So this week has pretty much consisted of getting caught up. It's just rough because all that is on my mind is travel. Here are my thoughts: spanish, greece, homework, greece, italy, sara's coming soon, greece, italy, my list of things to do in san sebastian before may, greece, italy, spanish, greece, italy, and so on. I just have so much to do before spring break I can't believe it's already here. It seems like I've been looking forward to this for so long and there has been so much build up that I am just ready to go.
The weather has been kinda cold lately so it's hard to want to be here right now. Thursday night though Kelly, Tiffany & I went out for pintxos so that was exciting. We found a couple good places and tried some new things. It's a fun experience because we usually don't know what we're eating and sit there and try to figure it out. Friday we had morning class which is always a little rough. But then Friday night Kelly & I went on a mexican food search. Our teacher is always answering our dumb questions (where can we get mexican food, get a smoothie, what place has the best paella, where's your favorite pintxo place, etc.) and she told us we could take a bus out to the "centro comercial" and there's a restaurant with good mexican food. So Kelly & I hopped on a bus and went out there. This place ended up being a real mall! I was so excited! It had our stores like Bershka & Zara but it seemed so much cleaner, they had restaurants, ice cream, coffee, and was just a real shopping mall. I also saw some 6euro flip flops I'm going to have to go back and buy before spring break. BUT we looked around forever & couldn't find mexican so we settled on just a typical restaurant that has the usual (we chose that over McDonalds, haha). But we noticed that the outside of the mall said it has wifi so we figured we could come back and use it some time.
So before we went into the mall we checked to see when the bus leaves last and the schedule said 10:30pm & we had gotten there at 9 so we figured we had plenty of time. So we walked out at 10 and sat at the bus stop until like 10:40 without a single bus coming! Apparently that bus stopped earlier and only went on a different route that late. I do not understand public transportation - I'm glad I don't have to deal with it in the US! So we went back to the mall and the security guard told pointed us in another direction to catch the bus that was still going but after wandering into a very sketchy place we asked some guys around our age where to go. So we were just walking through the parking lot & were confused on where to go & didn't really want to end up in a sketchy place just two American girls on our own. The security guard said he could call us a taxi so we went back to the mall and the lights were off and he wasn't there anymore. But we tried to use our card that has emergency numbers and I called the taxi company but all we knew was that we were at centro comercial but apparently there's more than one so I didn't know what to tell the girl so she hung up on me! So once we realized we couldn't have the security guard call for us we tried again & I just started reading off signs while the girl was laughing at me and we ended up getting a taxi. But I guess since the taxi had to come so far to get there it was super expensive and we just got out as soon as we recognized a place. It was a rough night. I cannot travel with Kelly. She has horrible luck!
But Saturday I woke up, had breakfast, did some homework and went to my favorite cafe to use wifi. I sat there forever responding to e-mails, facebook, and just working on spring break. It was so exciting to actually get some stuff done - and I got to talk to Jessica about Italy so that was great. We might take a trip together for a couple days when she doesn't have class and I'm there. But that night Kelly & I went to have chocolate con churros - a Spanish favorite. It was really good but definitely very sweet and rich - I could not just drink that chocolate - way too much for me - but with the churros dipped in it was good. And our teacher had told us a good little local place where it was only 2.80 for each of us. Also, we saw the same guys that gave us directions the night before which was pretty humorous. Then after that I just hung out with Kelly at her apartment for a little bit and then went back and went to bed.
Our time finally changed so it's back to being 7 hours ahead of central time. But I actually slept later than I've been able to for awhile so that was exciting - when I got up it was like 11am with the time change. Then Kelly & I met and tried to go to the mall, but it was closed. Everything is closed on Sunday but we figured with it being a mall with restaurants (most restaurants arent closed on Sundays) it might be open. But nope, so we had to wait a good 45minutes for the next bus and now we're sitting in the cafe "doing homework". We have to write a 5 minute conversation between two workers where they talk about their jobs - we are not creative so it's a little rough but I came up with the idea of a pirate so we're going to have him talk to a factory worker, it should be somewhat interesting. Also, I have to write a paper (1-2 pages) comparing healthcare in the US and here, or talk about my experiences in it (which I have none) so that should be interesting. Also, I am always working on planning my trip with Sara. I've decided we don't have enough time for South Spain and I'd rather show her around here more. I've actually written out everything I need to show her & made a schedule so that's very promising! And I think I'm just going to wing it in Greece (my next trip) - if anyone is interested I'll be in Tolo/Tolon (its different depending where you look it up) for that vacation, completely removed from...well, everything! I'm soo excited & cannot wait. But for now I have to work on homework :( Hopefully I get some time this week to get ready for spring break. I leave Saturday & cannot wait! But I want the weather to warm up here so I can maybe get a little sun before I go, ahh!
Hope to write again before Greece. Hope everyone has a great week! Miss you all!
Love, Jill
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Ireland Adventure, March 18 & 19
I'm separating my weekend into a few different parts because it is so stinkin long. I will definitely understand if no one reads all of this - it was just kinda fun to go back and remember, or at least try to remember. Also, I put all 200 pictures on Snapfish so you should look!
But wow, what a long, exciting, crazy and fun weekend – well I guess extended weekend would be more like it. The next 5 posts are the days I spent in Ireland - I uploaded them backwards so it'd be easier to read. So just read the next 5 posts, more or less, it'll get really boring if you actually read all of them...
Kelly getting on the plane...outside!
It all started Wednesday. We had a test Wednesday but it was a perfect day so I sat outside and studied, or at least people-watched and got some sun. I have to take advantage of any good weather I can get. But then I had to go sit inside and take my test for a couple hours so of course I hurried through that and sat outside on the balcony. After class I went and bought some boots! They’re pretty trendy and now I’m a real European girl…more or less. Then I pretty much just sat around and waited for midnight. Kelly and I took the midnight bus to Barcelona, and last time I took this bus I pretty much slept the whole time but this time I couldn’t. We both stayed up most of the time but they turn off the lights so I couldn’t read or anything. After our halfway stop at a truck stop I could sleep better, but 3 hours of sleep doesn’t really do it. We finally arrived in Barcelona around 7am and headed into the bus station like zombies. With our first encounter with Spanish sarcasm we got some tickets and took a train to the airport. We were about 2 hours too early to check in (our flight didn’t leave until 1030) so we tried to sleep some but every group of chairs outside of the eating area was taken so I got some coffee and Kelly got some breakfast and we waited, Kelly slept (she can fall asleep anywhere anytime) and I read for an hour or so. Then we finally checked in and went to our gate where we first experienced the Irish! I could listen to those accents all day, its just rough when I need to understand it. But our flight was delayed a little bit so we both slept. We woke up and were planning to get on the flight but it got delayed. Then it got delayed again. We slept, ate and waited. We finally left around 1245. Our passports got stamped and I had my first experience walking out to an airplane to board. I loved it and felt like a famous person. It was also funny because Kelly & I were convinced we could bring only a backpack for 5 days and not have to pay to check another bag, so we also decided to wear tons of layers so we’d have enough clothes. We were probably a pretty funny sight – bundled up zombies in the 70 degree Barcelona airport.
Me in front of River Liffey
So Thursday we finally arrived in the Dublin airport around 3pm (Ireland is an hour earlier than Spain). We had to take a bus into the city which took a good 30mins and find our hostel. Our hostel ended up being pretty sketchy and down a dark alley off one of the main streets (O’Connell). But we were so excited to get there it didn’t even matter. We threw our stuff down and went exploring. We got some information from our hostel and the tourist office to figure out what we had to see and do. We walked around with our jaws dropped. Dublin was a completely different world from San Sebastian, or even Spain. We could understand everything (well mostly) and didn’t have to try to translate what we wanted to say. We ended up getting dinner in the Temple Bar area – we discovered right off the bat that Dublin is a very expensive city. We looked around for 30mins – an hour for a decently priced meal and ended up at some little café. Then we went to a couple pubs and heard some real Irish music. It was so fun! I love Irish music with everyone singing along and cheering and since it was Thursday night – and two nights after St. Patrick’s Day – it wasn’t too crowded. But we made it through travel and staying in the sketchy hostel.
Kelly & I in front of the famous Temple Bar
But wow, what a long, exciting, crazy and fun weekend – well I guess extended weekend would be more like it. The next 5 posts are the days I spent in Ireland - I uploaded them backwards so it'd be easier to read. So just read the next 5 posts, more or less, it'll get really boring if you actually read all of them...
Kelly getting on the plane...outside!
