San Sebastian

Earlier in the week Ashley had mentioned a festival in a town called San Sebastian that her host-mom Carmen said we should check out on Saturday. Unfortunately the festival was on Wednesday, not Saturday, but we decided to get bus tickets and spend the day exploring anyway. Well when Saturday finally rolled around practically half the CIDE students were doing the same thing!

We took an 11:30 bus that got us into San Sebastian in a little over an hour. We has researched some things to do, but didn't really know where to begin... We decided we were all starved (story of our lives) and wanted to find lunch. After wandering around El Parte Viejo (literally translated, The Old Part) we finally found a small and inexpensive place to eat. San Sebastian is known for their pintxos (also commonly known as tapas). Which are tiny sandwiches with fish or meat or some kind of topping on top of bread or a little baguette. We were told to go "tapas bar hopping." (When I first heard this I thought I was hearing "topless bar hopping".. ha!) But we decided to have a big lunch and do that a little later. We got an awesome meal for under seven euro that included steak, salad, and french fries so I was very pleased.

(In front of San Sebastian Town Hall)

After that we wandered some more to the Plaza de la Constitucion and we saw the town hall that was right on the edge of the water. The beach was even more gorgeous than Algorta. La Playa de la Concha wrapped around the coast of the city and from behind town hall you could see Monte Urgull, a ruined 16th century fortress of Santa Cruz de la Mota. And at the top of the fortress there was a statue of Christ, also known as the Sacrado Corazon (Sacred Heart). We wanted to find our way up to the ruins to get an even better view of the city.

(The castle we climbed to the top of)

We found some stairs that we though would take us up to the top of the "mountain," but we did not realize how many stairs we would actually end up walking up! But it was well worth it, the view was absolutely breath-taking. We could see the blue water crashing up on the coast and there was a perfect bird's eye view of the whole city. The fortress was really amazing too. There were old cannons and stonework that was unbelievable and the statue of Christ was even bigger than I imagined. I was a little frustrated that it was so beautiful the day before in Algorta and so rainy the day we were at a prettier location, but I still enjoyed everything I saw.

(Statue of Christ)

After heading back down we were all craving something sweet. We found a little cafe where I finally got to try churros con chocolate! I had tried churros in the states, but these were freshly made with real sugar on them and you get to dip them into this hot chocolate-like drink, but the chocolate is almost too thick and rich to drink by itself. Muy delicioso! We walked around some more.... But it was raining harder. I went into a few shops and Kate and I found Bilbao Athletic Club (Bilbao's futbol team) scarves to wear to the next game we go see and we attempted to find the aquarium. But when my group found out it was eight euros no one wanted to go in anymore!

We met up with a few more people and headed back to the Town Hall and by now it was dark out. We all decided to ride the carousel (I'll always be a child at heart) and Kate and I rode the dolphins! We still had not gotten any pintxos, but because of the churros a little earlier I wasn't hungry and didn't get one with everyone else. I definitely regretted that later on, first because I needed to eat before we left, and second because I missed out on the best pintxos in Spain! I ended up getting a Turkish gyro from a place near the bus station and actually wasn't disappointed. People make fun of me here because I call them "jai-rohs," when they're actually supposed to be called "gee-rohs." Oh well, it was still delicious and I will just get a pintxo the next time we go back to San Sebastian because we are definitely coming back when it's beach weather!!

After getting home, none of us were actually too tired, so we decided to go to a discoteca called "DaVinci." It was really fun and they played both American and Spanish music. Ashley and I met an aupair from England who approached us when she heard us speaking English and we chatted with some Spanish girls while waiting in line at the bathroom. They wanted to practice their English, but we wanted to practice our Spanish! Kate and I took a breather outside where we got to practice our Spanish with some locals though, so that was actually pretty funny. I haven't mentioned this yet, but the most popular hairstyle for men around here is hideous. It's a mullet with the long hair in the back turned into dreads. I have never seen anything so unattractive in my life... But I brought this up because one of the locals we talked to was rocking this haircut! We ended up losing track of time and didn't get back to our dorm until 5:30 am! I had been up for almost 24 hours so it's no wonder I am getting sick. I took all of Sunday to rest... But if this cold doesn't get better anytime soon I think I'm headed to the clinic for some antibiotics.

