We got a scholarship which consisted of being 9 months studying in a Spanish city to complete our academic year (the 4th one). We had to choose among several cities, but it was not so complicated because we were convinced that we wanted to study in the North of Spain (we ruled out the idea of going to Granada or Salamanca) and in a place where we hadn't to learn a new language (we ruled out Barcelona and Basque Country).
We, together with our turtles, arrived to Oviedo. Oviedo is a nice, clean and tidy city, which is surrounded by mountains. It is situated in a province called Asturias that has a coastal side, facing to the Cantabrian Sea, and a mountain side, facing to the Cantabrian Mountains towards the inner part of Spain. Very close to the city is the mountain known as El Naranco, that we visited twice (we went up walking).
The year living there was a pleasant experience and we met very warm people, some of them are our Asturian friends (Verónica and Dani), a guy from Navarra (Hodei), an Austrian (Markus) and a Czech (Miroslav).
Oviedo is the cleanest city we've ever been to. This city has beautiful sights as it's surrounded by mountains. Oviedo is a stage in the Camino de Santiago. Our flat (sometimes called "Cave" by ourselves) was very close to the University, in the outskirts of the city. It was very nice, as it had countryside at 10 minutes walk. However, the apartment itself was a bit crappy, as it had only one window (so there was no possibility of establishing air currents) facing an inner patio. Therefore, the moisture began to accumulate at the beginning of the year, allowing the development of a complete ecosystem with its own herbivorous and predators. Especially important for us was the company of the mildew (moho in Spanish), which remained with us well after Oviedo, especially with our sleeping bags.
But apart from that, everything was very nice. The prices were quite low for us, so we could save some money and at the same time make some trips. It was also the year of the first championship of Fernando Alonso, who came after it to celebrate with his fellow countrymen, and we joined the celebrations. One of the jewels of the cultural life in Oviedo is the giving ceremony of the Principe de Asturias prizes, which we witness also from very close.
We have to make a special mention of the Campo de San Francisco, a park in the middle of the city that we enjoyed greatly, with its pond, its noisy peacocks and its ducks. At the end of the year, in order to stay a bit longer in the city and finish our exams in September, Guillermo got his first serious job, as a porter in warehouse of sportswear (but only for 20 days in August). During the summer, we got short jobs taking care of people's pets (two dogs), and we found a lost cat in the street, Miau (you can read more about him in "Animals and us"). A special mention too for the "bollos preñaos" that we miss so much (and I am afraid we will always miss, even being vegetarian...).
Overall, our best grade for a city where we have lived is for...Oviedo!
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