On Saturday, Jacklyn and I decided to go on a wine tour (can you believe it, dad?) with some new friends in the town of Haro, part of the La Rioja region of Spain where the country's best wine originates. Tired from the night before (yes, another night of clubbing at Fever. Not sure I'll go for round 3...), Jacklyn and I hopped on a bus to Haro and arrived with 30 minutes to get to the Bodega Bilbainas to meet up with the group...

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Another party in the Guggenhem! This time all of my friends were there...

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This past Friday, the CIDE group had another scheduled day trip, this time to the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. Despite the name, the Bioshpere Reserve is just an area that spreads across 22 different cities in the Basque Country, two of which we would be visiting on our excursion.  Our first stop was to Gernika where we visited the Assembly House, the Tree of Gernika, and the Museo de la Paz. Though Gernika is considered...

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I found boots that fit over my calves! Right when I was about to hunt down the only fat person in Spain and ask where they bought their boots. Thanks for the thunder calves, DAD!Ta-...

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Carnaval, 2010= crazy! This past weekend was a constant party in Bilbao, and was full of new adventures- one of which I know my mom would be proud of, hence the title of the blog. First, let me start from the beginning. Thursday night: The start of Carnaval (at least for the Americans). While we thought we were to dress up every night, as the weekend progressed we realized that most people only dress up on Saturday night. In...

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I find this common Spanish saying appropriate to life in Bilbao & am sure will hold true this weekend for "Carnaval"..."Noches alegres, mañanas tristes" : "Happy nights, sad mornings"Calimotxo:Punishing the liver of youths since 1...

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Friday, the CIDE program had planned trip to the south of France, so we all piled onto the bus at 7am (some had more trouble than others) and headed to Bayona (Bayonne). The visit wasn't so much a guided tour as it was a do-whatever-you-want sort of thing, which I liked. A group of us found a pastry shop that was TO DIE FOR, and I made sure to get my fruit tart fix. I still dream of it...The best fruit tart of my liiife. Then...

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Day Three:  One of my goals of the trip was to visit a castle in England, and on the third day we made it happen! We left for Windsor Castle in Berkshire via train in on Saturday morning to visit the Queen's favorite vacation home and oldest and largest occupied castle. The castle was amazing, with the Queen's Doll House (a mini replica of the Buckingham Palace with working lights and plumbing!), the State Apartments,...

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Another full day! According to weather.com, the forcast for Friday was rainy, so we had made plans to make that day our museum day. In order to get to the Natural History Museum, we first made our way through Hyde Park. It was a beautiful park, and to my excitement is where some scenes from one of my favorite movies, Finding Neverland, was filmed! It's no surprise, then, that the statue of Peter Pan was in the park. The memorial...

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London: Check. This past Thursday was St. Thomas's day in Spain, so the majority of my friends were planning on taking the extra day as an opportunity to travel Europe. A lot of the CIDE students went to Barcelona, some went to Italy, and 4 friends and I went to London! Jacklyn, Ashley, Kelly Nina, and I embarked on our (longer than anticipated) journey to England on Wednesday night after classes. After taking many modes of transportation...

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