And I think I'm pretty caught up by now...

Zear Bide pt. II y Algorta

So I mentioned last week a Bienvenidos Fiesta for all of the CIDE students at this bar. Well there was another one this week. I guess they're kind of a regular thing and they are planning on having a Superbowl Party too. It's a really fun place with lots of people and fun music to dance to, but the one issue is the distance. We can take the metro there, but the metro closes early on weekdays so we have to get a taxi back. And the taxi cost over 20 euro to get back to our dorm!!

(Everyone at the second Zear Bide Bar party)

It was a fun night though... Remember the post about the dogs not really liking people? Well there was this puppy and his owner outside that all of us fell in love with! His name was Simba and he was a little grey and white pitbull. He was so lovable and kept licking our faces. Someone actually got a picture of him licking my face and teased me about getting "my first kiss in Spain" from a dog. The rest of the night was really fun too. We all danced to more American music and I got to meet a ton of new people again. It's starting to get really hard to keep names straight anymore, and I used to consider myself good at that!

The next day a bunch of us decided to take the metro into Algorta. It's a beachtown a little ways away from the city. Our friend Ashley is doing a family stay with this single 60 year old woman named Carman. Ashley had told us so much about her that we insisted we should come meet her. We arrived around 2:00 that day and go to see Ashley's temporary home. For living alone Carman sure has a lot of stuff! There were pictures and antiques everywhere. She didn't speak much English so we all just introduced ourselves and decided to go have lunch. I was starved. It was taking us forever to find a place though, so we gave up and went to this fastfood pizza place called Telepizza. I actually got a hamburger, but I wouldn't go back for another. I miss American burgers!! We should have walked a little further because a few blocks ahead there were restaurants everywhere! Next time I guess...

(All the girls at the beach in Algorta)

We decided to go find the beach, because Algorta is one of the towns known for its beaches and when we found our way down we were a little disappointed by the view. it was a very pretty beach and it was a gorgeous day, but off in the distance we could see a bunch of cranes and industrial work. I don't think I will be swimming in that water any time soon. Kate and I walked onto the beach and I picked up a few rocks and an oyster shell... I dipped my toes into the surf too, but it was way too cold! We decided to go to this bar/restaurant across the water (should have had lunch there) and a few girls and I got a glass of wine. I felt like I could actually taste the grapes it was made from! After talking for a bit the clouds rolled in so we all decided to head back to the metro and part ways. I think we will definitely be travelling back to Algorta soon, obviously in warmer weather to lay on the beach, but we hope to have a meal and movie night with Carman sometime soon!

(Kate and I on the beach at Algorta)

First Week of Classes!

So Monday the 18th was my first day of classes at the Universidad de Deusto. We arrived that morning at 9 to find out what level of Spanish we were placed into and that would tell us which classes we were placed into as well. I was placed into Spanish 300 (as expected), but my schedule was a little off... A lot of us were pre-registered for classes we weren't sure we wanted to take or weren't registered for the ones we were interested in. So on my first day my schedule had me going to five different classes starting at 11:00 am and ending my day at 4:00 pm with no break! Turns out I wasn't interested in a few of those classes so now my schedule is as follows:

• 
  
  Mondays: Spanish Conversation, Basque Culture and Language, and Spanish in Context: Theater
• 
  
  Tuesdays: Spanish Conversation. Spanish Grammar, and Culture, Politics and Economy in Contemporary Spanish Society
• 
  
  Wednesday: Spanish Grammar, Basque Culture and Language, and Spanish in Context: Cuisine
• 
  
  Thursdays: Spanish Conversation and Grammar, and Culture, Politics and Economy in Contemporary Spanish Society
• 
  
  Fridays: No class!!

