Bilboa Excursion!

Today was our first group excursion to the city of Bilboa! It's the capital of Basque Country, or País Vasco, which is about an hour from Santander. For the past few days Ana has been out of town in Madrid so I've been staying with another host mom, Rosa, and her "spanish daughter" Chelsea. It's been quite the Spanish experience. On thursday I went over after school for my first meal at Rosa's. Rosa is about 65 I believe, and is one of the most lively people I've ever met. She used to be a professor at the Universidad, but now she just hosts students from the NC program every year. She reminds me a lot of Stacey's mom because she's always singing, dancing, making food, and inviting everyone to come for dinner. It was very generous of her to invite me to stay for several days. As soon as I arrived she had a set of keys for me, and a glass of Sangria. By the time class ends I'm always very hungry since I'm still adjusting to the lunch at 230 schedule. First was a stew of beef, potatoes, carrots, and peas, and of course a side of fresh delicious bread. I was completely full, but the next course was four stuffed red peppers filled with meat and a cream sauce. They were very different and exotic, but I enjoyed them. Finally was a rich flan for dessert, which in Spain looks and tastes nothing like the flan I'm accustomed to in Mexican restaurants. It's more like a mousse or creeme broulee; it's white with a little dark brown sweet sauce at the bottom. Muy rico! Rosa asked me what I liked for breakfast, and of course I had to say Special K Chocolate. She is so sweet, when I returned for dinner she had bought a box just for me and black olives because she knew I didn't like green ones. Rosa is one of those people you meet in life that is truly giving. It's rare to find a person that gets complete joy in life by making others happy, but is definitely one of them! In the afternoon some friends and I met up at our "vacation planning café" called Trocadero. Since it's usally customary to meet with friends outside the home, we always go to a small internet cafe to plan our flights and hostels for Semana Santa. So far the plan is to head to Barcelona, Sevilla, Alicante, and Valencia over about 12 days. After planning for a while Christina, Stephen, Meredith, and I took the bus to visit Erin in the hospital. It was her 6th day in the hospital without any kind of treatment, so she was in desperate need of books and company. (We also brought her a flower) The hospitals here look the same on the inside. It was pretty modern but there wasn't much regard to any rule for visiting hours or signing in. The first time a few friends and I went to visit, Erin was still in the ER room. Finding her was an adventure in itself trying to understand the front desk lady who kept saying debajo debajo debajo, verde verde verde. We tried searching on our own but wound up on the negative third floor which was the kitchen.
We had a study review session for our grammar test with Dr. Standish for a while which was luckily all in English. I still don't get a British guy teaching Americans Spanish grammar in Spain. It's much easier to understand my Spanish professors. The theta accent and the lisp are not bad here in Santander at all. I actually prefer the Spanish sounding accent to Latin American ones now.
The bus system in Santander is easy to use, it costs a euro and 10 centimos to ride one way for as long as you want. The only places we've gone so far on the bus are the hospital and McDonalds. McDonalds. Christina and I thought since we had our big grammar exam the next day as a treat we'd take the bus and indulge in some greasy American food. It was dark and we were in an unfamiliar area of town where the malls are located. This one's called Carrefour, basically the Walmart of Spain I think. There we were two Americans with bookbags running down the street to the McD's towards our cheeseburgers. However dissapointment was soon to follow. The decor of this particular establishment was very modern and the menu was slightly different. I was dissapointed there was no ginat sweet tea for one euro. Christina and I both got the NYC Crispy, which like most fast food things looked awesome in the picture but not in reality. The fries and diet coke were the only thing exactly like in the US. I could have ordered a cerveza at this McDonalds too. We made it safely home from the McD's a little dissapointed, but with no regrets and a good story. It's just another adventure of every day life in Spain!
