Excursion and Germany

February seemed to fly by! On the 13th, USAC had an excursion planned for all the students. It was a day trip to Basque towns around San Sebastián. We visited a Basque farmhouse, a church that has a very modern style, and looked at rock layers in Zumaia. The Basque farmhouse is now a museum for people to see how they lived relying on the land. The church was built in the 1950's and had a very unique style. It was very interesting. The rock layers are studied by geologists because they date back millions of years. It was a great day and informational for all of us.

Last weekend was a four-day weekend, so I decided to fly to Hamburg, Germany. My friend from Flagstaff, Brittani Davis is studying just north of Hamburg. I also have two German friends that live in Hamburg that I wanted to visit, Fabian and Maxi. Fabian studied for a year at Flagstaff High School and I have kept in touch with him since. Maxi is a good friend of Fabians, and now is Brittani's boyfriend. The start of the trip was very rough. After missing a flight and being stuck in Frankfurt without anything for a night, I FINALLY made it to Hamburg to meet Brittani and Maxi!

We spent the weekend touring Hamburg and Lüneburg. Lüneburg is the town that Brittani is studying in. In Lüneburg, I went to the church where Bach began learning piano and saw the street that is named after him. Lüneburg is the only town that wasn't bombed during World War II, so everything looks so old and all made of bricks. It wasn't bombed because it was an important place for salt mining. The salt was used as a spice and food preserver for soldiers and civilians all around. The streets are cobblestone and it was a really beautiful town to walk through. The most interesting thing for me were the gold tablets. As we were walking around, Maxi pointed out the gold tablets to me. They were cemented into the ground in front of doorways where Jews lived during World War II. A tablet would have a person's name, birthday, the concentration camp they were taken to, and the date of their death engraved in it. Growing up you learn so much about the Holocaust, and to actually see something first hand in Germany was unbelievable.

Hamburg was a great city also. There were waterways everywhere, a beautiful harbor and lakes. I stayed at Maxi's house with his family for the weekend, which was great because it was a true German feeling! I tried Currywurst (which was delicious), great beer and traditional German breakfasts and desserts!! Flying home was a bit of a hassle again with both of my flights being delayed, but I finally made it.

The weather in San Sebastian this week has been beautiful! Finally feels like the beach town it is supposed to be...but I think rain comes again tomorrow. Classes are going well and I'm still learning more Spanish than I ever could at home! Patrick is coming April 2nd and we're planning on traveling so I've been doing lots of research for that! Two girls and I are trying to plan a trip to either Prague, Czech Republic or Dublin, Ireland for our long weekend in March! So tough to decide! :)

Bilbao y La Cidaría

Last weekend the same group of girls that went to Biarritz, France decided to go to Bilbao, Spain for the day. It is about an hour bus ride and a much larger city than San Sebastian that is more inland. We met at the bus station Saturday morning and drove to Bilbao! The main attraction in Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum and their "Casco Vieja," old part of town. After arriving we walked through town to the Guggenheim Museum. The building was absolutely fabulous! The building is all curved and is really neat to look at! It was pouring down rain/hail so that was part was miserable. We toured through the Guggenheim and it was ok. I couldn't find my interest in modern art. Some things looked like my artwork from Kindergarten. But a neat building and cool to actually say I've been there now! After the Guggenheim we walked on their main street into the old part of town and checked out shops on the way. Patrick's cousin, Erica is studying in Bilbao for the year. So we called eachother and she came to meet us for coffee in the afternoon. We had a great time with her! She helped us with the metro so we could catch our bus in time! We took the 6pm bus back to San Sebastian!



We wanted to get back at a decent time, because there was a parade going on that night in San Sebastian. I'm not sure the name of it, or its purpose. But everyone dresses up as gypsies and marches through the streets singing and playing songs. It was pretty funny to see all the costumes and there were tons of adults and kids dressed up for it!




Lately I have been struggling with not having many locals to practice my spanish with consistently. I haven't met many locals other than my intercambio and was really praying I'd get more opportunities to speak spanish. Luckily, my intercambio, Alazne and I met on Sunday night to practice my spanish and her english. After I explained my struggles she invited me to join her family and her at La Cidaría on Tuesday! I was so excited because I knew I would have an opportunity to speak spanish for the entire evening with her and her family! We met a little before 8pm on Tuesday evening. Her dad, brother, and husband picked us up in front of the library in their minivan to drive to the outskirts of San Sebastian. The "cidar house" was three rooms filled with huge barrels that each contained a different type of cidar! There are tables set up for everyone, but no chairs or plates. You just have a napkin, cup and fork! They served us dinner which was bread with an omelette, cod with peppers, and very rare steak. For dessert we had walnuts with a cheese and jello-type dish! It was a great local meal that I definitely enjoyed! Throughout the three hours we were there the Master of the Cidar House walks around without saying anything and stabs a screw driver looking thing into a barrel and cidar starts spouting out! You have to hear people or watch them run over to fill their cups and you have to run and get in line to try that cidar! It was so much fun! Then after everyone that was paying attention fills up he shuts the hole with a putty. It was really neat! I was able to try all different cidars and speak spanish with Alazne's family! A great night...I decided it was my favorite night since I have been in Spain! Such a blessing to have Alazne as my intercambio! Towards the end of the evening we were getting ready to leave and the Master of the Cidar House told Alazne that he wanted me to stay there to live and work at the Cidar House because he liked me. He was probably 70 years old!! Luckily, Alazne got me out of it and got me home safe!!! Alazne's family is excited for Patrick and my family to come and hopefully we can all go again to try cidars!!

