So Wednesday night I went to church with Tiffany & Kelly. We watched kung-fu panda in spanish so I didn't really understand anything. But then I needed to do homework so I left early. But the guy from Tulsa that's studying at the engineering school here was there as well so it was good to finally get to talk to him in person.
Thursday I had to study for my exam. We had our midterm (examen parcial) for this section on Friday. But ah, another beautiful day in San Sebastian so I had to walk around in the morning some. I bought another backpack - bigger, sturdier and should be good for traveling. I've used it alot already to carry my laptop and am planning on using it to travel to Barcelona next weekend. But Thursday after class - we reviewed the whole class period - I had to relax a little so I skyped and looked into traveling stuff before I went and studied for a couple hours or so.
Friday morning we had our exam. I was drained, but I think I did well. My friend Tiffany stayed after to skype and our teacher had graded our exams already & she got an A! So I'm hopeful - the test ended up being easier than I was expecting. Probably because we reviewed so much! After the exam I met my "intercambio" - that is basically a way for us to get to know spaniards our age so we fill out an interest sheet or whatever & they match us with a student. She couldn't handle speaking english cause she just wanted to talk so much so that was interesting. I doubt we'll become best friends or anything but it was fun. Then, after that little meeting I rode my bike back home to have lunch at my apartment.
Then, I was just planning on relaxing or whatever until finding something to do that night but Tiffany called and she was planning on going out to Zarautz because her friend Macarena (from church) lives out there. I was soo excited to have something like that to do it was great! So Tiffany, another USAC student - Aimee, and another woman named Yardena and I took the train to Zarautz to meet up with Macarena. Macarena is from Chile, most people at church are from South America, and so her family was super warm and welcoming which is alot different than what we've gotten used to here with the Basques. So we hung out at Maca's house for a little bit and then decided to walk towards some mountain that Tiffany likes the view from. We walked from Zarautz to a town called Gittoria (I'm not sure on the spelling but its in between Zarautz and Zumaia). But the walk was super long and exhausting so we stopped at Maca's work - a restaurant/bar - and had some coffee and her boss made us calamari that was really good. Then we realized it was kind of foggy so we decided not to go up the mountain and just hung out and then caught at bus back to her house. Her parents made us some pizza for dinner & we had coffee & tea for dessert! Then us 4 girls (Yardena went back to San Sebastian) and Johnny (he's from chicago but has been living with Maca's family for a few months) watched a movie. It was Rendition which I've never heard of but was really really good (Grandma & Grandpa you would definitely like this movie if you haven't seen it yet). Then we stayed the night there.
The next morning her family had basically a feast for us, or I guess compared to what I'm used to, ha. But I had granola, warm bread (not hard like usual!), real coffee and a banana! It was delicious! But then we just hung around the house for a little bit and Tiffany and I finally headed back to San Sebastian around 1. When we got back we decided to find some ice cream because it was soo nice and finally warm enough to enjoy some! Oh, and everyone around town was in their costumes for Carnavales so we just wanted to go sit and watch. So we went into this little shop & ended up talking to this woman from California & her husband and her wanted to know all about San Sebastian, the area, and basques in general. So we talked to them for awhile - they're on a 2 week trip through France & Spain. It was cool being the people that knew what was going on and explaining to other people.
After that I just went back to my apartment and showered so I could go skype my sister. Sara is coming to see me & I can't even explain in words how ecstatic I am!!!! She's coming for a week in May and we'll probably go to South Spain for the weekend and then hang out in San Sebastian for the next few days! But anyways, after I skyped her I met up with Tiffany to go to this church thing - a bunch of other churches in the area came for this worship service at our church. Then, a bunch of us went to this mall - we ate in this food court, haha, and hung out for awhile. I had a kebab - I'll have to find a picture or something to show because it was super interesting. Tiffany & I were exhausted by this time so we just headed home & I was in bed by 1230.
BUT Saturday & Sunday are the big days for Carnavales and everyone wears costumes. So Saturday I saw tons of cows, gypsies, hippies, sports players, etc. It was just like Halloween except I'm not really sure what they do in their costumes. But most people have two costumes - one for Saturday & one for Sunday. But also Saturday night was a huge parade - I don't even know how to explain it. But each float has a different theme & basically half the streets in town are shut down for it and then a group of like 20 girls are doing a dance in front of it every once in awhile. For example, one of them is Pirates so the float was a pirate ship w/pirates on it, then another smaller float behind it had speakers play pirates of the caribbean music, and then all the people dancing had this memorized dance they stopped and would perform every once in awhile - like Macy's Thanksgiving Parade?
But anyways today I woke up and went to church, back to my apartment for lunch and a nap, and now I'm at a cafe skyping. There was another parade like that one this afternoon - I just don't understand! But tomorrow I'm going to Tolosa with some friends so that should be fun. This is quite the experience. But oh yeah, Carnavales is like the kick off for lent I think. But only students do stuff Monday and Tuesday - we don't have class but I guess all businesses are open and everyone else has their lives as normal. I think they just wanted to give us a chance to travel (lots of USAC students are in Amsterdam, a couple in Prague, Kelly's in Germany, some others in South Spain).
But I'll probably be learning even more about it so hopefully I can inform all of you! Sorry for the long post as always but I will update again sometime this week! Hope to hear from some of you!