Dinner at Rosa's this night was tortilla patata, my FAVORITE Spanish food by far. It's basically just an egg, potatoe, and onion omlet but it's very thick and delicious. I've had it served both warm and room temp. Ali, another girl in my group, lives in the same building as Rosa so she came over for dinner. Her mom had sent her with a bottle of wine. Rosa kept saying, you girls have to study, but first we drink the wine! Whoever said Spaniards don't like having people in their homes lied. Thursday there was 4 American girls at Rosa's for dinner. We'd finish one glass of wine and Rosa would say, "Un Poquito, Un Poquito mas!" I certainlly didn't go hungry while my senora was away. Anytime someone cleans their plate at Rosa's another helping is dished without question. You can say no thanks all you want but you are getting more food. The postre was a type of banna pudding but looked exactly like melted butter. Dinner was an occasion in itself. Rosa taught us a few Spanish songs and we all sat around the table practicing. In every facet of life here things are done with passion and exuberance, clearly evident in simple events like eating dinner together.
La casa de Rosa is up the hill a little ways from my apartment but is still in the Puerto Chico neighborhood. I found several interesting new places to try up in this area including Pinocho's which is a little Italian restaurant decorated with scenes from Pinnochio. This is also where the Chupiteria is. Every store in Spain adds an ending of -eria. Like the bread store is called Panaderia, the meat store Carneceria, and the hair salon Peluqueria. So what then is Chupiteria? Literally, the store of shots. A chupito is a shot,(vodka, rum, whiskey, ect.) We haven't actually gone here yet, but there's supposed to be some exotic, and cheap, types of chupitos here. There's also a bar/discoteca called Ocho. To call a place a club is very improper to say in Spain. (That means more of a brothel type place) Friday night we went to Ocho for the first time which is a typical European dance club with techno music and flahsing lights, however there are also lots of American songs played. They love Lady Ga-Ga over here.
It was really comforting and thoughtful for Ana and Rosa to have planned for me to stay at Rosa's so I wouldn't have to stay alone. We stayed up studying for a little bit but finally realized there was no way to learn the enitre Spanish language grammar in just one night. Our last day of the two week classes was bitter sweet. We were all glad to be done with grammar, but sad to be leaving our favorite professor, Manolo. He is the best teacher I've ever had. He sings in class, is easy to understand, and has the most energy of any teacher. I feel like I'm just hanging out with friends not in class during converstaion class. He studied for a few years in the US so he also talks with us about funny differences between cultures. He said the three things he doesn't like about the US are baseball and rootbeer, but he does love Ramen noodles.
Manolo is also great because he teaches us phrases and cultural things that will actually help us when communicating with Spaniards. I've gotten some really good ideas for lesson plans from him too. During class he would have this thing called the "electric chair"where one person gets in front of the class and has to talk for 2 minutes in Spanish about a random subject he chooses like rootbeer or baseball. On the last day of class we got to do the electric chair for him and he had to speak in English. During his electric chair he told us a story about how he had an American student once with very famous parents. However, this girl was very rude and often came to class drunk. Manolo said she is the only person he has ever told to "get the hell out of his class" in his 25 years of teaching. Who is this child of a famous American family? Jenna Bush, daughter of George W. Bush. I knew I liked Manolo for a reason.
The conversation part of the two classes has really improved my Spanish quickly. It's so different than in America becuase I'm not nervous to make mistakes. A student teacher that's been observing our class told us don't worry about having everything perfect. It's not like math where if you get one thing wrong you can fix the formula. My senora has also noted that I've improved which is good to hear! It's still hard sometimes becuase I am with my friends speaking English so often. When I first wake up in the morning or after siesta I'm not always in the mindset to speak Spanish but it's getting a lot easier to convey what I mean.
