A Much More Eventful Weekend!

So after last weekend's lazy weekend I was determined to make this weekend more adventurous. Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day and I couldn't go out because I had a grammar test on Thursday, but Thursday night there was an Erasmus St. Patrick's Day themed party. A lot of people were wearing green and the Irish international students were loving it. One guy even had his entire face painted with the colors of the Irish flag. Kate, Nina and I tried to go look for some Irish accessories before the fiesta, but we failed in doing so and only walked away with green beaded necklaces that had tiny mugs hanging from them. The party was just like any other Erasmus party and nothing like an American Saint Patrick's Day party, but at least I got to celebrate!

In my Basque Culture class my professor told us about a festival for EL Dia de San Jose, Spain's father's day.The festival was in Bakio, a northern coastal town in Pais Vasco. The town is known for their txakoli (white wine) and basically the festival celebrated this. It sounded like a lot of fun so I convinced Kate and Nina to come with me and we took a bus early the next morning. There weren't too many people there when we first showed up, but there were dozens of cows and horses tied to posts that everyone was mingling around! We took the oppurtunity to get some pictures with these guys... Kate even pet one! And then we went to go find some food. I saw a stand making Talo (just like a Mexican tortilla but a bit thicker and made with corn flour and water). People were stadning around eating it with lomo (pork) and chorizo (smoked sausage). We decided to give it a try and got some glasses of txakoli as well.It defintiely hit the spot... The txakoli was a tad more sour than the one I tired on my pintxos trip though.

We walked around some more, got some free stickers, balloons and sheep masks (all for little kids of course) and heard some traditional Basque music. Then i thought it would be a good idea to go find the beach. We finally got around to asking someone and found out it was only a ten minute walk. I'm really glad we made the walk because the beach was beautiful! It was just too bad that there wasn't any sun... The beach was known for its waves so there were tons of surfers out in the water. It was really low tide too so we walked around a little bit and I even found a ton of seaglass (all green, probably from all those wine bottles!) We started to wait for the bus after that and then realized it wouldn't be coming for another hour and half... So we went back to the festival and got some chocolate this time. I got white chocolate with pistachios... Sounds kind of iffy, but it was delcious!

The next day Kate decided to go meet up with her Tandem partner Olga in her hometwon Castro again, so I was roommate less for the day/night. Nina and I were still determined to go on another adventure so we decided to take a bus to the capital of the Basque Country, Vitoria. I had a friend who went a few weeks ago so she told me we could get a map at the bus station that would leade us to the Old Quarter and we could see all kinds of churches and monuments and what not. Nina and I accidentally got our tickets to leave Vitoria at 8:15pm so we got that time changed once we arrived and then we headed out! Vitoria was a lot bigger than I expected, but we didn't have much trouble finding the historical part of town. We headed to a church called La Catedral de Santa Maria first. It is a gothic church that is currently going under renovation. We opted to skip a Spanish speaking tour and just go check it out on our own for 2euro. The entrance fee didn't get us much of anywhere besides the main hall of the church that was covered in stone dust, but we did get to wear some pretty cool construction helmets!

After that church and some more walking around (Nina and I found postcards to add to our collection... made the trip worth while!) we found cheap place to eat lunch. With a Menu del Dia that consisted of Paella and Steak. We got nervous at first because we sat by a table with a bunch of crying babies, but the parents were sensible enough to take them outside. We were lucky though, we got the last able in the place and other had to wait for over an hour. After lunch Nina and I spotted a gelato store. If you have never tried gelato, do it! I can't wait to have it practically every day in Italy! I got Kinder flavored. Kinder is a delicious brand of chocolate over here, so obviously my ice cream was fantastic. Siesta kind of got in the way of things after lunch because the churches and places we wanted to get into were closed, but we just walked around and talked for a bit and it was good to just be out of the dorm. After wasting a little more time in some stores Nina, my aching feet and I were ready to go. That night we went out to some local Irish bars with our friends Tony and Matt and of course I added one (or two) more beer glasses to my collection!

A cathedral off in the distance in Vitoria

It was a quieter weekend with a lot of people off doing their own weekend trips, but I enjoyed my trips. And I got to spend Sunday catching up on homework and such (yes I have homework here!) Now I am in the beginning preparations for Spring Break!! We leave on Wednesday so I have plenty to do. So I guess that will be my next entry, but until then hasta luego!

