IUHPFL Oviedo 2017

It’s Wednesday! This week is only halfway through and we’ve already done so much. Everyone is hard at work preparing for the final show. To correct some mistakes from last week, Rebecca’s choir group is doing a compilation of songs sung at the farewell shows from the past 10 years to the present, and Georgia came up to me during the week and told me her host brothers’ name is not Christian, but Christopher (thanks Georgia!). This Monday we had a first in the history of the program. This year we’ve made it a point to introduce the students to as much of the Oviedo community as possible (like in other years), but this year we did it a little differently. Us Professors live in a multi-generational facility that houses anyone from students to the elderly who live in the building permanently. Thanks to Moisés our amazing Logistics Coordinator and the staff at the Ovida residence, we were able to bring the students to our residence to interact with the elderly in a “field day” type ...

The excitement to get out of the classroom and explore Oviedo was evident all of Friday. As we were waiting for the bus, everyone was buzzing and ready to explore! The students had been learning about the history of Sta. María de Narranco in their culture class and so it was exciting for them to see it with their own eyes. Sta. María de Narranco and San Miguel de Lillo are only a 30-minute bus ride outside of Oviedo. Sta. María was originally a small castle that the king used for parties and to show off his wealth. San Miguel was a large church but much of the structure fell over time, leaving what’s left in the pictures below. The Night of San Juan celebrates the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist in the Catholic Church. Essentially, it’s a holiday celebrating Saint John and the arrival of summer. It's celebrated all throughout Europe but Spain has an especially rich tradition celebrating this holiday, with each region following its own special tradition. In Asturias, the...