Lunch at Rosa's on test day was delicious tortellini pasta with mushroom in a marinara sauce, and pan of course. Rosa had also made us a pitcher of Sangria becuase she knew we were so worried about the exam. She kept saying, "you take the boring grammar exam, then you go shopping, then fiesta!" After the pasta was even more food! I had mentioned the night before I loved fish, so she prepared 2 filets each of a white fish which was lightly fried and seasoned with lemon and sauted onions. Dessert was a bowl of fresh strawberries with sugar. Needless to say a siesta soon followed. I love the idea that after you have a huge meal you need time to rest and let your food settle. It was such a warm sunny day in Santander it made it much harder to think about any exam.
After using the full two hours to work through the exam it was time for fiesta! Only the blonde American with a bookbag would be standing on the shelves in Lupa, aka very mini Food Lion, to reach the cheapest bottle of sparkling pink champagne. With a 1.89 euro bottle in hand we were ready to celebrate 3 hours of credit out of the way! Trocaderos, Opium, and Ocho were the places we made it to. It's so hard to adjust to the night life schedule. American's are so eager to be leaving our houses at 10 we don't know what to do until 1am! I haven't stayed out to see the sun come up yet, but I'm sure it will happen eventually. Instead of cookout after a night of being out and about the Spanish have little bars with Gyros for late night snacking. There's also a hot dog van in Plaza Pombo that's great for late food too. A guy just parks his van in the middle of downtown and sells hot dogs all night. It's not sketchy though, it looks like an ice cream truck and has a vending window and everything.
Although I only had about 4 hours of good sleep, I accidently turned on the snooze on my alarm and woke up about 15 minutes before I was meeting my friends to catch the bus to Bilboa. We all made it, even Rhett who lives right next to the bus stop but came 15 mintues late. The ride to Bilboa only took about and hour and a half throught the country side of northern Spain. So many places here look exactly like Ireland and Wales. We are on the green coast though. Luckily it was a sunny and decently warm day to spend our excursion. The group started out at the Guggenhiem Museum. (It never got old saying this with a german accent, Das Guggenhiem!!) The structure itself is right next to the river which runs throught the center of Bilboa. It's a huge silver piece of art that is curvy and all silver. I had seen pictures before but nothing compares to the real thing. Right across the river from the museo is the University of Bilboa which my senora went to!
The outside was incredibly impressive, but one thing was kind of odd. In the very front was a giant topiary of a dog. Perro de flores, dog of flowers, was a terrier of some sort. All the flowers were beautiful pinks, purples, and yellows. For such a modern sleek design of the museum the flower dog looked a little out of place. Apparently he's the mascot.
Entering the museum was different than in the States. There weren't any metal detectors and no one checked your bag for food or drinks before going in. But, for some reason you couldn't take a bookbag in? There also weren't a whole lot of gaurds in each exhibit room. Usually in the US art museums if you start getting close to anything the gaurd will stare you down or get creepily close. In the Guggenhiem the all women staff of gaurds just kind of sat in one place and didn't look imposing at all.
Inside the museum we got these black devices that looked like cell phones but you could hang them around your neck. They turned out to be your own personal tour guide to the museum. Most all of the art works had a number next to their descriptions on the wall. You just punched the number into your tour guide device and it would tell you a little history about the piece and what it's supposed to represent. It was a really cool way to try and understand modern art, at your own pace, and without bothering anyone else around you. Like most modern art, I didn't understand or like a lot of the pieces. There were the typical wall size paintings that looked like a five year old did them, or the sculptures made of bike wheels. There was one piece of strange modern sculpture I actually liked though. It was a big piece of bent metal and a few old film reels. The personal tour guide told me that the metal represented angels wings, and the film canisters were symbolic of stained glass windows in a church. It was the first time I could actually see the inspiration and symbolism in such a strange way. There were a few Picasso's, a giant Marlin Monroe Andy Warhol, and even one Van Gough. Although I don't necesarily like a lot of Picassos's abstract art, it's still awesome to think that you're looking at the real painting he created. One of the coolest things we got to see was a huge sculpture being created. One room had a part of the floor cut out and you could see the artist below in literally a pool of red clay making his art. This exhibition is created by red clay being shot out of a cannon at a wall although it just looked like a giant explosion had occured. The artist was in a while suit and rain boots covered in deep red clay. It was really interesting to watch him pick up pieces and throw them in certain spots or remove huge pieces to other areas. It was such a strange thing to see I really wonder what his inspiration was or what he was trying to create with the giant clay. I think what makes modern art so strange is that there seems to be no reason for splattering paint but in fact is supposed to symbolise a certain belief. My favorite part of the whole museum was the room of walkable sculptures. The room itself was about as long as two football fileds and wide as one at least. In it were gigantic pieces of metal in about 7 different places all in shapes you could walk through. Some were mazes while others were just like sqwiggly lines. Each was probably 20-25 feet tall. The cool thing about this exhibit was the way the metal was bent would make you feel like you had to lean a certain way to fit while walking through, but in fact it was just an optical illusion. It's hard to describe in words what these were like. The best I can say is walkable art. It's rare in an art musuem to feel like your actually part of the piece. Instead of just walking around glancing at paintings you can stand in the middle of a giant metal sculpture and wind your way out. I bought a really nice poster of a full view of the Guggenhiem from the gift shop to put either in my room or classroom.
