjoying my classes and the week ended with me visiting the Spanish family I au paired a couple of years ago.


Life

I feel so much more at home now in León. I know my way around town better and have got into a good routine.

I went out for drinks a few days with some of the other students of my course and on Wednesday we visited the cathedral (which I will do a separate post for).


One of my favourite things to do is to in the evenings is to go on a walk or a run in the hills which are at the end of my road. I always go later so that I can see the sun set and it's always so pretty.


It sounds cliche but it always reminds me how lucky I am to be here. The longer I'm here the more I forget that I'm actually on my term abroad. It is something I have looked forward to for ages and now I'm here it's so easy to get caught up in the moment and lose perspective. I am so grateful to be here and watching the sun set is always a fab time to remind myself of that fact!


Language

In terms of language, this week wasn't one of my proudest moments. I didn't practice speaking very much, although I definitely feel my listening is getting a lot better. At the weekend, I felt like I understood a lot more of the conversations that I have before, but I still feel like I can't really contribute because by the time I have thought of something that I could say, the next convo is already underway. Hopefully this should get easier and I know I need to try speaking more so that is the main aim for the next few weeks.

Travel

On Friday evening I caught a train from León to Madrid to visit my Span Fam (aka the family I au paired for a couple of years ago). I always love to see them and they never fail to make me feel at home at like part of the family.

On the Saturday I saw my first ever handball match - and let me tell you this game is no joke! It was super competitive and although I didn't know the rules it was super fun to watch.

On the Sunday it was sport's day at the kids' school and it was probably the most chaotic and crazy thing I'm ever seen - even the 3 year olds were running around the race track! It was so much fun to see everyone compete and I'm so glad I got to see it.

When Sunday evening came and it was time to head back to León, I didn't want to leave - it felt like I was in the UK leaving my family to go back to uni in Leeds.


*     *     *

I have quite a few trips planned for the coming weeks so I'm super excited, especially with some of the bank holidays which are coming up, so stay tuned!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

Day Trip to Oviedo

Hi chums!

I booked a day trip to Oviedo at the weekend because I wanted to explore more of the region I'm staying in - Castilla y León. So on Saturday I got a train which took around 2 hours from León to Oviedo. The train went through tunnels in the mountains so it was a really pretty journey!


The first thing I did when I got off the train was head to Campo de San Francisco, a beautiful park in the middle of the city. The blossom trees were out and there were lots of sculptures to take pics of.









As I walked from the park to the cathedral, I walked past this beautiful building, (below) which was a university building opened by Rey Juan Carlos and Reina Sofia.








The cathedral was super pretty so I decided to have lunch at one of the cafes which looked out on it.







The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the streets taking pictures.


















So that was my Oviedo trip! I would definitely go back and would recommend you visit it if you're ever in northern Spain. I don't think you'd need more than a day there, but it's definitely a gram-worthy city.

Love as always,

Emma
xxx
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