June 3--A Great Breakfast and into the Spider-Verse

Today was just a great day in general.  It started off really well with the fact that we didn't have anywhere to be until 5 p.m., and all we had planned as a group was the bus ride back to León, so we had until noon to just sleep in, do whatever we wanted, and explore.  My roommate and I went running in Santillana del Mar, and it was SO BEAUTIFUL! I was so glad we got to go running. 

AND, after our run, we were met with a FEAST for breakfast: fresh squeezed orange juice, Cola Cao, tons of fruit, assorted meats and cheeses, pancakes, torrija, fresh made eggs and bacon.  It was AMAZING! In comparison, most of the breakfasts we are served meet one of three levels: Level 3: Bread, jam and butter, Cola Cao, juice, assorted meats and cheeses, yoghurt and some fruits (usually banana or apple). Level 2: Bread, jam and butter, Cola Cao, yoghurt and fruit (a single apple or banana for each of us). Lastly, Level 1: Breads, jam and butter, Cola Cao. Those are kind of the regular breakfast we get every morning with varying levels of variety based on the quality of the hotel. But this breakfast? Unlimited EVERYTHING. It was amazing.

The last thing we did before we left the town was go to a church – it wasn’t anything special, but it was a great walk around town. Santilliana del Mar was just an adorable town with a super active social scene, and honestly a little touristy, but I didn’t dislike it. Yesterday at the caves, I wanted to buy a decal of one of the cave drawings, and the tour guide on duty – despite his shift being over – was nice enough to get out the decals and give me the one I wanted, but originally I just pointed at the decals in general, so he gave me this random one with a symbol...and then I asked for the cave drawing one as well. So today, I saw the same symbol around town as on the decal, so while I was looking for souvenirs, I asked the shop owners about the the symbol along with the others that are similar. Turns out, there are these giant stone tablets called the Cantabrian Steles. They are from the 1^st-3^rdcenturies and were found in varying places all over the Cantabrian mountains. Because they are such a huge part of the culture and history around here, the shield of Cantabria includes the design of the first Stele of Barros in its composition. I ended up getting a decal of the symbol of the second Stele of Lombardo that apparently is a sun symbol. Anyway, just yet another SUPER cool thing that is native to this region.

Then came probably my least favorite part of the day – riding the BUS. Woohoo.... For three hours, we all sat on the bus (well, according to Spanish law, our bus driver did have to take a 20 minute break halfway through, during which we saw the VERY nice inside of a rest stop, but for the most part it was just riding on the bus). Don’t get me wrong, I got plenty done – I took a nap, I watched some TV, did some homework assignments, talked to my fellow students, but something I did do that I was really proud of was figuring out all the details for the possibility of seeing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse tonight. Multiple students had been talking about it, and this was the last time we were going to be in a big city (with a movie theater) on a night without dinner, where we would actually have time to do it. Of course, no one had really looked up any details besides those, so with some quick map and internet searches, I found that in León, a sizeable Spanish city, there were only TWO WHOLE MOVIE THEATERS, and only one was within walking distance. I then found the time the movie would be playing that would work with our schedule of going to a museum at 5:00 – there was an 8:30 and 10:10 showing - checked the cost of the tickets (7.40 USD) and made sure that the theaters would be available for all of us to sit together if all 15 students ended up coming. I then sent that info to several students, made sure my professors would be okay with it, and then had everyone who was coming confirm on WhatsApp so that we knew exactly everyone who was coming. It was really nice, one of the other students, Tim, offered to buy the tickets all at once and then have everyone pay him back which was WAY easier than having everyone buy their own ticket and coordinate who was getting which seat so that we could all sit together. Because our museum tour started at 5, we would easily be able to get to the 8:30 showing (with a 20 minute walk from our hotel to the theater) and man that time could not come fast enough! 

Before you I tell you about our adventure to the movie theater, I want to tell you the tale of the suitcase – well my suitcase specifically. Originally purchased by my parents to get several purchases home from Sweden, it seemed like the perfect size to take to Spain – not a full size suitcase, but not a carry on, easily identifiable being bright yellow, and not necessarily our fanciest suitcase, so if it got lost or broken, no big deal. Unfortunately, while I was experiencing the closest thing to hell on earth, otherwise known as the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, somehow, somewhere, my suitcase lost its first wheel. And this wasn’t just broken off or the wheel got damaged, like when this wheel broke, it was snapped off, wheel joint and all. I’m almost surprised it didn’t take off a corner of the suitcase with it. Soon after, between Roncesvalles and Zibini, another wheel took a blow, not completely gone, but mortally wounded and missing half of the wheel. Recently, one of the two remaining wheels has gotten finicky, so getting my suitcase from the bus to our hotel in León, especially over cobblestone streets, involved literally DRAGGING it in sections. 

Back to Spider-Man...

Fast forward past checking into the hotel, the visit to the museum and going to the laundromat, it was soon
time to head over to the movie theater to see the new Spider-Verse movie! The walk there was quite pleasant, 12 of the 15 students ended up going, and we were all pretty excited. Thankfully the tickets were easily scanned once we got there, and after a quick flight to the bathroom (because you DON’T want to miss a second of this movie) we were all seated and ready to go. There was a debate within our group of whether the movie was going to be in English with Spanish subtitles, or, because it was animated, would it just be in Spanish. Isaac and I were some of the only ones who thought it would be in Spanish, and guess what?? IT WAS! It did make parts – especially fast moving sections of dialogue with lots of witty banter or cultural, inside jokes – a little harder to understand, but it was seriously SO FUN! I can go back to the U.S. and watch this movie as many times as I want in English, but to be in Spain, on a study abroad, with a ton of other students, all watching a movie in Spanish was SO FUN! And MAN, what a great movie – visually, cinematically, musically, emotionally – every scene in Gwen’s universe had me close to TEARS, holy smokes that was amazing. The abstractness of the colors but it still being super palatable and understandable and actually adding MORE meaning to each scene?! Amazing. And it was so fun doing it all together – afterwards we were all walking back and it was so fun to hear the different conversations talking not only about the movie, but also all these fun Spanish things we had heard in the movie.  It was such a singular experience.  I'm grateful it all worked out so perfectly.

On the walk back, we saw that there was this crazy holographic display on a church which was cool to watch as we passed – I still don’t understand the Spanish schedule because just randomly, there are like a BILLION people in the streets, and the rest of the day everything is like a ghost town. But anyway, great day, so fun, so good, so busy in a good way 