The field from our amazing seats

The festivities began on Wednesday with Cinco de Mayo. Summer and I headed over to our ISA friend Arielle's dorm for authentic Mexican food and beers before we headed to the Athletic Club soccer game. It was rainy and cold, but we had great seats and I really enjoyed the ambiance and clear love for the game that these Basque people had. A highlight of the game was at halftime where we looked around and EVERYONE had packed a bocadillo (sandwich) to eat for dinner...it was almost comical as the stadium was filled with the sound of ripping aluminum foil and plastic bocadillo bags rolled across the field in the wind like a tumbleweed. On Thursday, Summer and I headed out for the night early and headed out to one of our usual clubs for the weekly Erasmus Party. Since it is our last weekend out, the club was packed, and it was fun spending time with many of our friends. On Friday, we spent the day relaxing and unsuccessfully tried to do homework. We met up with two of Summer's friends from Texas that night and headed to a pub crawl in Casco Viejo. Something I love about Bilbao, is how it is a big city, but you still run into people you know everywhere you go...on the metro, in a random side street, in a bar or restaurant. always. It makes living there so much more comfortable knowing that wherever you go, you'll see someone you know. The pub crawl was a lot of fun and packed with people inside and outside of each bar. On Saturday was our very last weekend night out and Summer and I wanted to see everyone that night. It was amazing how many people came out and it was a sight to see with 50 or 60 Americans all out roaming around. We finally made it home and in bed by about 7:30am this morning, marking a successful last night.

Hungry Spaniards and their bocadillos

Pizza break during the Pub Crawl

In the last couple days, people have become much more sentimental and reflective about their last couple of months abroad, and it has lead to many long talks and revelations between us. To me, there really is no greater experience than being able to spend time in another country, being a part of their culture, and meeting new people along the way. Being here has changed me in a way inexplicable to people who have never studied abroad before. There is just something about the culture here that is so warm. Here, life isn't about looking to the future or being obsessed with getting ahead in your job or life; it's about enjoying the little things everyday, eating dinner with your family, and spending time with your friends. Why are there so many benches here? Because people take time to sit and talk and enjoy their surroundings. Why is there a siesta during the middle of the day? Because being at home with family is more important than making a little extra money. Honestly I really have never been in a place so accepting and non-judgmental than here. People don't care what you wear (thus the blue hair, piercings, and crazy clothes), what you do, or what you believe...all they care about is being happy and doing whatever it is that makes them happy, and that truly is something to live by. Sure, I came to Spain to learn Spanish, but I will leave Spain with some of the most important keys to life: a greater confidence, independence, acceptance, and tolerance...you can't ask for much more than that.

Out with the girls

ISA girls before a party

Swimming in the Mediterranean

Easter breakfast on the terrace

Here's a fun anecdote from our return trip to Bilbao...So when we booked our ticket back from Alicante to Santander, no one really looked up bus schedules from Santander to Bilbao. Therefore, when we flew in to Santander at 10pm, there was no more buses leaving to our city the rest of the evening. We were essentially stranded. To top that off, we found out that the airport closed at midnight and re-opened at 6am...so we originally thought we were stranded for 6 hours, outside, with all of our luggage. great. But once we landed, and asked a couple of people, we discovered that we could take a bus into the central part of Santander, where there was a bus leaving for Bilbao at 6am. Once we got on the very last bus leaving for the central part of town, our driver told us even greater news - that there was a bus going to Bilbao at 3:45am. We got to the central bus station around 11:15pm, and found a Chinese restaurant open until midnight conveniently situated next to the terminal. So we went for a late dinner and tried to stay there as long as possible, still anticipating hours of being stranded outside until the bus came. Once we finally left, we found that we could sit inside the bus station until 1am when they closed. We found a great spot on the floor to sprawl out on, and found free wi-fi so, like anyone deprived of free internet for a week, all the girls were in heaven. However, at 1 we were kicked out, and still had to spend 2 hours sitting outside until the station opened again at 3. We were a sight to see - five girls, all dressed for the beach, laying outside the station with beach towels thrown over them for warmth. Everyone basically pulled everything they owned out of their suitcases and threw on layers for our impromptu outdoor "camping" trip. Good thing Santander seems to be a safe town, and the rest of the night went without a hitch, and Summer and I finally made it home around 5:30am. It was a unplanned adventure, but made for a night we wont forget anytime soon!

