Semana Grande

Today started off with English lessons with the kids, before getting ready to go out - my Au Pair family took me to "El Parque de la Naturaleza Cabárceno" which is a huge park full of animals, so huge in fact that you have to drive around the park to see all the different animals (I mean you could walk I guess but it would take you a very long time). We started off by having lunch in a restaurant, and then we rode both of the cable cars that take you around the park - you get such an amazing view of both the landscape and all the animals. We then drive around the park to see all the animals we wanted to see. I took so many pictures! So many in fact that I had to scroll through over 250 pictures before finding which pictures to use for my blog!

Later in the afternoon, we went to see a sea lion show which was really impressive (and pretty cute).

Then, when we got back home, I had around 45 minutes before going out again. Rosa had put me in touch with a colleague's niece who was once an Au Pair in Finland and who spoke really good English, as she thought I might want to go out with people my own age. And so after talking via Facebook for a while, Marta asked if I wanted to join her and her friends at the "Semana Grande" festival in the centre, which lasts for a week and started today, and I of course said yes. So when it was time, Rosa kindly drove me to the centre where I went to find Marta. This proved to be a challenge, as I'd never met her in real life before, and the amount of people around was crazy. You could barely move and I felt a bit trapped. To be honest, I felt a slight bit of regret when I saw the amount of people, and I felt kinda helpless, but all that soon disappeared when Marta and her friends found me. They were super nice and they all looked after me really well.

So after enjoying the parade that was going on, we went around the different booths/huts trying out different food and drinks. I personally don't drink much, so I just tried whatever Marta and her friends recommended. I ended up trying two different beers (a sip from each one) before trying white wine (I hadn't tried wine in a long time). It was still as bitter as I remembered, but it wasn't too bad. We then noticed a group of street performers so we watched them for a while, and they were so impressive! I even got a picture with one of them at the end (and one of Marta's friends too). Furthermore, Marta managed to get me a DVD of them as a souvenir, which includes both videos and pictures of them.

We then went to a bar where one of Marta's friends works, to get some more drinks, where Marta recommended I try a strawberry mojito, which I absolutely loved! I even got a picture with Marta (and with my mojito).

Just before 2am, we decided to go to a disco which was more fun than I thought it would be, despite barely being able to hear each other. Then, after around 45 minutes, I decided that I should go back home, not because I was tired, but because I knew I would be in the morning, and so Marta took me to the bus station where I said goodbye to Marta and got on the bus. Thankfully, despite never getting the bus in Santander before, I managed to recognise the stop where I needed to get off and walked home. This was a weird experience for me, as I don't go out much, especially not until 3 in the morning, but it was so much fun and I'm glad I did it.

Such a fun day!

For more pictures, see PHOTOS.