Algorta & San Sebastián.

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.