Despite the fact that I went to bed early, I couldn't fall asleep until 1 a.m. Also, I ended up sleeping through my alarm and was woken up by my host mom at 8:54 a.m. As my luck would have it I had to be at school at 9 a.m. I quickly threw on some clothes and ran to school arriving not so fashionably late. I had already missed the Spanish class placement assignments but luckily ran into my friends who gave me the info. Apparently, I underestimated my Spanish level and placed into Spanish 3. Yay me! The classes that I will be taking are: Organizational Behavior, International Business, Spanish through Gastronomy, Economy of the European Union and Spanish 3 Grammar. I'm very excited to start my classes but not excited about doing homework. I'm also not so fond of my schedule on Mondays and Thursdays because I have a class at 8:30 am., one at 1:10 pm. and one at 5:30 pm. But there's nothing I can really do so I have to deal with it. After second class I went shopping for school supplies with my friends at a mall called El Corte Inglés. Surprisingly, I managed to find some things that were reasonably priced. I only bought a thin binder, some dividers, some paper, an agenda, some pens and a mechanical pencil, which came out to about 15.60 euros. I went home for lunch and my siesta before I went back to school for my last class. After class, I stopped by the mall across the street called Zubiarte to buy a SIM card but they ran out. Now, I'm just sitting at home relaxing a bit before dinner. Also, since it is Labor Day in the U.S. Julian has no school and were finally able to talk! <3 I miss him so much and wish he was here with me! To say the least my day has been interesting.
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Last night I got home at 2:30 a.m. and went to sleep until 1 p.m. Great waste of a day! But at least I'm well rested for my first day of school tomorrow. Most of the day I just lounged around in my room, which was nice. At around 6 p.m. Ignacio (one of my host brothers) gave me a ticket to a musical called Sister Act that started at 7 p.m. (Luckily my house is a 10 min walk away from the theatre.) I ended up going by myself since it was such short notice for my friends but It was awesome! The musical was very funny and the theatre was beautiful. I was actually pretty surprised with how much I understood the story. It was about a singer who was going out with a mafia guy and she accidentally saw him kill a man. Despite swearing her silence, he ordered his men to kill her and she went to the police for protection. The police told her to go undercover for a year as a nun where she taught the other nuns to sing beautifully.
Although, there were some parts where I had no idea why people were laughing because I had no idea what the actor said! That's what happens when you're watching something in a second language! I'm glad I got to go though! Now off to bed early to rest up for school tomorrow. Goodnight! I woke up at 2 p.m. today. Yeah, not my usual but I did go to bed at 4:30 a.m. I definitely needed that 9 hours of sleep to combat jet leg but I don't think it's going to help that much. I was supposed to meet my friends to go out at 1 p.m. but since I slept through all 10 text messages I missed out. I eventually got out of bed and met them at the mall to visit a phone store and ask about different phone plans. Unfortunately, they ran out of SIM cards so I have to wait until Monday hopefully to get one. After, we shopped around in the mall for a bit and then went to our houses. There's another mall closer to my house called El Corte Ingles, which is basically like a giant building that has everything you could imagine. Each level is something different! For example, the lower level has make up store and a pharmacy, the second level has clothes, and the 7th floor has a supermarket. In the supermarket I found an awesome deal on shampoo and conditioner and basically got 2 giant bottles for about $4. It took me a while to find everything and even then I still haven't found some things I need. BUT. I FOUND PRINGLES. And I bought them. YUM :) In the pharmacy I asked where they had facial cleanser and this is what they showed me. It's weird because it's an actual bar of soap but it works amazingly! It's like magic. It makes my face smell amazing, so soft and moisturized! By the time I got home it was around 8 p.m. and then at 10 p.m. I met up with my friends to go out to Algorta (a neighborhood). It was my first time on the metro and it was awesome because it's very simple to use and clean. (I think the cleanest in the world!) The only thing that is weird is that you have to push a button to open the doors going in and coming out! Oh and you have to scan your card when you exit the metro station (although I don't think it charges you). Also, I think it's really cool that all of the cars are connected almost as if they are one big car. Algorta was different than what I was expecting. It looked like real people lived there! And by that I mean, everything had graffiti and had a rustic feel to it. As soon as we got off the metro there was a couple of guys slack lining in between two poles by the park. It was really weird. We went to a bar and had drinks in the square then went to Casco Viejo and Bilbao. I called it quits at 2 a.m. and went home to catch up on sleep. Of course, I slept until 1:20 p.m again. This is definitely not going to be a habit.
Today was AWESOME! In the morning, I managed to walk to school all by myself without a map! Like a freaking pro. All morning we had orientations on academics, safety, and took a tour of the university. The University of Deusto is REALLY beautiful! It was established in the 1800's as a Jesuit institution for the richer kids. The motto of the university is Sapientia Melior Auro, which translated from latin means "Wisdom is better than gold." One of the first rooms they took us in was the dissertation room, which smelled like old musty books but was really cool! Before it was a dissertation room and it used to be a library (as you can see books on the walls) and before that it was a chapel. On front wall you can see 2 coats of arms, the one on the left represents the Jesuit coat of arms, while the one on the right represents the University of Deusto coat of arms. The chapel is dedicated to St. Ignacio de Loyola and many alumni get married there. They also have masses for students and faculty and a confession room to the left. After the tour of the university, a gigantic lunch and some orientation sessions, we went on a tour of Bilbao along the river toward Casco Viejo (Old Town). On the way we saw the Guggenheim Museum, a bridge with a red arch that lights up at night and many sculptures. (You can see it in the background of the 1st photo in the slideshow.) When we arrived at Casco Viejo we were told that in 1983 there was a gigantic flood that reached as high as the 1st floor of the building. The picture on the right has a building with a small oval bronze plate, which is where the water level went up to when that flood happened. (It's right above the blue oval.) Personally, I think Old Town is really awesome! It's a big tourist area so there are a lot of souvenir shops but there are also a lot of candy stores and bakeries. The oldest building in Bilbao is Santiago Church, which started construction in the 14th century. YES. The 14th century. Let that sink in for a bit. Some renovation work was done on the façade to add in Gothic details in the 19th century but not much else. Also, the Santiago Church is famous for being a stop on the religious pilgrimage across the Basque country. If you look on the sidewalks there are blue arrows that would tell the pilgrims the direction to go to continue their pilgrimage, which many people like to do. Over all, Old Town was really nice and after we finished our tour in the square some of my friends and I went to a bar for some drinks and pintxos (basque tapas). Later at night about like 10:30 p.m. we all met in the Old Town square and went bar hopping until 2 am. Surprisingly, there weren't as many people out as we all thought there would be but it was still pretty cool!
Today was the first full day I've spent in Bilbao and to be honest I freakin' love it! Bilbao has a ton of mountains (it's practically made of mountains) so the potential for amazing hikes and beautiful views is endless. This morning my host brother, Carlos, walked with me to the university to show me the way. I'm already adjusting well to Spanish culture and showed up a few minutes fashionably late! (But it didn't matter because other students were late as well.) We had a brief orientation and took our Spanish placement test before we went on our excursion to Plentzia and Getxo, which are kind of like suburbs of Bilbao. As soon as we arrived in Plentzia we went for lunch in a restaurant called Kai Eder. The great thing about lunch in Spain is that they like to take their time enjoying their lunch and then relax afterwards; it usually takes a couple hours and is called a siesta. Our lunch consisted of 3 courses: an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. (P.S. Reasonable portions too!) I ordered Porrusalda (basque vegetable soup), Pollo asado a la cerveza y papas fritas (Beer braised chicken with fries), and un pastel de arroz (Basque rice cake). Everything was very good and flavorful! The french fries were amazing. I think the best I've ever had! Both Plentzia and Gatxo were insanely beautiful and had tons of rich history. They are both about 25-30 minutes away from the city by metro. Plentzia is right by the coast, which has a beautiful beach, and originally was a "fisherman's city" where they fished for whales. They also used to build really big ships there. Now, they just fish for fish and it is considered a resort town because it's occupied by richer people who buy weekend homes to enjoy the beach with their families. Most of the residents of Plentzia work in Bilbao and take the metro to work, leaving the town very quiet during the day.
Today was such an amazing day and I wish I could live here! I can't wait 'till tomorrow!
Adios amigos! As I write this I am 30,000 feet in the air in the isle seat looking out the window at the fluffly clouds! I think there’s a lightening storm not too far, or someone has some really strong strobe lights! HAH. In all seriousness this has been a pretty cool experience so far. My parents, brother and my boyfriend, Julian, dropped me off at the airport about 5 hours ago and said goodbye for the next 4 months. While waiting in the security line I took a picture of them (taking a picture of me leaving) and I was so nervous my hand was shaking, which explains the blurry picture. It’s crazy that I’m not going to see them for that long but I know that I will find comfort with my host family and have a wonderful experience abroad. Checking into security was the usual fun experience. I had just enough time afterwards to browse at some shops to grab last minute Chicago gifts for my host mom and brothers and make it to my gate in time to board my flight. I made my way towards my seat and stowed my carry on above me while a little boy who was a row ahead of me decided to relieve his bowels in his diaper. JESUS. CHIRST. It smelled terrible. Then, turns out he didn’t have a ticket or a seat so that delayed the flight about 15 mins. While he was being cranky and pushing the seat in front of him I noticed he had 12 toes! I had to double count. When I was younger I heard about children being born with extra appendages but I’d never seen it myself. To be honest, you barely notice it. And once you do you’re just like okay.
Anyway, complimentary drinks are served on the flight including the alcohol. The guy next to me really took advantage of that offer and even tried to get me to order drinks for him. I was like LOL no and then ordered a wine! The first 3 hours of the flight I kept myself entertained with the little screen strapped to the seat in front of me, which has United’s version of Netflix. It had a few new releases of movies and TV shows. So far I’ve watched Wedding Ringer, an episode of House and The Big Bang Theory while enjoying snacks, my dinner and dessert. The snack was cheese and crackers; the dinner was chicken with mashed potatoes, some salad thing and a bread stick; the dessert was a tiny tub of vanilla bean gelato. It’s about 10pm right now and were in the middle of the ocean. My flight is scheduled to arrive just in time. I might as well try to get some rest while I can. Goodnight guys. |
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