Outside our apartment

Now, we have the weekend free to hang out and school starts again on Monday. Last night we went to a reggae bar, which was interesting, and today I think we're going to the beach. I've really enjoyed this long break, but it will be nice to go back and see everyone at school again, and get back into my routine. Only a month left!

Summer and I heading to the beach

The Louvre

The next morning, we woke up and took the metro to the Opera House, and then the Eiffel Tower, which was really fun to see in person. The metro here is crazy...super complicated and dirty, but after a while I think we all got the hang of it. The Opera House was amazingly pretty, and it was nice out, so it was fun hanging around outside and enjoying the streets of Paris. We went to the Orange Museum and that was amazing to see huge Monet works (one of my favorite artists), walked down the Tuleries and went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus di Milo. It was crazy there though and the museum was huge and overwhelming. Kjell came to visit, which was fun, and that evening the two of us met our friends Sam and Masera from Morris for a night out.

The Opera House

The next day we went out to see the Notre Dame and the Luxembourg gardens. I loved the area where the Notre Dame is...with musicians playing in the streets and Parisians riding their bikes all around the island. The Luxembourg gardens were also in a great area, and after visiting, we ate at a cute outdoor cafe in a bustling neighborhood. That evening, Kjell and I met up with Masera and some of her friends and went to a bar called Cafe Oz, where they line up all these tables against the walls and people dance on the tables. It was really fun hanging out with familiar faces and I loved catching up with everyone!

Street Market in Paris

On Sunday, Mom, Dad, and I went to the D'Orsay Museum, which was also very cool. They had an amazing selection of some of my favorite painters: Monet, Van Gogh, Gaugain, and Renoir. It really is truly amazing to see these works of art in person, being able to examine every brush stroke and use of subtle differences in color to create a masterpiece. We walked back to our apartment in the Le Marais district, and made sure to grab a falafal from the famous stand in the Jewish Quarter.

Monet in the Orange Museum

My last day in Paris was probably my favorite day of the trip. We woke up earlier than usual, and headed up to the northern part of the city to see the Moulin Rouge and the Sacre Cour. The Moulin Rouge wasn't much to see, but the Sacre Cour was really amazing. It sits on top of a hill where you can see the whole city, and even though it was busy there, it wasn't in the crazy touristy, sell-out way other monuments around the city were. The inside of the church wasn't the most magnificent interior in the world, but the hundreds of candles that people lit that sat around the Cathedral is really something to see. That afternoon, I met Masera and we went shopping at Les Halles, which is a pretty interesting shopping mall. We visited her favorite crepe stand, and I got to experience my first Paris crepe, which was super huge and very sweet. The rest of the afternoon, we just wandered around the city by the Pompidou center. Later, we met up with Sam and the three of us walked along the Avenue de Champes-Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe. It was nice catching up with them, and we got to see all the famous designer stores as we walked to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at the Trocadero. I think that seeing that monument lit up, next to the lights of the river and the surrounding city, was the defining moment of the trip. It was absolutely stunning.

