Bilbao

I went to Bilbao for the day on Saturday with Jennis. We met Kara (living in Burgos) and Imanol, Kara's Basque boy from San Sebastian. Our bus left at 8:30 on Saturday morning, and now that I am paranoid about missing my bus, I woke up extra early. Fortunately I made it on time as did Jennis. We were a bit unexcited about the bus ride because we had tickets on the pueblo bus, which means, as you might guess, that the bus stops at multiple pueblos along the way. I am totally taking the pueblo bus every time. We stopped in Laguardia, Haro, and some other town that starts with an A and we passed several other pueblos. The views of the vineyards and the mountains were incredible, and even more so because the sun was just coming up. I took some video footage but it might be nausea-inducing since it's from a bus. Needless to say, it was a pleasant 2 hour bus ride to Bilbao.

We met Kara at the bus station and then just started walking towards the old part of town. The only thing I had heard about Bilbao was from my roommates, and that was that Bilbao is an ugly city. True, parts of it are ugly, but I feel like cities are allowed a little ugliness. The old part of Bilbao is really pretty and you can almost always see the mountains surrounding the city. The buildings are very staggered. I'm not sure how to describe it in words except I suppose that cities on hills are always like that. We walked to the old town and stopped into a cafe just across from the cathedral for breakfast and a much needed coffee. We had tortillas, which in Spain are not just flat circles of bread. It's similar to a potato omelette only it's cut like a quiche. Jennis and Kara noticed a large number of people overdressed for 10 am, and we decided that there must be a wedding at the cathedral across from us. We searched for the bride but she hadn't arrived yet, so we stopped into a Mango outlet. Right when we came out, we saw a volvo with white flowers on the windsheild pulling up in front of the cathedral, and out came the bride. She was, of course, beautiful, and it was really romantic and the bells rang when she walked into the cathedral and everyone was standing around watching her. Including a very strange and large camera crew we decided had nothing to do with the wedding as we saw them interviewing a storeowner down the street.

first: the bride
second: approaching the cathedral

We continued to walk through the old portion of town, and I really wanted to find a place to get a view of the city. We came upon a plaza with a large staircase at one end and decided to climb. We probably walked up 500 steps until we reached a park overlooking the city. The part of the park we found also had a football (soccer) field and an informal game was in session. We sat on a ledge overlooking the court for a while until Imanol called to say that he was parking (he drove from San Sebastian). We walked down the stairs and returned to the plaza where we sat at a wonderfully sunny cafe and had still more coffee and waited for Imanol. Once he joined us, we walked into the market as it was closing. Dad, you would have loved it. They sell everything there. And by everything, I mean every part of an animal and many animals whole. Immediately to the left of the entrance was a meat stand with 2 skinned pig heads and a baby pig in the counter. An entire dead baby pig costs 11.22 euros. We saw a lot of huge cow tongues and you could still see the tastebuds. We also saw whole unskinned rabbits hanging by their feet, uncooked cow brains, and an entire octopus with it's tentacles hanging out of the bin it was in. It was very fascinating. I can't believe that people know what to do with a whole fish or how to skin an animal. I like my food a little more removed from its former self. I only took one photograph because it would have been really touristy and disrespectful maybe to take one of everything, but I really really wanted to.

first: a plaza (I don't know the names of anything in Bilbao)
second: football match (?) and view from the park
third: Jennis at a cafe
fourth: the market, pigs's heads included.

After that, we set out in search of lunch (we basically ate and walked all day). It was a long process, but we ended up sitting in direct sunlight in one of the plazas (it was uncharacteristically warm and sunny in Bilbao on Saturday) and had tapas: cheese, chroquettes, iberian ham, chorizzo, and fried calamari. After lunch, we wandered to the Guggenheim, which was spectacular. We only went in to use the restroom because we didn't have enough time to see the museum properly, but we did a pretty thorough job of seeing the outside. There is a giant dog topiary by Jeff Koons in front of the building. And you can see the museum from a distance down the street off Gran Via, so the approach is nice. Jennis and I were sitting on the river side of the museum when a group of Brazilian men passed us all wearing matching parkas. The last man, Eduardo, asked if he could take our photograph? Jennis told him no, that we didn't know him, but then we introduced ourselves and he took our picture and told us we were "bellisima" or something to that effect. It was funny if a little strange, and we saw them later and they called out "hey, amigas de Eduardo." On the river side of the museum, there is a really tall bridge and you can take stairs up to it because there is a pedestrian path. That was scary, but I did it, and we all wandered over to an outdoor cafe right beside the museum. There were one million children there. Spanish children are dressed very well by their parents and they don't speak English which makes them slightly more tolerable than American children.

