I came to this country not knowing a single person, besides my native flatmate I talked to virtually. I was most worried about not doing any of the things I wanted because I wouldn’t find good friends to go out with. The first two weeks I was a little bummed because I was staying home with no plans on the weekends. But it was just a matter of time before no friends became a sea of familiar faces when I went to Tapas Tuesday this week.
It all stared because of this beautiful oxymoron we call social media. Many today believe social media is actually making people antisocial but depending on how you use it, it could be the only way to begin being social in a foreign place.
Someone posted on the ESN (Eurasum Student Network) Facebook page that they wanted to go hiking on the weekend. An great response of people suggested we meet up the day before to prepare the details of the trip. I decided to meet with this group of strangers whose only common interest established was hiking. And it was the best decision I’ve made. I met ten people, none of which were from America, and we planned out the trip to Mieres, a city 25 minutes south of Oviedo. Afterward a gentleman made small talk with me about school here as an international student. Somehow this led to an invite of a party he was attending that night. Now, yes we all know not to ‘go out with random strangers’ but I feel in this situation it was quite different. He was a fellow international student who I would be hiking with the following day so it made sense that I would accept my first night out to this party. We met up and he introduced me to some others that he’s met, which was a girl from Portugal and the other from China. We went to this party where I met more students from Ireland and the UK. It was a great beginning to my week of new friendships.
The following day at hiking, the 12 of us made the most gorgeous hike I’ve ever endured. It was a six hour hike on the Vegalafonte trail and although my foot’s blister worsen, it was beyond worth it. I mingled with students from Germany, Whales, Czech Republic, and of course Ireland. We packed a lunch and sat at this small meadow that overlooked the asturian mountain range. The pictures don’t even give justice to the view that I saw for hours. I would highly recommend this trail to anyone planning to visit Asturias, Spain.
Aside from hiking, the past weekend still commenced the festivities of San Mateo. There were fireworks Saturday evening down at Parque Inviernes (where I took that breaktaking hike I mentioned in a previous blog). Sunday the girl I met from Portugal invited me out and it was one of the last days of the festival. I was so excited to realize that someone wanted to hang out with me. That night we met up for drinks and she introduced me to some friends she met that are from Turkey! How incredible is it that there are so many foreign students and yet we all become such great friends and find so many common interests.
Through ESN, I signed up to go surfing Monday at San Juan de Nievas. We had school off that day because it was the official Day of San Mateo. I went there already seeing a few familiar faces, even though when I signed up I didn’t plan on knowing anyone. One girl was from the UK that I met at the first party I attended and two German girls that are in my project group for one of my classes! From connections they have made, I continued to meet new friends from Italy, Belgium and another Irish girl. I can’t believe I can say that I’ve been surfing in Spain, how cool is that! It was extremely difficult, rained the entire time and was pretty cold. But weather aside, it was such a fun and exhausting experience. I can see why people have such a passion for it.
All of these events lead me to the Tapas Tuesday night where I saw I little bit of everyone from who I’ve encountered over my past few excursions. Never had I imagined that I would be out so often (and so late) with people who are all over the world, yet all so similar to myself. The coolest feeling ever was being with a group of people and conversations were held in four different languages in the same sitting. And the beautiful thing is the majority of students know more than one of these languages so no one is left out. Sometimes people don’t even realize they started talking to me in a language that I don’t know!
Really and truly I never imagined to meet and befriend so many people so quickly. I can’t believe this is just week three of school and already so many events have happened. Let the festivities of studying abroad official begin!
Adventures With Erica 