I really like the way my schedule turned out. My earliest class is at 9, but that's only on Thursdays and I'm done no later than 2:25 every day! All the professors are really cool too and want us to call them by their first names... My Spanish professor, Francisco, is quite a character. So even on the days when I have three hours of solid Spanish, I am constantly entertained. All of my classes are taught in Spanish too, but I haven't had any issues so far.

Zubiarte, a big shopping mall, is close to our campus so one day a few friends and I went to grab lunch there and do a little shopping. I can't make that an every week tradition though! But I did get a really cute coat for a good price. And the new library that was just built over on the other side of the Ria has an awesome cafeteria where you can get a huge lunch for a great price so I have done that a bunch of times too. I definitely need to start going back to my dorm to eat lunch though, because these "cheap" meals are definitely going to add up. Our classes are only for the people in the CIDE program so we are not integrated with the the other University students like I thought we would be, but it has given me a really good opportunity to meet other American students who aren't from Mary Wash!

Mi primer fin de semana

Okay so I just got internet back in my room... I struggled for almost a week without it when I first got here and suddenly last week I lost it again. That's why I have been slacking on the posts. I left off more than a week ago so these next few posts are going to be brief so I can play catch up... That's if I can even remember what I've done in this whirlwind of a time here!

My first weekend in Bilbao was actually a little more low key than the earlier hustle and bustle of orientation week. We finally had some downtime to ourselves which was really nice. On Saturday my friend Megan and I decided to do some exploring down on the opposite side of town that we had been spending most of our time in... We found a bunch of parks that will be perfect for studying later on in the semester and we even came across some old castle ruins! (Only in Europe...) While we were walking, and during all my other explorations around here I have noticed a few things that you don't often see in America. First off, all of the dogs walk around here without leashes. They're not strays either. They just walk close enough to their owner so that there's no problem, but if the do wander off to sniff something they come right back. None of the dogs are eager to be pet or sniff people either, which I find kind of upsetting since I love dogs! This is probably not too strange... But I have noticed that all of the babies and children here in strollers are wrapped up in these sleeping bag like sacks so their arms and legs are not seen. Sometimes I don't even know if there actually is a baby in the stroller! They all seem okay with it though... I can only imagine what some American babies would do if they were shoved into one of these...

(All the ladies out to watch the futbol game)

Anyway, later on we met up with everyone at a bar a few metro stops away to watch the futbol (soccer) game. We had hoped to get tickets to go see it at the stadium, but the intense rivalry between the competing teams, Bilbao Athletic Club and Real Madrid made it impossible to wait in line that long. The street we were on was packed with people pouring out of bars and when we got there I could hardly see the screen. After some time passed Bilbao actually ended up winning and the streets went insane!! Everyone was chanting and cheering... I can't even imagine what it was like inside the stadium. We all definitely plan to go to at least one game during our stay in the city.

(Castle ruins that Megan and I found while exploring!)

On Sunday, my roommate and I met up with a few more friends to do a little more exploring. We had hoped to go to this open air market in Casco Viejo but we woke up just a little too late for that. (I really need to get on this Spaniard time schedule...) The five of us found our way to a big park we saw on our map where there was a big duck pond. Some little girls were feeding the ducks when a peacock flew in out of no where! I swear the thing almost bit her finger off while she was feeding it... After some cafes con leche (coffee with milk) we headed back to the dorm and spent the rest of the night just hanging out with the others in our dorm and getting ready for bed earlier than normal to prepare for our start of classes the next day!

(What a tourist...)

The Gugg

So Friday was the first day I got to sleep in... We had a planned visit to the Guggenheim Museum. It's a really beautiful museum that we can see from our school, located right on the Ria. I had to be there by 11:30 and Kate didn't need to be there until 12:30. Unfortunately our Friday morning slumber was disturbed around 10 when the residence hall cleaning service came into our room... I was so confused, but I guess we were supposed to be out and about by that time. I headed over to the museum with my friend Megan and took the Metro, we were pretty lost when we got back above ground. We had to find the giant puppy made of flowers. It took a while, but we spotted the canine and made it to our group meeting in time...