After another coffee, we walked Kara to the bus station as she had to leave at 7 pm, an hour before Jennnis. We said our goodbyes, bought our 8 pm bus tickets, and hung around the bus station (which is much less of a shady activity than it would be in the United States). We took a short walk to kill time, and I actually ran into one of my roommates, Sylvie. She and her boyfriend had just arrived in Bilbao from Logrono because he was returning to Germany early this morning. So that was strange to happen upon someone we knew. The bus ride home was nice as well. Practically everyone got off at the Haro stop so after the first hour, we were able to lean our seats back.

first: approaching the Guggenheim
second: the museum and the Koons
third: Kara, Imanol, and Jennis
fourth: me, Jennis, and Kara
fifth: the museum from under the bridge
sixth: on the way to the bus station

Burgos

My Logrono post will have to wait because I just got back into town from Burgos and I had so much fun. It was the first time since I've arrived that I was really really genuinely glad I'm in Spain right now. I have no idea how I am going to see everything in just 9 months.

In Logrono on Friday, Jennis (the other girl from Birmingham) and I went to the necessary offices to get the forms to make the appointments to get the cards to extend our visas. I walked to the bus station in Logrono and bought a ticket for 5:15 pm, which isn't bad but I'd rather have left earlier. So I returned to my apartment to cook some lunch and pack and hang out for a few hours, but then it was suddenly 5:05. The bus station is about 10 minutes away from my apartment, but I managed to get lost and ended up at the train station instead. And it was raining and I was wearing my new boots which I'm not quite used to, and by the time I finally reoriented myself and found the bus station, I was just in time to see my bus pulling out of the carport area. So I spent another 7 euros to get a ticket for 7:30. I was really annoyed with myself and I had left my keys in my apartment, but fortunately my roommates were home.

Fortunately the trip only got better. I got to the bus station 30 minutes early just to be safe. I ended up sitting next to a delightful Spanish girl. We didn't talk until the last 30 minutes of the ride when she asked me if I was burning up (I was). She had actually studied architecture at UC-Davis and is continuing her PhD in Zaragosa but goes home to Burgos every weekend (which seems very common here, going home for the weekend every weekend even if you're in your late 20s). She gave me recommendations on where to eat, and we talked about hamburgers. It was really nice.

I arrived in Burgos at 9:30 pm and my friends Kara (from Palo Alto, lived in Logrono last year and is repeating the program this year in Burgos), John (from Liverpool [I think], doing the program in Burgos), Abby (doing the program in Logrono for the second year and visiting Burgos), and one of the teachers from Kara's school were there waiting for me. We walked to a charming pizza restaurant with a train track along the ceiling and a toy train that came around every once in a while. Everyone was pretty tired, so we walked to John's nice new flat that he is sharing with a police officer named Raquel to watch Love Actually.

The next morning, we stopped at Al Campo, Spain's equivalent to Wal-Mart, where I bought a pack of 6 Snickers for 2.89 (which is really exciting to me; I'm always looking for Snickers), and then took the bus into the center to Kara's apartment. From there, we walked by the beautiful Gothic cathedral and took the stairs to a cafe that has a great view of the city. I'm also always looking for views, but haven't been having much luck except for this time. We had coffee and then went out in search of lunch.

first: I believe this is the Plaza Mayor

second: the streets of Burgos
third: a view of the city
fourth: Kara, Abby, and me
fifth: one of the two rivers that runs through the center

We ran into 3 other English girls in the program who were visiting Burgos and we all sat down to a menu del dia. I tried some of the morcilla (sausage made of rice and congealed pig's blood; it's black) that Abby and John ordered. It could be good if you didn't know what it was. At about 5:15 we met another teacher from Kara's school, Bea, and her boyfriend (Raul, I think) and their friend Javier to drive a little ways out of town and see two monasteries. It was, of course, incredible. Bea, Raul, and Javier were so nice to chaufer us and then they even hung out with us afterwards.

The first monastery we went to was open, so we got to see the sanctuary. It has perhaps the most ornate altar piece I have ever seen. It's also where the parents of Isabella (as in Ferdinand and) are buried. The monks there distill a beverage that's called Chartreuse. It's 71% alcohol. It seems really strange to me that that is what they do.

first: a view of the cathedral

second: a portion of the altar piece; the gold is much more impressive in person
third: the tomb of Juan II and Isabel de Portugal

The next monastery was closed when we got there, but it's where Bea's father was a monk or something before he left and had 5 children. Apparently it's also where the bones of El Cid's horse were found. Both Bea and Raul knew all about these two monasteries and a lot about Burgos so it was almost like a guided tour. The drives to both places were incredible with rolling hills and sunflowers. I'm including a short video because all of the still photos are awful.

