Zaragoza

March 30, 2010:

Before I begin my account of Zaragoza this past weekend, I want to note a few interesting kinds of vending machines I’ve noticed here in Spain:

1. Pizza and hot sandwiches. Just wait 5 minutes, and it will be hot! (But not fresh.)
2. Helados. Yep, ice cream vending machines everywhere; not only in the beachy towns!
3. Coffee/ espresso. You pick how much sugar and cream you want, and it comes out in these tiny plastic cups. Just be careful not to burn your fingers!
4. Cigarettes. While I’m aware that these exist in the U.S., I’d be willing to bet they are a LOT more common here.
5. Last, but not least, Beer. Yes, they have vending machines for alcoholic beverages. I’m not even sure how that’s legal!


Okay, so here’s a little bit about our trip:

Jane and I left Saturday morning and took a bus to Zaragoza. We bought our tickets early, so we were sitting in the VERY front of the bus. We thought this would be good as far as bussickness goes, but we were WRONG. It felt like we were on a roller coaster with this huge glass screen in front of us. We could see how close the bus driver was to running into the cars in front of us, and we could distinguish every curve clearly. Needless to say, I was quite glad to remove myself from the bus after three hours.

We spent the day with Brian, sightseeing and enjoying the gorgeous, sunny day. We went to a real, genuine CASTLE, which made me very happy! And we went to the famous cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar. We spent the evening just walking around the city, and then we cooked dinner. (Taco night! Mmm)

Sunday, we headed out to find a church service, only to see that all the roads were blocked off and there were thousands of people everywhere. We accidentally stumbled upon one of the famous parade-journey things that go on during Semana Santa, or Holy Week. I enjoyed the celebration of Palm Sunday, but the costumes did make us a little bit uncomfortable, because they are equivalent to those of the KKK, white robes and pointy hoods with eye holes. Although we’re aware that there are no racial ties to those costumes here, we still couldn’t fully appreciate the religious aspect of the parade with the discomfort we felt from their dress.

Anyway, there isn’t much you can do on Sundays in Spain because everything is closed, so we just ended up talking a long stroll through town and stopping for lunch before heading back to Pamplona around 5. It was a short trip, but we had a great time. And now I’m preparing to go to Paris to meet up with my FAMILY and Grace and John this weekend! I’m super excited!!!

Barcelona!

Some political building famous for when they hosted the Olympics; they had an amazing fountain show with lights on weekend nights.



Jane and I in front of a view of the city



My real Spanish friends! Astrid and Iosune



Inside the Barcelona Cathedral



A tiny part of the outside of la Sagrada Familia


March 23, 2010:

This weekend I went with a group from the university to Barcelona. My two roomies and my friends Jane and Michelle went, too, so we had a good group! We also met two ACTUAL SPANISH girls and made good friends with them. I was excited about that, because I really do spend the majority of my time here with other foreigners. Anyway, after realizing how long it took to tell my parents and Wesley about this weekend, I realize that I could probably write several pages about the weekend, and still not tell it all. But for the sake of brevity, I’m going to only mention the highlights of the trip. And one more thing, Barcelona is in the province of Catalunya, where they speak Catalán. Therefore, the signs were written all in Catalán, and the people spoke Catalán first, and Spanish second. But English was actually more prevalent in the city than Spanish, because of all the tourism. So, it really didn’t feel like I was in Spain at all!

Okay, so Friday afternoon when we arrived, we went to la Sagrada Familia, a huge cathedral designed by Gaudí over a hundred years ago, and it is still under construction. A lot of cathedrals and buildings are under construction here for renovation, but la Sagrada Familia has yet to be completed. Yeah, it’s that amazing. I’ve never seen such an intricately designed building; it was breathtaking! While we were downtown, I made a trip to Starbucks, which was definitely a high point of the day. Later, the bus driver got lost trying to find our hotel, so we hired a taxi driver to follow to the hotel. But he got lost, too! So it took us almost an hour and a half to find our hotel in northern Barcelona. I would have been annoyed, since we’d already been on the bus for half the day, but it was just so ironic, we had to laugh! I mean, we ARE in the age of GPSs aren’t we, people!?

Saturday we spent the day with our tour guide. We saw the Barcelona Cathedral, also amazing, and some Roman pillars that had been part of the foundation of the city more than 1,000 years ago! The richness of the history of these Spanish cities never ceases to amaze me. We also saw the boatyard, where there are about 10 cruise ships docked at a time. Barcelona is second only to Miami in cruise stop destinations.

Sunday we had a free day, so we spent the morning in Gaudí’s Parque Güell. Famous with good reason, this park had benches and pillars and houses, all designed with Gaudi’s distinct and intricate style. In the early afternoon, we took the metro down to the beach, but it was very cold, so I didn’t get to sunbathe as I was hoping. Before we left, I made sure to grab Starbucks one more time! I don’t even go to Starbucks THAT much at home, but it’s just more special here, because there isn’t ONE where I live. Anyway, so that’s a little bit about my trip to Barcelona. Jane and I are heading to Zaragoza this weekend, so next time I write, I’ll tell you all about it!