Uneventful Weekend

I am thinking to myself as a write this why I would write a post about an "uneventful weekend" and just because I don't have an exciting trip planned for every weekend doesn't necessarily make it "uneventful," but I'll just say that this wasn't one of my most memorable weekends here thus far. However, there were a few highlights.

Thursday night there was another Erasmus party. Those parties that are held in clubs throughout Bilbao for Spanish and international students alike. I had not been to one in a while and at first I was thinking about just having a night in, but some friends convinced me to come out and I am glad I did. We started out at the dorm called Blas de Otero. I had never been there before, but they are set up more like apartments than dorm rooms. So when we arrived in their common room downstairs it was like walking into a college house party... which I actually kind of miss! Unfortunately, we got the boot about an hour later because the new desk guard didn't like having so many people there that late so we headed to Erasmus instead.

I had more fun than I have at any of the other Erasmus parties, I didn't even mind the crowds. I met a student from Deusto, but he is originally from Mexico and he even went to high school for a few years in Mountain Lakes, NJ. Small world... It was just really fun to be around everyone else who was having a great time too. The next day I made plans to go biking around the city with Mike and Ashley. The tourism offices here allow you to rent bikes for free as long as your return them before 8pm. Sounded like a great idea, until we realized a lot of the city did not have bike paths and I was forced to ride down a busy city street with a dump truck roaring in the lane right next to me.

My friends and I had really hoped to get some day trips in the weekend to places like the Basque Country capital, Vitoria or a town Kate's friend told her about called Burgos, but the weather was not having it. It was gloomy and rainy almost all weekend. We attempted to go out to a new bar on Friday night... But it was nothing to out of the ordinary.

New bar we found called "The Crazy Horse"

Saturday we had planned to try and go to a different club, but on the way we found a carnival next to the Ria. With rides and all that jazz. A bunch of my friends went on the bumper cars and Kate and I went on this ride called the Ranita Loca (Crazy Frog). And it was not at all what I was expecting. Carnival rides in the US last for maybe a minute tops... well this thing kept going! And I couldn't breath I was laughing so hard! Every time we thought it was about to end, it started up again! I really wish there were more places like this. We never made it to the club and Sunday just ended up being a lazy day, but I guess I need to save up my energy for my two and half week long spring break!

On the Ranita Loca!

Futbol y Practicum

I forgot to post about some stuff before I left for Madrid... So here's a quick update on a few things I left out.

On Tuesday a ton of people decided they wanted to go to an Exhibition game (or "friendly match") between Bilbao Athletic and Paraguay. The tickets were really cheap so we decided to join in. This time our seats were up higher, but it seemed like the stadium was a lot more packed. Maybe because they tickets were so cheap that everyone could afford to go. There were tons of die-hard Paraguay fans that used a red, white, and blue flag of Paraguay to cover a section of seats and they went absolutely crazy every time they scored. Which happened a lot since Bilbao was playing their second string team.

Paraguay celebrating another goal...

Now I obviously do not know a lot about soccer... So when some little girls game running up to these guys in front of us for pictures and autographs I assumed they were famous, but I had no idea who they might be. That's when we had our friend Michelle ask a fellow Athletic fan and he explained they were two of Bilbao's first string players, the goal keeper Gorka Iraizoz and the left defender Koikili Lertxundi. It was so strange to me! These guys were sitting right in front of us with their families and friends and not a guard in sight. And they weren't even really bothered a majority of the time. I can only imagine if a player sat amongst the fans in Giants stadium without any protection.

We really wanted to get a picture or have our tickets signed, but that's when the kids started flooding in. They were getting cell phone pictures, having their jerseys signed, just trying to say hi. We weren't so sure we would get our chance. At one point I just threw my camera at a kid and we practically jumped on the goal keeper to get a picture with him. Unfortunately Koikili isn't in it with us. But we were lucky because after that I think they had finally gotten fed up with the attention and they moved their seats to a different unknown section. Hey, at least I got my picture!