After returning to town, we had chocolate and churros (fried dough), which I hadn't had before. The chocolate here is not at all like the hot chocolate at home. It's basically a melted chocolate bar in a cup and it's so rich and wonderful, and then you dip your churros in it. Amazing.
We continued eating for the next few hours, getting tapas at several places in the center of town before heading to a dance club. It was a really nice night. The weather was absolutely gorgeous all weekend, by the way, even though weather.com predicted rain and a high of 50 the whole time.

first: chocolate y churros
second: tapas of quail eggs and chorrizo and red peppers

This morning, we met Jennis (who was in Burgos with the family and friends of her Catalunyan stepmother) for coffee and wondering around for a bit before the 2 pm bus. We went into a museum, but I'm not sure what it was called. It was all works by one Spanish painter during the Impressionism era. There were some nice sketches. The bus ride back to Logrono was nice. Jennis and I sat together and swapped ipods.

first: the courtyard outside of the museum

second: the museum

Madrid

I left Barcelona on a Thursday, and took the AVE to Madrid. The AVE is Spain's (new?) high speed train and it is absolutely wonderful. Each car had a mirrored LED screen that would show the time every few seconds. The highest I saw was 301 km/hr. Everything is just so nice and new. I'm taking the AVE back to Barcelona for Halloween, and I'm equally as excited about riding the train as I am about being in Barcelona. Is that sad?

So, Madrid was fun. I arrived at my hostel and the nice man at the front desk carried my deceptively heavy suitcase up to my room on the fourth floor. I then proceeded to use the free wi-fi (or wee-fee as they say here) in the lobby for about an hour and a half because I hadn't had unlimited internet since my arrival. I'm pretty sure everyone in the hostel thought I was so lame because they either saw me checking my email for hours or sneaking into my room with McDonald's. Anyways, after the internet, I decided to take a nap and wait for Jane's (a friend from UGA) arrival around 5 or 6 pm. I was near starving as I had only eaten a pack of oreos from the Barcelona train station that day. I took a nap, and decided still to wait out the hunger until Jane got there. After 3 hours and a frantic email to Jane asking if she was indeed alive, I decided I was going to die myself if I didn't leave for food. I walked out of the hostel and, fortuitously, was greeted by a taxi and Jane and Jane's luggage. We hauled everything upstairs and went in search of food with this Auburn guy (I know, Alabamians are everywhere I've decided) Jane met on the plane.

The next day we explored the Royal Palace and it's armory, which had amazing armored horses and one king's (I'm not sure which one?) impecably crafted armor. There must have been 150 suits for him alone, and many were absolutely beautiful. We had Thai for lunch and then wondered around the Parque de Buen Retiro, which was lovely.

first: the Royal Palace
second: Jane and me at the Royal Palace
third: a monument to the victims of the Madrid subway bombing in the Parque de Buen Retiro;
fourth: I'll have to look up the name of this one

Jane left the next morning and I moved to a single room in my hostel. I think I also tried on every jacket in all the Zara's I passed that day. Being the genius I am, I packed a summer wardrobe to live in northern Spain. It's something I'm still hating myself for today. The next few days and three nights were unremarkable. I did go to the Prado. It took me four hours to get through the top floor (I splurged on the automated tour guide), and I really enjoyed seeing the Velazquezes and Goyas more than I thought I would, but I had to leave because I was saturated. I ate McDonald's two nights in a row (you can't get food to go here) and watched all of the episodes of MadMen I had purchased in Birmingham. It's a good show. One of the days, I met up with Phillip's friend David, who is living in Madrid, for a walking mini-tour of the city and a huge, cheap steak. I also had Asian fusion and gelato with him the night before orientation started. Oh, and I went to the Reina Sofia at night, and I've decided that I really like going to museums at night. Guernica was there, as well as many of the preliminary prints and drawings for the painting. I'm beginning to be more and more fascinated by the Spanish Civil War. I'm about a third of the way through For Whom the Bell Tolls.

first: the Caixa Forum
second: glass elevators at the Reina Sofia
third: the Madrid Atocha train station near the Reina Sofia

After 3 nights alone in the city, I met Ben and Abby (they did the program last year in Logrono and are here for the second year) in the lobby of my hostel and Ben kindly carried my bag through the Madrid subway system, which is notably short of elevators and escalators. The hotel for orientation was nice. We dropped of our stuff and then a huge group went to lunch at another Thai restaurant (strange, no?) and then we wandered around for four hours in search of an American goods store at someone's request. I bought a Halloween Reese's cup once we finally found it. A Spanish woman in line in front of me spent 452 Euros on who even knows what. Halloween candy and pancake mix is what it looked like to me. Obviously there was more, but it was bizarre. Dinner was provided by the hotel and then a group went out for wine.