Love, Jill
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Spaniards...¡finalmente!
So Basque folkdance resumed Monday night. We had a new teacher this week - I guess he was sick or on vacation and that´s why we had the other guy. BUT along with him came all the locals that we had thought were supposed to be there before. Apparently they can learn basque dance moves faster than us slow American kids. But it was fun because this guy was more entertaining - he had some little instrument like a piccolo and a cd player - and about half the class was locals! During our break (since the class is like 2 hours long) Kelly decided we would ¨go out of our comfort zone¨ and talk to some of them. So we took Angela with us who speaks more Spanish than either of us and we talked to them. I was happily surprised at how well Kelly and I did. Of course I can´t say or remember any of their names but they all go to our school so there´s some possible local friends! Also, I got to talk to another really nice girl after class because we had to be partners together. We don´t have class next week though because of carnavales but maybe we´ll start making friends! It was definitely good spanish practice.
Other than that not much has happened. For some reason, unknown to me, I got 10€ back from the gym so that was exciting, haha...highlight of my week. Also, today I started my ¨De Elvis al Rap¨ class, which is the same teacher I have for conversation. It was okay, I´m just exhausted after so many hours of class I might drop it, I haven´t decided yet. It was kind of interesting hearing the local students try to read some of the names in English - probably what I sound like reading Spanish.
Also, tonight I´m going to go to the church youth group type thing with Tiffany and Kelly. That should be fun. I guess they just finished one section or something so we´re just hanging out and watching a movie tonight. Then I need to study - really really badly. This exam is starting to worry me - I will definitely be studying alot today and tomorrow. Ahh! But on the plus side we´ve had TONS of sun - it was supposed to rain today & it´s already 7pm and still hasn´t! I even got to walk to school today (and bought some grapes at a mercado)! The grapes are much bigger but Tiffany & I love them!
I´m excited for the weekend now though! Once my test is over I get a 4 day weekend, even though most students travel (Kelly´s going to Germany - our first weekend apart, ahh) I´m planning to stay here and relax and see what Carnavales is like here. Maybe I´ll get a costume :) so far I´ve heard about a pig, cow, pirate & viking, haha. But now off to church! Maybe new friends!
More later.
Love, Jill
Other than that not much has happened. For some reason, unknown to me, I got 10€ back from the gym so that was exciting, haha...highlight of my week. Also, today I started my ¨De Elvis al Rap¨ class, which is the same teacher I have for conversation. It was okay, I´m just exhausted after so many hours of class I might drop it, I haven´t decided yet. It was kind of interesting hearing the local students try to read some of the names in English - probably what I sound like reading Spanish.
Also, tonight I´m going to go to the church youth group type thing with Tiffany and Kelly. That should be fun. I guess they just finished one section or something so we´re just hanging out and watching a movie tonight. Then I need to study - really really badly. This exam is starting to worry me - I will definitely be studying alot today and tomorrow. Ahh! But on the plus side we´ve had TONS of sun - it was supposed to rain today & it´s already 7pm and still hasn´t! I even got to walk to school today (and bought some grapes at a mercado)! The grapes are much bigger but Tiffany & I love them!
I´m excited for the weekend now though! Once my test is over I get a 4 day weekend, even though most students travel (Kelly´s going to Germany - our first weekend apart, ahh) I´m planning to stay here and relax and see what Carnavales is like here. Maybe I´ll get a costume :) so far I´ve heard about a pig, cow, pirate & viking, haha. But now off to church! Maybe new friends!
More later.
Love, Jill
Monday, February 16, 2009
I´m a college student & am being told I need to sleep more! Ironic?
Last week is kind of a blur. I didn’t really do much, but class is getting more difficult so that consumed more time than it has been. It’s good though because we’re learning more verb tenses so I can pick up a lot more walking around than I could before. I’m not good enough to use them without thinking about it for awhile before hand but I understand more. It’s cool to see how much has changed in the month we’ve been here.
But anyways, last week I didn’t really do much. We didn’t have class Friday because we had our first excursion. (i´ll add a few more pictures later) We went around the province of Guipuzkoa which is the province that San Sebastian is in. It’s one of 7 or so Basque provinces. So we rode the bus about an hour away to a Basque farmhouse – Caserío Igartubeiti. We walked through a boring museum thing and then looked at the actual farmhouse. The farmhouse is a very important part of Basque history and their life. After that we rode to Aránzazu and saw a modern church. It was kind of weird. This guy wanted to have 14 disciples on the outside, and then inside was just kind of creepy. Our leader said “you couldn’t help but get a very spiritual feeling” but Kelly, Tiffany and I all agreed we were a little creeped out more than anything. But then we had lunch at what I think was a hotel up the road from the church. We had paella which I would consider enough for a whole meal especially with the helpings they gave us and then chicken (of course on the bone so I couldn’t eat much of it) with french fries and flan for dessert – so of course we were all stuffed. The flan was really good though, the last kind I tried was super eggy so this wasn’t as bad. But then we were all in somewhat of a food coma so most everyone slept until the next town. Our last stop was Zumaia, less than an hour from San Sebastian along the coast. Supposedly the cliffs are famous because a meteorite fell to the Earth 65 million years ago and there’s erosion from the sea that uncovered a layer of iridium.
