San Sebastian pt. two, plus a little Casco Viejo

So, to begin, we have some of Pamplona.This is some government building or something.

This is my phone. With the little thing from Corea that JiSeon gave me.

So this is pretty much how the Casco Viejo, where I live (see previous blog(s)), looks like. The streets are all super narrow, but cars still drive on them, pero just one way. Tis very pretty.

Some building with flags.

View from my friend's apartment, which is down the street from mine. Some mini parade was going on down that street, and this group came along playing instruments. Sounded good, kind of reminded me of something David and his friends might do.

Aight, back to San Sebastian (Donosti, in Basque, as my friend Mikel tells me). There was some film festival going on. Apparently they host a lot of them there, with big names such as George Cloony and Penelope Cruz, but this one was just a Spanish one, and we didn't see any hullabaloo which might have been interpereted as Spanish actor shenanigans. But it sure was crowded...

La playa. Turns out what everyone says about how for women, tops are optional, is true. And a lot of theme were not so young. It kind of amused me.
Anyways, the beach was quite pretty, and the water quite clear but very cold, and very full of seaweed. I bodysurfed/swam a little bit, and the others swam some as well, but then we mostly just sat on our towels enjoying the sun.

We climbed that mountain that has the statue of Jesus, right? So, inside, there's this museum about the city and stuff. These old beach pictures were in part of the Museum.

View as we had just begun to climb the mountain.

Laundry.

Heading towards the mountain. You can see Jesus there above the treelines.

San Sebastian, pt. one

So, yesterday (Sunday) I got to go to San Sebastian, about an hour away. One of the German guys has his car here, so he and two Austrians and an American and I went. The German is Peter, the American is Tony, and hopefully by the time I post on the rest of the day I will have found out the names of the other two.....which I forgot....oops Anyways, this whole blog is actually going to be of the second part of the day.We climbed that mountain with the statue of Jesus.

a panorama around part of the church thingie that's on top. Sorry it's so small, I did it on paint and made the pictures 10% of the original so they'd be easier to work with. It was much more beautiful feeling, but you can get a little idea.

There's a fantastic view of the harbor. Behind me is that famous seashell-shaped beach.

The Austrian girl.

The beach you see in this picture is the one we went to.

It's such a pretty harbour.

Hooray for the setting sun and well-placed walls....

Some random Spaniards....

Again, here you can see the beach we went to.

So. We decided to get ice cream. Then I saw that a little tiny bit was one and a half Euros, and I was like, Eh, forget that. But then after the others had theirs, some one said something about Orange Cheese flavoured ice cream. Seriously? I thought they were joking. I was like, whatever. But then they were like, no, really, go look. Naranja y queso helado. Really? Really.
So I went to look and, sure enough, there it was. Now, who in their right mind can encounter such a disgusting sounding combination, in the form of ice cream no less, and not try it? So I figured 1.50 Euro was worth it to try that, and got the little thing.
The cheese wasn't actually a very prominent flavour. I actually liked the ice cream, more or less at first, and then increasingly so as I ate it. Bueno. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Elisabeth and Militsa, who were in the apartment with Merche and us other girls. They, and another Mexican girl, had come to the beach by bus, and we hadn't been able to contact each other all day. As we were coming down from the mountain, there was music which had been going on for like the whole two hours we were there, walking around the church thing and in the museum. We saw people dancing, and walked closer, and then I realized that Mili was one of the people in this circle. So I went over and said hi and hung out with them for a little while.

The dancers. It was like, folk music of some type, I'm assuming maybe probably Basque.
Things in San Sebastian, like on signs, are written first in Basque, and then in Spanish. It's way padre.

Bueno, I'll try and get more later, but for now I'm tired of waiting for photos to upload.

Oh, and I was going to mention the fact that Dad was complaining about how I haven't put up enough pictures. Well, Dad, I took a bazillion, just so I could put them up and keep you from whining. (:
Anyways, thanks for reading/looking at my post. I'll try and get more from San Sebastian soon. Pronto. Al rato. Vale.
Cheers!

Vale!!!!

Bueno, time for my first blog from Spain. I’ll try to cover pithily all I need to say about all the different things; the trip and my arrival, the city, new friends, living situation, and the uni.

Madrid Airport-sweet architecture

So, I left on Monday, getting to the Charlotte airport for a 2:30 departure. It was hard saying bye to Mom and Dad (“Don’t hug me so hard, Mom; you’re squeezing the tears out”—cheesy, I know, but true…), and if I hadn’t had so much to think about I think I’d have cried. I’m sure they did.