We had about an hour and a half in the museum before meeting up again with the group to go for lunch. Peter, one of our advisors, organized the trip and planned what turned out to be a really fancy and yummy meal. The walk there was goregous right along the river. There was a political rally when we first got there. This is very common in the Basque region because they are very tied to their province and at one time want to be their own country. The Spanish here is also a little different. It's more a mix of normal Spanish and a Basque language. Lunch was at the Restaurante Amable, literally warm or welcoming restaurant. It was in the heart of the old downtown district which has recently been refurbished. Entering through the bar area I was unsure of what this place could possibly be like. I was expecting a ham and cheese bocadillo but ended up with a three course meal. The decor was slightly old fashioned looking but classy. There were white table clothes and a water and wine glass set out with a fancy napkain. I sat at the end of one long table with Christina, Stephanie, and Rhett. First we started with mineral water and a giant roll bigger than my fist which was just sitting right on the table, no plate or anything. A fresh salad with real tuna, onions, tomatoes, and white asparagus was then served. We could even choose beer or wine with the meal. In America if you got a meal, there's no way they could ever include those as choices. The red wine was a great choice because the main entree was a very flavorful filet. This was the first time I'd actually had steak in it's normal form here in Spain. It was delicious and served with a side of fries of all things. It was a lot of food, but so good I couldn't help but to clean my plate. Finally the most rich and yummy dessert came; strawberry mousse cheesecake. Light, fluffy, and topped with fresh strawberries drizzled with carmel. That too was finished completely.
Following the surprisingly amazing meal we had about an hour of free time to roam the streets. It was a little before siesta time and the streets were full of life and people out to lunch or just meeting up to see friends. I love how there are so many outdoor cafes here.. The narrow cobblestone streets bustling with Spaniards loudly conversing and the smell of fresh baked meats and many types of bread seemed like a movie, as so many places here do. We spent an hour or so stopping in shops as we headed back towards the Guggenhiem. All the shops are having their huge sales because of the chaning of seasons. I would definiltey like to come back to this city and spend more time in the museum and exploring the city.