The view from the cliff we hiked up
So we had a guide the whole time – we went out on the boat to look at the shore and see the side of the cliff from there, then we got off the boat and hiked up to it. It was pretty cool to see but basically just a big science lesson so not all that interesting to me. Then we had a few minutes to get coffee or whatever before we headed back to San Sebastian. We got back around 7:30, so it was a nice little day trip, and I got back and just ate dinner at my apartment and had a relaxing night in.
Saturday I couldn’t sleep, I’m learning more and more I’m not a typical college kid, which apparently disturbs my host mom. And she thinks something is wrong with me because the other students she’s had sleep all the time and I don’t. I’m usually awake before her – because I have class all afternoon and if I want to do anything – gym, shopping, etc. – then I have to actually wake up. But she asked me about it on Saturday and I just simply say I can’t sleep so she goes on and on about how the others slept a lot more and if something is wrong and she ended up showing me these, I think, sleeping pills that she has. And she told me I need to go to the pharmacy and ask for them so that I can sleep, ha. And she always asks me if I drink coffee at night – which I don’t I’m not stupid, and that wouldn’t cause me to wake up early anyways! I also don’t think she realizes I’ve been going to bed kind of early so it’d be weird if I slept til 11 every day. But whatever, she can think something is wrong with me haha. But anyways, we get these e-mails that tell us fun stuff that’s happening every weekend and one thing was a secondhand market so I went and looked around there for a little bit. There wasn’t really anything worth buying for the price in my mind, but there were some clothes, I looked at some books, cds, records, paintings. I probably could’ve found some good souvenirs but I want to look at the market-type thing that is there every Friday, and I’m sure there will be another one of these in a month or so. But then I just ended up going to a café and getting wifi for a little bit.
I came home and watched tv and hung out with my host mom for awhile. That was some nice Spanish practice for me. We had a humorous discussion about Valentine’s Day too. She basically said that every day should be “el Día de enamorados”, she has been divorced for 15 years after being married for 30, she loves herself – well and of course her children and grandchildren, and she just loves the fact that my parents are still together, living together and still love each other.
Then I got ready and Kelly and I went out to dinner. We wanted to try this Mexican restaurant our teacher told us about – cause we both seem to be desperately craving Mexican but she only told us the bus to take and not the stop to get off. So we walked around and tried to find something else within our price range in El Centro – everywhere seemed to be having Valentine’s Day specials, but we ended up going to this restaurant on the bottom of the mall and having pizza – I had tropical, yum! Then we went back to her apartment, I got to skype for a little bit (oh, and of course kept updated with the ku-kstate score, what a good valentines day present), and we made crepes to have in the morning!
Sunday morning we went back to the Evangelical church in our area. I think Wednesday night and next Sunday I’m going to try going to the other one that’s farther away with my friend Tiffany. There are more young people there and they actually have a college group where Tiffany has made friends and hangs out with them all the time – which is what Kelly and I are both really looking for. But other than church I took a nap, met up with Tiffany in a café to do some homework, and then went to another café for wifi and skyped for a couple hours. Kelly let me borrow a couple discs of The Office so when I got back to my apartment, and had finished my homework, I watched a few, they’re pretty addicting so I ended up being up later than I was planning but that made it possible for me to stay awake and watch the beginning of the All-Star game!
We haven’t had rain for a good 4 days which is something to get excited about, but to compensate its a few degrees colder. I’ve decided though I can definitely handle the cold if it isn’t raining – or super super windy. This week is halfway through my 2nd section so we have a test on Friday which will be really hard. I’m probably going to be studying every single day to prepare. Also, we have a 4-day weekend so we don’t have school Monday or Tuesday because of Carnavales, I’ll explain once I find out what that actually is, haha. But most people are traveling so I’m going to have to find a mini trip to take or something else to occupy my time.
But anyways, last week I didn’t really do much. We didn’t have class Friday because we had our first excursion. (i´ll add a few more pictures later) We went around the province of Guipuzkoa which is the province that San Sebastian is in. It’s one of 7 or so Basque provinces. So we rode the bus about an hour away to a Basque farmhouse – Caserío Igartubeiti. We walked through a boring museum thing and then looked at the actual farmhouse. The farmhouse is a very important part of Basque history and their life. After that we rode to Aránzazu and saw a modern church. It was kind of weird. This guy wanted to have 14 disciples on the outside, and then inside was just kind of creepy. Our leader said “you couldn’t help but get a very spiritual feeling” but Kelly, Tiffany and I all agreed we were a little creeped out more than anything. But then we had lunch at what I think was a hotel up the road from the church. We had paella which I would consider enough for a whole meal especially with the helpings they gave us and then chicken (of course on the bone so I couldn’t eat much of it) with french fries and flan for dessert – so of course we were all stuffed. The flan was really good though, the last kind I tried was super eggy so this wasn’t as bad. But then we were all in somewhat of a food coma so most everyone slept until the next town. Our last stop was Zumaia, less than an hour from San Sebastian along the coast. Supposedly the cliffs are famous because a meteorite fell to the Earth 65 million years ago and there’s erosion from the sea that uncovered a layer of iridium.
The view from the cliff we hiked up
So we had a guide the whole time – we went out on the boat to look at the shore and see the side of the cliff from there, then we got off the boat and hiked up to it. It was pretty cool to see but basically just a big science lesson so not all that interesting to me. Then we had a few minutes to get coffee or whatever before we headed back to San Sebastian. We got back around 7:30, so it was a nice little day trip, and I got back and just ate dinner at my apartment and had a relaxing night in.
