So this week was pretty uneventful, especially compared with all the craziness the two weeks before. It was good getting back into my routine and going to class, even though my Spanish was atrocious. We had a big exam Thursday so I spent the week basically just doing homework and studying for that – trying to remember anything I had learned before Spring Break. Then, we had an excursion this weekend so we didn’t have class Friday. Kelly and Patrick went to Paris this weekend so she didn’t go on the excursion – and they left Thursday night.
Friday morning we were supposed to leave at 8am (yeah, super early) but we were all there and the bus was at least 30 minutes late. Therefore we couldn’t see the Stonehenge-like thing on the way to Burgos (where our excursion was). But we rode on the bus for a couple hours at arrived at Atapuerca. This is where they found the oldest human remains in Europe. So we first went to this introductory place where the guy just discussed Neanderthals, etc. with us and it was made to look like a little village. Then we went to the actual cave – yes, we got to wear hard hats and everything. And he talked to us about the three different caves, the fossils, and just all the history. Definitely not my kind of thing but whatever I had Tiffany so we made it fun…and we were wearing hard hats so that was funny.
After all the Atapuerca stuff we finally had lunch – another reason no one really paid attention we had to eat breakfast at like 730 and lunch wasn’t until 230. We ate at this random truck stop restaurant, I guess because nothing is really close to Atapuerca. Lunch was disgusting – it was the nasty beans I don’t like (lentils/lentejas) and fish with the bones that was an unsettling temperature. So that was pretty much completely unsatisfying. I guess it’s a good thing I brought fruit from home. But then we rode another hour or so to Burgos. This is a small city in the Castilla y Leon region. Pretty much all that’s in Burgos is the cathedral – which resembles the Notre Dame form outside and on the inside reminded me of the cathedral in Toledo. But we had a hilarious tour guide that would repeat stuff in Spanish and English and so it was pretty entertaining. The cathedral was beautiful – you should look it up. After that we checked into our hotel, which was pretty nice, and had free time for the rest of the night. Tiffany and I rested for a little bit then walked around Burgos for the entire night. We got some coffee since we were both exhausted, then just wandered, and then got a little dinner. So I think we walked and talked for around 3-4 hours. Then we just came back to our hotel and hung out for a little bit before bed.
Saturday morning we had a hike – but it wasn’t mandatory so there were only probably 40 or so of us (out of the group of 80, 40 from Bilbao and 40 from San Sebastian). We had an excellent breakfast with endless coffee and then headed out on the bus for an hour or so. Our itinerary said we would go weather conditions permitting and our director said it was cold but not too cold and it wasn’t supposed to rain until after 4 hours and that’s all the time we looked at. So we started hiking and it was so cold. But this hike is huge for Spaniards – it’s the “Camino de Santiago” – people do this hike to end at Santiago and it’s a big religious, or I guess it can be non-religious, experience. They average 25km for 20 days depending on where they start or how much they can walk. And it’s mostly through the Basque countryside, but some of it goes through suburban areas like Burgos. So it was cool to actually pass people doing this while we were walking. However, it was freezing cold, windy and misting. So after we’d hiked our 10km in 3 hours we were all completely numb and miserable. After that we rode back to the hotel and had a couple hours of free time. But by now everyone was ready to leave so we all just hung out in the hotel until lunch – but Tiffany and I went to the grocery store to look around a little. It was hard because we just couldn’t warm up. But then we finally had lunch – salad, pasta, chicken on the bone and French fries, and some really good dessert thing. So once again USAC failed with a good lunch –but it was so much food if I didn’t like most of it I still got plenty. Then we finally headed back to San Sebastian about an hour late. We stopped at the Stonehenge thing which I thought was pretty dumb and random – and our bus got stuck so we all had to get out and watch the driver try to get out of a ditch which was pretty funny. And we ended up getting back here around 8pm (instead of 630). I just wanted to be inside in my warm pajamas so I had dinner, and just relaxed for the night. Also, since I don’t have a camera I’m going to get Tiffany’s pictures and I’ll try and put a few up. But today I’m just hanging out – I have to read and write a composition for class and I’m continuously working on Sara’s trip here (which is this week!!!). Also, Tiffany and I decided we want to go to a random town in the Basque country this week so we’re going to see if we can do that. But for now - off to do homework.
More later.
Love, Jill
Burgos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgos
Camino de Santiago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_santiago
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