Meeting back at 4 with the group our excursion day was not over after leaving Bilboa. Our next destination was a little pueblo called Lierganes (Lee-er-gan-ez) This antique village looked exactly like the small town I stayed in Wales. The old Roman bridge, rocky mountains in the distance, and creek flowing through the city center reminded me of exploring Wales with the group 5 years ago near the Hand Hotel. During our explorations we went under the bridge right by the creek and then through the streets of the quiet town. Similarly to Santillana Del Mar the town seemed like no one really lived there because it was so empty. Empty but also beautiful. There were several interesting lemon trees growing because oranges wouldn't survive here. The town's legend is called El Hombre Pez, or the Fish Man. I couldn't catch all of the story but the main jist is a man from the town got cought up in the sea and ended up in Cadíz. When someone found him he was half man half fish and all he could say was Lierganes. He was taken back home and thus he was the talk of the town. Today there's a restaurant in the city center named El Hombre Pez. Even though we had eaten a huge meal a few hours ago, it was time for chocolate and churros! A delicious and very common treat in Spain. We walked through a lush green garden to a hotel restaurant where our group of 28 could all fit together. The churros were warm, bathed in sugar, and the perfect crispy texture. The hot chocolate here is literally like a melted down candy bar. You only need about 3 churros and a copule dips of chocolate because it's so rich. Churros here are not like the common ones in the Staes. They are generally just fried dough with sugar on top and are about half the size of an American churro. They are also not covered in cinnamon sugar. Indulging in this treat was the perfect was to end a great day exploring new places. Each day I am so greatful for this experience because it is so unreal. Every event is an adventure!

Erasmus Expiditions

Our first day at the university was last Wed. We didn't actually have classes, just an orientation and placement test for which class we would start with. There's this program called AEGEE Santander and ERASMUS, both groups of international students studying at the Universidad de Cantabria, (or UniCan) I've met people from France, Germany, Holland, Lithuania, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, England, and the list continues. Everytime another international mets a few of us, they automatically say, "Oh your from the US, you must be from North Carolina too." Our very blunt German friend Mark said, "26 of you, Damn that's an invasion." There's one guy from UNCC here on his own, but besides that the "Carolinos" as we're called are the only Americans in this semester's Erasmus group. On Wed. Feb 10, our entire international group took 4 charter buses around Santander and got to see the whole city in daylight finally. (Since our flight caused us to arrive in the city at dark the first night.) We went up to the Royal Palace where Alfonzo III used to come with his queen for vacations from Madrid. The views were amazing of the Atlantic ocean to the north and bay to the east. The rocky cliffs in this part of Santander remind me a lot of the coast in California. There was a beautiful, slightly eeire lighthouse on an island by itself off the coast as well. A great opportunity for more pretty pictures in my black pea coat :). (It's very true the Spanish are much more stylish than Americans, but more on that later.) Next the buses stopped across from a few of the major beaches and famous spots in Santander. There was even a small "zoo" complete with penguins and sea lions! Never thought I'd see a penguin swimming around in Spain! This area is where all the good surf spots are apparently. The scene was beautiful with the water crashing and spraying up on the rocks as waves rolled in. There were some replicas of the 3 boats Christopher Columbus had. The man who drew the map for Columbus was from Santander, and the street I live on is named after him! (Juan De La Cosa)

The next day the tour buses headed to the Picos de Europa, which is the largest mountain range in Spain. For the first time in 22 years, on the 11th of Feb. it snowed in Santander and the Cantabria region. We didn't get to go up on the sky-lift in the Picos like we were supposed to, but we went to the National Park museum. One thing Spain should invest in is heat for National Monuments. They are very energy efficient with drying all clothes on the line and conserving electricity, but this particular museum only had heat in one movie theater room! Other than the lack of heat and blizzard outside, the Picos were very beautiful. The ride there was a little scary on a huge charter bus swerving through the mountains with snow on the roads, but they take little caution driving anywhere here. (Which reminds me, all the streets for cars downtown are brick, so it's difficult to tell which is the sidewalk and where cars can go. There are crosswalks everywhere, and the little smart cars that zip around always have to stop for anyone that's crossing. Us Americans still wait everytime and then give the "thanks for stopping wave" which no one does or understands here.) Back to the Picos, after our tour entirely in Spanish we got to see a really cool nature video about the park during all of the seasons. (This was the heated room) Dad- you would have loved this; it was a 10 minute video of nature sounds :) The buses of ERASUMS went on to a little town that looked like a Bevarian Village that would be in Switzerland. The actual snow looks very different here too. Instead of flakes it all looks like vanilla dip-n-dots ice cream! UniCan put together a really great orientation to the area for us.