(Puppy made of flowers)

I was extremely tired from the night before so I wasn't really up for a day of museum touring, but thankfully we were given audio tours and allowed to do what we wanted with the day. My friend Lizzie and I walked around a bit. Saw some crazy exhibits including these floor to ceiling LED lights telling a story and some giant steel sculptures presenting a theory of "time and matter." The entire second floor was dedicated to the architecht Frank Lloyd Wright. It had a bunch of his blueprints and models of his houses. It was all really interesting, but I can only take so much of one person. So we went upstairs where there were a bunch of paintings from the Guggenheim Collection from artists like Picaso, Van Gogh, Kandisnky, Dali, and so on.... It was a pretty barren museum compared to the ones I've been to in New York and France, but it was cool to be able to go for free.

(Photo courtesy of Kate: The Guggenheim Museum)

I joined a bunch of girls for lunch further into town in this little restaurant that offered a three course meal for twelve euros. Not bad. Then I headed back for a much needed siesta. I don't know if I have mentioned anything about siesta here in Spain, but it's taken pretty seriously. Right around 2:00 everything closes for "siesta" where everyone either leaves work to take a nap or eat a huge meal. Going on a metro around 2:00 in the afternoon would make you think it was rushhour or something... And all the windows even have these metal screens to pull down that block out any light to come into the room. Kate and I tried pulling ours down one night and couldn't even wake up in the morning because it was so dark in our room we just wanted to keep sleeping.

Later on, a few of my friends and I went to Corte Ingles, that giant department store I mentioned earlier. I wanted to get a hair dryer and see if I could find rain boots. I got a hairdryer... but no rain boots. They had every other kind of boot, except for the ones I needed. You'd think they would have a whole section dedicated to rain boots for all the precipitation they get here. Oh well, the search continues....

(Better view of the Guggenheim on the Ria)

After my nap Kate told me she and the people she went around the museum with bought tickets for this event called Art After Dark, a party that was going to be held that night in the Guggenheim. I was bummed my group didn't think to get tickets earlier. Well we decided to get ready anyway and our friend Ashley who is staying in a family stay further away came and met us at our dorm. We wanted to get to the museum right around 10 to try and get tickets before they sold out. It took everybody a bit longer than we expected to get their act together so when we got there all the tickets were sold out! I was so disappointed! Kate and some others got to go in because they had tickets, but we had nothing left to do but go back to the dorm. Everyone wanted to go find somewhere else to go, but by this point in the night I wasn't actually feeling up for doing anything anymore, so i stayed in.

Kate didn't come back to the room until 6:00 am the next morning! When I woke up Kate explained that after the Guggenheim Party a bunch of them went to this discoteca (nightclub) called Fever. She had a lot of fun, but everyone wanted to stay really late and when they tried to get home they had to wait for the Metro to get up and running again at 6. I definitely would not have been up for that. The Art After Dark thing happens every month, so I will definitely make sure to get tickets for next month's event. It wasn't one of the best nights of my stay here so far, but one night off never hurt anyone!

(Strange exhibit in the Museum)

Balmaseda y Portugalete

Thursday was a long day. We started off with an academic orientation on what the classes we would be taking consisted of and what was expected of us in each class. In Spain it is considered rude to eat or drink in class (even coffee!) and if we show up any where after five minutes late we are marked absent! All of the professors seem very excited about the start of classes though, so that makes everything a bit less intimidating.
The rest of the day was planned around an excursion to the historic towns in Biscay. Balmaseda, where we drove to first, is the oldest villa in the province of Biscay, founded in 1199. Unfortunately it was raining gatos y perros when we got there so we only got out of the bus briefly. We walked over a medieval bridge built by the Romans known as El Puente Viejo or El Punete de La Muza. And we also got to see a beautiful old church known as La Iglesia de San Serverino.

Around 1:00 it was lunch time and we headed to a restaurant called La Capitana for another giant meal that was much more traditonal this time. There was chorizo for the first course which is a common Spanish dish with sausage, vegetables, and potatoes. And cochilla for the main course, which is basically just ribs. And some kind of banana chocolate cake for dessert. Yum. These meals always have giant baskets of bread for the table too. Our comedor (dining hall) in the dorm offers bread as well. And we hardly ever drink anything besides water with meals, which is probably a good thing because I drink too much soda anyway.