Saturday I couldn’t sleep, I’m learning more and more I’m not a typical college kid, which apparently disturbs my host mom. And she thinks something is wrong with me because the other students she’s had sleep all the time and I don’t. I’m usually awake before her – because I have class all afternoon and if I want to do anything – gym, shopping, etc. – then I have to actually wake up. But she asked me about it on Saturday and I just simply say I can’t sleep so she goes on and on about how the others slept a lot more and if something is wrong and she ended up showing me these, I think, sleeping pills that she has. And she told me I need to go to the pharmacy and ask for them so that I can sleep, ha. And she always asks me if I drink coffee at night – which I don’t I’m not stupid, and that wouldn’t cause me to wake up early anyways! I also don’t think she realizes I’ve been going to bed kind of early so it’d be weird if I slept til 11 every day. But whatever, she can think something is wrong with me haha. But anyways, we get these e-mails that tell us fun stuff that’s happening every weekend and one thing was a secondhand market so I went and looked around there for a little bit. There wasn’t really anything worth buying for the price in my mind, but there were some clothes, I looked at some books, cds, records, paintings. I probably could’ve found some good souvenirs but I want to look at the market-type thing that is there every Friday, and I’m sure there will be another one of these in a month or so. But then I just ended up going to a café and getting wifi for a little bit.
I came home and watched tv and hung out with my host mom for awhile. That was some nice Spanish practice for me. We had a humorous discussion about Valentine’s Day too. She basically said that every day should be “el Día de enamorados”, she has been divorced for 15 years after being married for 30, she loves herself – well and of course her children and grandchildren, and she just loves the fact that my parents are still together, living together and still love each other.
Then I got ready and Kelly and I went out to dinner. We wanted to try this Mexican restaurant our teacher told us about – cause we both seem to be desperately craving Mexican but she only told us the bus to take and not the stop to get off. So we walked around and tried to find something else within our price range in El Centro – everywhere seemed to be having Valentine’s Day specials, but we ended up going to this restaurant on the bottom of the mall and having pizza – I had tropical, yum! Then we went back to her apartment, I got to skype for a little bit (oh, and of course kept updated with the ku-kstate score, what a good valentines day present), and we made crepes to have in the morning!
Sunday morning we went back to the Evangelical church in our area. I think Wednesday night and next Sunday I’m going to try going to the other one that’s farther away with my friend Tiffany. There are more young people there and they actually have a college group where Tiffany has made friends and hangs out with them all the time – which is what Kelly and I are both really looking for. But other than church I took a nap, met up with Tiffany in a café to do some homework, and then went to another café for wifi and skyped for a couple hours. Kelly let me borrow a couple discs of The Office so when I got back to my apartment, and had finished my homework, I watched a few, they’re pretty addicting so I ended up being up later than I was planning but that made it possible for me to stay awake and watch the beginning of the All-Star game!
We haven’t had rain for a good 4 days which is something to get excited about, but to compensate its a few degrees colder. I’ve decided though I can definitely handle the cold if it isn’t raining – or super super windy. This week is halfway through my 2nd section so we have a test on Friday which will be really hard. I’m probably going to be studying every single day to prepare. Also, we have a 4-day weekend so we don’t have school Monday or Tuesday because of Carnavales, I’ll explain once I find out what that actually is, haha. But most people are traveling so I’m going to have to find a mini trip to take or something else to occupy my time.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Two Umbrellas down...
Ah, I haven't been able to write for awhile! It's really difficult to get internet on the weekends and when I do I have all these people skyping and facebooking me and not enough time to concentrate on remembering what I've done. SO here I am, a week later, we'll see how much I can recollect...
Wednesday was Maria's birthday. We went to Mama Via - which has good, cheap Italian food (I'll have to go back sometime). It was interesting having a mix of Italian and Spanish - I got gnocchi which is kinda like cheese stuffed tortellini with alfredo - it was good, but I'll have to try something more adventurous next time. It's hard when I don't really understand anything on the menu, ha. The rest of the night I studied for my final on Thursday.
Thursday I woke up and went to a cafe to study some more before class. I wasn't too confident about the test - it was pretty difficult but whatever, it's over now and I'm thankful we're in the 2nd section. After my test I just rode my bike around town a little bit and got some money out of the bank before coming back to school to skype for awhile. When I was done skyping it was freezing cold and about to rain so I bussed home. I just ate dinner, read, did some homework and watched an episode of The Office (I borrowed a dvd from Kelly).
Friday we had class in the morning. Morning class is so hard when I'm used to having 2:00 class every other day. But I got some cafe and was alright. We pretty much just reviewed and watched the Lion King in spanish! It was pretty funny. Then I went home, had lunch, worked out, walked around a little bit. That night I ended up just going over to Kelly & Maria's apartment to get on the internet - I got to skype a bunch of my friends from Tulsa so that was very exciting for me. I was back in bed by midnight because we were waking up early for Bilbao the next day.