This Friday I get to go on an Excursion with my USAC Program to Zumaia to see Basque farmhouses. Very excited for that! The next weekend I'll be going to Germany to see two german friends and Brittani Davis from Flagstaff!! Lots coming in the next week!

Ropas Sucios y Biarritz, Francia

Dirty Clothes and Biarritz, France (our first adventure)

First things first...my mom said I had to post this because it was pretty funny and embarrassing! So, I have been in Spain for almost a month now and have been doing laundry about once a week. I just found out yesterday that the laundry soap I bought the first in my apartment was softener and not soap. For the last month, my clothes have smelled very very good, but nothing has been cleaned. Very smooth move on my part. :)

My roommate Maria, my other USAC friends Jill, Heather, Tiffany and I decided to take a small trip to Biarritz, France for a weekend getaway! On Friday morning we had class as usual and then met at the bus station. Roundtrip to Biarritz was only 12 Euro! It was an hour and half ride through the beautiful countryside crossing the border into France! We arrived in Biarritz and went to the tourist office. We found out there was only one hostel in town and where it was so we could work our way there and have a place for the night. Instead of taking the main street to get there we wanted to walk along the beach. It was such a beautiful day with blue skies and sun! Which we haven't seen in two weeks so it was very exciting! We walked for a little over 2 hours in a completely round about way to our hostel. We checked in and got two rooms each with their own bathroom. Everything was very clean and very nice! After resting up for a bit we had to walk the 40 minutes back into town to get dinner. Everything seemed to be closed even though it was a Friday night. We decided the hoppin' beach town isn't so hoppin' in January. After searching for some kind of reasonably priced restaurant we came upon TacoMex. A small mexican food restaurant in an alley that was really fun! That was my first mexican food meal since I've been home. It was so good! They had tons of spicy salsas and great fajitas. I definitely enjoyed having some spicy food! After dinner we went to the beach to hang out for awhile. There was a great view of a lighthouse (which reminded me of my trip back from Alaska where we stopped at every light house down the west coast of the United States :) ). We returned to our hostel at about 11:30pm and were absolutely exhausted!

The next morning we had breakfast at our hostel that was very good. We checked out and headed back into town to shop and hang out on the beach. The weather was back to normal with cloudy skies and light sprinkles all day long. We enjoyed the beach, watching surfers and shopping though! We decided we needed to make up for having mexican food in France by having crepes for breakfast. We found a cafe near the beach and enjoyed delicious fruit crepes!!! After lunch we spent a lot of the afternoon reading in a cafe and talking. We were definitely thrown off by the language barrier again because we only know about four words in french. I ready all about Switzerland from my Lonely Planet book and got really excited about starting trip research!! :) We caught our bus at 6:45 that evening and drove back to San Sebastian. I, of course, slept the entire way back to San Sebastian. But it was a great weekend get-a-way and really fun!!

Today I enjoyed church at Evangelica Iglesia again! We stayed for lunch after the service and were able to meet a lot of nice locals. They are mostly from Latin America and have moved to Spain. Since they are wanting to learn english they spoke in only English and Maria, Jill and I spoke in only Spanish! It was great to meet some more girls and work on my Spanish with them! They were very nice and patient with us!!

La Tamborrada - 24 Hours of Drums!!

Jill, Maria, and I cooked dinner at our apartment the night of La Tamborrada. After finishing we met up with another girl from USAC Tiffany and headed to the apartment of our Chicago friends. They live really close to the plaza where La Tamborrada celebration starts so we thought it’d be best to get over there early. We left there apartment at 11:30ish and headed to La Plaza de Constitucion. The plaza was filled with thousands of people from San Sebastián. La Tamborrada is a celebration for El Día de San Sebastián. People march around the city for 24 hours dressed up in costumes banging drums and playing instruments to the tune of the city’s song. At 12am the Mayor quiets everyone and begins conducting the two bands on stage. One band is dressed up like Chefs and the other like soldiers. The soldiers always remain in their lines with straight faces and the Chefs are the party side. They are laughing, dancing around and making a scene! It was hilarious to watch. The two guys that were conducting the Chefs used a huge fork and spoon to conduct! After about 45 minutes of listening to the San Sebastián song over and over again and everyone singing to it we left to check out the rest of town. Little did we know…those weren’t the only bands playing. Every corner we turned there were more bands dressed up playing the song! Everyone was out on the town having a great time and enjoying El Día de San Sebastián. We went home after a couple more hours and luckily fell asleep. I slept through all the drumming until noon the next day!!!