The whole airport/flying thing was big and intimidating, but I got through the hard parts. Thank you to all who prayed; I wanted to share how God used that a little. There were a bunch of encouragements. First, I went into a bathroom in Charlotte, and ended up talking to the janitor, a sweet lady named Morgan, who was really encouraging, and what I needed, since I had just said bye to the ‘rents and felt fairly emotional. Then, in Philadelphia, I met a couple of girls heading to Granada, and so we talked a bit there and in the Madrid airport. Madrid was the toughest, because I had to take a bus to a different terminal, which was a bit far, and I wasn’t sure if I’d done the proper thing. But everything worked out. Then, in Pamplona, I quickly found a taxi, and got to the apartment where 4 nights with a family were provided (in other words, four nights, and days, to look for an apartment). The lady, Merche, is super nice and helpful. And a good cook. There are seven of us here, two of which are going to live with Merche, and the rest of us found apartments near each other (more on that soon).

5/7 of the girls from Merche's

In Merche’s, there are two girls from Guadalajara, Mexico (not pictured; I don’t yet have a picture of all, or of Merche) who are going to stay with Merche. In the picture, left to right; French, Austrian, Canadian, Canadian, me. The Austrian girl and I looked together for apartments (she doesn’t yet speak much Spanish), and will be living with a couple of different ladies. Her piso (apartment), with a lady named Salome, and another girl, and American (who wasn’t there when we saw the room) from Philly, is really pretty. It reminds me of the type of place that a Wussow would stay (: Mine is with a lady that Salome knows, Iratxe (which is Basque, and pronounced like ir-atch-eh), and I’m in the only room for rent there. The Canadian girls and the French girl found an apartment together, which is on the same street as mine (I haven’t seen it yet, though). I’m hoping to learn some Euskera (Basque, for those unfamiliar with the term), and Iratxe apparently doesn’t just speak it, but teaches it. As well as Spanish, of course.

Aurelie and Martina

I’m so thankful to have some friends, and it will be good as we also get to know Spaniards, but continue to be friends. I've really connected with the people I've met.

Martina, Benedict (from Austria as well), Aurelie…

...this picture was from when we started calling people on a list of apartments. That first day was a lot of walking, and quite exhausting. Martina and I found the apartments on the second day.

Part of Pamplona

I don’t yet have a picture of where I’ll be, so I’ll just use this one of a different part of town. If you know Pamplona, you probably just think of the Running of the Bulls, and may possibly know that it occurs during the Festival of San Fermin. So, that takes place in the Casco Viejo (old helmet), which is an older part of town. The buildings are closer together, and it is definitely the prettiest. There’s a big, beautiful plaza there, Plaza del Castillo. It is also the part of town that seems to have more restaurants, bars, and such things to do in the evenings/nights. My apartment is in the Casco Viejo. Benedict, the Austrian boy in the previous picture, and some other guys have an apartment also in the Casco Viejo, so we’re all close, and if we are out on the weekends, then we will have plenty to do near home so we don’t have to walk home late.

Also, from what I understand, all of Pamplona is pretty safe; there’s no neighborhood that is dodgier than another, and everything is pretty good. Which is nice to know.

With Martina, working on finding an apartment; probably a couple or three hours before we found ours.

So, there’s maybe not much more to say about basic info….let’s see….we had orientation today, walked around the uni, it seems nice, not too huge…..there’s quite a few internationals, and we’re just the ones that are here early for the intensive Spanish course (though there are some Latin Americans that I guess just wanted to go ahead and come, like the Guadalajarian girls here at Merche’s).

So, now just a little about how I feel. I guess I was so apprehensive about traveling, then a bit stressed while traveling, then relieved and tired when I got to Merche’s, then excited at the novelty of Spain/Europe/new friends, then busy with finding an apartment, and now…. Well, now I think I’m still a bit feeling the novelty, but I’m also starting to think about how darn long nine months are. I guess it’s that now I can kind of see how things will be more, now that I know where I’ll be living, and some of who my friends will be. I’ve also come to reconcile myself with the fact that I’m an international student, and people are going to know that, and it’s ok. I think I’ve been afraid that maybe people won’t like an American, but I guess most people probably realize that we’re not all George Bush.

So. Things are going well, I like it here, and am happy. Estoy contenta. Thanks for reading, hope I didn’t write too much and be boring.

Cheers!

(Just a little humour...took this on the bus.... "Asiento Reservado" means seat reserved. Of course, we all know what this means. Seats reserved for old people, people with childrens, and large women. (: )