Oviedo + 1

Hola! That is Spanish for hello. I learned that while working here in Oviedo, among other things. I am wrapping up my sixth week here, working for a cool company called Exiom Solutions. They mainly specialize in manufacturing, developing, and installing solar panels around Europe and sometimes Africa and Asia. As well, the company has a real estate and olive oil branch, which I guess go hand and hand with solar energy.

I have quickly worked my way up the ranks and am now the CEO of the company, and hope to expand the company to America and the entire world in the near future. Until then, I will continue copying and pasting sales of Spanish companies, accrediting certificates for solar origins, reviewing employee purchases, the occasional English translation for a coworker (I speak English good), and whatever else my coworkers need. They are all very nice people, I think. They could be secretly making fun of me in Spanish, but I would like to think that they are not. (:

The culture in Oviedo is very unique. The city is about 200,000 people and located in Asturias region, which is in the Northwest corner of Spain, close to Portugal. I am first going to explain the eating habits here. Breakfast is small, with coffee and pre-made toast, which is not as good as it sounds. Then, at around 11:30 everyday during the week, my coworkers and I go to a cafe downstairs and get coffee and croissants with cream. Okay, my coworkers just get the coffee, but I always need to have my vanilla cream filled croissant. Then, everyone takes lunch in between the hours of 2 and 4 pm. Tapas are pretty common. Being a vegetarian, I find it very difficult to find food here. My diet consists of 55% Spanish tortillas, 10% croissants, 18% pizza, 7% rice, 19% curry (not Spanish, but the Indian man that owns the restaurant always has a very warm smile that could brighten up anyone´s day), 4% coffee, and 26% mathematics. My nutritional value has been lacking here to say the least. Finally, most people here eat dinner starting at 8:30, and as late as 2 am. Sometimes I see children under the age of 10 eating with their parents past midnight. If I reflect on my childhood correctly, I believe that was past my curfew at that age. They are just living the life here.

Switching topics, the weather here is less than ideal. When I accepted this internship, I just assumed that everywhere in Spain had warm, sunny summers. As well, I for some reason was under the impression that Oviedo was located on the beach. The temperature here has reached above 70 degrees once (That is Fahrenheit, not Celsius!), it has rained almost every single day here, and I am a 45 minute bus ride from the beach. Luckily I checked the weather 2 hours before packing and quickly ran into my brother´s room and stole his rain jacket. I was planning on going to the beach during my free time, but instead, I decided to trade my beach towel in for some chips. Poker chips. Yup. I have a gambling problem now. Well, I wouldn´t call it a problem. It is pretty fun, and rain never stops a game unless if you´re a weirdo and like to play poker outside (I have actually done this before, but I like being weird). The guys I play with are fun to talk to, and they like to remind me that they are all retired and that I have work in the morning. They also think that I look like a professional footballer on Real Oviedo, Patrick Hidi. This brings me to my last point, which is that I many times neglect to take photos, so instead, I am going to post a photo of myself and Patrick Hidi, so we can all finally decide if we are indeed long lost twins separated at birth only for my long lost twin to be raised in Hungary to become a professional football player.

I am on the right, and Patrick is on the left. Wait! No, I am on the left and Patrick is on the right. Or maybe, both of these are pictures are of me. Just kidding, these are both pictures of Patrick Hidi. I don´t know what my poker friends were talking about, we look nothing alike. Well, anyways, enjoy your summer everyone, and lets all hope Hungary wins the World Cup! Éljen Magyarország!

-Charlie and Patrick