Dear France, let's be friends.

Me at the beach!



With my friend Jonatón






Some of the Americans



Chocolate sculptures :)


March 14, 2010:

I think I’m in love with France. Yes, it is a pretty certain fact. Although the forecast for Saturday in Biarritz was 80% rain, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky the entire day. It was amazingly beautiful! My friends Jane and Fernanda came with me and the group from Florida and several Spaniards. We very Americanly split into groups of 10-15 people and shared cell phone numbers and meeting times. On Spanish trips, they just say, “The bus is going back to Pamplona at this time on this day, so be here.” Haha.

We walked around and saw a lighthouse and lots of pretty coastline. There were tons of people wearing almost nothing and sunbathing, despite the fact that it was around 48 degrees. I was wearing a jacket and a wool scarf, but to each his own! We visited the chocolate museum, which was really interesting. We saw a video of how cocoa trees grow, and I remember seeing them and trying the chocolate seeds when I was in Brazil when I was younger. The chocolate samples were amazing, and I had to seriously restrain myself from leaving that place with 40 Euros worth of beautiful chocolates.

All in all, I enjoyed the day in France, and I hope to go back one day soon. Maybe when it’s a little warmer, say in the 60s or so, and I can actually sunbathe, too!

Beach one day, Mountains the next!

March 11, 2010:
I’m almost a week late writing about last weekend, but better late than never! Last Friday, Jane and I took a day trip to San Sebastian beach. We were blessed with gorgeous weather, so we had an amazing time! There is a huge fort on the top of a mountain in the city, so we climbed up there first and had a wonderful view of the beach and the city. We walked around the town for hours and went from café to café trying different foods and pastries and coffee. When we went down to the beach, there were people surfing in wetsuits, which is fairly normal for a 55 degree day. But then we saw people in BATHING SUITS! Just swimming along in the water, like it wasn’t frigidly cold in there. I took off my shoes and walked barefoot, and that’s adventurous as I got! All in all, Jane and I had a great time exploring the old city of San Sebastian.

Saturday morning we went on the excursion of Navarra with the university exchange students. We basically just drove around in the mountains and looked at little towns and stopped at scenic points. It was a little bit boring, but we had an amazing lunch, which made it worthwhile. We had this meal included in our entry price: we went to a nice hotel and they served us SO MUCH FOOD. We were actually lunching for more than 2 hours. That’s how the Spaniards do it, I guess. They kept bringing baskets of bread and bottles of wine and we had this asparagus, egg, shrimp casserole thing and steak and French fries. Then, they had a smoke break; they brought around ash trays. It was so gross! I feel like I have a smoker’s cough due to secondhand inhalation here. EEW. But then, they followed with arroz con leche and coffee for dessert, so I was appeased.

Saturday night, some of my girlfriends and I went to our friend Michelle’s flat for her birthday dinner. She had been cooking and preparing all day for us to come, so we were obligated to eat a TON again. I think all of us were a little bit sick of food by the end of Saturday night! But overall, it ended up being a really fun day.

This week, I’ve been working with a mission team from Florida who is here teaching English. Since I happen to know English, as well, I’ve been helping teach the classes. And we’re all going to Biarritz, France for a daytrip on Saturday. So the next time I blog, I’ll write about that!

A Weekend of Grace

March 2, 2010: So last Thursday night, Grace McCord was coming all the way from Sweden to visit little ole me! I was super excited until I got her e-mail that because of one of millions of French air strikes, her plane was severely delayed. Alas, she would not make it to Pamplona before Friday. What could I do?

Well, I hopped on a bus to Madrid to meet her, that’s what! I couldn’t leave her stranded in this country without a translator. Plus, I didn’t have anything else to do on Thursday if she wasn’t going to be there. So, we met up in Madrid and had a spontaneous adventure! We stayed in a nice hostel, thanks mom and dad :) and Friday morning, we went to STARBUCKS. We may have spent a lot of money there, but we left feeling like we’d won the lottery. We were SO HAPPY to have real Starbucks Coffee! After our amazing caffeine boost, we wandered around the city taking pictures and taking advantage of the blue skies and the heat wave. It was like 63 degrees! We went to their huge park and walked around and we went to an art museum and we just generally had a wonderful, touristy day. Friday night when we got back, we just cooked some dinner and went to bed.

Saturday, we went running in the rain. And that was probably the only hour it rained the entire weekend. What good timing, right? I gave her a tour of my city for the afternoon, and then that night, we went to the ballet “Beethoven” in the old Teatro Gayarre downtown. We got to dress up, so that was really fun!

Sunday, we wandered around Pamplona some more. I got to show her my school and we went to where the old cathedral and citadel are. We saw the outside of the bullfighting ring (and I hope never to see the inside of that place!) We had such a fun weekend together; I was SO HAPPY she came to visit!

