March 3rd is the day of Hinamatsuri (Doll’s Festival, also called Girls’ Day) in Japan. On this day dolls of the Emperor, the Empress, and nobles of the Heian court are displayed inside the home, and the day is celebrated in hopes that the girl of the house grows up healthily.
This weekend I had the opportunity to partake in what I have to say is the most wonderfully peculiar experience I’ve had so far. It was called the Battaglia delle Arance (Battle of the Oranges). This celebration is unique to Ivrea, a small city in the northeastern region of Piedmonte. At its most basic level, the event is a three-day food fight using leftover oranges from Sicily’s winter crop. However, this description is like saying the Superbowl is a four-hour attempt to run an oddly shaped ball from one end of a field to the other.
A group of IES students took a trip to Cuenca (another Ecuadorian historical city) for the long weekend. We took a night bus there, but it was much shorter than anticipated. Honestly, I thought arriving in an unfamiliar city at 5am was a great adventure! We found a park to hang out, told stories and had multiple hours of quality bonding time.
Despite Barcelona’s multitude of restaurants and general reputation for culinary excellence, I haven’t completely immersed myself in the restaurant scene. Since we eat toast for breakfast each morning, dinner with our host family in the evenings and generally make lunches at home, I haven’t tried as many new places as I’d like to. This past weekend in Barcelona offered ample time to sample a few delicious offerings around the city.
Friday lunch: Da Greco
The lack of blogging has not been because of a lack of activity. Unfortunately I still don’t have a reliable internet system so it is hard to find a time at school to write a blog until we have our modem, but anyway…. Cape Town is still AMAZING! Although it happened over a week ago at this point, this blog post is going to be dedicated to my visit to Boulder’s Beach, home to the over 3000 penguins!
This past week was Reading Week, and I took advantage of the lack of classes to go to Howth*. Twice. I have been to Howth several times before, but it’s worth revisiting. Even if you just sit around in the park, it’s nice to get some sea air. Plus, Saoirse* Ronan, of How I Live Now, Hanna, Atonement, and The Lovely Bones fame, lives there, so if you’re the type who fancies celebrity spotting, there’s always a possibility.
I love Salamanca, and this city has everything a student could want. In the exploring I’ve done since I’ve arrived, I’ve found a few places I particularly enjoy. Here are my five favorites:
1. Pancake take-away