Eiffel Tower

Today, I unfortunately had to wake up at 3:30am to meet the shuttle. The trip was long, but I thankfully made it back to Bilbao without a glitch and to warm, sunny weather. I think the only thorn in my side to the travel today was this one couple that took the bus from Biarritz to Bilbao with me. No wonder people always say that American tourists are some of the worst crop. This couple was just awful. When we reached San Sebastian, the bus driver asked all of us to leave the bus for a 15min bathroom break, so he could go refill the bus with gas. This couple didn't think to grab their coats, even though it was clearly raining, and continued to blame the bus driver for this. Once they got on the bus, they continued loudly complaining to anyone who would listen how the driver "wouldn't let them grab their coats" and how the driver was a jerk because "he clearly knew that we didn't understand him speaking french" (the bus driver was speaking Spanish). Having to get off a bus for 10 minutes apparently added "too much extra stress", even though the 80 year old Spanish lady who was traveling with us didn't seem to have a problem with this simple request from the driver. If you travel, please don't ever do this, it's horribly annoying and ruins the experience for everyone else who has to listen to you. Thank you. Alicante in two days with the girls, so I'll have another update soon! ]]> Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=118150 0 48.8666667 2.3333333 Another thing that I haven't talked about yet, is a very important part of my day...transportation. Each day, I have to walk 10 minutes to the metro, ride the metro 25 minutes to the Deusto stop, and then walk an additional 10 minutes to school from that stop. It is a very long commute compared to my commute in Morris, but it makes for great people watching. Since I usually take the same metro, I usually see the same people each morning...I avoid sitting with the older, gray haired man who clears his throat constantly, I always like sitting by this girl who wears huge headphones and has a pair of leggings that I'm dying to buy, and I always look for the cute guy who gets on at the Lamiako stop and who I'm pretty sure goes to my school. Apparently in Spain it's socially acceptable to stare at people, so I take advantage of that and I really do see some very interesting things and people. On weekends, especially Saturday when the metro runs all night, I always see at least a handful of middle-aged couples heading home around 5 or 6 am after a night of partying with the rest of the young crowd. My favorite time to ride the metro is on Monday and Wednesdays when I'm done with class at 11am...all the people I ride home with are cute, elderly people, which means the ride is usually very quiet and with lots of open sitting spots.
There are some key do's and don'ts of riding the metro:

DO: Take pictures with your friends

DON'T: Sleep on the metro

It's St. Patrick's Day today, which means that I need to finish my homework before we go out tonight to celebrate. It's also the perfect day (68 and sunny), so I think some of the guys and I are going to meet up for some beach soccer this afternoon. Spring break starts in a week so there will be a new update soon! ]]> Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=115552 0 43.25 -2.9666667
Entrance to a part of the citySo I haven't written in a while, but I guess that's because not much has happened since my last entry. My friends and I have planned our 2 1/2 week spring break; I am going to Paris the first couple days to meet up with the parents and some friends, and the girls and I are heading to Alicante (southern Spain) to hopefully lay on the beach the second half of break!

On Friday, the ISA girls and I headed to Burgos for a day trip. The weather this week has been unusually cold, and my language friend informed me the day before our trip that Burgos is the coldest city in Spain...great. The trip is about 2 hours on bus, and I was thankfully able to sleep the whole way, because the night before we had been out late at a fiesta. Once we arrived, we grabbed some coffee before we started our tour. At first the weather wasn't too bad, but then the wind picked up it was freezing! Coming from Minnesota, I'm usually the hearty one on the pack...but after spending a couple months here in 50 degree weather, I'm afraid I have gotten soft and the 30 degree weather was almost unbearable. Geno, our program director, is from Burgos so it was nice having her as our tour guide. We walked around the town, and she told us some history of the city and we walked up this hill where there is a castle that Napoleon stayed for a while and such. Afterward, we went to this small modern art museum, which only locals really know about. We saw this exhibit by a french artist named Georges Rousse, who might be my new favorite artist. His work is a mixture of paint, architecture, and photography which is put together in a way that makes almost optical illusion type art...it's amazing so you should all check him out! After the museum, we walked around a little, and I had heard from my host mom that Geno's family owned a restaurant in Burgos so I asked if we could go visit it. Well, it turns out that Geno's family owns one of the most famous, upscale restaurants in Burgos and the prince has even ate there! We didn't get to eat there because it was too expensive, but we got a tour of the place from her aunt, plus some free pastries so that was fun! For lunch we went to a little bar down the street that served a sorts of little sandwiches and tapas for 1 euro. After lunch, we went to the Cathedral, which is what Burgos is known for. It was absolutely huge and elaborate. I'm not a huge fan of exploring churches and such, but the guide was nice and had fun and interesting little facts that made the tour a little more bearable. We finished our excursion by going back to Geno's families restaurant for churros and chocolate.

Cathedral in Burgos

Inside the Cathedral

We have been here for two months, so I pretty much feel acclimated to the culture here, but there are still some weird things about Spain in general that are hard to get accustomed to. After I got back from Burgos, I found out that Summer had invited our three other friends over to our house for a girls night in. We didn't think that this would be a problem at all, because we had friends over in the past without a problem. However, we found out after a long lecture from Jone, that guests who are not family are really only allowed to stay over for under an hour, and it is completely unacceptable for anyone to ever sleepover at the house. Our mom is usually very laid back, it was a big surprise to see how adamant Spaniards are about people in their living space. After this surprise, we decided yesterday that we should have an American day, because everyone was getting a little homesick. We went to a huge mall in Portugalete, which is basically mirrored exactly like an American mall, food court and everything. We ate nachos with fake cheese, slushies, and ranch chicken wraps with french fries. It was nice spending a day with the girls in the same way we would be if we were in the US..a definite cure for homesickness! I have a lot of homework piling up for this week, but only a couple short weeks until break! Can't wait! ]]> Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=114987 0 42.35 -3.7
San Juan de gaztelugatxeWhat a perfect Sunday! This morning Summer, our host mom Jone, her friend Fernando, and I took a day trip to Bermeo, about 40 minutes from Bilbao, to visit San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. The day was beautiful, around 60 degrees and sunny, and the drive there was very scenic. Once we arrived, we drank coffee at a little restaurant at the beginning of the hike. The hike down to the start was very steep and rocky, but it was totally worth it. San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is a basque treasure. The view of this tiny church located on top of a little island in the middle of the sea is breathtaking, an absolute must see if you're ever in Basque Country. We hiked up a 200 or so stairs to the top of this island, where the church is located. Once we arrived, we took an hour or so to enjoy the view, eat sandwiches while looking out at the sea, and take a nap on a grassy knoll at the top of a cliff. A special part of this church is the bell; according to legend, if you make a wish and ring the bell three times, your wish will come true. The views from every direction were breathtaking, and this place is truly special to everyone who visits.

Starting our hike up to San Juan

Our view from where we napped on top of the island

Ringing the bell after making my wish

After we had hiked back to the car, Jone told us that she had made plans to stop by her daughter Ana's House for coffee. Ana lives Halfway between Bilbao and Bermeo, and is the first person I've met in Spain so far who actually lives in a House. We spend the evening sitting out on the patio, eating cheese and chocolate. It was really fun spending time with Jone's family, and we all planned a dinner soon, when her third daughter comes to visit. It was the first time we spend the day with Jone and I really enjoyed getting to know her and her family better!

With my host mom Jone and roommate Summer

La Concha

The beach

Artwork on the ocean

Aquarium

Yesterday morning, we slept in a little, ate breakfast, and went for a little walk before our bus came at two. We went to the aquarium by the sea, which was small, but well designed and fun. At two o'clock, we took the bus to Biarritz, France, which was only about an hour and a half ride. When we arrived, we walked to the Chocolate Museum, which was celebrating Carnaval. There were little masks made of chocolate that we got, and were able to paint with different colors of melted chocolate. It was so fun! The place was festive and the chocolate looked mouthwatering! After the museum, we walked along the shore, and grabbbed paninis and chocolate crepes at a little stand before we grabbed the bus back to Bilbao.

My painted mask at the Chocolate Museum

Shore in Biarritz, France

Last night it was also Carnaval in Gexto/Algorta, the town where Summer and I live, so the streets and bars were packed with kids and adults when we got back home. We had a great weekend, probably one of the best so far in Spain, and tonight we're going to try to get tickets to the championship game of the ACB King's Cup Basketball Tournament. The ACB is the Spanish equivalent to the NBA, and is the second best league (behind the NBA) in the world. Some of the NBA stars that you see now, started their careers in Spain, and this year BIlbao is hosting the big tournament. I can't wait to check it out and see some of the players I hear so much about! ]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=111338 0 43.3166667 -1.9833333
Universidad de DeustoSo this weekend it's Carnaval! I have no idea what the history or meaning behind Carnaval is..but I do know that it's basically like Halloween, but without the trick-or-treating and with more serious partying. It's fun, but at the same time strange having Carnaval fall on the same weekend as Valentine's Day...yesterday afternoon Natasha and I went to Party Fiesta, which is like a Party America here, and it was bizarre seeing Halloween masks lined up next to boxed chocolates and paper heart decorations. The festivities started last night, and we all went to a costume party, and the big day is Saturday, where there is a big parade, and the whole main street downtown turns into a big block party the whole night. The other night, as a warm up for Carnaval, our host mom treated us to a dessert they often serve during this time...turns out it was French Toast! It's crazy to see what kinds of foods are the same between Spain and America.

This afternoon, our program director, the rest of the girls, and I went to visit the Puente Colgante, which is the oldest suspension bridge in the world and is located on the river, at the mouth of the sea, between the towns of Areeta and Portugalete. It's super tall to prevent the waves from the sea from hitting it, and we took an elevator and crossed it at the very top. It was super scary, but it was really awesome seeing the whole town from so high up!

El Puente Colgante

Top of el Puente

Lastly, I would just like to take a moment to reflect on the Spanish people..or at least the people in Bilbao. When you first get to Spain, and look at the people you immediately go..Wow! I'm in over my head...the people here are dressed to perfection. The girls all wear nice boots, and cute clothes, and even during finals week when they just study at the library, their hair and make up is perfect. But when you spend a month with these people and look a little closer...there are some things very off about Spanish fashion. First of all, I don't think I've seen so many mullets in my life...mullets with dreadlocks, mullets with too much gel, mullets with an extra rat tail at the end..it's ridiculous. Also, if you're a older women, apparently the current trend is to take a piece or section of your hair, and dye it an obnoxious color, like green or purple...it's apparently a hit with the over 50 set. Also, I apparently wasn't aware that white jeans, acid wash jeans, or white pleather boots were still in fashion, but apparently it is cause I see it all over...so folks, if you have anything stored away from the 1980s...you can apparently pull them out, come to Spain, and pull off the look once again! ]]> Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=110126 0 43.25 -2.9666667
Harbor on the Mediteranean I just got back from an amazing long weekend in Barcelona with the girls, and there were definitely some unforgettable memories made on our trip! Summer, Arielle, Natasha and I flew out from Bilbao on Wednesday night and the flight was so short that I literally listened to about five songs on my ipod before they announced that we had arrived in Barca. After a bus ride, and several confused references to our map, we finally found our hostel, the Barcelona Sound Hostel, and it was amazing! We chose to stay in a room of 8 people, and the first night we stayed with two New Zealanders who were traveling around Europe for a month. Our hostel is right off of the main street Las Ramblas, and that night the four of us decided to explore. Las Ramblas is filled with different bars, restaurants, and clubs, so there were tons of club promoters handing out fliers and vouchers for their clubs. We ended up going to this lounge where we got a deal of shots, sangria, and tapas for 3 euros, which was the best deal I've seen since I got to Europe.

The next morning, we woke up and decided to walk down to the harbor, which is about a mile and a half away from our hostel. The weather was perfect, and the sea was so beautiful! We spent the afternoon roaming around along the shore, took a siesta on the beach, stumbled upon a Gaudi fountain in a gorgeous park, and made our way back towards the center of town. Some highlights of the afternoon was Summer getting her lip pierced and going to the market a couple blocks away from where we were staying. Apparently Rachel Ray has been to el mercado, and it is amazing and huge...we got any type of fresh squeezed juice we could think of, there were huge stands of fresh fruit, fish, and vegetables, and amazing looking candy and chocolate booths as well. It is seriously a paradise for people who love to cook. That night, Camile (who had just arrived that day), Summer, Natasha, and I got ready and headed out for a night on the town. We ended up trying to follow this club promoter to her club, which ended up being about four miles away from where we lived and eventually gave up the search and headed back into town. We tried going to this club, City Hall, around 2am and met a promoter named Jordy, who was super goofy and we all were immediate friends. Deciding that the club wasn't worth the cover charge, we made our way back to our hostel, and ended up meeting a Swede, and a Turk who were sailing from Sweden to Turkey, and invited us to their boat for coffee the next day. Unfortunately we never found them again because all the information we received was that their boat was "the second from the left"...little did we know then, that with hundreds of boats sitting in several different harbors, there are many "second from the left" boats to choose from! Anyway, we ended the night at about 4 or 5am after making a stop at Pepe's for hot dogs and french fries.

Fresh Vegetables at the Market

The next day we woke up, grabbed some fresh fruit and juice from the market, and decided to explore for the rest of the day. Camile had heard about a fashion event called the Brandery going on during the weekend, so we took the metro over there. We ended up not going in, but the building and location of the show was beautiful, and the people watching was great! Later that evening as we were walking home, we ran into Jordy again and he told us about a party he was hosting at a club nearby that evening. Because time is so different in Spain, we didn't end up leaving our hostel until 12:30am..when parties and clubs really start to get busy. The club was pretty fun and very trendy, and we ended up leaving about 2am. We walked back to our hostel, and as we were about to walk in the door, a guy grabbed my wristlet bag that I was holding, ripped the bag clear off, and ran away. Natasha and I ran after him, but this guy should of been in the Olympics, because we lost him a couple blocks down the street. Unfortunately for the guy, I only had: one check card (which I canceled right away), a half pack of gum, a student ID, some club fliers, and a hair binder in my purse...I was flat broke that night and didn't even have spare change laying in the bottom. Nevertheless, it was a surreal experience..and one that I hopefully will never have to relive! I heard that in the off-season in Barcelona, particularly during tough economic times, 80% of people are robbed..and we knew two other people from Bilbao who were pick pocketed over the weekend there. This is especially bad for tourists, because here, the Spanish police are essentially useless...they don't really do or care about anything, and I am told that you NEVER stop a police officer and ask them a question..they are notoriously disliked among the Spanish people.

Fashion Event

On Saturday morning, we woke up early in order to make it to the free Gothic walking tour that the hostel and a local travel bar offer to hostel stayers. The thing I love about Barcelona is the incredible amount of foreigners that visit..and during our trip we met so many interesting people from all over the world. In our tour group, the guide made us meet one other stranger and introduce ourselves...I met James from Liverpool who is a plumber by trade and an avid futbol fan like myself. Other tour group members included people from Australia, the States, England, and South Korea. Our guide was great and showed us all the interesting places around the city: the building that Picasso drew when he was drunk on Absinthe, the art school that Picasso attended and also the place where he lost his virginity, the Real Plaza that was funded by the Bacardi Rum family...etc. etc. The tour was fun, interesting, and ended with a pint of beer at the bar, so if you ever go to Barcelona and aren't a real fan of boring, historical tours...go to this one! After a paella lunch and siesta at the hostel, we headed out again to see some of Gaudi's famous architectural works: La Casa Mila and La Sangrada Familia..both were awesome to see and though I don't know much about him, Gaudi seems likes a very interesting guy, and his work is one of a kind. For dinner, we went to a travel bar, where we grabbed a cheap dinner and met a very fabulous and flamboyant hairdresser by day, waiter by night named Allan. After dinner finished at about 10:30pm, we went back and got ready for the night. There were some other groups of students in our Bilbao program staying in our hostel, so for our last night we planned to go out with some of them. We left for a club with the ridiculous name of Razzmatazz, where I was barely allowed to go into the club, because apparently I don't look like I'm older than 16. Anyway, the club was huge and amazing, with different levels and rooms that play different types of music...a room of every type of person. It was so much fun, we didn't end up leaving until about 5am, and weren't in bed until 6am...a bad idea considering the fact that we needed to leave for our flight by 10 this morning.

La Sagrada Familia

Our flight was extremely long today, it took us 1 hour to fly to Barcelona, and 7 1/2 to fly back...when we first booked the tickets, we knew that we had a layover, we just didn't know where. Turns out, our layover was in the Canary Islands...meaning the islands off the coast of Africa. Yep, we flew down 2 hours in order to be able to spend an hour in 80 degree weather, looking at the ocean, just to get on the plane and fly 2 1/2 hours back to Bilbao. It was great spending so much time in Barcelona, and it is interesting being in a new place, because after a while you really do start to think of that place as your place. The people were so friendly there, and we met a ton of great people both Spanish and foreign. I would have to say that my favorite person during the trip is a middle eastern man who worked at a sandwich shop down the street from where we lived, every time we passed by whether it be 10am or 11pm he would shout out across the street "Good Morning! Are you hungry?" and energetically smile and wave...and by the end of the trip we were returning the greeting. I will miss eating amazing gelato, or going to the market for juice, or seeing what random person will show up in our hostel room each day. It's nice being back in Bilbao, and we start classes with the Spaniards tomorrow, but Barcelona is truly an amazing place to visit.

Picasso's Art School

The Hotel Where Ernest Hemingway Stayed

The Girls at the Wine Tasting

At the Pinxto place, I realized that I left my camera in the back seat of our taxi, but thankfully Logroño is a very small, safe place and not only did the taxi driver drive back to give me my camera, but he told me how he had driven to the bus station earlier to try to find me there. What a great guy! Anyway, we hopped another bus after lunch, and rode to Pamplona. We stayed at the Hotel Blanca de Navarra hotel, which is very nice and is where the King and Queen of Spain have stayed in the past! We had the night free so Summer, Natasha, Arielle, Ellen, and I walked downtown to find dinner and ended up in this cute, two story restaurant in the center of town and got a three course meal for a very good price!

This morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and met our tour guide in the lobby. We had a great tour of the city, which included a visit to the beginning of el camino de Santiago (where people begin their 800km pilgrimage to Santiago, Spain), a tour of the streets where the Running of the Bulls takes place, and a visit to the 3rd largest bull fighting ring in the world! After our tour, we went out for more Pinxtos and chocolate before we left for Bilbao. Pamplona and Logroño are both beautiful places with friendly people and amazing food!

Fun at the Bullfighting Ring

Crowd waiting for Real Madrid outside their Hotel

Last night some of the girls and I had our first weekend night out in Spain. Most people say the nightlife here is crazy and goes until the sun goes up, so of course we were all excited. We had decided to try going to this hip-hop club called Club Fever, which ended up being in the middle of nowhere down a long abandoned street in the side of a warehouse. As we walked down the street, it was like something from a movie...there were all these cars parked on the side of the road, with people sitting around them blasting music and cars racing down the street. It seemed pretty cool until we realized that the cover charge was 12 euros and that the other clubbers hanging out with their cars and drinking openly from bottles, looked like they were about 16 years old. Needless to say, we didn't end up going to the club and somehow ended up eating gyros and making friends with a older, Russian-sounding, chain-smoker at a Pakistani bar at 2:30am instead..which leads me to my final observation of the day...

Cool kids. The kids here are just too cool...way cooler than I can ever hope to be. A couple nights ago I saw a 10 year old boy on the metro listening to an ipod and texting friends at 11 o'clock at night. Last night these high school kids, who are always dressed fabulously, racing cars, going to clubs, and drinking openly in front of cops (the drinking age is 16 here)...waves of kids were on the metro at 3am, awake and ready to find a new bar to try out..and here we Americans are, in our 20s, asking kids almost half our age where cool clubs and bars are. Maybe it's because they speak a different language, or it's the culture, but the kids in Spain are just damn cool! ]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105977 0 43.25 -2.9666667
Biodiversity CenterYesterday the weather was horrible! Not only was it cold and rainy, but we had to battle pretty much straight line wind and ended up seeing broken umbrellas strewn all over the sidewalks and in the garbage all over the city. To avoid the weather outside, we took a tour of the Guggenheim museum..which is beautiful. I don't think that I have been in such an architecturally amazing building; the perfect combination of metal, stone, and glass. The art inside is amazing...it honors all modern art from sculptures by Richard Serra, to the fine art of Gauguin and Picasso, to architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Today we went to Guernica, Guernika in Spanish, and visited the Peace Museum there. I think that if you ever visit Spain and are in Basque Country, you should visit this museum. There are a lot of museums in the world that house some of best art work or most famous art work in history, there are some that house interesting historical artifacts, there are some that are just very interactive and fun, but very rarely do these museums, even the most famous ones in the world, truly evoke such strong emotion that you leave feeling changed. This one does. The museum itself is small and plain, but the message, that universal call for peace and the remembrance of such a violent act could quite possibly touch even the most stoic individual. It was beautiful in every definition and worth the trip! We also visited the Biodiversity Center on the nature reserve on the outskirts of Guernica. It was more of a lighthearted trip and the center was amazing! It was just fun to walk through and look at all the pictures and wildlife they use to teach biodiversity!

Animal Room at the Biodiversity Center

Biodiversity Center

Peace Signs by the Guernica Peace Tree

Countryside in Guernica

I had a great time on our first excursion! After we got back from our day trip, Summer, Natasha, and I were able to participate and experience another important aspect of Spanish culture: soccer. This evening we were walking around looking for a little pastry to tide us over until we ate dinner, when we came upon a HUGE crowd of people in front of the Hotel Carlton in the Plaza Mayoua. Well it turns out that the Bilbao soccer team, Club Atletico, is playing against Real Madrid tomorrow, one of the top teams in Spain and the world. Knowing that some of the best soccer players in the world were coming to Bilbao was almost too much for me, and it was amazing watching them walk off the bus in my city! I was freaking out the whole time, and Summer even let me sit on her shoulders so I could get a better look at them over the crowd! I hear that Bilbao and other Spanish cities go crazy when there's a match and I can't wait to participate tomorrow! ]]> Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105776 0 43.3166667 -2.6833333
Casco ViejoSo today I had a new first...I took my first metro/subway ride! At first I was nervous, but we ended up riding it so much today, by this evening I was feeling like an old pro. Summer and I met up with the other Bilbao girls: Arielle, Brittany, and Natasha this morning and took a little walking tour of Bilbao with our site director. I love downtown Bilbao! It is clean, and beautiful and perfect...probably the most beautiful city I've ever been to. All the buildings are old and sort of french looking, and three sides of the city are bordered by rolling, snow capped hills and the other side faces the sea. There is a big river that splits the town in half; the new part on one half, the old part or casco viejo, on the other. People seriously fill the streets even in the middle of the day, and the shopping is amazing! The only hard part so far of living here is the fact that we're 25 minutes away from downtown by metro, and a ten minute walk to the metro station on top of that..making quick trips to town complicated.

Tomorrow we're doing our orientation at the university and get to meet more international students studying there!

Casco Viejo

My room at my homestay

My host mother Jone, or Juana in Spanish, is very kind and my roommate Summer and I decided that she looks super fun and laid back...and I'm guessing purely on initial judgment, that she was quite the party girl back in her day. Anyway..she introduced herself and immediately established that she doesn't speak any English at all...this will be interesting. We drove back to her apartment, which is a sort of suburb of Bilbao, and I love it..it's super cozy and clean here, and each of our rooms are more modern and sort of Scandinavian in design and decoration. She made us pasta and fed us ice cream cake and peaches for dessert, and I have a feeling that I will return to the States about 500lbs heavier with all this food! After settling in, Jone showed us how to get to the metro from her House, and we were able to walk down to the sea! Yep, I live about a mile and a half from the Bay of Biscay..

Tomorrow we're meeting up with the rest of the girls in the city center for a little tour and shopping. It will be interesting because I've never taken the metro before and Summer barely speaks Spanish..an adventure for sure! ]]> Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11435 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105157 0 43.25 -2.9666667
ToledoSo we woke up this morning and went to Toledo, which is about an hour south of Madrid. It was really beautiful there and they said the city has existed for thousands of years. We took a walking tour, and I learned quickly why the term "Holy Toledo" was coined because the whole tour was basically looking at churches and mosques and such...not really anything I'm remotely interested in, but it was still fun to walk around the cobblestone streets and look at the architecture. It was also really cool to see El Greco's masterpiece and hang out in the little town squares, which reminded me of something you would see in either Italy or England. Since it was so cold out, there were barely any people in the streets when we started out tour which was a little eerie, and made me think that if vampires existed in ancient cities, like they do in New Moon, they for sure would be lurking in Toledo. Tomorrow we finally head to Bilbao and get to meet our host families so I'm very excited!

Street in Toledo