On Wednesday I went to my second cooking class. Amidst cooking another three dishes my professor commented on how I look like Nicole Kidman. I never really thought of that before, but I guess I can see some resemblance?? Just a random thought...Anyway, first we made Tomates Provenzales, then Paella de carne, and for dessert we made Torrijas. A very delicious meal that I would probably rank above the last one we made! The Tomates were a really easy recipe. You basically take your desired number of tomatoes and cut them in half. Then you pour some olive oil into a frying pan, let it heat, and then you cook the flat sides of the tomatoes for about a minute. When this is done you sprinkle some salt on the cooked tops and spread a mixture of garlic, oregano, olive oil, and parsley over that and bake them in the oven for about fifteen minutes. I'm not a fan of tomatoes, but these were really good!

 They are more appetizing than they look... I swear!

I was really excited to make the paella. It is one of my favorite dishes over here in Spain (and that says a lot). Paella is a rice dish with meats and other chopped vegetables mixed in. It is also often made with seafood (including shrimp that have eyes!) Our dish was only being made with chicken, but we made the legitimate kind because sometimes people just cook the rice by adding water, but we made a colga. It is a broth made up from water, left over chicken parts, peppers, and onions. A lot of bars just offer it as a hot drink to sip in the colder weather. It made this dish taste fantastic! Javi also did not add saphron or yellow coloring which is usually a major characteristic of the dish, but it tasted just the same!

Looks more delicious when there's coloring... But it still hit the spot!

Then the dessert. I was really excited about Torrijas after our professor explained them to us. It is actually a really simple recipe and reminds me a lot of American french toast. First, you make a mixture with milk, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and a bit of lemon peel and heat it until warm. Then you take slices of stale bread and let it soak in the liquid. (I think Javi may have let it soak too long, because it seemed a bit soggy when we finally ate it.) After the bread is soaked, you dip it into beaten eggs and fry it in olive oil for a minute on each side. When this is done you roll the slices around in sugar and cinnamon. Sounds delicious right??? It was!! But I could barely take another bite after I was done... I was so full!

I really hope I can come home and make all of these dishes for everyone. And I am relieved we're cooking things I actually want to eat, rather than the greasy and mysterious food that is served in my dorm.  I also forgot to mention that during the soccer game I got really excited at half time because I thought everyone was eating hot dogs (nothing like a ball game hot dog...) when they took out a foil wrapped snack, but then I realized everyone had brought bocadillos (sandwiches on a baguette). We can have these made for us if we do not make it to lunch on any given day in our dorm. But just goes to show that this country is all about their meal times!

My class at the Txoko

Last CIDE Excursion

Last weekend was our last trip with my study abroad program here CIDE (Centro Internacional Deusto de Espanol). We took a five hour bus ride to the capital Madrid, Spain and we also had a day trip to the more ancient capital, Segovia. The final excursion was bittersweet... I probably won't see half of the kids in my program until our Goodbye Celebration at the end of the semester, but the trip itself was definitely not listed in my favorites. I guess I will start from the beginning....

Have I ever mentioned that our CIDE trips are cursed by the weather? Every time we plan to go somewhere Mother Nature decides to bring down her wrath. So obviously in Madrid, where it is usually supposed to be warmer in the later months, it was at freezing temperatures and there was constant torrential downpour of rain. Our hotel actually wasn't too shabby, my friends and I had hoped for triple rooms, but were assigned doubles, so Kate and I shared a room (and bed...) I just can't escape that girl!

Then we ate a free buffet lunch, but my meat wasn't fully cooked, so I just opted for some ice cream instead. And then we loaded onto the bus again to headed to the Palacio Real (the official residence of the King of Spain, but not it is really only used for state ceremonies). We also got a brief walk through the Catedral de la Almudena (the Catholic church of Spain that is dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena) which had a very different interior with bright colors and statues of contemporary artists. Our professors walked us through la Plaza de la Villa and la Plaza Mayor (which probably would have been a lot more lively if it weren't for the weather) and then we were given free time after arriving in the city center, la Puerta del Sol.

