Tori Chester is a student at UNC Wilmington and an ISA Featured Blogger. Tori is currently studying abroad with ISA in Santander, Spain.
The time has come to talk about what makes Santander the very best study abroad location. Now, I know some of you are in world-famous cities with incredible landmarks, but Santander has something that’s got every single one of them beat: ice cream. That’s right, ice cream.
Santander is located right on the northern coast of Spain. I can see the ocean from the living room window in my homestay, and I’ve already tested out the waters in my first-ever surf lesson (which is another blog post entirely). It makes sense that places right on the beach contain the best summer treats known to humankind, and Santander is absolutely no exception. We have a chain of ice cream shops/pastelerías, Regma, that sell some of the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever tasted.
Seriously. I’m addicted. It’s a problem.
Some of the flavors are a little different than those in the U.S. While in the United States, my preferred choice fluctuates between coffee and chocolate (sometimes both!), here I’ve gone with something else — hazelnut (avellana in Spanish). In case you don’t know, hazelnut is the kind of nut in Nutella. Imagine, if you will, a chocolate-dipped cone topped with Nutella. Now try to imagine it without drooling a little. I know; it’s just about impossible!
At first, I tried to stay away. When I went down into the city center on an errand (mailing postcards, grocery shopping, buying fun sweaters), I tried to ignore Regma when I saw it. I didn’t want ice cream; I didn’t need it. But it didn’t take long for the rationalizations to creep in. Of course I don’t need it, I’d think, eying the shop with its brightly colored sign. But I mean, come on. I walk everywhere. And it’s true—it takes me about half an hour to walk from my apartment to the only Regma that’s still open. One might think that I’d be deterred; not so. Instead, I have a better excuse than ever to leave my apartment; I have an hour-long walk punctuated with ice cream.
Viva España and viva Regma, too!
I have to admit, when I went to Spain it was very hard to stay away from the ice cream. I think the gelato while I was in Italy really got me though. Better than any ice cream I have had here in America for sure.