Thankfully the rain and wind died down so when we arrived in Portugalete we were able to do a little more exploring. This village was founded in the Middle Ages and is located right on the Ria of the Nervion River. It is also home to the Puente Bizkaia, built in 1893, one of the most important transporter bridges in the world and was designed by the disciple of the man who designed the Eifel Tower. We also got to see the Basilica de Santa Maria, constructed in 1492, which is considered a major work of art for the Basque Country.

I think I probably took over 100 pictures on that trip, but it was well worth it. The transporter bridge had a car that hung from wires on the bridge that took people and cars from one side of the Ria to the other. We all boarded this to head back home and rest up because later in the night we all attended a Bienvenidos Fiesta for all the CIDE students at a local bar in town. When my group of friends and I arrived the place was packed! There was an open mic and more American music being sung, songs like Brown Eyed Girl are always a hit. The one thing I hate about Spain is the smoking. Every night I come home reeking of cigarettes and I hate it... Laundry is going to be a common occurence here. Everyone had a really great time at the fiesta, but all the dancing and singing took it out of me and I needed a good nights rest for our next scheduled trip to the Guggenheim Museum on Friday!

Martes y Miercoles

Tuesday and Wednesday... These days were the first of our Orientation. Tuesday we were scheduled for our first orientation session on Bilbao and the University of Deusto and a tour of the city to help us find our way around. This day also included a huge lunch with all of the other CIDE (Centro Internacional Deusto de Espanol) students. Wednesday was the day we took our spanish language placement tests and took a tour of the University.

(My school)

Tuesday we all met downstairs with an orientation leader. She helped us find our way to campus by the way of a city bus, called the Bilbobus. We all purchsed these cards called Creditrans that are sort of like MetroCards for the buses and metros around here. We arrived on a beautiful campus with courtyards and palm trees... Lots of Jesus and relgious emblems too (Jesuits school). We had a two hour lecture on what to expect while living in Bilbao and attending the University and then we got to walk to a hotel for almuerzo (lunch).

Lunch is their largest meal of the day usually consisting of three courses. This meal began with pasta and meatsauce, followed by chicken and french fries, and ending with some kind of tirimisu? So much for Spanish cuisine! I was stuffed after the pasta! A girl named Maite then took us around the city where we got to see the Old Quarter and Casco Viejo which are the more historic parts of the city with narrow cobblestone roads and tiny shops and cafes para pinchos (tiny sandwiches) y cervezas. We walked along the Ria (estuary) that lines our city and saw other sights like the Teatro Arriaga and the Congress and Music Halls. El Called Bidebarrieta brought us upon la Catedral de Santiago, a gorgeous cathedral in the middle of the city, and we finished in a more urban part of the city with larger chain stores like Zara and Benneton at la Plaza Circular. We also passed a giant Spanish department store called Corte Ingles. The place is more intimidating than a New York City Century 21 around Christmastime, seven floors with anything you can think of. January and February are also the months for major Rebajas (sales) in this country so I plan to do some light shopping soon!

(Casco Viejo)

Tuesday we made it on our own to campus with help of the Bilbobus again. (We saw some Bilboats on the Ria the other day, I want to try those out too!) I think once classes start most of us will start walking the 25 minutes just because we hear that's what most people do, and the excersice can't hurt either! When we arrived we all piled into a room for a language placement test that consisted of 100 multiple choice questions in 45 minutes and a compostion piece in 15. There were mixed feelings about the whole thing because none of us knew what to expect, but it went well overall. After that we split into small groups for a tour of the campus. The school was founded in the 1800's and is a private Jesuit university. We got to see a lot of secret rooms like an old library and a private church, but I was disappointed that they did not point out many of the basic landmarks of the campus that I was hoping to learn more about.

