What is a huelga, you may ask? In Spanish, it means strike. Today, March 29th, there is a giant (and I mean GIANT) strike against the transportation or something like that. I'm not sure exactly why they're striking, but I know that all the forms of transportation are pretty much closed or run VERY slowly. For example, a Metro car that would arrive at a station every 3 minutes will arrive every 15 now. Also, there are protesters, I can hear helicopters outside, and there are police everywhere. I was walking home last night alone, and three police vans were alongside me and stopped at the corner where I usually have to turn left, and an entire Spanish swat team jumped out. I started to kind of freak out in my head and I was just saying "Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus" over and over.
Don't worry though, I'm okay and the cool thing is that my classes were canceled because of the huelga because we all need to take trains, buses, and Metros to get to Getafe. Truthfully, I wouldn't have gone to school anyways because I live by and take the cercania (train) from Sol, which the the center of the protests. It's like saying hey, there's a giant protest at Grand Central Station that they've been planning for months, and I'm going to take a train for them. I might die, but at least I can get to school. NO.
The cool thing is that since there's no school today, we're starting our spring break early!! Here, it's called Semana Santa, which means "holy week," referring to Easter. So I don't have any school until April 10th :) Pretty cool, huh? The break here is longer than in the U.S. so that made me happy. We can finally take it easy and relax for a bit - take a breather. So today to celebrate the beginning of Semana Santa, we're going to Retiro (the giant park) and having a picnic and renting rowboats for like 2 euros and going around the lake. It's going to be super relaxing and amazing, and I can't wait!
The cool thing is that since there's no school today, we're starting our spring break early!! Here, it's called Semana Santa, which means "holy week," referring to Easter. So I don't have any school until April 10th :) Pretty cool, huh? The break here is longer than in the U.S. so that made me happy. We can finally take it easy and relax for a bit - take a breather. So today to celebrate the beginning of Semana Santa, we're going to Retiro (the giant park) and having a picnic and renting rowboats for like 2 euros and going around the lake. It's going to be super relaxing and amazing, and I can't wait!
 |
| Picnic in Retiro in perfect weather :) |
 |
| The strike/parade |
Btw, the next posts may or may not be in chronological order, but since I have a lot of time today I'm planning on catching up on blogging on some of the day trips that I took.
¡Hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment