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!!
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