Saturday we left for Bilbao at 9:30am. Bilbao is an hour away by bus, 10 euros. It has around 300,000 people. The weather turned bad right after we got there - and as we were running into the Guggenheim Museum it started pouring. We got soaked and my umbrella broke. (Two umbrellas in one month - is that bad?) But we walked around the museum for awhile and ate at the little cafe in there.
Me in front of the ¿spider? outside Museo Guggenheim
The big exhibit right now is Cy Twombly - if you get a chance go look him up. It was AWFUL - the best part of the museum was the actual construction, the inside was not very impressive. He was horrible and I definitely could've drawn as well as him, which says alot. Then we decided to just walk around and see the old part of town and shop - but it would rain on and off so that kind of ruined things. It kind of dampened all of our spirits so we basically tried to hurry into every store to warm up and dry off. I ended up buying a rain jacket though - finally! There was this little sporting store that had tons of adidas, nike, puma, etc. - I could've bought out the whole store! (Sara - they had tons of great, cheap track jackets!) But then we ended up coming back around 6. I went to my apartment for dinner before meeting back up with my friends. I went to my other friends apartment and just hung out with them for the night.
Sunday we accidentally slept through church and it was definitely my relaxing day. I just lounged around - did some homework and read my book. I got to skype my sister and 4 friends from Tulsa so that was pretty exciting. But of course it got cold and rainy again. And I ended up going to bed around 10:30, haha! My host mom always makes comments about how I never sleep and I'm unlike any other girls she's had, guess I changed her mind then!
Today I woke up and did some homework - I had to give my first presentation in my conversation class so I prepared that - talked about Camp. Also, I finally sent some postcards I've had since last week (whoops). But I just got out of class for the day - I have Basque Folkdance at 7:45 and homework to do tonight. I'm currently reading The Poisonwood Bible and have been liking it - I'm about 1/4 through. But this weekend we went to a couple bookstores and Maria suggested books for me to read so I might get a library card (which is free) and check some out! I should be reading in Spanish but oh well, maybe I will come May.
The wind is supposed to get really really bad tonight, but we'll see. Right now it sounds pretty bad but I'm still going to try and ride home (ahh) - hopefully I make it :)
More later.
Love, Jill
Wednesday was Maria's birthday. We went to Mama Via - which has good, cheap Italian food (I'll have to go back sometime). It was interesting having a mix of Italian and Spanish - I got gnocchi which is kinda like cheese stuffed tortellini with alfredo - it was good, but I'll have to try something more adventurous next time. It's hard when I don't really understand anything on the menu, ha. The rest of the night I studied for my final on Thursday.
Thursday I woke up and went to a cafe to study some more before class. I wasn't too confident about the test - it was pretty difficult but whatever, it's over now and I'm thankful we're in the 2nd section. After my test I just rode my bike around town a little bit and got some money out of the bank before coming back to school to skype for awhile. When I was done skyping it was freezing cold and about to rain so I bussed home. I just ate dinner, read, did some homework and watched an episode of The Office (I borrowed a dvd from Kelly).
Friday we had class in the morning. Morning class is so hard when I'm used to having 2:00 class every other day. But I got some cafe and was alright. We pretty much just reviewed and watched the Lion King in spanish! It was pretty funny. Then I went home, had lunch, worked out, walked around a little bit. That night I ended up just going over to Kelly & Maria's apartment to get on the internet - I got to skype a bunch of my friends from Tulsa so that was very exciting for me. I was back in bed by midnight because we were waking up early for Bilbao the next day.
Saturday we left for Bilbao at 9:30am. Bilbao is an hour away by bus, 10 euros. It has around 300,000 people. The weather turned bad right after we got there - and as we were running into the Guggenheim Museum it started pouring. We got soaked and my umbrella broke. (Two umbrellas in one month - is that bad?) But we walked around the museum for awhile and ate at the little cafe in there.
Me in front of the ¿spider? outside Museo Guggenheim
The big exhibit right now is Cy Twombly - if you get a chance go look him up. It was AWFUL - the best part of the museum was the actual construction, the inside was not very impressive. He was horrible and I definitely could've drawn as well as him, which says alot. Then we decided to just walk around and see the old part of town and shop - but it would rain on and off so that kind of ruined things. It kind of dampened all of our spirits so we basically tried to hurry into every store to warm up and dry off. I ended up buying a rain jacket though - finally! There was this little sporting store that had tons of adidas, nike, puma, etc. - I could've bought out the whole store! (Sara - they had tons of great, cheap track jackets!) But then we ended up coming back around 6. I went to my apartment for dinner before meeting back up with my friends. I went to my other friends apartment and just hung out with them for the night.
Sunday we accidentally slept through church and it was definitely my relaxing day. I just lounged around - did some homework and read my book. I got to skype my sister and 4 friends from Tulsa so that was pretty exciting. But of course it got cold and rainy again. And I ended up going to bed around 10:30, haha! My host mom always makes comments about how I never sleep and I'm unlike any other girls she's had, guess I changed her mind then!
Today I woke up and did some homework - I had to give my first presentation in my conversation class so I prepared that - talked about Camp. Also, I finally sent some postcards I've had since last week (whoops). But I just got out of class for the day - I have Basque Folkdance at 7:45 and homework to do tonight. I'm currently reading The Poisonwood Bible and have been liking it - I'm about 1/4 through. But this weekend we went to a couple bookstores and Maria suggested books for me to read so I might get a library card (which is free) and check some out! I should be reading in Spanish but oh well, maybe I will come May.