This week, I actually had to do some homework, which is strange because there isn’t much homework here. I’m going to be really busy just about every day. And then Friday I think I’m going to San Sebastian beach and Saturday I’m going on an excursion of Navarra with the university. I have plenty of adventures to come, which means more pictures soon! Thanks for reading this, now I’ll show you some pictures!

Salamanca

23 February 2010: Well, this will be an entry more of pictures than words, namely because I've been extremely busy and am really tired. But I'm posting because my darling Susan says that I have to :) First of all, I need to share a funny story. I looked up the weather in Salamanca on Thursday. The weekend forecast called for sunny skies and 77 degrees (25C). I was SO EXCITED. I packed flip flops and a t-shirt and I was talking to Fernanda, and we were both just SO EXCITED! So, Saturday morning at about 6:40, Fernanda tells me that something’s wrong. The weather is only going to be 7C (40ish F). So, I double checked, and my heart plummeted. Yeah, the weekend was going to be nice and sunny in Salamanca, MEXICO, but in Salamanca, Spain, it was cold and it rained. Luckily I had time to swap the flip flops for wool socks before we left. Oh well!!

So we went to Salamanca with a group from the school, but my 5 friends and I were the only exchange students. Everyone else was either really old (70%) or a Spanish student from the university (20%). By the way, I have no idea how all the old people came to be on the university trip, maybe it was a community trip or something. Sometimes the details here escape me...

Anyway, we saw many beautiful cathedrals, and visited the University of Salamanca, which was started in the year 1218 or so. I even bought a sweatshirt to prove my devotion to the trip to Salamanca. Or maybe I was just THAT COLD.

It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures to prove it:







Mary holding Jesus inside the cathedral.



Only a part of the outside of it, at night. Beautiful!



Spanish bachelor party! Seriously. (We saw the bridal party in a cafe later and asked)
Just click on it to make it bigger, I don't know why it doesn't show up in the normal size?



Me standing on a famous, really old bridge.



The center of the old town. Gorgeous when the lights come on at dusk :)

Carnival in Bilbao

February 14, 2010: So, the scheduled “Excursion of Navarra” with the school was cancelled due to inclement weather, but I and my friends did not want to sit around Pamplona sulking about icy rain and snow for a whole weekend. So, we packed up and went to Bilbao on Saturday! It was a really spontaneous trip. My roommate Fernanda and I, along with three of our other friends, Jane, Hanna, and Pilar, hopped on a bus with no itinerary except that we wanted to see the Guggenheim. We arrived about three in the afternoon and decided to search out a hostel. The first one we found was a little more expensive than we’d have liked, so we walked halfway across the 6th largest city in Spain, backpacks heavier by the minute, maps in our hands.
We found the second hostel and it looked like a huge slumber party. Everyone there was around our age, there was music playing, coffee brewing, and Ikea-like furniture that made me feel like I was in a dorm. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any room because Saturday was Bilbao’s CARNIVAL! That’s right, we accidentally stumbled upon a huge celebration. This was really cool, except that we were told we might have a difficult time getting a place to stay. They were really nice, though, and let us use their computers and phones until we found a place with room. It was right in the middle of the Casco Viejo where all the fun was to be had later. “Perfect!” we thought.
So, we finally got there, our hopes of an afternoon trip to the museum dashed, because it was already about 6 by this time. We walked up three flights of the scariest, most uneven steps I’ve ever seen and were greeted by a chain-smoking “concierge.” Our room consisted of three small beds, not enough for the five of us, but we had to make-do because our backs were hurting and we really didn’t have that many other options. We just sat down on the checkered bedspread with striped and flowered pillowcases and laughed at the lime green and orange paint that clashed with the chandelier hanging overhead. We tried to look out the window, only to find it duck-taped shut.
After a coffee-break and small dinner, we walked downtown to where the parade was happening. Everyone in the city was wearing costumes, except for us! There were entire families of ladybugs and pirates and gypsies and sharks. We proudly wore our jackets and scarves, and one guy said as he passed me that I was Little Red Riding Hood. Why? Because my jacket is red, of course!
Later that night, we went outside to see what all the commotion was about. Little did we know that our hostel was right above the street full of bars that was where everyone was going to party for the entire night. They had music playing and people were just dancing in the streets (even though it was freezing and raining!) So, we danced with them! We were singing along to “Dancing Queen” with military men, mermaids, housewives, Mr. Incredible, a giant chicken, and some witches, among other costumes. The only thing was, at about 1, we were ready to go to bed. We went to our room, and we could hear them blowing whistles and singing the Spanish National Anthem down below. It was a miracle that I slept at all!
For Valentine’s Day, we got up early and visited the Guggenheim Museum, to take our minds off the fact that whatever boy we might love back home is very far away. It was a good distraction, though. The architecture of the museum, itself, is amazing. We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon at the museum. Then we hopped a bus back to Pamplona, our weekend a certain success.