My friends Michelle and Santi are die-hard Real Madrid fans so we had to go take a look inside the Official Real Madrid store and Michelle even got a green-screened picture with her favorite player, Iker Casillas! We couldn't bear to walk around in the freezing cold and rain anymore so a few of us decided to head to the Museo Reina Sofia. It was a museum that wasn't on our itinerary, but it had the original painting of the Picasso's Guernica. The actual painting was huge! And just as I was thinking about where he could have possibly chosen a starting point, in the room nextdoor there were a few of his primary sketches. All very interesting... And it was time to head back for dinner soon enough. My friends and I had hoped to go out that night, but after walking around in more freezing cold rain we gave up and just had some fun hanging out in the hotel rooms instead.

(Illegal sneak pic of the Guernica)

The next day was an early wake-up call for our day trip to Segovia. I absolutely loved Segovia. I was a bit nervous at first after waking up to a winter wonderland outside the bus, but it cleared up in no time and we actually had amazing weather the rest of the day (take that mother nature!) Obviously we all headed straight for the Roman Aqueduct. An aqueduct that is still standing two thousand years later! With not a drop of mortar used throughout any of the architecture, amazing.

After losing the group and getting lost for a bit, we got a tour of the Alcázar of Segovia (literally translated, the Castle of Segovia). It was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. It was obviously not as impressive as the Palacio Real inside and I could hardly understand our super-speedy Spanish guide, but I caught on to a few things about each of the rooms. One room with two thrones called the "Pinecone Room" (for the golden pinecones on the ceiling. There was a lot of gold on the ceilings of all the rooms..) was where Christopher Columbus came to ask King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella for the funding of his trip to the New World. There was one room with a painting of the people of Segovia, but for some reasons the artist chose not to add any of the people's eyes. Kind of creepy... I also read somewhere that the castle is also featured in the video game Resident Evil 4 and it is said to be influence for many of the castles produced by Walt Disney.

We got to climb to the top of the tower (my legs actually hurt the next day... pathetic) and see a gorgeous view of the city and then we did some souvenir shopping, ate our lunch and headed back to Madrid. We had more free time in Madrid... but this time we were tired so we got some Starbucks and bit of walking around and then just decided to head back for a nap before dinner. Everyone was planning on going to a seven story club called Capital at night, but I was just not up for something like that. Especially if it meant not getting back to the hotel until 5:00am. A few of us opted for bars instead, but we could not find one! You would think that in a major city like this it would not be very difficult to find a bar to go to at 1:30 at night, but we were turned away everywhere we tried to get in... We finally gave up, got a taxi home, and just decided to take advantage of the fact that we were going to be getting a lot more sleep than the rest of the CIDE students.

The next morning was rough for a lot of us. I really only got a solid three hours of sleep until the wake-up call came around... but others got a lot less. We had our scheduled visit to the Museo del Prado on this day and not many of us were looking forward to walking around a museum with less than a solid eight hours of sleep. However, the museum proved to be very impressive. There were several painting I actually recognized from old textbooks and classes. Paintings by Goyas and Velázquez. I really liked see Las Meninas (Spanish for "The Maids of Honor") since I remembered learning so much about it. Our guide spoke English, but we couldn't suppress our laughter when she would say, "dee mader welding" (the other building) or "look at dee perpetive and do you see dee apotles?" (look at the perspective... do you see the apostles?)

After the tour was over a few friends and I took advantage of the last bit of free time we had to go explore the Parque del Retiro (literally meaning "Park of the Pleasant Retreat"). It was a beautiful park, I only wish we had more time there because apparently, it being Madrid's largest park, there was so much more to see. After eating another big lunch in preparation for the long bus ride home, we shipped out. I'm realizing after writing this post that the city probably doesn't seem all that bad... Maybe it was the weather that put a damper on things (literally)... But I have been to a lot of big cities and Madrid just wasn't all that great. Oh well... Still glad I got to go! Next on the list of trips: Spring Break!! (Italy, Granada, Seville, Barcelona), Tangier (in Morocco!!), and Dublin!!

As my mom says... I am becoming "quite the world traveler!"

I think I can...

Saturday was more of a low-key day... There were hurricane strength winds blowing through the city at 95 mph so after Nina, Kate and I almost got blown away buying groceries down the street, we opted to have a movie day. We watched Grizzly Man. I had already seen it and had warned them that the guy in the documentary was a nut-job, but we watched it anyway... Our lights were flickering throughout the night because of the wind, but the next day the winds had died down and it was just as gorgeous as Friday. The perfect day for a hike. A few of my friends went the day before and promised to lead the way once again on Sunday... Let's just say I did not know what I was in for.

