The land of blue skies and rocky beaches

The weather was grey when I got there. After two flights and 18 hours of wondering around the airports, from my city somewhere in the north of Romania, I was finally in Coruña.

The warm smile of a taxi driver welcomed me as I stepped out of the airport, a smile that was the first among many yet to come, in the beautiful northen city of Spain.

The cold wind and piles of snow that I had left back home were still part of my fresh memory, so my surprise was big when I saw people wearing loose jackets, or hoodies outside. It was a nice change of weather for me, especially in the winter time, or so I thought.

The ride with the taxi that day was therapeutic for me, in about 15 minutes I got from the airport to my new apartment. As the taxi driver was making conversation with me, a seeming tourist, I was gazing at the window, astounded by the mix of natural stone and arhitectural white buildings tied to each other in an embrace that was going along all the boulevard of Pedro Barrié de la Maza.

I have found my apartment through Erasmusu, and one of my roommates was also at the UDC, the corunian University, in the Erasmus welcoming program group, so the process of adapting was really cut short by his reassurring and advice. The academic experience was awesome and the education standard very fulfilling as well as the proffesors at the Audio-Visual Production and Communication Dep. where I had spend that semester.

Aside from this, I have to admit: by the third week, I couldn't stand the rain anymore.

This was February already. I remember vividly the big drops that were constantly running down the window of my room, the hypnotic sound of the heavy rain that felt as some point surreal, as if the white buildings where about to melt like sugar cubes under such melancholic pressure. By the time late March came around, the climate got radically better. Although I had been feeling like a catterpillar in a cocoon, I was still wrapping myself around the Burberry scarf, which became an extention of my body as the spanish "winter" finally ended.

When the inevitable homesick shock kicked-in, I have found a ritual that helped me not only cope with the fact that I was missing Romania, but has also made me fall even deeper in love with the corunian sights and streets.

Source

The boardwalk that was connecting Playa de Riazor and Playa de Orzan became my new silent best-friend and it carried me all the way to Paseo Maritimo, from where I could see in it's glory the Hercules Tower.

As summer was coming closer, so did the energy of the people whom love and passion for national soccer was something that I have yet nothing to compare it with. I still remember the glasses of the apartment vibratin whenever a goal was shot at the stadium nearby.

Even though these things have already set Coruña amongst the best abroad experiences I've had so far, what really touched me about the city where the people. The spanish people are very emphatetic and welcoming with tourists and strangers and I find that they have a way of smiling that melts even the most homesick of hearts, and for that I thank you, Spain!

Mucho amor, Catalina!