The wind is supposed to get really really bad tonight, but we'll see. Right now it sounds pretty bad but I'm still going to try and ride home (ahh) - hopefully I make it :)
More later.
Love, Jill
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sun.Rain.windwindwindSun.Rain.
Monday was pretty nice weather. It varies so much I can't keep up. And just like at college all I do is look out my window and pretend the rest of the day will bring the same. Example: I woke up Monday and rode my bike to class after having walked around in El Centro all morning. BUT after having class for 5 hours it was pouring when I got out and I was forced to ride the bus home, leaving my bike at school. BUT Monday morning was worth it - I bought my textbooks for the 2nd half of the semester, a few postcards, and hung out in Plaza Guipuzkoa - a little park with benches and shops and cafes surrounding.
Tuesday I walked to school so that I wouldn't spend money on the bus which took about an hour. It was a very long walk - of course I get bored, but I just put on my ipod and watch the waves - the walk is mostly along the beach. When I got out of class about 5 hours later it was actually still nice so Kelly & I both rode our bikes home. She's smarter and checks the weather and decides whether or not to ride and I guess Tuesday was okay. Then I walked to the gym - working out is so interesting with the variety of people. At night is when all the families are there - tons and tons of little Spanish kids, soo cute. The cutest thing was probably the swimming lessons with the 5-7 year olds. I went back to my apartment around 8 because my host mom said Paula (her granddaughter) was coming over to eat with me. But she ended up having to eat with her family so I just got to watch some TV with her for a little while. The funny conversation of the day: Paula & my host mom trying to explain to me what a rabbit was - another new vocab word learned. They described it as a cat but smaller, soft, and white. Of course I had to have them repeat the word a hundred times and ask my host mom a few hours later so I could look it up. So I guess Paula has a rabbit named Pinkie and a turtle named Pepito. But she wants me to come see them so that should be fun.
Today is one of my friend's (Maria) birthday. She'll be 25 or 26, I can't seem to remember and she hates birthdays but we're going out for dinner anyways so that should be fun. Hopefully we'll try something new. Her teacher said that in Spain the tradition is to buy all your friends drinks for your birthday so if it's your birthday you usually spend tons of money. I won't have my birthday while I'm here so why not! Just kidding...we're going to buy her dinner don't worry. And maybe I can find some candles somewhere! Tomorrow though we have our final for the first section so that'll be pretty tough - hopefully I can get some studying in tonight, then I have all morning tomorrow. I'm a little nervous, but it's weird to think we're 1/4 of the way done! Also, this morning the weather was amazing! I rode my bike to the gym but my mind was on the weather so I couldn't handle staying inside long and ended up riding to the beach and watching the waves/reading for awhile. Then rode my bike to school. And of course now it is POURING. Hopefully I can wait out the rain for an hour or so but I might have to take the bus :(
Love, Jill
Tuesday I walked to school so that I wouldn't spend money on the bus which took about an hour. It was a very long walk - of course I get bored, but I just put on my ipod and watch the waves - the walk is mostly along the beach. When I got out of class about 5 hours later it was actually still nice so Kelly & I both rode our bikes home. She's smarter and checks the weather and decides whether or not to ride and I guess Tuesday was okay. Then I walked to the gym - working out is so interesting with the variety of people. At night is when all the families are there - tons and tons of little Spanish kids, soo cute. The cutest thing was probably the swimming lessons with the 5-7 year olds. I went back to my apartment around 8 because my host mom said Paula (her granddaughter) was coming over to eat with me. But she ended up having to eat with her family so I just got to watch some TV with her for a little while. The funny conversation of the day: Paula & my host mom trying to explain to me what a rabbit was - another new vocab word learned. They described it as a cat but smaller, soft, and white. Of course I had to have them repeat the word a hundred times and ask my host mom a few hours later so I could look it up. So I guess Paula has a rabbit named Pinkie and a turtle named Pepito. But she wants me to come see them so that should be fun.
Today is one of my friend's (Maria) birthday. She'll be 25 or 26, I can't seem to remember and she hates birthdays but we're going out for dinner anyways so that should be fun. Hopefully we'll try something new. Her teacher said that in Spain the tradition is to buy all your friends drinks for your birthday so if it's your birthday you usually spend tons of money. I won't have my birthday while I'm here so why not! Just kidding...we're going to buy her dinner don't worry. And maybe I can find some candles somewhere! Tomorrow though we have our final for the first section so that'll be pretty tough - hopefully I can get some studying in tonight, then I have all morning tomorrow. I'm a little nervous, but it's weird to think we're 1/4 of the way done! Also, this morning the weather was amazing! I rode my bike to the gym but my mind was on the weather so I couldn't handle staying inside long and ended up riding to the beach and watching the waves/reading for awhile. Then rode my bike to school. And of course now it is POURING. Hopefully I can wait out the rain for an hour or so but I might have to take the bus :(
Love, Jill
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Breathtaking Biarritz
Back to the cold weather today, sadly.