We woke up at noon and went back to the center of town to watch the children’s parade! It was absolutely adorable! Every child was dressed up. The ages ranged from about 2 to 14 or so. It’s the largest children’s parade in the world. It went on for a couple hours and was fun to watch! It was raining off and on all day but the kids stuck with it. While this was going on, all the bands were still marching around playing the same song!! I was Skyping Patrick later that day and two times bands came right next to my apartment so I stuck my webcamera out my window for him to see and hear a live version of one band. I also got to show my mom another band when we were on Skype! This all went on until midnight Tuesday night. They had a closing ceremony at the center of town at midnight and it finally stopped. We all have the song stuck in our head now and sometimes I think I still hear drumming!

Preparing for La Tamborrada

I went for a run on the beach this morning and then went grocery shopping. Then Jill and I went to a shop on the beach where we reserved second hand bikes to use for the semester. We bought our bikes today and bought Maria’s as well! We are very excited to be able to ride around. San Sebastián has great bikes paths throughout the city and all along the beach. It will help cut our walking time and we still get to see the beach every ride! We get to sell our bikes back at the end of the semester! I started my Conversation Class today. I loved the teacher! He was very enthusiastic and encouraging! He seems really motivated to help us learn to talk with each other and the locals! Then I had my regular Spanish class. We talked all about La Tamborrada which is the festival that begins at midnight tonight. Everything shuts down and we don’t have school because it is a very important day for the city! Everyone tries to gather at a nearby plaza in Parte Vieja to watch the Mayor of San Sebastián conduct many people in drumming the song of San Sebastián. This festival is celebrating the day of San Sebastián and is very popular! There are two bands that play. One band is dressed up as chefs and the other as French soldiers. They will play songs consistently until 12pm (midday) on Tuesday. Which is when the children come out all dressed up and start playing until 12am that night. It is the biggest children’s parade in the world. It usually has around 8000 children participating from all ages. They march around all different parts of the city. Everyone tells us that we won’t be able to sleep until midnight Tuesday night….but you know me. I am pretty good at sleeping through anything. We have a group getting together to go towards the plaza at 11:30pm tonight and hang out for a few hours. Then we’ll get up in the morning and try to watch the Children’s Parade. It should be lots of fun and definitely a cultural experience! I am excited and will update you about La Tamborrada soon!!

Agur (Goodbye in Basque).

First Weekend in San Sebastián

Saturday:
Saturday was a beautiful day! We all slept in! Maria and I went shopping a little in El Centro and had lunch together. Jill and our friends from Chicago (Peter, Angela, and Megan) met up with us after lunch to explore San Sebastián some more. We walked across two of the three beaches enjoying the sand and sun! We ventured toward the corner of town where the famous Combs of the Wind statues are. It was a gorgeous day for exploring together! After that we got coffee and hot chocolate at a nearby café and headed home to enjoy a relaxing evening! Aunt Kay and kids were at my parents’ house for the day so I got to see them on Skype as well as Luci and Lilia. Also got to talk to Patrick which was great!!


Sunday:
Maria, Jill and I decided to try to find a church in San Sebastián to attend. We had heard of a Baptist church through Laurie Smith (wife of Pastor Mark at Grace) that was nearby us. The USAC Office also had information about how to get to the church. We were supposed to catch a bus at 10:30 and we think it came early because by the time the next bus was there it was already 11 and that is when it was supposed to start. We didn’t think it’d be appropriate to walk in at least 20 minutes late for our first time. So we are planning on trying again for their Wednesday night service or next Sunday. We went to a café on our way back and then went home for a nap and homework. I took a nice run on the beach today! It was absolutely beautiful! Afterwards I just sat on the edge of a wall just watching waves and listening to music. It was just gorgeous and the waves were huge because a storm is coming in soon. Spent the evening talking to the family on Skype!

Thursday and Friday

Thursday:
We started our day by getting textbooks for our classes and finally buying our bus pass. It was a beautiful and sunny day so I was able to take some pictures of the city! We walked throughout town just to check things out. We saw La Catedral Buen Pastor. It’s a gorgeous cathedral in the center of town. Absolutely breathtaking! Class is going well. So far it is all review, but definitely good for me!

Friday:
Friday I had class for the afternoon. I enjoyed my beautiful walk to and from class along the beach! It was sunny and a great day to be outside. Jill, my roommate Maria, and I were invited to dinner at the apartment of some other USAC students from Chicago. They made salad, bread, and tortellini. It was so much fun to eat a great meal made my Angela! After dinner we went to the center of the city and checked out some bars for a couple hours. It was nice to have a group of us doing everything together!