My latest adventure brought me on a return trip to the capital of my province, Jaén. The first time here was during or orientation when we also stayed an extra night with some friends we met there. However this latest trip was much more for personal enjoyment than business.
About a week ago we met some more friends from Jaén that had come to visit our great little town of Baeza. While they were here, we showed them around and I even gave them a personal tour of the area around my school, since I am such an expert. It was then that we found out about the great Feria de San Lucas in Jaén that had just started. From weekend to weekend the entire city would be one big fair. Not to mention, it was to be the last fair of the year in our province. Simply an opportunity that I did not want to miss. So with some tentative plans made, we invited ourselves to their apartment for the upcoming weekend, for them to show us all that Jaén had to offer. We were not disappointed.
On Friday, we grabbed a bus from Baeza just before 5 pm and made it to Jaén about 45 minutes later. Our touring group on this weekend consisted of myself, Julie, Lucia, Ellen, and Meg. Although later we were to meet up with Ismay, Justi, and Caroline. Upon our arrival, we joined forces with our traveling partner Eric and then made our way to the apartment where we would be crashing for the weekend. Our new friends Miken, Becky, and Kathryn were waiting. An interesting side note, Miken and Becky played volleyball and field hockey at Michigan State, so we had some common ground already. Not surprisingly, Miken and I know many of the volleyball players from Minnesota, as I am good friends with many of them. What a small world it is, even on the other side of the ocean.
The girls’ apartment was really nice, new and big. We had no trouble finding a spot on the couch and floor for later that night. After relaxing and then preparation for the night, we decided to head for tapas at a nearby place. Our plan was to head here around 9:00 before a free concert near the fair at when we thought was 10:00. I don’t know why a part of me still wants to believe these times that Spanish people here set, but obviously we were dead wrong. What was 10:00, soon turned into 1:00 am and finished around 2:30. The group was very entertaining and although I understood very little, we had a great time. They were called Segonie and could be described as a typical Spanish rock band. Loud, cool lights, and lots of fun.
After the concert finished up we went to the nearby botellón where the youth of the city had all gathered before heading into the fair. Essentially it is a big plaza where people gather and drink before having to pay much more for whatever food and drink they desired once they were in. We stayed here for an hour or so and met many other auxiliares and Spanish friends.
The fair itself is an enormous area. It is hard to say exactly how big it is because I don’t think I even saw everything that it had to offer, but it really is a huge get together. There are rides, food stands, restaurants, and more people than you can imagine. But the area where we concentrated our time, included the many tents dedicated to the youth of the fair. We saw dozens of tents, each with a different DJ or type of music that you could dance the night away if you desired. We stayed for a few hours, danced the night away, and then returned to our friends for the night, or morning I should say. Too much fun. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to their concept of time here.
After sleeping the morning away, I awoke with my friends early that afternoon and relaxed in their apartment as we watched basketball, dumb games, and tennis play on TV. We watched both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer lose in the semis of a tournament in Madrid. I wonder if that has ever happened? Both of them losing on the same day. The reason for the vegetative state was due in large part to the rain that was falling all day long. However, when it finally stopped, Eric, Julie, Lucia, and I went in search for a grocery store to grab some food for a cheap dinner. However, everything we passed was closed. All of our frequent stops: Día and Más y Más. But then out of the darkness, a light emerged. El Corté Inglés! My first experience in the giant spanish department store was a good one. We made our way to the supermarket area and found everything we needed for dinner. Wine, bread, meet, cheese, and some snacks for our get together later that evening. Hopefully my next time visiting will be just as good.
Our second night was just as fun if not better. Although we did not start out at a tapas bar or a free concert, our friends whom we were staying with, had invited other auxiliares and spanish friends to their apartment for a little get together before heading down to the fair. And what started as a small group of maybe eight people, soon turned into a party of probably 25 people, both spanish and american. I met a lot of cool people and had a great opportunity to continue and speak Spanish with many new friends.
After this, our night went somewhat similar to the previous one. We made our way to the botellón for a couple of hours and then down to the fair. Here we also met up with Ismay, Justi, and Caroline. Again, we danced and lots of fun before heading back to the apartment, grabbing our stuff, and heading towards the bus station where we waited about 45 minutes for the first bus to Baeza. I thought it would be nice to sleep in my bed that morning instead of on the couch again. As we rolled into Baeza, I made my way to my bed and had a very lazy and relaxing Sunday before getting started with classes for this next week.
As for this weekend, it has been relatively uneventful. I went out with Caroline and Justi on Friday for awhile, watched the Huskers win yesterday, and am now getting ready for the upcoming week. Also, Ellen’s parents are here for the weekend, so we have been treated to dinner once and have had too many Belgium chocolates. Not good for my sad attempt to stay in somewhat of a shape this year out of the pool. They went to Murcia for the day yesterday and Ellen brought me back a map in Spanish of Europe. I have already put it on my wall and my plan is to mark each city that I visit throughout this year. Hopefully I can bring it back with me next summer. A nice keepsake for the future.
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