by Brittany Russell, Ball State University
When considering the appearance of Oviedo, one might ask how people view the city. The answer to the question “What is Oviedo?” has multiple answers, depending on how you look at it. To Woody Allen, Oviedo is a delicious city, and like a fairy tale. When I first arrived, I would have agreed with Woody Allen. I was viewing Oviedo from the point of view of an American tourist, just as a Spaniard would view my hometown of Muncie, Indiana from the point of view of a Spanish tourist. As time has progressed, my perspective has changed as I have come to understand more of the culture. I am sure that a native’s perspective of Oviedo would be even more different. In such a way, it is possible to see Oviedo from many dif
ferent perspectives: at first, I viewed it as a tourist would, based on my first impressions. Now I view it as a more enlightened American living inOviedofor an extended period of time. There is also the perspective ofOviedonatives, people have lived inOviedo for all their lives. One must also consider the perspective of Spaniards not from Oviedo or Asturias.
Some of the natives I have talked to find Oviedo boring. They prefer the beaches of the coastal city Gijón or the architecture of Barcelona. They are used to the history that surrounds them; for example, rather than taking a c
entral place in their view of Oviedo, the cathedral merely serves as a backdrop for their visit to a café or as their meeting place for a night on the town. They might consider another tourist attraction, the statue of La Gorda, to be just another part of the background on their way to work. Because they are already familiar with their surroundings, they are more concerned with the people they encounter and the things they do than with the places they see. From their perspective, the people of Oviedo are just a part of the city, just as I am a part of Muncie, Indiana and you are a part of your hometown