CULTURE
Weeks 3 & 4 in Spain
Amid a quiet week, a cold countryside walk reveals Ourense’s beauty, abandoned villages, and the changing rhythms of rural life.
Galicia, Spain. Courtesy of the Independent.
Skye Reilly in Galicia, Spain
The school week during week 3 was uneventful. I did not do much other than coming and going from school. On the weekend of week 3, I went in the afternoon on an hour and a half long walk with my dad and my sisters. While the walk was very cold, it was so pretty. Seeing the natural landscape of Ourense was so amazing and it was nice to get out of the house and spend some time with my host family. During the walk, we wandered through many small towns. Many of the houses in these towns were abandoned, and my dad explained to me this was because all the young people that were born in these areas have moved to bigger cities, not wanting to follow the same, simple footsteps of their parents.
Looking out of my window on a foggy morning—the grass is covered in frost.
Local forest.
Look out over a small town.
The sun rising during the foggy morning.
Look out over the landscape.
The school week during week 3 was uneventful. I did not do much other than coming and going from school. On the weekend of week 3, I went in the afternoon on an hour and a half long walk with my dad and my sisters. While the walk was very cold, it was so pretty. Seeing the natural landscape of Ourense was so amazing and it was nice to get out of the house and spend some time with my host family. During the walk, we wandered through many small towns. Many of the houses in these towns were abandoned, and my dad explained to me this was because all the young people that were born in these areas have moved to bigger cities, not wanting to follow the same, simple footsteps of their parents.
My sisters, mum and I in matching Christmas sweaters.
On Saturday my family and I went to breakfast in town. I had a cinnamon roll and an orange juice which was really good. We then drove to this tiny little one room building in a tiny town that my mum explained was a school. There were lots of people waiting there. We then get let inside this tiny school and all sat down. After a bit a lady came who was dressed up and did over an hour-long performance Infront of this group of children and parents. The whole performance was in Galician, the local language to the region I was staying in, so I have no idea what the performance was about. My mum explained to me on the ride home that the performance was about the Galician equivalent to Santa, but I still don’t really understand why we went and how they heard about it.
Thats everything! Week 5/Christmas blog coming soon
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