The guys had found some hill off the map that started up from a construction site. They had planned to find a better way up today with us girls trailing behind them. After scurrying up an irrigation tube, I started to realize this wasn't going to be any ordinary hike. We were making our way along trails made by donkeys. At one point we came across a barbed wire fence and one kid in our group thought that if he hopped it he could find a better route. Well that was a good idea, until he almost pulled down a powerline and took out half the city's electricity and almost got attacked by a very territorial donkey. The guys then decided it would be a better idea to climb up the practically 90º hill we were standing at the bottom of. That was all good and fine until I had to start clawing at tufts of grass to keep going up. All of us finally made it up... barely. But that wasn't even the top, we had more to go.

Clawing up the last bit of "Donkey Hill"

We finally found our way to a recreational area that definitely had a normal trail leading up to it from another direction, but the view was breathtaking. Definitely made the huffing and puffing worth it in the end. Santi had packed some snacks, so we took a little breather and just when we thought we were going to head back down we found a trail that took us even higher. Then we were really at the top. You could see everything. Even the ocean. It was amazing. I have no idea how we even came across it, heck I don't even know the name of the mountain I was on top of, but the view was not something you get to see everyday. Heading back down was a lot easier and Nina, Kate and I agreed we would do another hike, but we are going to look for trails next time.

Beach Day!

Friday was a gorgeous day with nothing but clears skies. There was no way I wanted to stay inside, so after going to watch some of our friends play soccer Kate, Nina and I decided to go check out Plentzia beach, the last stop on the metro, right on the ocean. After a very long 30-minute metro ride we arrived in Plentzia. And what do you think happened next? Nothing. We were lost ha. Story of my life.

Well after wandering around for quite some time (of course we arrived during siesta again and civilization was no where to be found) we finally found our way to the beach. Someone had said that Algorta was supposed to be much prettier than Plentzia, but I beg to differ. Rather than having cranes and industrial work as a backdrop the beach was carved out between giant cliffs. There were tons of surfers to watch, but the water was too cold to even stick our feet in. So we just laid out our towels and relaxed. I wish it would have been real beach weather! But I'll take what I can get... Lizzie and Michelle showed up a little later, but the sun was going behind the cliffs and we had plans to meet up with Dr. Sainz that night so we headed back to the metro.

Dr. Sainz, for those of you who don't know, is a Spanish professor back at UMW. He studied for his undergrad at Deusto and is the head of the Bilbao study abroad program back at school. He grew up in the Bilbao and spends his summers here, so when he came over last week during UMW's spring break he offered to meet up and hang out for a bit. He showed us around to a few new places we had not been to yet, including a favorite local spot where you can get pintxos morunos (moorish tapas or seasoned skewers of pork). The skewers were grilled right in front of us and were served with hot bread. SO good! Santi and I shared a second! Definitely going back soon. It was really good to catch up with him, but I think everyone was so exhausted from the night before that we all just called it a night when we got home.

True Life: I Partied in my Residencia

First of all I must make it known that the students here don't just like to dress up, they love it. And when I say dress up I mean they go all out with their costumes. I wrote about Carnaval a while ago, but I feel like Carnaval has been going on for three weeks now! I am so done with costumes!

All the Americans in Undamuno

Anyway, there was a party in the basement of our dorm yesterday. Not just some people hanging out and drinking in a room, there was a giant dance party in the basement with a fully stocked bar. It was perfect: free, no need to worry about getting anywhere on time, and right downstairs!

 

Just an example of how far some people go for their costumes! A brush!

 

 Remember Javi, the chef for my cooking class? He was Minnie too...

Well none of my friends really felt like dressing up for another costume party, but when we went downstairs to dinner I was eating with Superman, a Dinosaur, the Hulk, and a bunch of grapes! Thankfully, I pulled together a last minute costume as Minnie Mouse with help of a cheap China store across the street, but that is the last costume I am putting on until Halloween!

It was a good night overall... and kind of fun to hang out with the people we eat our meals with everyday at least... I wouldn't mind doing it again, but let's nix the costumes for that one.