The next day was all about Spanish education and the program and really everything I hadn't even considered when I decided to come here. It was a bit overwhelming having all of the details of your visa and insurance information explained to you in rapid Spanish. That night, we met up with someone's friend who is living in Madrid and a bunch of people he knew and some Australians. It was delightful, and Phillip's friend David met up with us.

The next day, I rushed to check out by noon and then got pizza for lunch, and headed to the train station later in the afternoon. The train ride to Logrono about 3.5 hours and when we got there, it was dark. I was really excited to see what this place was going to be like. Spain in my mind had heretofore been Andalucia (which I've also never been to), so northern Spain was/still is mysterious to me. Rosa, this exceptionally kind woman who is a vice principal at one of the schools where I teach, picked me up from the train station. I cannot even explain how wonderful this woman is. Really, I can't.

My first night in Logrono was semi-miserable and I cried of homesickness for the first time since being in Spain. So I'll skip that. I'm headed to Burgos for two nights to visit other people in the program and begin my travels throughout Spain. Soon I will put up photos of my schools and Logrono, etc.

Barcelona

I will have been in Spain for three weeks today (Sunday), so I suppose it is time to start a blog. I haven't been writing down anything that I've done, but I do have some photographs, so I will start with Barcelona, where I arrived on September 20th, and continue to Madrid and finally to Logroño. I won't go into too much detail because otherwise this first post would be dreadfully long. (Actually this turned out to be really long. I'm going to have to add Madrid and Logroño later today or tomorrow.)

I don't exactly remember all of my first day in Barcelona because I don't think I slept on the plane, or at least not very well. I met Shannon (a former roommate from Georgia who was visiting Spain) and her boyfriend John at Hotel Regencia Colon after an uneventful arrival at the Barcelona airport. From there we started trekking around the city. Our first stop was MACBA, the contemporary art museum in Barcelona. I think the language barrier inhibited any appreciation of the art they had to offer. Then, I ate a chicken crepe at a cafe before we ended up at the Sagrada Familia.

MACBA

Skateboard art outside of MACBA (for you, Will!)

A dark picture of Shannon in MACBA.



chicken crepe

Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia was absolutely incredible. They still have a ton of work left to do on it, but we were able to go inside (for the price of 12 euros, I think) and we climbed one of the towers, from which you could see a great view of the city. On our way down, we encountered a slightly terrifying spiral staircase (I have now encountered 3 terrifying staircases here) that were really narrow and long with no interior railing. But we're still alive, so I guess it wasn't that bad. I think we had pizza for dinner that night and went to bed early.

John, Shannon, and me

inside the church

the view from one of the towers

construction

The next day we walked to Port Vell and got caught in the rain without umbrellas. It was one of the less fun days in the city, but that night we ate tapas at Quimet i Quimet. They were good and very adventurous for me. We had salmon, cream cheese, and honey on bread. The waiter was very patient with my lack of Spanish food vocabulary, and I think John ordered an apricot with a anchovies and honey on top. Then we walked down La Rambla back to our hotel room. We encountered a band of hippies with bongos on the way that were making some sort of impromptu dance parade. It was neat, but I don't have any pictures.

me, Shannon, and Picasso on the way to the port

Port Vell and rainJohn and tapas at Quimet i Quimet

The next day, we went to the Picasso Museum. I really liked seeing his early works and drawings. It started raining right as we left, but we fortunately stumbled upon a store that sold only umbrellas, so problem solved. We then went to the Catalan history museum, where Shannon tried on armor. After lunch at the Maritime Museum restaurant, we trekked to Park Guell. It was quite a climb, and I found out later that there is an escalator from one metro stop to the park. The park was less green than I expected but still cool. The second terrifying staircase was here. At the very very top of the park is a round stone structure possibly 2 stories high with a narrow spiral staircase running along the outside with no exterior railing. It was a trick to get down. We met a friend of a friend for an Iraqi dinner that night. I had meatballs in yogurt; very good but also incredibly salty. Then we went to a bar whose name I can't remember but reminded me of an Athens bar. They played Madonna music videos on a projector screen.Shannon in her armor

the view from the park
entering the park

Our last full day in Barcelona we went to another park and then Shannon and I went to Museu Frederic Mares, a man who basically collected for a living. There was soooo much just stuff in there. Everything from gothic archways taken entirely out of their original location to hundreds of novelty tobacco pipes and ladies fans and these weird bouquets in bell jars with flowers made of shells. I didn't know what alot of the stuff we saw even was and all of the information was in Catalan. It was interesting, but we didn't make it through the whole thing due to museum exhaustion. I'm not sure what else we did that day, but for dinner, we went to Barceloneta (by the ocean) and had paella (mine was with lobster) at an outdoor restaurant. Then we walked through a carnival and got gelato before going to bed.