Friday after class 5 of us girls - Kelly, Maria, Tiffany, Heather & I - went to Biarritz. It's an hour bus ride and only costs 12 euros roundtrip! The weather was perfect on Friday. I walked around San Sebastian in a t-shirt & jeans before we left - was sweating with my long sleeve shirt on. I definitely have learned to appreciate the warm weather. And it was very exciting to be able to not wear boots (for the rain or the cold) and sunglasses. We got to Biarritz around 330 and got some information from the tourism office. None of us speak French so it was pretty interesting trying to get around. Heather had done some research and found a pretty cheap hostel (17 euro a night) so we had the lady at the tourist office circle it on our map. She gave us a direct route to get there but it was so pretty we decided to walk along the beach. It was only supposed to be a 40 minute walk but we figured it'd be like an hour or so because we were so excited to able to actually be by the beach in the nice weather.
Me in front of the beach in Biarritz!
We ended up walking around for a few hours. I was exhausted! The hostel Heather had found was not by anything else - pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We all had our bag for the night - and Tiffany was wearing boots that were not good for walking so her feet were aching. It was pretty miserable - but supposedly we weren't ever lost. Heather is very independent and I don't think she's really into traveling with a group (even though there were only 5 of us) - she'd much rather go on her own. But whatever, we finally found the hostel and paid. We had two rooms. I had never stayed in a hostel before so I had a very bad image in my mind but this one was very clean and we got free breakfast in the morning. So Heather basically gave us enough time to set our stuff down and sit for 5 minutes before we went to search for dinner. We were just walking around (for another couple hours) and trying to find something where the average plate wasn't 15 euros! Everything was super expensive there. We were just walking and I happened to look down an alley and saw a sign that said "Mex Tacos" and jokingly suggested it. Heather really wanted it and everyone has been craving Mexican since we got here since there isn't any spicy food here so we decided to try it. How many people can say they've eaten Mexican food in France? Haha. The people there were soo nice - along with the rest of the town, everyone was much nicer than the Spaniards we encounter daily, but this town was very very little & quiet & a much older crowd, especially since it wasn't exactly tourist season. But we all ordered tacos and then we could go up to the buffet and this guy showed us all the sauces we could put on them, then there were potatoes that you put this cream stuff on and rice. Kelly was soo excited to have some spicy sauce! It was really good though and definitely cured our Mexican craving for a little while. After dinner we decided we had to see the beach and we ended up just hanging out there for a couple hours - we walked around without shoes on (even though it was freezing). And I learned how to count to ten in Norwegian! Then we headed back to our hotel - another hour long trek, that seemed to me like it was all uphill - I felt like we hadn't walked down a hill yet but were only walking up them. But we were all exhausted so we got back and went to bed around midnight.
We had to get up for breakfsat between 830 - 930 the next morning and we had cereal (which I haven't had in soo long so that was great!) and coffee. Then we just kind of wandered around for awhile - we got some post cards, went in some bookstores, and just explored. The bus didn't leave until 645 so we had PLENTY of time to kill. We ate some crepes - I had the fruit ones that had some kind of berries on them & came with a scoop of sorbet - they were AMAZING! I'm definitely going to have to go back and try some more. Maria got chocolate ones that came with some kind of coconut ice cream that was delicious. Then no one really felt like walking around because it had gotten alot colder than the day before and so we just sat in a cute little panaderia/pasteleria and read - I finished my book "Water for Elephants" which was so good and I highly recommend. Then we decided to wander around again, but were kind of running out of things to do. It was a good break from the norm in San Sebastian but was rough since no one speaks any French and it wasn't tourist season so we didn't have much entertainment. OH, but there was a chocolate museum we never made it to so we decided to buy a little piece of chocolate in a chocolatier which was delicious - we all tried something random and the guy thought we were so funny when Kelly whipped out her Switzerland book that had a few phrases in French (none of us could read French either) and we each just bought one little piece of chocolate opposed to like a box of them or so.
We got dinner before we left at a little place by the beach - I had a ham and cheese panini which was delicious. And it was funny cause some of the people working could speak a little english or spanish so we had some rough translating going on. And we got some fruit from an outdoor marketplace which was really good too. Then we headed back around 7. We got back to San Sebastian exhausted - I just showered and went over to Kelly & Maria's and skyped and checked my e-mail. I got to talk to alot of Chi O's and initiation was Friday night so that was exciting to get to hear about!
Today I woke up and went to the Evangelical church with Maria & Kelly. I could understand some so it was pretty interesting. Everyone at the church is from Latin America so I guess that's why they were a lot nicer and more welcoming. We stayed and ate lunch - and Kelly & Maria had made a friend the week before so we talked to her and her other friend for awhile. Also, another lady sat by us and talked. They understood that we want to practice our spanish and Pilar (the friend from the week before - around 25 years old, works in a restaurant outside of San Sebastian) was very patient and helpful for Kelly & me. We're going to try and hang out with her and her friend Jessie sometime. For tonight just have homework and talking to people from Tulsa. It's been a fun weekend but hopefully the weather is nicer again this week. I have a test Wedensday and one Thursday. My first class (we have 4 - each lasts a month) is finished Friday so that's really exciting! Starting next week it's going to get really hard so I'll have to study and practice alot more.
Hope the states is treating everyone well - hopefully you get some warm weather - and anyone (especially Reilly) is welcome to take the rain from me! :)
Miss you all.
More later.