It all started Wednesday. We had a test Wednesday but it was a perfect day so I sat outside and studied, or at least people-watched and got some sun. I have to take advantage of any good weather I can get. But then I had to go sit inside and take my test for a couple hours so of course I hurried through that and sat outside on the balcony. After class I went and bought some boots! They’re pretty trendy and now I’m a real European girl…more or less. Then I pretty much just sat around and waited for midnight. Kelly and I took the midnight bus to Barcelona, and last time I took this bus I pretty much slept the whole time but this time I couldn’t. We both stayed up most of the time but they turn off the lights so I couldn’t read or anything. After our halfway stop at a truck stop I could sleep better, but 3 hours of sleep doesn’t really do it. We finally arrived in Barcelona around 7am and headed into the bus station like zombies. With our first encounter with Spanish sarcasm we got some tickets and took a train to the airport. We were about 2 hours too early to check in (our flight didn’t leave until 1030) so we tried to sleep some but every group of chairs outside of the eating area was taken so I got some coffee and Kelly got some breakfast and we waited, Kelly slept (she can fall asleep anywhere anytime) and I read for an hour or so. Then we finally checked in and went to our gate where we first experienced the Irish! I could listen to those accents all day, its just rough when I need to understand it. But our flight was delayed a little bit so we both slept. We woke up and were planning to get on the flight but it got delayed. Then it got delayed again. We slept, ate and waited. We finally left around 1245. Our passports got stamped and I had my first experience walking out to an airplane to board. I loved it and felt like a famous person. It was also funny because Kelly & I were convinced we could bring only a backpack for 5 days and not have to pay to check another bag, so we also decided to wear tons of layers so we’d have enough clothes. We were probably a pretty funny sight – bundled up zombies in the 70 degree Barcelona airport.
Me in front of River Liffey
So Thursday we finally arrived in the Dublin airport around 3pm (Ireland is an hour earlier than Spain). We had to take a bus into the city which took a good 30mins and find our hostel. Our hostel ended up being pretty sketchy and down a dark alley off one of the main streets (O’Connell). But we were so excited to get there it didn’t even matter. We threw our stuff down and went exploring. We got some information from our hostel and the tourist office to figure out what we had to see and do. We walked around with our jaws dropped. Dublin was a completely different world from San Sebastian, or even Spain. We could understand everything (well mostly) and didn’t have to try to translate what we wanted to say. We ended up getting dinner in the Temple Bar area – we discovered right off the bat that Dublin is a very expensive city. We looked around for 30mins – an hour for a decently priced meal and ended up at some little café. Then we went to a couple pubs and heard some real Irish music. It was so fun! I love Irish music with everyone singing along and cheering and since it was Thursday night – and two nights after St. Patrick’s Day – it wasn’t too crowded. But we made it through travel and staying in the sketchy hostel.
Kelly & I in front of the famous Temple Bar
Ireland Adventure, March 20
Daffodil Day
...they were everywhere!
Our first order of business, besides breakfast, was to find a new hostel for Saturday and Sunday night since we had only booked this one for the first two nights not knowing if we’d want to go to another town or anything. So I went to a little café and got breakfast, bought some fruit on the street, and woke up Kelly who had bought something the night before. We got ready and headed towards an internet café in search of a hostel. We found a few that looked good. Two groups of my friends were going to be there – Kyle (guy from TU) and his friend and then Elizabeth, Blake and Nikki (girls from TU) so I looked into their hostels. Also, I just happened to run into a girl who has a twin in my sorority in a pub the night before who suggested her hostel as well. This day we basically walked the city, seeing pretty much everything. It was super nice weather which was a great surprise. We got lunch to go and sat in St. Stephen’s Green (we call this our park) and ate lunch and listened to the abundance of Irish accents. It was wonderful.
Kelly & I at St. Stephen's Green
Then Kyle said he would get in around 2 so we went to his hostel to meet him. He wasn’t there, even after waiting awhile, so we left a note to meet later. We went and saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity College and just walked around the town. Then we headed back to Kyle’s hostel to wait. He walked up later with my other friend Tyrel! They surprised me – I had no idea he would be there! (Well I guessed Tyrel or Phil, Kyle’s twin, would Kyle’s friend but I was definitely surprised) It was so great to see him because I had just talked to him a few days earlier and we realized that I might not see him for a couple years. He graduates in May but might not walk and might leave before I get back to go to Europe to play soccer for two years (during this conversation he already knew he’d see me, haha). But I guess he checked my facebook all the time and kept in constant contact with Kyle so they would know where I was going so they could follow! So after they put their stuff up we just decided to walk around and check out Dublin. We ended up eating at a very Irish place – Tyrel got something very Irish that looked disgusting and made me get fish and chips instead of a chicken sandwich.
Tyrel with his nasty dinner!
That night we went to a little café to listen to a guy play acoustic Irish music which was interesting – he dedicated a song to Kelly (he was older so it was funny) and ended up playing a Bob Marley song which was amusing. Overall, a pretty fun night.
...they were everywhere!
Our first order of business, besides breakfast, was to find a new hostel for Saturday and Sunday night since we had only booked this one for the first two nights not knowing if we’d want to go to another town or anything. So I went to a little café and got breakfast, bought some fruit on the street, and woke up Kelly who had bought something the night before. We got ready and headed towards an internet café in search of a hostel. We found a few that looked good. Two groups of my friends were going to be there – Kyle (guy from TU) and his friend and then Elizabeth, Blake and Nikki (girls from TU) so I looked into their hostels. Also, I just happened to run into a girl who has a twin in my sorority in a pub the night before who suggested her hostel as well. This day we basically walked the city, seeing pretty much everything. It was super nice weather which was a great surprise. We got lunch to go and sat in St. Stephen’s Green (we call this our park) and ate lunch and listened to the abundance of Irish accents. It was wonderful.
Kelly & I at St. Stephen's Green
Then Kyle said he would get in around 2 so we went to his hostel to meet him. He wasn’t there, even after waiting awhile, so we left a note to meet later. We went and saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity College and just walked around the town. Then we headed back to Kyle’s hostel to wait. He walked up later with my other friend Tyrel! They surprised me – I had no idea he would be there! (Well I guessed Tyrel or Phil, Kyle’s twin, would Kyle’s friend but I was definitely surprised) It was so great to see him because I had just talked to him a few days earlier and we realized that I might not see him for a couple years. He graduates in May but might not walk and might leave before I get back to go to Europe to play soccer for two years (during this conversation he already knew he’d see me, haha). But I guess he checked my facebook all the time and kept in constant contact with Kyle so they would know where I was going so they could follow! So after they put their stuff up we just decided to walk around and check out Dublin. We ended up eating at a very Irish place – Tyrel got something very Irish that looked disgusting and made me get fish and chips instead of a chicken sandwich.
Tyrel with his nasty dinner!
That night we went to a little café to listen to a guy play acoustic Irish music which was interesting – he dedicated a song to Kelly (he was older so it was funny) and ended up playing a Bob Marley song which was amusing. Overall, a pretty fun night.
Ireland Adventure, March 21
Saturday we planned to meet the boys in the morning after breakfast. We actually got breakfast at our hostel this day so that was good – just had some cereal, wasn’t very good but whatever it was obvious we went for the cheapest hostel, the showers definitely proved that as well. Then we checked out of that hostel and checked into the next one – the one Allison Quick (sister to two of my friends at TU) was staying in. We met up with the boys who were wanting to play golf but didn’t know if they could find a place where they didn’t have to dress up, that rented clubs, and wasn’t too expensive. They hadn’t found one but Kelly and I decided to go book a tour for the 4 of us for Sunday – through the Wicklow Mountains, stopping in Glendalough and Kilkenney. When we got back they had figured it out and found somewhere to play golf, they were ecstatic. Kelly and I wanted to show them our park since it wasn’t too cold so we went and got some lunch and sat in the park. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the day before, a little chilly, so there weren’t as many people out, but still fun.
Kyle, Me & Tyrel in St. Stephen's Green
After lunch we parted ways and Kelly and I went to Malahide Castle. We had no idea what to expect – I had no idea Malahide was a town. SO we got on the train and ended up in this little town. Oh, and we both decided to wear our new boots this day so keep this in mind. We got off the train and had no idea where we were supposed to go but saw a map that said it was a 15minute walk to the castle. So we headed down the road and seemed to be the only people walking there. So we walked around 30minutes, following the arrows pointing to Malahide Castle, and finally turned into a dirt road. We seemed to be walking a lot more than 15 minutes and could not see any sign of a castle. We were on that dirt road, with people running by and us in our boots and peacoats, for another good 30 minutes.
Kelly doing some hurdles on our way to the castle
Kelly even asked some boy “excuse me, is there a castle up there?” which I found pretty funny – how the heck do you not see a castle that big?! But we finally made it and the castle was beautiful, there was even a lawn people just liked to relax on. We had to sit for a little bit so we got cokes and relaxed for a little. Then we decided to tour the castle, which was dumb – I have decided that castles should only be looked at from the outside. But whatever at least now I know. And we didn’t want to walk another hour back to the train station because we had to be back to meet the boys so we got a taxi to the train station then took the train back to Dublin.
Me in front of Malahide Castle
I had e-mailed Elizabeth a couple times because Tyrel wanted to meet up with Blake but they went on a day trip Saturday and weren’t going to be back in time to meet us so we would have to call them later. But the boys, Kelly & I got dinner at an Italian restaurant and then went to a place called “The Joy of Coffee” for dessert. This place was an adorable little restaurant that had like 100 different types of chocolate. We each got a piece of cake or something – mine was chocolate mousse cake, and coffee. Delicious! We just hung out and talked for a very long time. And we had finally gotten a hold of the other girls and met up with them at Temple Bar. We went to another pub because it was called O’Neill’s (Elizabeth’s last name) and just hung out there, talking and catching up. Then my group went back to bed because we had the tour early the next morning and we parted ways with the other group.
Kyle, Me & Tyrel in St. Stephen's Green
After lunch we parted ways and Kelly and I went to Malahide Castle. We had no idea what to expect – I had no idea Malahide was a town. SO we got on the train and ended up in this little town. Oh, and we both decided to wear our new boots this day so keep this in mind. We got off the train and had no idea where we were supposed to go but saw a map that said it was a 15minute walk to the castle. So we headed down the road and seemed to be the only people walking there. So we walked around 30minutes, following the arrows pointing to Malahide Castle, and finally turned into a dirt road. We seemed to be walking a lot more than 15 minutes and could not see any sign of a castle. We were on that dirt road, with people running by and us in our boots and peacoats, for another good 30 minutes.
Kelly doing some hurdles on our way to the castle
Kelly even asked some boy “excuse me, is there a castle up there?” which I found pretty funny – how the heck do you not see a castle that big?! But we finally made it and the castle was beautiful, there was even a lawn people just liked to relax on. We had to sit for a little bit so we got cokes and relaxed for a little. Then we decided to tour the castle, which was dumb – I have decided that castles should only be looked at from the outside. But whatever at least now I know. And we didn’t want to walk another hour back to the train station because we had to be back to meet the boys so we got a taxi to the train station then took the train back to Dublin.
Me in front of Malahide Castle
I had e-mailed Elizabeth a couple times because Tyrel wanted to meet up with Blake but they went on a day trip Saturday and weren’t going to be back in time to meet us so we would have to call them later. But the boys, Kelly & I got dinner at an Italian restaurant and then went to a place called “The Joy of Coffee” for dessert. This place was an adorable little restaurant that had like 100 different types of chocolate. We each got a piece of cake or something – mine was chocolate mousse cake, and coffee. Delicious! We just hung out and talked for a very long time. And we had finally gotten a hold of the other girls and met up with them at Temple Bar. We went to another pub because it was called O’Neill’s (Elizabeth’s last name) and just hung out there, talking and catching up. Then my group went back to bed because we had the tour early the next morning and we parted ways with the other group.
Ireland Adventure, March 22
Sunday the tour left at 8am – Kelly and I were a little late, it’s hard to get up and get ready quick. But we all slept a little on the bus through the Wicklow Mountains. We got to Glendalough and realized this might not have been the best day for a tour because it was so cold but it was still beautiful. We got scones and coffee inside the hotel there (which I would’ve loved to stay in) then walked around. There’s an old cemetery, two lakes and just beautiful outdoors. We walked and took pictures for awhile.
The Smaller Lake at Glendalough
Then we drove on through the mountains to Kilkenney. We passed where the Braveheart wedding was (which I don’t even know), and a road where they have filmed a lot of random movie and TV things, also we passed a little town called Hollywood which I thought was funny. We pulled up in Kilkenney an hour or so later and got out of the bus right next to the castle. There was a huge lawn in front of it so we took some pictures and hung out before getting some lunch. We found this little place called “Nostalgia Café” where this cute old Irish man worked and was so incredibly friendly (as most people in Ireland were). We made our own sandwiches, chatted with him for awhile and headed back to the castle to eat and relax. We lied in front of the castle, got some ice cream, talked, and took tons of pictures.
Kyle in front of Kilkenney Castle
Before we knew it it was time to leave and we had only seen the castle and walked through less than a mile of town – but it was a great and relaxing afternoon and we were able to sleep the whole bus ride back to Dublin. Once we got back to Dublin we had a couple hours before dinner. It was my job to find Kyle some fried chicken – so I looked up a place my sister suggested on the internet but it was at least an hour outside of Dublin and the guy at our hostel didn’t know the term fried chicken. But we figured out a general idea of where we could go to look but Tyrel had ripped out a page from Lonely Planet Ireland and we went to eat at “Gruel”. This was basically a hole in the wall for locals – supposedly it was supposed to be cheap but we got free water refills so that was good. The whole menu consisted of maybe 10 things written on a chalkboard and three of us got chicken (on a bone, boo), some other concoction that looked like cornbread, asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes and Tyrel got lamb. We were all pretty much exhausted and Kyle had to wake up at 5am the next morning for his flight so we weren’t too lively. We went to the pub Kelly & I had gone before to listen to some more live music but it wasn’t as exciting. We just hung out and talked for a little bit before we needed to get some sleep. And the boys were craving donuts so we stopped by a grocery store. Then we said goodbye to Kyle which was sad, but I’ll see him in Italy in a couple weeks so that’s exciting.
The Smaller Lake at Glendalough
Then we drove on through the mountains to Kilkenney. We passed where the Braveheart wedding was (which I don’t even know), and a road where they have filmed a lot of random movie and TV things, also we passed a little town called Hollywood which I thought was funny. We pulled up in Kilkenney an hour or so later and got out of the bus right next to the castle. There was a huge lawn in front of it so we took some pictures and hung out before getting some lunch. We found this little place called “Nostalgia Café” where this cute old Irish man worked and was so incredibly friendly (as most people in Ireland were). We made our own sandwiches, chatted with him for awhile and headed back to the castle to eat and relax. We lied in front of the castle, got some ice cream, talked, and took tons of pictures.
Kyle in front of Kilkenney Castle
Before we knew it it was time to leave and we had only seen the castle and walked through less than a mile of town – but it was a great and relaxing afternoon and we were able to sleep the whole bus ride back to Dublin. Once we got back to Dublin we had a couple hours before dinner. It was my job to find Kyle some fried chicken – so I looked up a place my sister suggested on the internet but it was at least an hour outside of Dublin and the guy at our hostel didn’t know the term fried chicken. But we figured out a general idea of where we could go to look but Tyrel had ripped out a page from Lonely Planet Ireland and we went to eat at “Gruel”. This was basically a hole in the wall for locals – supposedly it was supposed to be cheap but we got free water refills so that was good. The whole menu consisted of maybe 10 things written on a chalkboard and three of us got chicken (on a bone, boo), some other concoction that looked like cornbread, asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes and Tyrel got lamb. We were all pretty much exhausted and Kyle had to wake up at 5am the next morning for his flight so we weren’t too lively. We went to the pub Kelly & I had gone before to listen to some more live music but it wasn’t as exciting. We just hung out and talked for a little bit before we needed to get some sleep. And the boys were craving donuts so we stopped by a grocery store. Then we said goodbye to Kyle which was sad, but I’ll see him in Italy in a couple weeks so that’s exciting.
Ireland Adventure, March 23 & 24
Monday, Kelly and I woke up around 9, got some breakfast, and got ready, checked out of our hotel and met up with Tyrel. We walked around, bought some souvenirs, and headed towards the Guinness Factory. It was very cold and windy, sadly. We stopped along the way and got lunch at the Joy of Coffee – sandwiches that were really good. And we ended up sitting there for over an hour just talking. Then we went to the Guinness Factory and took the tour, time was flying by though and we were going to catch a free shuttle to the airport at 3 but if we did that we wouldn’t have enough time and would have to speed through the factory. So Kelly & I decided we’d just take our time and pay for the bus that left every 10 minutes (our flight left at 610). So after the tour we sat in the Sky Bar, which was at the very top and you could see all of Dublin so that was amazing.
Two views of Dublin from the Sky Bar:
We also got a free pint of Guinness which was really gross and I didn’t drink much of, I don’t understand how anyone can actually enjoy it. But then we got on a bus and went back to our hostel to get our stuff and leave. We said goodbye to Tyrel but figured we’d see him at the airport because he was going to catch his free shuttle at 5pm (which Kelly & I weren’t going to do because it’d be too late). So Kelly & I went to the bus stop to wait and the bus that came wasn’t the one we wanted so we asked a police officer and apparently we were at the wrong stop so we had to go down a couple more and it was hard to figure out the schedule but some girl helped us and we had to wait about 10 minutes for the next shuttle. Which we didn’t realize how fast time was going we would probably be at the airport at like 520. But the bus ended up being very late and didn’t come until like 445 or 5 and then took forever to get to the airport. Kelly and I ran through the airport and were late for our flight. Our flight was delayed so we could’ve made it but check in was closed. Then the next flight that we could find to Barcelona was the next morning and there were no other flights into Spain that night. So we had to pay extra to change our flight, then we’d miss our bus from Barcelona to San Sebastian and had to buy a flight from Barcelona to Bilbao then bus from Bilbao to San Sebastian. Good thing the Irish are super nice, friendly and helpful otherwise our situation would’ve been awful. This was a very rough day, having to say goodbye to Tyrel (knowing that it’s very possible I won’t see him for two years) and then the flight problems, which definitely should’ve been avoided. But we found a cheap hotel close to the airport that offered free shuttle service and booked it for the night. Then we got dinner at the airport, overpriced of course, and then had to wait in the cold for our shuttle to the hotel. We checked into the hotel, signed up for the 4am shuttle, 330am wake up call, and unwound a little. We fell asleep quickly after the exhaustion of the day settled in and it was 330am before we knew it – after having slept for maybe 4 hours.
So we woke up at 330 and headed to the airport at 4am – way to early. But we were just thankful we were at the airport in plenty of time. Also, to complicate things (we were going to have to hurry in Bilbao to make it to San Sebastian without missing all of class on Tuesday) we had to check a bag since Kelly had packed so tight and had bought a lot of souvenirs – I could’ve made it with just my backpack. So we had to wait for restaurants in the airport to open, none of them opened until 5am for us to finally get some breakfast and coffee. But we finally boarded our flight and were off around 7am, and surprisingly got to Barcelona early. We got the checked bag and made it to our gate. Then we looked around a little (I had thought about buying flip flops but they were too expensive) and sat and ate lunch.
Our one problem and the reason we were freaking out so much was that if you miss more than one class in a section (and we had already skipped Monday) then you have to audit the class and don’t get credit for it – neither Kelly nor I could afford to audit it and complete our Spanish minor. So we were trying to make it to San Sebastian at a decent time. But the earliest we could make it was 3 and class started at 2. So we flew out of Barcelona at 1230, arriving at 140. We had it all planned out. Kelly thought the buses left at the 45 so she was going to run and try to catch the bus for us while I waited for the bag. We tried to talk to flight attendant into letting us move up front and he was going to let us but for some reason he neglected to tell us during the flight (I guess because Kelly was sleeping…?). So she rushed through people and ran out the door to catch the bus and I got the bag. The driver wasn’t going to wait but the bag came at the perfect time and I ran out and got to the bus when the bus driver was saying he would only wait two more minutes. So we got on the bus at 145 and class started at 2, haha. So we made it to San Sebastian at 245, waited a few minutes for a bus to get to the bus station that could take us to school and got there at 315. We busted into class with our backpacks and souvenir shopping bags and without any notebooks, paper or books – but Kelly did find a pen and pencil in her backpack. So, this class was very interesting. Oh, and I had not slept a wink since waking up at 330am, Kelly is lucky to be able to fall asleep anywhere so she probably got a good couple hours or so. So we made it through class and are going to receive credit, thankfully. I got back to my house around 730 or 8pm, ate a bowl of cereal since my host mom wasn’t home yet, and crashed. I probably went to bed around 9-10pm and didn’t wake up until my alarm went off at 11am Wednesday morning.
So many things went wrong on this trip – missing buses, weather, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, overpriced food, nasty hostel, oh and the guy above me in the 2nd hostel snored super loudly! – yet it was such a great trip. I love Ireland! The people are so nice, it was kind of sad when we realized we were back in Spain because the people weren’t as friendly or helpful. And I would’ve loved to spend another couple weeks there. When I go back (yes, when) I will take a tour through the countryside – preferably south Ireland in the summer. The little piece that I saw was great and now I want to see even more.
This week I’m just trying to get back into Spanish mode, but don’t have any plans. I’m just going to relax, hang out, study a lot and get ready for Spring Break. I bus to Barcelona and fly to Rome next Saturday! I can’t believe it’s already here and it’s almost April. I’m so excited! Also, I got to talk to my dad and my little, Ali tonight so that was even better. And I’m going to start working on my plans for when Sara comes. So much to look forward to!
Sorry for the rattling and including all the little details. But I could’ve written another ten pages on this trip. It was wonderful. Hope everything is well in the states – rock chalk sweet sixteen!
Besos, Jill
Two views of Dublin from the Sky Bar:
We also got a free pint of Guinness which was really gross and I didn’t drink much of, I don’t understand how anyone can actually enjoy it. But then we got on a bus and went back to our hostel to get our stuff and leave. We said goodbye to Tyrel but figured we’d see him at the airport because he was going to catch his free shuttle at 5pm (which Kelly & I weren’t going to do because it’d be too late). So Kelly & I went to the bus stop to wait and the bus that came wasn’t the one we wanted so we asked a police officer and apparently we were at the wrong stop so we had to go down a couple more and it was hard to figure out the schedule but some girl helped us and we had to wait about 10 minutes for the next shuttle. Which we didn’t realize how fast time was going we would probably be at the airport at like 520. But the bus ended up being very late and didn’t come until like 445 or 5 and then took forever to get to the airport. Kelly and I ran through the airport and were late for our flight. Our flight was delayed so we could’ve made it but check in was closed. Then the next flight that we could find to Barcelona was the next morning and there were no other flights into Spain that night. So we had to pay extra to change our flight, then we’d miss our bus from Barcelona to San Sebastian and had to buy a flight from Barcelona to Bilbao then bus from Bilbao to San Sebastian. Good thing the Irish are super nice, friendly and helpful otherwise our situation would’ve been awful. This was a very rough day, having to say goodbye to Tyrel (knowing that it’s very possible I won’t see him for two years) and then the flight problems, which definitely should’ve been avoided. But we found a cheap hotel close to the airport that offered free shuttle service and booked it for the night. Then we got dinner at the airport, overpriced of course, and then had to wait in the cold for our shuttle to the hotel. We checked into the hotel, signed up for the 4am shuttle, 330am wake up call, and unwound a little. We fell asleep quickly after the exhaustion of the day settled in and it was 330am before we knew it – after having slept for maybe 4 hours.
So we woke up at 330 and headed to the airport at 4am – way to early. But we were just thankful we were at the airport in plenty of time. Also, to complicate things (we were going to have to hurry in Bilbao to make it to San Sebastian without missing all of class on Tuesday) we had to check a bag since Kelly had packed so tight and had bought a lot of souvenirs – I could’ve made it with just my backpack. So we had to wait for restaurants in the airport to open, none of them opened until 5am for us to finally get some breakfast and coffee. But we finally boarded our flight and were off around 7am, and surprisingly got to Barcelona early. We got the checked bag and made it to our gate. Then we looked around a little (I had thought about buying flip flops but they were too expensive) and sat and ate lunch.
Our one problem and the reason we were freaking out so much was that if you miss more than one class in a section (and we had already skipped Monday) then you have to audit the class and don’t get credit for it – neither Kelly nor I could afford to audit it and complete our Spanish minor. So we were trying to make it to San Sebastian at a decent time. But the earliest we could make it was 3 and class started at 2. So we flew out of Barcelona at 1230, arriving at 140. We had it all planned out. Kelly thought the buses left at the 45 so she was going to run and try to catch the bus for us while I waited for the bag. We tried to talk to flight attendant into letting us move up front and he was going to let us but for some reason he neglected to tell us during the flight (I guess because Kelly was sleeping…?). So she rushed through people and ran out the door to catch the bus and I got the bag. The driver wasn’t going to wait but the bag came at the perfect time and I ran out and got to the bus when the bus driver was saying he would only wait two more minutes. So we got on the bus at 145 and class started at 2, haha. So we made it to San Sebastian at 245, waited a few minutes for a bus to get to the bus station that could take us to school and got there at 315. We busted into class with our backpacks and souvenir shopping bags and without any notebooks, paper or books – but Kelly did find a pen and pencil in her backpack. So, this class was very interesting. Oh, and I had not slept a wink since waking up at 330am, Kelly is lucky to be able to fall asleep anywhere so she probably got a good couple hours or so. So we made it through class and are going to receive credit, thankfully. I got back to my house around 730 or 8pm, ate a bowl of cereal since my host mom wasn’t home yet, and crashed. I probably went to bed around 9-10pm and didn’t wake up until my alarm went off at 11am Wednesday morning.
So many things went wrong on this trip – missing buses, weather, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, overpriced food, nasty hostel, oh and the guy above me in the 2nd hostel snored super loudly! – yet it was such a great trip. I love Ireland! The people are so nice, it was kind of sad when we realized we were back in Spain because the people weren’t as friendly or helpful. And I would’ve loved to spend another couple weeks there. When I go back (yes, when) I will take a tour through the countryside – preferably south Ireland in the summer. The little piece that I saw was great and now I want to see even more.
This week I’m just trying to get back into Spanish mode, but don’t have any plans. I’m just going to relax, hang out, study a lot and get ready for Spring Break. I bus to Barcelona and fly to Rome next Saturday! I can’t believe it’s already here and it’s almost April. I’m so excited! Also, I got to talk to my dad and my little, Ali tonight so that was even better. And I’m going to start working on my plans for when Sara comes. So much to look forward to!
Sorry for the rattling and including all the little details. But I could’ve written another ten pages on this trip. It was wonderful. Hope everything is well in the states – rock chalk sweet sixteen!
Besos, Jill
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Week of Accomplishing Goals
One of my favorite places to go by in San Sebastian
It's a pet store! They have the cutest puppies :)
Man, this might have to be another long entry. Except for the fact that I have a horrible memory! This week has been my week to accomplish goals. It really helps if I make a list – especially with going to certain San Sebastian places & seeing certain things here. Here is what I accomplished this week: Sunday we went up to Monte Igueldo, Kelly & I looked at coats and went to this new café in Gros we wanted to try, we bought our Barcelona bus tickets for our trip this Wednesday, and I went up Monte Urgull and saw the Jesus Statue up close – that might be my favorite place in San Sebastian – beautiful!
Monday before class we had a conference. This Basque guy (Xabier) gave a presentation on Bertsolari – which is really complicated to explain. But he spoke a lot about the Basque country and Basque so I learned some new things and then he spoke in Spanish about Bertsolari (the definition is improvised basque verse singing). Maybe you can google or youtube it – it was pretty interesting. But then we had class, long of course, and then our Basque folkdance class which is actually become pretty interesting. A lot of the Americans are horrible but this week there were only 5 of us there because it was one girl’s birthday. I like the teacher though, he’s entertaining and Kelly and I always have funny conversations with him.
Tuesday, Kelly & I went to the café and coat place. The coats were unsuccessful but the café was good. It was kind of expensive so I probably won’t go back but I had chocolate & café, kind of like an American mocha supposedly. Then we looked at this coat store because she wants a lighter rain jacket for Ireland and I could use a heavier coat but neither of us found anything, we’re just too cheap. Then we had class and I had to give an oral presentation (in my conversation class) about an important person from the 20th century – of course I was going to do a Jayhawk but the people he was using as examples were more worldly so I chose Walt Disney (others were Rachel Carson, Mother Theresa & Salvador Dali) and I think that went well. Also, since we just started the newest section we are now in level 3 (we started in level 2) so it’s composition. I think I did pretty well on my first composition – about Sara, maybe I’ll put it on here. But she circles our mistakes then we have to fix them and hand them in again the next day. But I still don’t know my grade.
Wednesday, I got up and went up to the Jesus statue which is on top of Monte Urgull. It is probably my favorite place in San Sebastian (yeah, that only took two months, haha). But you walk around these paths – which were kind of difficult on the steep hills – and there’s all this random historic stuff from battles in San Sebastian and they have information on the boards in English so I could read about it. But I finally made it up to the statue and it was nice because no one was really there (except a few nice old people that I passed) and the view from the top is amazing. I could see almost all of San Sebastian and with nice weather (finally) it was just great.
Then that night we went to church with Tiffany, our friend from here - Macarena and another girl Aimee. It wasn’t the usual bible study but they still wanted to hang out so we all went to the mall in Amara (the district our church is in) and watched the soccer game between Seville and Barcelona. We ended up getting in this huge conversation about music which was so funny to hear about what American music they like and don’t like. One guy, Aaron, & I had a really interesting conversation. He likes Jack Johnson and John Mayer and lots of other people I like, but then he likes groups like Slipknot, Linkin Park, Korn, System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine (for you who don’t know the first two artists are calm and happy and the rest are scary and they scream the whole time). We also wrote down lots of Spanish musicians that they like so we’re working on getting good Spanish music to try & understand!
Thursday, Kelly & I went to buy our Barcelona bus tickets. It’s been nice outside so we decided to get up and ride to the bus station. We got our tickets, which the price is going down so that’s good, and rode to school. Yet most of the ride to school is uphill so we had to walk and I thought it was going to be colder outside so I had lots of layers on, it was pretty bad. But we saw a car wreck which was just awful – the people here are REALLY bad drivers (yes, even worse than Missourians!) so of course we had to stop and gawk for about 10 minutes. After class I got to skype a few Tulsa friends so that was pretty exciting for me and I’m constantly working on Greece stuff – it’s just really hard when I have so much to do anytime I get on the internet and I just want to be outside but I need to book this stuff before it gets to expensive. Also, Kelly always wants to work on Ireland stuff but she has internet at her apartment so she can get on and do other stuff at night by herself. So much to do – but it is definitely worth it!
Friday, another day of amazing weather so I rode my bike to school – it was even nice at 8:30 in the morning which is unusual. But class lasts until 1pm and I just wanted to be outside. So then for lunch Kelly, Tiffany & I went to this café on the beach – Café Zurriola – that Kelly & I have been wanting to go because its right on the beach by Gros. So we sat outside and I actually got some sun – it was pretty expensive and probably won’t go back but it was nice. Then we just walked around outside for awhile and Kelly & I shopped a little – bought a few t-shirts. Then of course we were worn out from shopping so I came back and napped and had dinner at my apartment. Then we just walked around, mostly in Gros – aka with the 50 and over crowd – and a little in Parte Vieja. We were back to Kelly’s by 1 though, we’re still not adapted to the Spanish lifestyle of staying up til 6am, and I don’t think we ever will be.
Saturday, I got up and finally bought shampoo & conditioner – I’ve been squeezing out the last drop for about a week haha. But I basically bought the cheapest possible, of course. So then I came home and showered with my great new stuff. I walked around Centro for a little bit looking in some stores – this seems to be the time when everyone is out – just before siesta. But then I came home to eat lunch and meet up with Kelly. We went back to Centro, shopped a little more, and went to a café to try and plan out our Ireland trip. We ended up just deciding we’ll go with the flow – we have a few things we want to do but we’re just going to see how we feel. And maybe we’ll do stuff with some of my Tulsa friends that will be there. But then I came home for dinner and just relaxed for a while. We met up with Kelly’s intercambio (intercambios are Spanish students that want to work on their English so we can sign up for one, USAC we’ll match us, and we’ll meet however often we want to talk in Spanish and English). We just sat at this place called Kelly’s Irish Pub and talked. Her name is Maria and her friend’s name is Andrea and we met them one time before but we all seem to get along pretty well so it’s fun. They wanted us to go out with them (yeah, starting at midnight!) but Kelly & I were both exhausted so we went to bed.
Today I just got up, wandered around alot (more nice weather), got some ice cream with Kelly, walked around the aquarium area down by the boat docks & have been sitting in my favorite cafe, talked to my sisters & parents (yay!) and trying to figure out my Greece trip - which is nearly impossible because I can't make up my mind & there's so many places I want to see. So if you feel like finding & booking hotels for me just e-mail me & I'd be glad to let you, haha :)
BUT I leave on a bus to Barcelona Wednesday night (hopefully I'll have a new pair of jeans & boots before then, ahh) & leave for Ireland for 5 days! SO that'll be a wonderful break!!
It's a pet store! They have the cutest puppies :)
Man, this might have to be another long entry. Except for the fact that I have a horrible memory! This week has been my week to accomplish goals. It really helps if I make a list – especially with going to certain San Sebastian places & seeing certain things here. Here is what I accomplished this week: Sunday we went up to Monte Igueldo, Kelly & I looked at coats and went to this new café in Gros we wanted to try, we bought our Barcelona bus tickets for our trip this Wednesday, and I went up Monte Urgull and saw the Jesus Statue up close – that might be my favorite place in San Sebastian – beautiful!
Monday before class we had a conference. This Basque guy (Xabier) gave a presentation on Bertsolari – which is really complicated to explain. But he spoke a lot about the Basque country and Basque so I learned some new things and then he spoke in Spanish about Bertsolari (the definition is improvised basque verse singing). Maybe you can google or youtube it – it was pretty interesting. But then we had class, long of course, and then our Basque folkdance class which is actually become pretty interesting. A lot of the Americans are horrible but this week there were only 5 of us there because it was one girl’s birthday. I like the teacher though, he’s entertaining and Kelly and I always have funny conversations with him.
Tuesday, Kelly & I went to the café and coat place. The coats were unsuccessful but the café was good. It was kind of expensive so I probably won’t go back but I had chocolate & café, kind of like an American mocha supposedly. Then we looked at this coat store because she wants a lighter rain jacket for Ireland and I could use a heavier coat but neither of us found anything, we’re just too cheap. Then we had class and I had to give an oral presentation (in my conversation class) about an important person from the 20th century – of course I was going to do a Jayhawk but the people he was using as examples were more worldly so I chose Walt Disney (others were Rachel Carson, Mother Theresa & Salvador Dali) and I think that went well. Also, since we just started the newest section we are now in level 3 (we started in level 2) so it’s composition. I think I did pretty well on my first composition – about Sara, maybe I’ll put it on here. But she circles our mistakes then we have to fix them and hand them in again the next day. But I still don’t know my grade.
Wednesday, I got up and went up to the Jesus statue which is on top of Monte Urgull. It is probably my favorite place in San Sebastian (yeah, that only took two months, haha). But you walk around these paths – which were kind of difficult on the steep hills – and there’s all this random historic stuff from battles in San Sebastian and they have information on the boards in English so I could read about it. But I finally made it up to the statue and it was nice because no one was really there (except a few nice old people that I passed) and the view from the top is amazing. I could see almost all of San Sebastian and with nice weather (finally) it was just great.
Then that night we went to church with Tiffany, our friend from here - Macarena and another girl Aimee. It wasn’t the usual bible study but they still wanted to hang out so we all went to the mall in Amara (the district our church is in) and watched the soccer game between Seville and Barcelona. We ended up getting in this huge conversation about music which was so funny to hear about what American music they like and don’t like. One guy, Aaron, & I had a really interesting conversation. He likes Jack Johnson and John Mayer and lots of other people I like, but then he likes groups like Slipknot, Linkin Park, Korn, System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine (for you who don’t know the first two artists are calm and happy and the rest are scary and they scream the whole time). We also wrote down lots of Spanish musicians that they like so we’re working on getting good Spanish music to try & understand!
Thursday, Kelly & I went to buy our Barcelona bus tickets. It’s been nice outside so we decided to get up and ride to the bus station. We got our tickets, which the price is going down so that’s good, and rode to school. Yet most of the ride to school is uphill so we had to walk and I thought it was going to be colder outside so I had lots of layers on, it was pretty bad. But we saw a car wreck which was just awful – the people here are REALLY bad drivers (yes, even worse than Missourians!) so of course we had to stop and gawk for about 10 minutes. After class I got to skype a few Tulsa friends so that was pretty exciting for me and I’m constantly working on Greece stuff – it’s just really hard when I have so much to do anytime I get on the internet and I just want to be outside but I need to book this stuff before it gets to expensive. Also, Kelly always wants to work on Ireland stuff but she has internet at her apartment so she can get on and do other stuff at night by herself. So much to do – but it is definitely worth it!
Friday, another day of amazing weather so I rode my bike to school – it was even nice at 8:30 in the morning which is unusual. But class lasts until 1pm and I just wanted to be outside. So then for lunch Kelly, Tiffany & I went to this café on the beach – Café Zurriola – that Kelly & I have been wanting to go because its right on the beach by Gros. So we sat outside and I actually got some sun – it was pretty expensive and probably won’t go back but it was nice. Then we just walked around outside for awhile and Kelly & I shopped a little – bought a few t-shirts. Then of course we were worn out from shopping so I came back and napped and had dinner at my apartment. Then we just walked around, mostly in Gros – aka with the 50 and over crowd – and a little in Parte Vieja. We were back to Kelly’s by 1 though, we’re still not adapted to the Spanish lifestyle of staying up til 6am, and I don’t think we ever will be.
Saturday, I got up and finally bought shampoo & conditioner – I’ve been squeezing out the last drop for about a week haha. But I basically bought the cheapest possible, of course. So then I came home and showered with my great new stuff. I walked around Centro for a little bit looking in some stores – this seems to be the time when everyone is out – just before siesta. But then I came home to eat lunch and meet up with Kelly. We went back to Centro, shopped a little more, and went to a café to try and plan out our Ireland trip. We ended up just deciding we’ll go with the flow – we have a few things we want to do but we’re just going to see how we feel. And maybe we’ll do stuff with some of my Tulsa friends that will be there. But then I came home for dinner and just relaxed for a while. We met up with Kelly’s intercambio (intercambios are Spanish students that want to work on their English so we can sign up for one, USAC we’ll match us, and we’ll meet however often we want to talk in Spanish and English). We just sat at this place called Kelly’s Irish Pub and talked. Her name is Maria and her friend’s name is Andrea and we met them one time before but we all seem to get along pretty well so it’s fun. They wanted us to go out with them (yeah, starting at midnight!) but Kelly & I were both exhausted so we went to bed.
Today I just got up, wandered around alot (more nice weather), got some ice cream with Kelly, walked around the aquarium area down by the boat docks & have been sitting in my favorite cafe, talked to my sisters & parents (yay!) and trying to figure out my Greece trip - which is nearly impossible because I can't make up my mind & there's so many places I want to see. So if you feel like finding & booking hotels for me just e-mail me & I'd be glad to let you, haha :)
BUT I leave on a bus to Barcelona Wednesday night (hopefully I'll have a new pair of jeans & boots before then, ahh) & leave for Ireland for 5 days! SO that'll be a wonderful break!!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
A couple pictures from my new camera...
Flamenco Show in Barcelona
Flamenco isn't as popular in Barcelona because its a typical Spanish thing & Barcelona hates all things real Spanish but I wanted Jess & Kyle to see a show since they were coming to Spain.
Tiffany cut my bangs!
So I was really needing a haircut - or at least my bangs. So I randomly asked my friends & Tiffany said she'd cut her friend's hair a few times before. So this was our Saturday night project!
The View from Monte Igeldo
It was actually nice weather today so Kelly, Tiffany & I took the funicular (cable car) up to the top of the mountain. There's an amusement park but since it's the beginning of March it was pretty deserted - but the view was worth it!
Flamenco isn't as popular in Barcelona because its a typical Spanish thing & Barcelona hates all things real Spanish but I wanted Jess & Kyle to see a show since they were coming to Spain.
Tiffany cut my bangs!
So I was really needing a haircut - or at least my bangs. So I randomly asked my friends & Tiffany said she'd cut her friend's hair a few times before. So this was our Saturday night project!
The View from Monte Igeldo
It was actually nice weather today so Kelly, Tiffany & I took the funicular (cable car) up to the top of the mountain. There's an amusement park but since it's the beginning of March it was pretty deserted - but the view was worth it!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Reflection Day.
Right now Tiff (the friend of mine who still calls me yill) & I are just sitting in Cafe Goikoa which has become our favorite place for wifi (pronounced wee fee). It is a cute place close to school painted bright green & yellow complete with a fish tank, enchufes (outlets) and a bartender that makes Tiff's favorite cafe con leche & just loves us. It is hard to believe though that I have been out of the United States for two months now. As of tomorrow I will have been in Spain for two months. I feel like I still have so much to do and see and I'm running out of time. I've made a list (or like 200 lists, of course, I am my mother's daughter) and I have so much to do and see it's going to be time to leave before I know it! This is pretty cliche but it seems like I was just deciding whether or not to study abroad and where to go. Yet I feel like I've been in this place for so long. Tiff and I have been talking alot lately about how comfortable we've gotten here and how used to everything we are. I'm at the point where it's going to be weird going back to the US, but I still think about it every day. Also, I've gotten to the point where it's not really a homesickness because it's been so long since I've experienced several things from the US. So I will give you some idea...
Things I miss the most (this is a common question & the answer can't be people or pets): Mexican food, basketball games, driving around with my friends listening to loud music, my dumb tv shows, watching American movies in English whenever I feel like it, nice/generous/kind people, the Midwest in general, not smelling smoke 24/7, warm weather.
Things I love here: trying to communicate and speaking tons of Spanglish, learning about the culture - including the different types of cafe, different foods, different phrases & motions, etc., eating new & interesting food, no fast food, life is much more relaxed, walking or riding my bike everywhere, I can see the Atlantic Ocean every day, Traveling! (I have been around Spain, in France, and am going to Ireland, Italy & possibly Greece), fresh fruit/fresh fruit markets.
Some of my favorite/overused phrases: Vale (OK), por supuesto (of course), no me importa (i don't care/it doesn't matter to me), no lo se (i don't know), como se dice... (how do you say...) and no tengo ni idea (i have no idea).
So yeah, just a little update as well...this weekend should be pretty relaxed. I'm working on planning spring break stuff right now and hoping to have that done this weekend. Kelly and I are going to plan our Ireland trip. Also, Tiff & I want to see the big movie here - Che, so that's a possibility for tomorrow night. Other than that I hope to do some shopping (I have a list) and want to get a good travel book in English for spring break. I have a little homework and should probably catch up on sleep. The weather has been dreadful but it's supposed to get a little better this weekend. We have had hail multiple times this week after we got spoiled with an amazing weekend. But I've decided once we get good weather again I'm taking advantage of it & doing something on my list of "Cosas Para Hacer en San Sebastian" (things to do here).
Hope everyone has a good weekend. Rock Chalk - Big 12 champs! I'm working on finding a way to watch the NCAA tourney online, of course.
More later.
Love, Jill
Things I miss the most (this is a common question & the answer can't be people or pets): Mexican food, basketball games, driving around with my friends listening to loud music, my dumb tv shows, watching American movies in English whenever I feel like it, nice/generous/kind people, the Midwest in general, not smelling smoke 24/7, warm weather.
Things I love here: trying to communicate and speaking tons of Spanglish, learning about the culture - including the different types of cafe, different foods, different phrases & motions, etc., eating new & interesting food, no fast food, life is much more relaxed, walking or riding my bike everywhere, I can see the Atlantic Ocean every day, Traveling! (I have been around Spain, in France, and am going to Ireland, Italy & possibly Greece), fresh fruit/fresh fruit markets.
Some of my favorite/overused phrases: Vale (OK), por supuesto (of course), no me importa (i don't care/it doesn't matter to me), no lo se (i don't know), como se dice... (how do you say...) and no tengo ni idea (i have no idea).
So yeah, just a little update as well...this weekend should be pretty relaxed. I'm working on planning spring break stuff right now and hoping to have that done this weekend. Kelly and I are going to plan our Ireland trip. Also, Tiff & I want to see the big movie here - Che, so that's a possibility for tomorrow night. Other than that I hope to do some shopping (I have a list) and want to get a good travel book in English for spring break. I have a little homework and should probably catch up on sleep. The weather has been dreadful but it's supposed to get a little better this weekend. We have had hail multiple times this week after we got spoiled with an amazing weekend. But I've decided once we get good weather again I'm taking advantage of it & doing something on my list of "Cosas Para Hacer en San Sebastian" (things to do here).
Hope everyone has a good weekend. Rock Chalk - Big 12 champs! I'm working on finding a way to watch the NCAA tourney online, of course.
More later.
Love, Jill
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
My First Weekend Away From The Basque Country
An interesting float from Carnavales:
Here is a picture from Carnavales (these girls were in front of the Pirate float where they played Pirates of the Caribbean music & had a choreographed dance in their pirate costumes)
Thursday:
In the morning Kelly and I went to look at boots – we were both planning on buying them but didn’t seem to find any good ones. But it was definitely good practice because we didn’t know how to say most of the words we needed to know and neither of us knew our Spanish size, so now when I see some I like I’m ready to try again! Then, I had my usual 4 hours of class. Afterwards Kelly, Tiffany & I tried to buy tickets to Prague for a 4-day weekend we have in March but after sitting there for 30 minutes once we tried to buy them the price went up 300 Euros! It was unbelievable. So now we’re looking into going to Ireland. After that I came home, spent some time with my host mom, her daughter & her granddaughter – Paula. Then my bus to Barcelona left at 11:50pm. I had an aisle seat so that made it a little more difficult to sleep but I still got enough sleep. We stopped twice – once about an hour in to pick up more passengers (the bus was completely full), and once a few hours later at a bus stop for bathrooms, snack, drink, etc. So I arrived in Barcelona around 7:15am on Friday. I was supposed to be at the Barcelona Nord station but they stopped at Barcelona Sants (I didn’t know if it’d go on to the next and I thought everyone got off so I got off). I looked around for a little bit, didn’t feel like getting lost so early in the morning, and couldn’t figure out where to get a taxi so I asked a random guy how to get to my hostel. I ended up taking the metro and there was a stop pretty nearby. So I finally got to the hostel around 8 – but it didn’t seem so early because I was just ecstatic beyond belief to see my friends. It’s a good thing I got my room for Thursday night as well because check-in wasn’t until 11am and the guy at the front desk wasn’t going to let me in. So I got my sheets and went up to our room (which had 14 people in it), woke up Jess & Kyle to say hi and then crashed for an hour and a half.
Friday:
Jess and Kyle woke me up around 9:30am because breakfast stopped at 10 and Elizabeth was going to meet us at 10:15. I decided against a shower (ha, it was kind of gross I’ll admit it but Jess said the water was freezing cold & she could barely stand under it anyways) and had some cereal & coffee. And then we began our day of nonstop walking. First we went to Park Urgull – and it was an amazingly beautiful day outside so it was fun to just walk around and see the different vendors and the pretty view of Barcelona. This is Gaudi’s park and I find his work really different and interesting. So that was fun. Also, it was good to catch up along the way. Then, Elizabeth had to go to class so Kyle, Jess & I went to La Sagrada Familia which is this cathedral that has been under construction since forever and they don’t know when it’ll actually be finished because they only take donations – no one is just paying to have it finished, it’s purely paid for by visitors. So we walked around there, and waited an hour and a half to take the elevator to the top. The view from the top was beautiful. Too bad my camera was broken but Kyle & Jess both took tons of pictures. After that we walked back down the crazy spiral stairs and headed back outside. We ate lunch at this trendy little place with paninis and smoothies – one thing I have missed! Then we met up with Elizabeth at Plaza Catalunya and walked down La Rambla – the busy main street with tons of little stands and performers. We went into this huge market that had everything – tons of fruit (I bought some grapes, of course), 1 Euro cups of juice (I tried the strawberry coconut), chocolate, candy, dried fruit, meat, vegetables, seafood, bread, pastries, everything you could want. I could’ve spent so much time and money in there! It was amazing. Then, we walked down to the port. We just walked around, went out on the bridge, and took tons of pictures. After quite some time we headed back towards the main part of the city for dinner. We all had been talking about food and different things we missed from home so we all agreed on a Mexican restaurant. It was amazing – we had chips, salsa and guacamole and then I had chicken tacos. It was perfect. Then we did a little bit of shopping, but I have all the stores in San Sebastian so I decided I’d save my money for a shopping trip some other time. After that we went back to the hostel and rested for a little bit before Elizabeth took us out to some popular local places. It was a wonderful but long and exhausting day.
Saturday:
The next morning we woke up around 9:30 in time for breakfast, of course, and this day Jess & I got smart and took some of the fruit they put out. We showered and relaxed for a little bit before Elizabeth met us around 11. Then we walked around and shopped some more, of course. I looked at cameras with Kyle, who had the same thing happen to his camera the week before and had bought a camera in Barcelona on Thursday. Then we had lunch at some cheap little place – I had a small kind of stale sandwich but it was cheap and I still had fruit in my purse so it was fine. Then we went up to the castle that’s on top of one of the mountains. I wish it would’ve been as nice as Friday but it was still pretty. We rode a cable car up there and then explored and took more pictures. It was a pretty cool place but we were all just tired and starting to get cold up there. Then we took the cable car back down and walked over to the Olympic Stadium (1992 Olympics if you remember). It was closed for the Real Madrid soccer game that night so we couldn’t go in but it was still cool to see it, the area, and the torch. We also walked around a really cool part of town with fountains and saw the bull fight ring – which is closed and being changed into a mall because they don’t like bull fighting in Barcelona. We also went in some cute little shops – we found one with like 1000000 owls so of course Jess, Elizabeth and I had to look around. They were all so expensive though so I didn’t get one, but Elizabeth bought a really cute, cheaper one. We also got to bargain with some guys in the sports store because I was trying to buy a cheap jersey but they were still too expensive. Then we were all hungry so we went to a cute little tapas place that was actually Basque. We just went up to the bar and picked out what we wanted and then they charged us at the end, BUT we couldn’t tell what most stuff was so we just had to try it. Get ready to be amazed: I ate crab salad, pate (Elizabeth thinks), and tuna. Yes, I ate it. Then, since tapas are just kind of a small meal, Kyle, Jess and I got waffles at a cute little place next door with chocolate on top. They were super sweet but delicious. Then, the three of us rested at our hostel before going to a flamenco show. Oh, and I finally bought a new camera! The flamenco show was pretty cool, at least for 4 Euros and in Barcelona where it isn’t popular at all (it’s much more of a South Spain thing). And that was pretty much our day.
Sunday:
Kyle left the hostel at about 6am so we didn’t go to the airport with him or anything, but I woke up to say bye. I’m planning on seeing him in Florence for a few days during Spring Break. Then Jess & I got up at 9 to pack, check out, and eat breakfast. After breakfast we dropped our stuff off at Elizabeth’s apartment and went to Starbucks (I know we probably shouldn’t have but neither of us has seen or will see another Starbucks for quite some time) and we just hung out there for a while. We bought a postcard to send to the house and worked on that. Also, I got directions to the bus station – it made me nervous though not knowing which one to go to – where I was supposed to or where I had gotten off Friday morning. But we went and got my stuff and headed to the bus station. Jess and I wanted lunch so we got crepes at that same place and Elizabeth got one of the waffles. Our crepes had strawberry jam and nuts on top and were really good. We definitely satisfied our sweet tooth this weekend, haha. Then we went to the bus station which was right by the Arc de Triumph so that was pretty cool. Then I got on the bus at 2:45 and rode back to San Sebastian. They played two movies and since it wasn’t full I got to have my own two seats so I just read my homework and looked at travel stuff. We stopped for dinner at the same truck stop. I ended up getting back to San Sebastian around 10:30pm where it was chilly and rainy. Then I came back to my apartment and crashed.
This week I’m planning on figuring out my 4-day weekend. Kelly and I are hoping to go to Ireland since Tiffany is now going for Spring Break with another friend. But we’ll see how expensive those tickets are – hopefully not as bad as Prague. Ireland is definitely one of my top three places to go so that would be very exciting. Also, I’m going to start working on Spring Break after I get that planned – I have April 3 through April 19. I think I’ll be in Greece for the first four days, then Rome (and some other nearby cities) with Jess and my other friend Claire will be visiting with some friends, and then head up to Florence (and see Venice, Pisa and Cinque Terre) and spend a few days with Kyle. And after I get that figured out I’m going to start working on my south Spain trip with Sara! She gets here Friday, May 1st and leaves Saturday May 9th. I don’t have school Friday and am skipping Monday so we’ll have plenty of time. Then we’ll just hang out in San Sebastian during the week and she gets to explore while I have class. Once again I apologize for the super long entry but I hope some of it’s at least somewhat interesting. Also, I’m working on putting all my pictures on snapfish so when I get that figured out I will post the link. Hope to hear from all of you!
Agur (goodbye in basque),
Jill
Here is a picture from Carnavales (these girls were in front of the Pirate float where they played Pirates of the Caribbean music & had a choreographed dance in their pirate costumes)
Thursday:
In the morning Kelly and I went to look at boots – we were both planning on buying them but didn’t seem to find any good ones. But it was definitely good practice because we didn’t know how to say most of the words we needed to know and neither of us knew our Spanish size, so now when I see some I like I’m ready to try again! Then, I had my usual 4 hours of class. Afterwards Kelly, Tiffany & I tried to buy tickets to Prague for a 4-day weekend we have in March but after sitting there for 30 minutes once we tried to buy them the price went up 300 Euros! It was unbelievable. So now we’re looking into going to Ireland. After that I came home, spent some time with my host mom, her daughter & her granddaughter – Paula. Then my bus to Barcelona left at 11:50pm. I had an aisle seat so that made it a little more difficult to sleep but I still got enough sleep. We stopped twice – once about an hour in to pick up more passengers (the bus was completely full), and once a few hours later at a bus stop for bathrooms, snack, drink, etc. So I arrived in Barcelona around 7:15am on Friday. I was supposed to be at the Barcelona Nord station but they stopped at Barcelona Sants (I didn’t know if it’d go on to the next and I thought everyone got off so I got off). I looked around for a little bit, didn’t feel like getting lost so early in the morning, and couldn’t figure out where to get a taxi so I asked a random guy how to get to my hostel. I ended up taking the metro and there was a stop pretty nearby. So I finally got to the hostel around 8 – but it didn’t seem so early because I was just ecstatic beyond belief to see my friends. It’s a good thing I got my room for Thursday night as well because check-in wasn’t until 11am and the guy at the front desk wasn’t going to let me in. So I got my sheets and went up to our room (which had 14 people in it), woke up Jess & Kyle to say hi and then crashed for an hour and a half.
Friday:
Jess and Kyle woke me up around 9:30am because breakfast stopped at 10 and Elizabeth was going to meet us at 10:15. I decided against a shower (ha, it was kind of gross I’ll admit it but Jess said the water was freezing cold & she could barely stand under it anyways) and had some cereal & coffee. And then we began our day of nonstop walking. First we went to Park Urgull – and it was an amazingly beautiful day outside so it was fun to just walk around and see the different vendors and the pretty view of Barcelona. This is Gaudi’s park and I find his work really different and interesting. So that was fun. Also, it was good to catch up along the way. Then, Elizabeth had to go to class so Kyle, Jess & I went to La Sagrada Familia which is this cathedral that has been under construction since forever and they don’t know when it’ll actually be finished because they only take donations – no one is just paying to have it finished, it’s purely paid for by visitors. So we walked around there, and waited an hour and a half to take the elevator to the top. The view from the top was beautiful. Too bad my camera was broken but Kyle & Jess both took tons of pictures. After that we walked back down the crazy spiral stairs and headed back outside. We ate lunch at this trendy little place with paninis and smoothies – one thing I have missed! Then we met up with Elizabeth at Plaza Catalunya and walked down La Rambla – the busy main street with tons of little stands and performers. We went into this huge market that had everything – tons of fruit (I bought some grapes, of course), 1 Euro cups of juice (I tried the strawberry coconut), chocolate, candy, dried fruit, meat, vegetables, seafood, bread, pastries, everything you could want. I could’ve spent so much time and money in there! It was amazing. Then, we walked down to the port. We just walked around, went out on the bridge, and took tons of pictures. After quite some time we headed back towards the main part of the city for dinner. We all had been talking about food and different things we missed from home so we all agreed on a Mexican restaurant. It was amazing – we had chips, salsa and guacamole and then I had chicken tacos. It was perfect. Then we did a little bit of shopping, but I have all the stores in San Sebastian so I decided I’d save my money for a shopping trip some other time. After that we went back to the hostel and rested for a little bit before Elizabeth took us out to some popular local places. It was a wonderful but long and exhausting day.
Saturday:
The next morning we woke up around 9:30 in time for breakfast, of course, and this day Jess & I got smart and took some of the fruit they put out. We showered and relaxed for a little bit before Elizabeth met us around 11. Then we walked around and shopped some more, of course. I looked at cameras with Kyle, who had the same thing happen to his camera the week before and had bought a camera in Barcelona on Thursday. Then we had lunch at some cheap little place – I had a small kind of stale sandwich but it was cheap and I still had fruit in my purse so it was fine. Then we went up to the castle that’s on top of one of the mountains. I wish it would’ve been as nice as Friday but it was still pretty. We rode a cable car up there and then explored and took more pictures. It was a pretty cool place but we were all just tired and starting to get cold up there. Then we took the cable car back down and walked over to the Olympic Stadium (1992 Olympics if you remember). It was closed for the Real Madrid soccer game that night so we couldn’t go in but it was still cool to see it, the area, and the torch. We also walked around a really cool part of town with fountains and saw the bull fight ring – which is closed and being changed into a mall because they don’t like bull fighting in Barcelona. We also went in some cute little shops – we found one with like 1000000 owls so of course Jess, Elizabeth and I had to look around. They were all so expensive though so I didn’t get one, but Elizabeth bought a really cute, cheaper one. We also got to bargain with some guys in the sports store because I was trying to buy a cheap jersey but they were still too expensive. Then we were all hungry so we went to a cute little tapas place that was actually Basque. We just went up to the bar and picked out what we wanted and then they charged us at the end, BUT we couldn’t tell what most stuff was so we just had to try it. Get ready to be amazed: I ate crab salad, pate (Elizabeth thinks), and tuna. Yes, I ate it. Then, since tapas are just kind of a small meal, Kyle, Jess and I got waffles at a cute little place next door with chocolate on top. They were super sweet but delicious. Then, the three of us rested at our hostel before going to a flamenco show. Oh, and I finally bought a new camera! The flamenco show was pretty cool, at least for 4 Euros and in Barcelona where it isn’t popular at all (it’s much more of a South Spain thing). And that was pretty much our day.
Sunday:
Kyle left the hostel at about 6am so we didn’t go to the airport with him or anything, but I woke up to say bye. I’m planning on seeing him in Florence for a few days during Spring Break. Then Jess & I got up at 9 to pack, check out, and eat breakfast. After breakfast we dropped our stuff off at Elizabeth’s apartment and went to Starbucks (I know we probably shouldn’t have but neither of us has seen or will see another Starbucks for quite some time) and we just hung out there for a while. We bought a postcard to send to the house and worked on that. Also, I got directions to the bus station – it made me nervous though not knowing which one to go to – where I was supposed to or where I had gotten off Friday morning. But we went and got my stuff and headed to the bus station. Jess and I wanted lunch so we got crepes at that same place and Elizabeth got one of the waffles. Our crepes had strawberry jam and nuts on top and were really good. We definitely satisfied our sweet tooth this weekend, haha. Then we went to the bus station which was right by the Arc de Triumph so that was pretty cool. Then I got on the bus at 2:45 and rode back to San Sebastian. They played two movies and since it wasn’t full I got to have my own two seats so I just read my homework and looked at travel stuff. We stopped for dinner at the same truck stop. I ended up getting back to San Sebastian around 10:30pm where it was chilly and rainy. Then I came back to my apartment and crashed.
This week I’m planning on figuring out my 4-day weekend. Kelly and I are hoping to go to Ireland since Tiffany is now going for Spring Break with another friend. But we’ll see how expensive those tickets are – hopefully not as bad as Prague. Ireland is definitely one of my top three places to go so that would be very exciting. Also, I’m going to start working on Spring Break after I get that planned – I have April 3 through April 19. I think I’ll be in Greece for the first four days, then Rome (and some other nearby cities) with Jess and my other friend Claire will be visiting with some friends, and then head up to Florence (and see Venice, Pisa and Cinque Terre) and spend a few days with Kyle. And after I get that figured out I’m going to start working on my south Spain trip with Sara! She gets here Friday, May 1st and leaves Saturday May 9th. I don’t have school Friday and am skipping Monday so we’ll have plenty of time. Then we’ll just hang out in San Sebastian during the week and she gets to explore while I have class. Once again I apologize for the super long entry but I hope some of it’s at least somewhat interesting. Also, I’m working on putting all my pictures on snapfish so when I get that figured out I will post the link. Hope to hear from all of you!
Agur (goodbye in basque),
Jill
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