7 minutes in heaven

so, not a whole lot of new information on the blog-front.
however, i did meet with oscar tonight.
ahaha, i don't even know what to say about it.
i think the most appropriate word is jovial.

at any rate, it was actually pretty funny because the longer the night went on, the worse my spanish became. it got to the point where i finally had to say, "i'm sorry, podemos hablar en english please." haha, literally. also funny, when i took my very first walk around the city, i took a picture of a bar:

i don't know how well you can see it, but it's the crazy horse english bar. when i took this poorly composed photo, it was in the context of "avoid at all costs." let me paint you a picture: english bar, english food, english people. ie: target location. guess where oscar wanted to grab a soda? yeah . . so that's the only reason this is funny, which it probably isn't. because you weren't there when i started laughing hysterically after tripping over an entire paragraph length explaination about how i was trying to avoid this bar, resulting in him being entirely confused and asking me if i would prefer not to go to bars because obviously i'm awkward and apparently appear like one of those people who avoids bars. it was funny. and embarrassing.

at any rate, he's super sweet. he's actually 29-years-old, which i also thought was funny because at first, i assumed he was a student from deusto. in fact, not the case. he's an engineer working for the train system between bilbao and san sebastian. more or less. i think. that part was in spanish. i nodded my head a lot and said, "vale, vale, si." which basically mean, "oh, okay." soo . . i'll probably end up asking him a question next week and he'll be like, "yep, definitely spent a half an hour explaining this to you last thursday," and i'll be like, "vale, vale. si." hehe.

i'm in some sort of weird, lack of sleep, it's the weekend, i've been up for 15 hours, falling in love with this country over again mood, so i'm going to share the photos that make me laugh.

i don't really know how much explanation is necessary. i think it's amost funnier without, but i'll endulge those of you who are genuinely interested:

for whatever reason, there were headless street performers walking around madrid.

this is no joke.

haha, this was the photo above the toilet in the bathroom at the hotel.

next to the potty-phone.

which rang for wake-up call.

this dude was no-nonsense.

someone told me that the royal guard in england take photos with people,

so i should ask him if he'd pose with me.

trust me, if i had gotten that picture, you would have seen it already . . 

this is my bathroom at my apartment.

i was a little tentative about this.

everything is good now.

i just stick to what i know . . .

i may or may not have [but definitely did]

creep on someone's garden in algorta.

it was cute. not note-worthy.

umm . . yeah.

well, that's all folks. i'm hoping to go hiking tomorrow and perhaps exploring around parts of the city i've yet to visit this weekend. so hopefully more photos and things to entertain the masses. i hope this was half as entertaining to someone as it was to me. because i think i get caught up in showing the impressive stuff that i forget there is a general cloud of awkwardness that tends to follow me here.

<3

chicago is so two years ago

aside from slight exhaustion and a serious need for some alone-time, the weekend trip was pretty fabulous.
toledo is, without question, one of the most breathtakingly beautiful cities i could ever hope to see.
laura, since you are probably the first to read this, i will tell you straight away -
we are forgoing madrid and heading straight to toledo.
i just decided.
you can thank me later.

brief rundown of cultural events:
toured the palacio real [royal palace].
toured plaza mayor and the puerta del sol.
had some free time to roam the city.
got minorly lost in madrid.
experienced the underground sewer system also known as the madrid metro.
toured toledo by bus.
toured toledo by foot.
visited a very large, very old cathedral; for 2 hours.
shopped around some market streets.
enjoyed the madrid night life, very near the hotel as to avoid the bathroom metro.
appreciated some of my absolute favorite paintings of the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th century in the prado.

well, that about rounds off the trip in a nutshell.
luckily the weater was absolutely gorgeous.
75-90 degrees all weekend.
excellent conditions for photos.

plaza mayor: see placard. 

flag.

of spain.

spain's flag.

 this is actually the cathedral.

i didn't get a good photo of the palacio real because the plaza was full of people.

not pleased.

 organ.

gold.

beautiful.

streets and buildings. 

a neat lamp

and a yellow building.

 

 statue in plaza mayor.

 tavern down a quaint back-alley in toledo.

 i want one please. adorable.

 small streets. big buildings.

castles.

and now, i will leave you with part of the e-mail oscar sent me before i left:

8am!!! yes, too early!! heheh, anyway, enjoy madrid!! i really like that city!!! okay, so, lets meet next week . . . [insert super secret redevous deets here] . . and i have to tell you, that your spanish is veeeeeeeeeery good!!!!!

have fun!!!

oscar.

just wait until we have to talk face to face where i don't have unlimited time to think about what i want to say

and then check it against google translate.

ahaha, if he only knew.

this should be interesting.

<3

the quiet things that no one ever knows

well folks, another blog seriously lacking in photo capacity.
classes and moderately soggy weather have limited excellent-photo-taking-capabilities.

news:
tomorrow, the cide program is leaving for madrid/toledo.
i am somewhat astounded, at the same time completely frustrated that all i have heard about madrid is the seven-story night club, which sounds horrific, truth be known; and have yet to hear anything actually 'cultural' about the area. don't get me wrong, a cacophony of uninteligable rave clamor may sound sweet to the habitual crack-addict, however . . .
i'm much more fond of museums, small pubs, cafes, and the like. i want hidden gems. bookstores. churros smothered in hot melty chocolate which has been described to me by my european history prof. as 'the closest to heaven you will ever get 6ft above the ground . . '
hmmm, sounds utterly ambrosial.

i am also pleased to announce that i officially have a spanish speaking buddy with whom i plan to practice copious amounts of spanish and hopefully cultivate a relationship in which he takes me around the city and shows me everything my touristy eyes have overlooked and from there, perhaps he buys me coffee and we chat about spanish things.
or, i guess i can buy my own coffee . .
his name is oscar. he is very excited to meet with me. he said so :]
i'll update with the deets as they develop.

so, other than the most recent goings-on, i am looking forward to my cooking class.
we've yet to actually cook anything,
however we spent all day wednesday going over our first menu of delectable goodies:

1º plato: pinxos
2º plato: tortillas españolas
3º plato: rice pudding

this week we'll be heading out to the txoko, which is euskara for corner;
although i think it may also mean kitchen.
or perhaps i have extremely misunderstood and i will be whoring for food.
either way, i'll be anticipating wednesday all weekend.

so, my casually frequent blog-post is coming to a close. i will be offline until sunday night, so have a great weekend everyone!
i will try to take wonderful pictures for you all to enjoy as well as grapple with an overwhelming sense of jealousy which will, no doubt, foster indignation and later, depression ;]

much <3 chicos.

pictures only prove you can't convince

the cide program toured out to san sebastian yesterday to enjoy the beauty of spain’s magnificent coastline. being the frugal cost-savvy students that we are, lindsay, patrick and i bought our own bus tickets and opted for the 12 euro less expensive self-guided tour.

luckily it was a drizzly, chilly afternoon; and i say luckily with honest sentiment because just as i stepped off the bus, lens cap in hand ready to take some spectacular photos, my battery died. but, no sweat, between the haze and the constant drizzle, photos were almost impossible anyway. however, lindsay and patrick did bust out their photo skills and hopefully i’ll be able to get my hands on some of their records of our soggy escapades.

i did manage to snap these before my camera's demise.

these were taken along my daily path to the metro.

 impossible on the eyes, eh?

fountain in san sebasitan, right off the bus stop.

so despite the chilly afternoon, we had a great time scaling a mini-mountain to find napoleon’s fort hidden high among the foliage. totally worth every sweaty minute of the climb. Not to mention, once we reached the top, it stopped raining long enough to take in the entire coast of san sebastian. beautiful ocean feeding sail boats into the city where buildings cascade down mountainsides, stacking one on top of the other like sugar cubes next to our morning coffee. truly a sight you have to witness to believe.

after our trip to the 1800’s, we bummed around the city a bit stopping in little shops and bars if something caught our interest. it really was another lazy kind of adventure, a little sangria here, a little spanish church music there. all in all, pretty enjoyable. when we got home from our 1 hour bus ride and 30 minute metro to algorta, we ate dinner with our ‘families’ and headed back out to the city to enjoy the nightlife. ended up staying out until 4 in the morning after we met some local gente and decided that whatever bar they were going to at 1:30 am was a bar we definitely needed to go to as well. that turned out profitable, because ali, lindsay and i started talking with the locals and, besides one run-in with a scolding from a girl for speaking english amongst ourselves, we basically spoke spanish the rest of the evening.  

looking forward to a quiet sunday afternoon consisting of homework, cleaning, skyping, homework, reading, movies, homework and sleep. next weekend we’re heading out to madrid and toledo, stoked! camera battery is all charged up and ready to go. four days of class and we’ll be on our way.

[i would also be remiss if i failed to mention my imminent skype date with laura mosley this week has my excitement perked]

in the words of patrick scheffers, ¡i gotta get outta here hasta pronto!

 

lazy day . .

school week ends and weekend begins thursday, promptly at 7p.
went out last night with my lads and ladies from the program.
had some super-happy-funtime at a bar in areeta.

today we just walked around casco viejo looking for some good deals in the shopping district.
i think i found a jacket that i am going to have to purchase. it's only 100 euro. that jacket is totally mine.
found a spanish pizzaria, which was so authentic there wasn't a menu or list of ingredients or anything.
basically, walk in and say si until your food comes out.
pizza? -si
queso? -si
jamon? -si
refresco? -si
ocho euro . . oh, si!

tomorrow we're all heading out to san sebastian for some touristy funsies.
hopefully the rain will hold out long enough for some good photos.
finally starting to cool off, which means it was only about 75-80 degrees today.
a cool breeze and a little rain was just cause for an umbrella purchase. finally comfortable weather.

so i'll leave you now with a couple photos from plaza nueva and a quote from my 'europe in the world' prof:

"san sebastian truly is a beautiful city. but don't let any basque people know you're excited to go there. we basques don't like the san sebastians. in fact, we kinda hate them . . "
-why?
"why not?"

<3

inquiring minds wanna know . . .

so i have been politely commanded to begin writing not only more frequently, but more content.
this is somewhat difficult because, unlike popular belief, life is not that out-of-the-ordinary over here.
wake up - eat toast - go to school - learn stuff - come home - eat dinner - do homework - sleep.
except, in spain.
so i'll try to summarize recent events to keep [laura] up-to-date on the day-to-day ;]

i came to spain with certain expectations and assumptions and was thrown into a tailspin from the get-go.
beginning with the fight over the pond.

somewhere, a grave error was made and my window seat where i share ONE armrest with an undesirable member of society transformed into a cramped, sharing-two-armrests, no escape for bathroom or leg-stretching middle-aisle-seat.
awesome.
proceeded to get lost in the dusseldorf airport [as previously mentioned] and once i discovered my hidden basement terminal, i set up camp and tried desperately not to fall asleep, lest i miss my flight and have to figure out euros in german.

once i arrived in spanish-land, i was promptly collected by carmen and jose, dazed and confused and in serious need of a bathroom. [you've experienced a so-called "emergency." okay folks, we're going on 13 hours of no facility usage. emergency.]
the first night was a little standard from what i understand. pretty much came home, had pasta with [some derivative of fish] sauce, unpacked my luggage and fell asleep.
later that week, i devised a solo-tour of deusto and snapped my first set of photos.

 spider statue outside the guggenheim.

 the river that cuts right through bilbao apparently rises up to the green line.

kinda crazy high.

 la biblioteca de la universidad de deusto. [university library]

so yeah, more photos from the first adventure.

then lindsay went out for kalimotxo and churros at the carnival in the sky.

the CIDE group toured getxo and plentzia, which was a beautiful afternoon.

 like i said before, fishing village.

door.

since then, i've gone out with some friends for late-night festivities.
beach day last friday, i believe i mentioned it was 110 degrees. yeah . .

yes, i took random photos of children.
look at his face - he was about to destroy his sister.
get it kid!

there are some pretty cool things to see here. love days when i can take my camera out and just walk around. but now that school has started, it seems like they come fewer and further between. my classes should be pretty boss, i have a couple culture classes [europe in the world may be over my head]. but i'm taking a cooking class, which should prove beneficial considering everything i've eaten thus far has been delicious. except the bologna sandwich, that was a fail.

well, guess i should leave some interesting topics for future posts in case nothing note-worthy happens between now and then.

some things i'm looking forward to:

-madrid next weekend.

-france in october

-ireland in november

-laura and kristine in december :]

thanks for reading. hopefully everyone feels in-the-know. if you have anything you'd like me to discuss, leave it on my facebook. i'm more than happy to write about whatever, so just ask.

i got that boom boom pow

by pupi, the flower puppy outside the gugg.

aforementioned pupi.

new stunna-shades.

ready for the gugg with kirstie, fellow expat from grand valley.

small world. 

 caved and finally bought some garbage-food. trust me, it was necessary.

plotted a site to cheat on our host moms' fine cuisine.

my crew:

patrick, ali and lindsay.

cute little covered sidewalk.

more foliage.

somehow we ended up in the rich part of the hood.

one more beautiful shot of my neighborhood.

spent friday tooling around the guggenheim, appreciating some expressionist artworks.

and air-conditioning.

from limited information gathering sessions via e-mail,

i understand michigan is experiencing autumn-like conditions.

well, spain enjoyed a sunny 42 degrees friday afternoon.

operating on a celsius scale, i'll convert for those of you in a fahrenheit mindset:

110. degrees. F

beach day!

then we went out in areeta. little bit-o folk, little bit-o kalimotxo.

no complaints.

 

beautiful, dirty, rich

toured to plentzia and getxo yesterday. excellent opportunity for photos.

 

when you close your eyes and imagine spain in your mind's eye,

you may think, white buildings. flags, cobblestone. open shutters and flower pots. 

well, you'd be right. it's disgusting. i hate it here.

today we visited el ayuntamiento [city hall] and met with the mayor of the basque country.

a very prestigious and honorable event.

there was a dancing man and wine.

in any case, the building was spectacular.

then lindsay and i grabbed some cokes after the tour.

this is the university from a little pinxos shop across the river. 

p.s. it's only about 30 degrees here in bilbao.

oh yeah, celsius. so that's like, 80-85, right? yes. it is.

and just in case you were getting nervous, we are not 'just taking pictures of pretty buildings.'

we do take pictures of ourselves.

here's proof!

classes officially started today. the schedule is as follows:

spanish grammar

spanish conversation

survey of spanish literature

basque culture and language

practicum: spanish in context [this is a cooking class] be jealous ;]

well, that's all for tonight folks. while you are no doubt enjoying your final hours at work or class, as it is only 4 in the states, your dear friends in spanish-land have either just finished or just started cenando [eating dinner] and are about to go to bed.