After the tour I walked around Casco Viejo with a few friends. We wanted to try these pinchos (also known as tapas in other parts of Spain) that everyone had been raving about. There was this one cafe in particular that we all wanted to find in Plaza Nueva. Well we saw it on the map and could have sworn we were right on top of it, but the place was no where to be found. Turns out we walked around it about sixteen times, and the pinchos were no where near filling enough after all that walking around! Another little adventure followed later on in the day when two other girls in my dorm and I attempted to get back to the other side of the city where our residence hall is located. We assumed a station that looked like the Metro Station would get us back like we were told, but we ended up getting on a EuraTren and after two stops realized we had no idea where Maliko was located in the city! Safe to say we made it back in one piece... But next time I'll pay attention to the type of transportation I board before taking off!

I feel like this post is getting really long, but to finish up I arrived back at the dorm to find that I still had no luggage to speak of and my "necessities" were wearing thin... But I joined a bunch of Americans from my hall (the locals don't seem to like us very much right now... Hopefully that will change as time passes) went out to find a bar. We ended up at one tiny place to avoid the rain at first and watched the sad, sad news of the Haitian Earthquake and later we moved on to a more comforting location known as the Beer House. Sarriko (the area my residence hall is in) does not have much to offer for nightlife, but this place had lots of space compared to the other holes in the wall we were seeing and they played American music! Overall good first two days, even without luggage! Definitely a good omen for the rest of my stay.

(Everyone at the Beer House)

Mis primeros días

Hola! Ongi Ettori (in the title of my blog) means "Welcome" in Euskara which is a language commonly used throughout the Basque Region of Spain. I'm in the north Basque region of Spain for those of you who don't know and the area is very different from other parts of Spain.... I'm taking a course on the Culture and Language of the Basque Region so hopefully I can learn a lot more about those differences...

I have been in Bilbao, Spain for over a week now... But I figured my family and friends would want to be kept updated on what I have been up to while I've been here so I'm going to try keeping up with this blog! So far I am loving it here and I can tell this is going to be an experience of a lifetime...

Let me start with the travelling experience... I have travelled alone before, but this was going to be my first international flight flying solo. Using frequent flyer miles gave me a wierd itinerary where I flew from Newark, NJ to Miami, FL and then from Miami to Madrid, and then I had to swtich yet again,to a different airline this time (Iberia), and take an hour long flight to Bilbao. Everything went pretty smoothly in the beginning... Except for the fact that I starved on my flight to Miami (didn't think to bring plane snacks) and hardly had any time to grab food when I got to Madrid. When I finally arrived in Spain I was able to find my bag and recheck it and so I ventured to find my way to the gate. Turns out there were a bunch of other UMW students waiting there too. Well we waited and waited, and waited some more.... And eventually found out our flight would be delayed due to snow that morning. Around 3:00 (I arrived at 8 that morning) we discovered our flight was cancelled. Along with countless other flights throughout the airport. Our group of ten plus about fifteen others from the University of Illinois proceeded to joined hundreds in multiple hour long lines to get some kind of answers.

Later on I just so happened to glance at a departure screen while refilling my water bottle and realized all the Bilbao flights were being packed onto one jet boarding "last call" across the terminal! I broke the news and we sprinted across the terminal and took the last seats throughout the cabin. Good lord. We arrived in Bilbao around 7:00 pm (supposed to arrive at 12:30 pm) which meant we had to find our own transportation to the campus. Let's just say our arrival and experiences in baggage claim were no less stressful then any other part of the day.

(Photo of my dorm building)

No one left with their luggage that night. Thankfully mom advised me to pack a carry-on with the necessities! People's bags slowly leaked in throughout the week, mine didn't show up until Thursday! I discovered five of my airport companions were living in my dorm with me and when I was given key 611-A another girl with me was given 611-B, we're roommates! Even though I thought I was getting a Spanish speaking student as a roommate, Kate is from Mary Washington, we knew of each other before we came here, but that was it. We get along really well now... Even if she does mess up my bed when I'm gone or uses her ninja moves to steal my things... I joke. But with all my roommate drama in the past, this situation is working out great!

(Photo of my room)