First off, the weekends here are amazing! They last from Thursday night till Sunday, and we make sure to make the most of that time.

Thursday night, a bunch of people from the CIDE program headed down to Zear-Bide (the bar from the first week). We had a great time meeting new people. Fact I learned today: Apparently tequila chupitos (shots) are not common among Spaniards. They are, however, common among Americans as I discovered on Thursday!

The next day, Jacklyn, Megan, Michelle, Lizzie and I headed over to visit our friend Ashley who lives with a 60-year-old woman in Algorta, a town about a 30-minute metro ride away. Her house-mom, Carman, is so nice and reminds me of a Spanish version of my Omi. Hopefully we'll be able to go back soon to just watch a movie and bake cookies. 

After saying "hi" to Carman and seeing the apartment, we all tried to find a place to eat lunch. However, most of the places seemed to be closed so we settled with Telepizza. Not sure about that place anymore, at least not their burgers and mozzarella sticks (fingers de queso). Definitely craving an American burger!

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking along the beach and sitting at a water-front restaurant (where we should have eaten) while a few of us had a glass of white wine.

On Saturday, a group of friends and I decided to take the bus to San Sebasti an (about an hour-long ride to the coast), but as it turned out that was also the idea of virtually the entire CIDE program. Though the day was rainy (it always seems to be sprinkling- what they call piriniri) we split into groups and managed to fill our day with exploring the city. 

The trip began with a hunt to find food, with which were in luck and came across a small pintxos bar in the Old Town of the city. I decided to pass up the tapas and ordered a steak with fries and a salad that hit the spot. Next, we walked through the Plaza de la Constitución and saw the Iglesia de San Vicente. However, we couldn't see the Museo de San Telmo as it is closed for a few years for repairs! My favorite part of the trip would have to be the hike to the top of Monte Urgull, which rose above Old Town that held the ruins of the 16th century fortress of Santa Cruz de la Mota and a statue of Christ. The view of the city was spectacular!

The group plus a few by the beach.

  

I really hope that I'm here when the weather is warm, because the beaches of San Sebastián look amazing. There is definitely a reason why they are considered the most popular beaches in Europe...

As the bus didn't leave San Sebastián until 9pm, we got a bit exhausted, so the rest of the afternoon was spent getting helado, café con leche, and going to the pintxos bars. Somehow, though, Jacklyn and I didn't actually get to eat a pintxo, which was disappointing considering San Sebastián has the best pintxos in Spain! We'll have to go back. After this, Jacklyn made me ride the carousel, on which the both of us looked like giants riding the dolphins-it was fun in any case :). By the time the bus rolled up, I was done for the night. Or so I thought. I ended up staying up until 6am that night (well, morning), but this time was not as exhausted as I should have been. I suppose I'm assimilating to the Spanish nightlife after all! Watch out Fredericksburg.

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Sarah turned 21 yesterday! I guess the novelty of being 21 in the US is different than in Spain, but we made sure to not let that get in the way of having a good time! Here are a few pictures from last night... Happy Birthday Sarah!

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My Europe in the World professor informed us of a saying about the EU, described as being:

"Un gigante económico, un enano político, y un guzano militar"

(An economic giant, a political midget, and a military worm)

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Classes started Monday, and my schedule is as follows:

M, W: Academic Spanish, Basque Language & Culture

T, Th: Grammar IV, Spanish Cinema & Lit, Europe in the World

I really like my professors so far, all of them are really animated and smart. They really know their stuff and I can tell I'm going to learn A LOT. In Grammar IV and Academic Spanish, the teachers don't let anything fly and correct us on any grammar mistakes. They also are showing us a lot of everyday sayings and phrases, which is really useful. Examples: "Me importa un pimiento" (It doesn't matter to me, but literally: "I care a pepper"), "Me deja frío" (It left me speechless), y "Hace un mogollón de tiempo" (It's been forever). The only annoying thing is that we have to know the vosotros verb tense, which I am really fuzzy on since I've never used it in the States. Also, apparently, we can't say "the States" here, and instead must say the United States (Estados Unidos) or we could be talking about a lot of places in Europe. Guess we're not the center of the world?

The only class I can see having trouble staying interested and awake in is the Basque Language and Culture. There are 2 sections of this class, and I think I'm in the boring one but we'll see. Also, the Cinema and Lit class, contrary to what I was hoping for, is mainly literature and we have to read 5 books. I just hope none of them are in Old Spanish, which I've had my fair share of at Mary Wash. Sorry, Dr. Sainz (and Locke) :)! In any case, the teacher, Francisco (we call all our professors by their first name), is AWESOME. He's so funny. He says that his ear blocks out any English words, which we found to be true. Someone in class mentioned Benjamin Button, but Francisco only understood what we were talking about when we pronounced it as "Benhameen Bootun". Similarly, instead of saying Little Ashes, he would say "Little Asses", and it took us a while to figure out he was talking about Shakespeare when he kept saying "Sex spear". :)

Other than that, I walk to school every day, about a 20-25 minute walk, which isn't bad at all and wakes me up in the mornings. I've found people to eat with during the day, and have met some new people. All of the people I've met are still in the CIDE program, but we'll see as the semester goes on... in the elevator I sort of talked with a Spanish student, so that's something. Right?

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My first weekend in Spain! 

This weekend was tons of fun. And consisted of TONS of walking, which I enjoyed but my feet did not. On Saturday morning, though exhausted from the night before (read previous entry), I got up early-ish to meet up with my friend Ashley, who had a Nikon d-80, to take pictures of old town Bilbao. Though it was overcast and started to drizzle, we took the metro to Casco Viejo to walk up the 213 stairs in order to get to a park that was said to have a fantastic view of the city. Unintentionally, though, we stopped short of said park by just a few stairs and went to a smaller park that still had a great view. We'll need to make the trek another day. Sidenote: on the way down the stairs, I, being my clumsy self, slipped down a few stairs. The man walking past just shrugged and kept walking, probably thinking, "hey, what am I supposed to do? Shit happens". 

Before entering the park.

On the Ría

We walked all through the city, stopping at a café to try the acclaimed chocolate con churros, and I also ordered a really mayonnaise-ey sandwich. Hit the spot, though. We continued our journey along the Ría to meet up with our friends Michelle and Lizzie who live in the on-campus dorm, Colegio Mayor. Saturday night was the fútbol game between arch rivals, Real Madrid (One of the best in Europe) and Atlétic Club (the team of the País Vasco), and we had plans to go near the stadium to watch the game at the bars.

By 8pm when the game started, the streets were filled with Atlétic fans and it was impossible not to be animated about the game. When Atlétic actually BEAT Real Madrid, however, the streets went wild. I think the funniest part was watching Michelle and Santi, both Madrid fans, bite their tongue when they lost. They would speak fast in English bashing Atlétic, and turn right around and root for them in Spanish so they wouldn't be pummeled by Basques. The night ended perfectly with a stop by good old Telepizza.

A bunch of us after the game!

The next day was pretty low-key, and Jacklyn and I met up with Ashley to visit Michelle and Lizzie. We all ended up exploring the city a bit more, and found a neat little park where girls were feeding ducks and swans in the lake. A peacock even appeared! With a stop in a café for café con leche, the day ended well as we prepared for class to begin on Monday.

Michelle, Lizzie, Jacklyn, Ashley

Woohoo! I survived a week!

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I would have to say that Friday was by far the craziest day since arriving in the city, at least party-wise... and not necessarily in the best way. I'm not sure I'm cut out for the sleep schedule in Spain, at least on the weekends! Ay dios míííooo.

Anyways, Friday was the first sunny and gorgeous day of the week. It might not have been the best day to be inside, but we all met up at the Guggenheim to take an audio tour of the museum that I had heard so much about and have been so close to all week. While the building is so impressive outside, designed by Frank O. Gehry, I found the exhibits inside the museum not quite as intriguing. Well, maybe that's not the right word, because there were plenty of interesting and strange exhibits- mainly short videos that left me more confused and slightly disturbed than impressed. The second floor had a lot of the architecture designs from Frank Lloyd Wright, while the floor above had many modernist paintings from Picasso to Kandinsky (Mom and Dad- Double Jeopardy, anyone??). I really just don't think contemporary art is my thing. However, I did find one exhibit especially interesting. It had a blue-neon-lighted background with red vertical LED lights that had a story scrolling down in English, Spanish, and Euskara. The theme of this piece, however, was very dark and I'm pretty sure it was telling a murder/love story.

As you can see, though, it was fun to play around with this one.

Cat, me, Ali

My friends and I outside the Gugg.

Just me. 

After the tour of the museum, I grabbed some lunch with some of my new friends (still from Mary Wash, though :) ) at the library that was built just a year ago. The cafeteria was really crowded, but we managed to snag a booth and were really happy to find that the food was appetizing,  filling, and cheap. The perfect combo. Afterwards, I ambled on back to the dorm with Santi and Mike, and, as you can guess, took a sieta :)

After dinner, the night really began. Earlier in the day, a few friends and I bought tickets to the "Art After Dark" exhibit at the Guggenheim. Turned out to be the best decision, because I got to dress up and spend my night at a sophisticated, grown up, PARTY AT THE GUGGENHEIM! In Spain! How is that even possible. Unfortunately, a lot of the people that I went with couldn't get in because they hadn't bought tickets beforehand, but there were enough people that I knew there to feel comfortable and have a great time. Music was playing, people were... sort of dancing, and we got to walk out on the balcony and look over the Ría. Just a sidenote, I smelled weed there, too. Yes, someone was smoking at the Guggenheim. 

Either way, it was amazing hanging out with Michelle, Lizzy, Ali, Cat, Mike and Santi... inside the Guggenheim. Afterwards, we all walked to Casco Viejo to meet up with those that weren't admitted into the museum, and sat at a bar until about 2 am when, apparently, the party really starts for Spaniards. We all took the metro to Fever to begin my first-ever dance club (discoteca) experience... and whoa, was it an experience! The place was huge. And so loud. But I had a lot of fun dancing with my group of friends... that is until 4 am rolled around. 

Friends at Fever.

I won't whine or anything, but I really couldn't dance anymore after a) my girlfriends left and b) fatigue set in. Little did I know that I would be waiting for my Unamuno friends until 5:30 when the club closed. Then have to walk to the metro station and wait till 6am when it started running. Or have to go to sleep at 6:30 am. Either way, it's a story... and I had the privilege of meeting some... eccentric people while waiting, to say the least. 

My favorite would have to be a guy who I can't really describe in any word other than: crazy. Earlier, I'd seen him pulling dance moves that I didn't even know were possible, all the while with the craziest eyes I had ever seen. Of course, later while I'm alone and waiting, HE is the one who comes up and talks to me. It turns out he's quite amusing, but I made sure not to laugh and encourage him any more. However, favorite lines include:

• "My favorite actor is Richard Gere. I love heem with Julia Robartes? She is so pretty. I love her, how do you say, dientes (teeth). They are so beeg." Really? Richard Gere of all people?
• "I also like Bruce Lee!" Begins to do some sort of karate.
• "I like your teeth, they are so straight and beeg." I think he has a thing for teeth.
• "I love American accents. I weel teach you Euskara if you teach me Engleesh." Proceeds to say words I can't pronounce. I think I taught him how to say, "how are you" or something.

Interesting end to the night! And there were way too many people awake on the metro at 6:30am from the night before.

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I have seen a lot of interesting characters here, as in the United States (except that no one is overweight, that's for sure)...

Walking back to the dorm, I saw a man's feet that were jammed into too-small women's shoes with his heels sticking out through holes, and it looked really painful. Thought he might be homeless, but he wasn't carrying anything and was wearing a suit? Then I saw his head and he had some sort of black shoe polish covering it to look like hair... it gave more of an impression of a  bowling ball. Tried to walk ahead fast.

I love seeing all of the older men (those without shoe-polish heads) walking around with their barets and canes, most likely heading to the bar or to their beds for siesta.

Another observation: a lot of people smoke pot. A lot. Not that a lot don't in the US, but in the middle of a crowded plaza- or a club perhaps, I'll smell marijuana, look around, and realize its the person next to me. In any case, they don't try to hide it.

Also, in contrast to the US, most of the dogs (and there are a lot- none overweight, either...hmm) don't have leashes. In the crowded sidewalks, they will loyally stay behind their master. They are so cute, but not as friendly as American dogs and don't try to come up to me when I try to pet them, sort of disappointing.

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Kinder "Sopresas" are my favorite, bring me back to Spain '06

Beyond chocolate, my favorite food-finds have been:

• Churros con chocolate caliente, though the hot chocolate is way too rich to eat alone (I say "eat" because it really is just that). And the churros need to be covered in sugar.
• Of course, café con leche. Again, with lots of sugar.
• Bocadillo de chorizo, a classic Spanish sandwich (Making Sra. proud)

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Thursday was a rainy day, that's for sure. After an academic orientation sesh, we piled into two large tour buses that took up the entire road, and set off to visit two historical towns in Biscay: Balmaseda and Portugalete. Unfortunately for us, our time in Balmaseda- founded in 1199!- was cut short due to horizontal rain that our umbrella's just couldn't handle.

After a quick look at the "oldest villa in Biscay", and a walk over the Puente de la Muza (a bridge built in the 15th century and still in use) we headed to lunch. We stopped at a quaint restaurant on the hillside in a more rural part of the country, and sat together for another great (and much needed) three-course-meal. Stuffed from the porkchops and chorizo soup, we continued on to Portugalete, a town closer to the ocean on la Ría del Nervión.

Ashley and I at lunch in Biscay

Crossing the estuary was the Puente Colgante, a bridge built by the disciple of Eiffel (Eiffel tower, anyone?) in 1893. At the end of the tour through the streets of Portugalete, we went across the bridge in a sort of cable car that hung underneath the bridge. Still alive to tell the story :P

The bridge. The ferry-thing crossing it wasn't bad at all.

Friends by the water in Portugalete.

Basilica de Santa María. The trees remind me, and others, of

 mini whomping willows, and they are everywhere.

As customary by now, we got back to the dorms and took a quick nap. Dinner. Then got ready to fiesta. This particular night all of the CIDE students were invited to a get-to-know-each other party at a bar on the other side of town, called Zear-Bide (everything has a strange name in Euskara- hopefully my Basque language and culture class will help me figure out how to say and /or understand them). The bar was full of students from the program, and I ordered a Calimoxo- red wine and coca cola (yes, it's a drink. Dad, not sure you would appreciate it). There was a live band playing, meaning two men trying to sing American songs. They were surprisingly doing a really good job, knowing all the words to songs like Hotel California and Angie. I'm not sure if they were playing those songs because we were there or what. There is mostly American music that plays, though, from what I've heard.

Overall, great night! The cab ride back was muy caro (expensive), though. However, the cab drivers don't waste time taking you back, that's for sure. I had to ask the driver if his cab was available, but these Spanish guys down the street stated yelling at us. I assumed that it was their cab and ran away. Haha, Megan had to tell me they were cat calling us and we went back to the cab. Guess I have to get used to that! 

With friends at Zear-Bide, Calimoxos in-hand!

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Universidad de Deusto

Okay, I realize that a post per day kinda overkill, but I think the first week at least deserves as much. I didn't go out Monday night in order to rest up for the placement exam- I'm crossing my fingers that I'm a level IV (find out tomorrow). After the test, we took a quick tour of the University, and had the rest of the day to ourselves. Still feeling jet-lagged (and because, well, everyone else does it in this country), my friends and I took the bus back to Unamuno to take a much-needed siesta. I love siestas.

After resting up, Santiago (despite his name, he is a Mary Wash student) and I went to get some detergent to wash our dirty clothes. Only after buying said detergent did I realize I would need other clothes just to wash the ones I'd been wearing for 3 days. Then we went to the café (well, bar, but the bars here serve pintxos- Basque tapas- and coffee as well) and ordered café con leche- mi favorito!!! 

After dinner (ew.), the Unamuno crowd and I went in search of a bar to celebrate a) being in Spain, and b) being LEGAL in Spain. I must say I handled this privilege very well and only had a few beers, discovering that I in fact like dark beers over light (the bartender was wary of this and made sure that he knew I knew it was "oscuro"), and really like Murpheys Irish Red- it makes for a perfect foam mustache. Whether my self-restraint was due to the fact that a small amount of beer costs 2euro, I can't say.

We walked a ways to find a bar that seemed promising (meaning, bigger than a small hallway) near Sarriko, the part of Bilbao where we live, and wound up in one that blasted music from Metallica to Chris Isaac, strangely enough. It was fun getting to bond a bit more with the people I will inevitably end up eating with and going to school with every day.

PS- Slowly getting used to the whole walking everywhere deal.

PPS- Finally got the luggage before leaving to the bars! Woot! Clean socks!

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When we finally arrived to Unamuno, my residence hall, I find out that I'm rooming with one of the girls who travelled with me on way to Bilbao. Her name's Jacklyn and I didn't know her before the trip but she is a fellow Mary Wash student- same grade and really nice. Even if rooming with Jacklyn was some sort of fluke, I'm glad it happened- so thanks, Dr. Sainz :)

This first week, I've mainly been hanging out with students from Mary Washington, but I say that because I didn't know them before (or in some cases had the wrong impression of them- cough, Michelle:) ) it's like making new friends, right? I'm excited for class to start on Monday, though, so I can make friends from different states. And who knows? Maybe I'll become friends with an estudiante española de la universidad. I feel like this would require me to invest in some boots. Or change my hairstyle to that of a mullet with dreads flowing out the back. Lovely, eh? But after these few alterations I should fit right in...

The first day was orientation, so we learned to take to BilboBus (yes, Bilbo) to school, though I hear that most students walk to class on the days that it isn't raining. Oh yeah, there is so much walking in this city- definitely different from UMW. The campus of Deusto is amazing- it's from the 1800's (no match for Salamanca, but hey), right on "La Ría" (Estuary), and directly across from the Guggenheim. 

At orientation, I didn't realize there would be so many students in the CIDE program, but there are about 90. After a lecture about things such as, "don't Skype too much" and "just because things are different here doesn't mean they are worse" (On this, I would have to disagree- mullets are always worse), we took a tour of the city. My favorite part of the tour was definitely visiting Casca Viejo- the original seven streets ("Siete Calles") and the older part of Bilbao- the streets are so neat to explore.

Lunch was definitely filling- a three course meal- and then we were sent off on our own to get back to the dorms or to do whatever. I stuck with the Mary Wash crowd- most of the people I suffered through the flight with (I definitely think we bonded over that... haha), and we went back to the dorms. The Spanish students in my dorm actually go to UPV (Universidad País Vasco- the public school), and seem friendly but I think it will take some warming up to if we're to become friends with any!

Unfortunately for us, the food at Unamuno has much to be desired, and it didn't take long for me to swallow a fish bone, or to realize that I will be losing weight...

Still no luggage!

Casca Viejo

Teatro Arriaga (A must see: Flamenco performance)

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Well, this was probably the worst part of the whole endeavor. But, now that I am safe one of the prettiest cities I have ever been to, and with my luggage, the flights getting to Bilbao weren't the worst thing that could have happened. I'll give the highlights:

• Unluckily sat next to a baby that cried the entire flight to Madrid.
• Walked out of the secure area in the Madrid airport without thinking, had to re-enter security leading my friend who was loopy on muscle relaxants :)
• Layover of a few hours in Madrid airport.
• Flight to Bilbao delayed and subsequently cancelled due to snow, along with what seemed like all the other flights in the airport.
• Waited in what we knew to be an 8-hour-line to talk to Iberia.
• Found out there is a last call for a flight to Bilbao, RAN across the whole airport to make it.
• Sat next to a grumpy old man on the plane, who slowly moved closer to me throughout the flight. Thinking he just wanted more space, I didn't think anything of this- until I woke up to him rubbing my leg and saying how pretty I am with my "mouth open when I sleep". Lord.
• Found out luggage had been lost, and we were too late for the free car rides to the dorms. 
• BIENVENIDOS A BILBAO!

Despite all of this, I am so happy to be here. Estoy encantada estar en este país!

View of the city from "La ría"

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