My first week living in Spain!

Hola Todos!

Today I have been living in Santander, Spain for exactly one week! So much has happened already I don't even know where to begin. The adventure started at the hotel in Charlotte when I got a call at 4 am from US Airways saying our flight to Philly was cancelled. The next day it was still snowing, hailing, freezing rain so plans weren't set until the last minute for our flight. A group of about 8 of us almost had to stay another night in Charlotte and wait for a flight to Madrid on Saturday. Luckily the program director got our whole group on the same flight to Munich, Germany and then on to Madrid friday night. Instead of US Airways we took Lufthansa, a German airline, which turned out to be even better because they had good food and free beer and wine on the plane :) Our group was all split up on the flight, so I was next to two Germans probably around my age. Finally at around 11am we arrived in Madrid to meet Peter Standish, one of our program directors at the airport. Already exhausted, we took a 5 hour bus ride up to Santander. I had a slight problem walking with my gigantic suitcase, backpack, coats, and carry on which resulted in one bag breaking, but I made it with all my stuff successfully!

The excitement soon turned to anxiety as we all waited in the parking lot of Santander's futbol team, Racing, for our families. We all stood with our suitcases wondering what in the world we were going to say once our host moms and dads picked us up. All but two students left when my Señora arrived. The housing coordinator said my previous "family" was crazy and I now had a new host family. It's turned out to be even better than I expected. I live with a single lady named Ana who's in her mid 50's. She has a huge family with 11 siblings and hundreds of nieces, nephews, and cousins. It's definitley true big families are very common in Spain.
Since my "mom"Ana doesn't have a car we took a taxi to our flat in the Puerto Chico neighboorhood which is luckily located right by all the bars, restaurants, and the city center. I have about 10-15 other students from the program in the area which has been great for meeting up and never having to walk alone. Living with Ana is really great. Since it's just us two I have a lot of opportunities to talk to her in Spanish. She's very accomodating and helpful, especially when I'm struggling for five minutes trying to figure out how I want to conjuigate one verb. She's also a very good cook. My gift of a cutting board from home was perfect. One thing I've learned from her is how vibrant and outgoing Spaniards are. They will say exactly what they're thinking and with a lot more enthusiasm and passion than Americans. At our first dinner, she pointed out a huge painting in her living room of her grandmother and said, "that's my grandma, I like the colors in the painting but she's very fea y gorda (fat and ugly)

As far as food goes I've had quite a variety. I've had everything from salad and pizza to a mystery meat that was blood red even when fully cooked. I've tried everything though, even the lunch of fried eggs, collards, potatoes, and a hot dog. Breakfast is fairly similar to the US, I've had cornflakes and some kind of fruit. I've become addicted to fruit! It's so fresh here since they buy everything from the market near city hall. It looks just like a movie, there's tons of tables set up outside with different vendors and the most colorful and juicy fruits and veggies I've ever seen. My first night here I was so overwhelmed I think I just said yes to everything. Thus, I believe Ana thinks Kiwi's are my favorite food; I've had one with every meal since I got here. The best fruit by far here is strawberries. I don't know what part of Spain they come from but they're giant, deep red, and very sweet. One of the first nights Ana had her cousin Carmen over for dinner. What an overwhelming experience. She spoke very fast with a heavy lisp. Everything I said she corrected me, but I need that help! Anytime someone comes to dinner wine is a must. The first kind I had here was a tinto, or red wine.

Getting to know the city has been a lot of fun. Every day is an adventure figuring out what street I'm on, where to meet people, and the strange schedule of siesta I've always heard about. It's still taking some getting used to. Most stores open at 10, close at 130, open again around 4 and then close at 8ish. If your out on the streets at 230 you would think no one even lived in Santander. Go out at 7 and every person in town is out shopping, meeting up in cafes, or having tapas. The city is so vibrant at night!