Welcome to Oviedo, Asturias!
The north is reasonably characterized as the most beautiful area of Spain. Going upwards from Madrid, whether in train or bus, the flat and dry scenery slowly turns into green and flourishing mountain view, taking your breath away. Not surprisingly, on the northern area you can find numerous natural and national parks full of amazing hiking routes with gorgeous views. Not to mention the gorgeous coastline, for nature lover this is a paradise. I am lucky to have been able to see the beauty of the world in many forms, but it keeps surprising me all the time with its variety.
First days in the beginning of September were warm, and overall the autumn has been nicely warm and sunny – nice change for the darkening and rainy Finland! But time is definitely flying, and now in November the climate has already been reminding that we are in the northern part of the country, mornings are chillier and mountains have got their beautiful snow layer on their tops. Anyhow, during daytime it gets warmer, and darkness is not going to reach the Finland level!
Enough of the nature, even I could show millions of pictures of it. Studying is the reason I am here experiencing all of this. The study routine here is something I have had to work on to get used to. To get the required points, I only need to complete three courses here. It sounds like nothing, but definitely it is not all about lying down and relaxing here. Courses hold a lot of information inside, and if you want to avoid ending up in front of a massive pile of work during your Christmas holidays it is better to keep reviewing the topics gone through on lectures at least every now and then! The content in one course can be significant and there is a lot to digest. However, I have not noticed any significant differences between the teaching styles here and in Finland. There are as many styles as there are teachers, and there are as many different kind of course contents as there are different institutions.
Anyway, due to the minimized amount of courses, a big part of the day is left for individual work and studying to work on the content – or some other activities. The nature around offers a chance for peaceful walks, each of them differentiating from each other. And if the surroundings of my own town are not enough anymore, the good transportation connections give the possibility to explore a bit more far too. In addition to independently organized trips, exchange organisations, such as AEGEE and ESN organize different kind of trips around and leave you out of planning and additional costs. Several kind of weekly and more specialized events, such as tapas nights or national holidays, offer also activities for the ones seeking something to do besides studying.
Uniting with your friends and getting into the culture is something I have enjoyed the most. By these experiences my way of viewing the world is a bit wider again, and if something, at least the language skills are improving day by day since English is something you hear only in the school!
Many experiences behind, hopefully a lot more to come!
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