Blogs from Principality of Asturias, Spain, Europe - page 3

Well, they weren't wrong when they said it rained in Oviedo, and coming from Britain, you wouldn't think that would be too much of a problem. But what we don't get in Britain is the astounding unpredictability of weather. I know it's something I've mentioned before, but this week wins in the fickleness stakes hands down. Ever had all four seasons in one day? Brilliant sunshine, temperatures in the twenties, blue skies, turn in seconds to grey clouds and autumnal winds, which in turn give way to plummeting temperatures and rain. Oh the rain. It has been the most frequent and enduring of all the weathers over the past couple of weeks and it is annoying. And to think my first choice was Gran Canaria! But I wouldn't change now for the world. The rain hasn't ... read more

Sitting here now, bathed in moisturiser, drinking copious amounts of water, it's hard to believe how changeable the weather was at the start of the week. One minute, it was raining and blowing a gale, and the next it was sunny, we didn't know if we were coming or going. The umbrellas were up and down, coats were on and off, flip-flops were put on and immediately regretted... April is the month of unpredictable weather, I know, but this was taking it to extremes. And then May arrived, and along with it, a full day of glorious sunshine. So we headed to the beach at Gijon. The only problem was the wind - strong gusts kept whooshing sand around so that it ended up absolutely everywhere. Unable to eat our picnic, or even lay our towels ... read more

It's a cold and grey Sunday afternoon, quite a change from the last few weeks of beautiful summer weather, but nevertheless we've been having a lovely day. We all find that Sundays can be 'dead' days - because nothing's open, nothing's going on and we don't always get together leaving Sundays for boring things like work and cleaning - essential things, but not necessarily fun ones. And even when you've done those jobs the hours can still stretch out before you endlessly. So we decided to change things, and yesterday, we went to the supermarket to get things to make a roast dinner so that we could have a lovely meal together today. It all went pretty smoothly - we started cooking at 1pm after a nice lie-in, and had a lovely meal with plenty of ... read more

And miraculously, touch wood, the rain has gone away! Sitting here now, the sun is streaming through my window - it is a truly joyous sight after a solid week of rain! It did mean, however, that we got to see the truly impressive sight of Oviedo's umbrellas. The sky turns grey, and suddenly everyone, and I mean everyone is carrying an umbrella. I don't mean those flimsy, fold-up ones that slot neatly into your bag - I felt like a second-class citizen with mine, and the wind soon beat it. They have proper, sturdy brollies, in as many colours and designs as you could imagine. There is even a whole etiquette that goes along with carrying an umbrella, because the streets are so full of them that you quickly have to learn the unspoken rules ... read more

Here goes part 2, another country, another uni, another experience! After a lovely month at home recharging my batteries (and writing my French year abroad project), I arrived in Oviedo on Wed 18th Feb. I was sort of looking forward to it, but also sort of not, but travelling with Rosy made it much better than it would have been alone. Literally the moment we landed, as we were waiting at the luggage carousel, we bumped into Andy, a fellow sheffielder, who had been on our flight! he introduced us to another Andy, this one from Leeds, who was returning to Oviedo after a break at home, and therefore instantly became our Oviedo tour guide. He took Rosy and I to the door of our hotel, and told us that we were going out that evening. ... read more