Love, Jill
Friday after class 5 of us girls - Kelly, Maria, Tiffany, Heather & I - went to Biarritz. It's an hour bus ride and only costs 12 euros roundtrip! The weather was perfect on Friday. I walked around San Sebastian in a t-shirt & jeans before we left - was sweating with my long sleeve shirt on. I definitely have learned to appreciate the warm weather. And it was very exciting to be able to not wear boots (for the rain or the cold) and sunglasses. We got to Biarritz around 330 and got some information from the tourism office. None of us speak French so it was pretty interesting trying to get around. Heather had done some research and found a pretty cheap hostel (17 euro a night) so we had the lady at the tourist office circle it on our map. She gave us a direct route to get there but it was so pretty we decided to walk along the beach. It was only supposed to be a 40 minute walk but we figured it'd be like an hour or so because we were so excited to able to actually be by the beach in the nice weather.
Me in front of the beach in Biarritz!
We ended up walking around for a few hours. I was exhausted! The hostel Heather had found was not by anything else - pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We all had our bag for the night - and Tiffany was wearing boots that were not good for walking so her feet were aching. It was pretty miserable - but supposedly we weren't ever lost. Heather is very independent and I don't think she's really into traveling with a group (even though there were only 5 of us) - she'd much rather go on her own. But whatever, we finally found the hostel and paid. We had two rooms. I had never stayed in a hostel before so I had a very bad image in my mind but this one was very clean and we got free breakfast in the morning. So Heather basically gave us enough time to set our stuff down and sit for 5 minutes before we went to search for dinner. We were just walking around (for another couple hours) and trying to find something where the average plate wasn't 15 euros! Everything was super expensive there. We were just walking and I happened to look down an alley and saw a sign that said "Mex Tacos" and jokingly suggested it. Heather really wanted it and everyone has been craving Mexican since we got here since there isn't any spicy food here so we decided to try it. How many people can say they've eaten Mexican food in France? Haha. The people there were soo nice - along with the rest of the town, everyone was much nicer than the Spaniards we encounter daily, but this town was very very little & quiet & a much older crowd, especially since it wasn't exactly tourist season. But we all ordered tacos and then we could go up to the buffet and this guy showed us all the sauces we could put on them, then there were potatoes that you put this cream stuff on and rice. Kelly was soo excited to have some spicy sauce! It was really good though and definitely cured our Mexican craving for a little while. After dinner we decided we had to see the beach and we ended up just hanging out there for a couple hours - we walked around without shoes on (even though it was freezing). And I learned how to count to ten in Norwegian! Then we headed back to our hotel - another hour long trek, that seemed to me like it was all uphill - I felt like we hadn't walked down a hill yet but were only walking up them. But we were all exhausted so we got back and went to bed around midnight.
We had to get up for breakfsat between 830 - 930 the next morning and we had cereal (which I haven't had in soo long so that was great!) and coffee. Then we just kind of wandered around for awhile - we got some post cards, went in some bookstores, and just explored. The bus didn't leave until 645 so we had PLENTY of time to kill. We ate some crepes - I had the fruit ones that had some kind of berries on them & came with a scoop of sorbet - they were AMAZING! I'm definitely going to have to go back and try some more. Maria got chocolate ones that came with some kind of coconut ice cream that was delicious. Then no one really felt like walking around because it had gotten alot colder than the day before and so we just sat in a cute little panaderia/pasteleria and read - I finished my book "Water for Elephants" which was so good and I highly recommend. Then we decided to wander around again, but were kind of running out of things to do. It was a good break from the norm in San Sebastian but was rough since no one speaks any French and it wasn't tourist season so we didn't have much entertainment. OH, but there was a chocolate museum we never made it to so we decided to buy a little piece of chocolate in a chocolatier which was delicious - we all tried something random and the guy thought we were so funny when Kelly whipped out her Switzerland book that had a few phrases in French (none of us could read French either) and we each just bought one little piece of chocolate opposed to like a box of them or so.
We got dinner before we left at a little place by the beach - I had a ham and cheese panini which was delicious. And it was funny cause some of the people working could speak a little english or spanish so we had some rough translating going on. And we got some fruit from an outdoor marketplace which was really good too. Then we headed back around 7. We got back to San Sebastian exhausted - I just showered and went over to Kelly & Maria's and skyped and checked my e-mail. I got to talk to alot of Chi O's and initiation was Friday night so that was exciting to get to hear about!
Today I woke up and went to the Evangelical church with Maria & Kelly. I could understand some so it was pretty interesting. Everyone at the church is from Latin America so I guess that's why they were a lot nicer and more welcoming. We stayed and ate lunch - and Kelly & Maria had made a friend the week before so we talked to her and her other friend for awhile. Also, another lady sat by us and talked. They understood that we want to practice our spanish and Pilar (the friend from the week before - around 25 years old, works in a restaurant outside of San Sebastian) was very patient and helpful for Kelly & me. We're going to try and hang out with her and her friend Jessie sometime. For tonight just have homework and talking to people from Tulsa. It's been a fun weekend but hopefully the weather is nicer again this week. I have a test Wedensday and one Thursday. My first class (we have 4 - each lasts a month) is finished Friday so that's really exciting! Starting next week it's going to get really hard so I'll have to study and practice alot more.
Hope the states is treating everyone well - hopefully you get some warm weather - and anyone (especially Reilly) is welcome to take the rain from me! :)
Miss you all.
More later.
Love, Jill
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