Day 78 - Before I start talking about Friday, I'll catch you up on the rest of Thursday. After class, I went home and found my clothes still hanging on the drying rack outside. I had no choice but to panic for a few minutes before I rationally told myself to just figure out how to get them down. I took the essentials and literally threw everything into my suitcase (without even folding it!) and ran out the door. I waited 25 mins for the next bus to the airport and hopped on. I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and met up with my friends. The flights to Krakow went smoothly and we even saved money on food because they gave us sandwiches! On the first flight to Munich I ate a chicken and feta cheese sandwich and from Munich to Krakow I tried the cheese sandwich with zucchini and eggplant. They were both really good! By the time we arrived at our hostel it was around 1 am, luckily it was close to the train station. We all decided to wake up early the next morning to explore the city and headed to bed. Friday morning started with a free awesome breakfast provided by the hostel and a walk to the Old Town of Krakow. There we found a "free" 3 hour tour around the city. (It was "free" because at the end you pay how much you think the tour guide deserves.) Our tour guide, Damian, was a historian and gave a great tour that included information about the buildings, history, culture and even great places to eat! After the tour was over, we had about an hour to spare before the next tour in the Jewish Quarter started so we stopped at a pizza/kebab place to get a quick bite to eat. I was speechless because my beef kebab was amazing! Even better, it was less than $3.50 in USD. I really love the pricing in Poland. Everything was sooooooooooo cheap. I almost cried. I should have studied abroad in Poland. The 2.5 hour tour of Jewish Quarter was shorter than the first but just as interesting. Damian was our tour guide again and showed us different synagogues and explained the history of Kazimierz. Unfortunately, the sun set around 4pm so even though it was still the afternoon it felt like it was 9pm by the time we finished our tour. Since we were only a 10 minute walk away from Schlindler's Factory we stopped by to check out the plaque that Kelsey's school put up on the outside. On our walk back to the hostel we bought a Chicken Zapiekanka, which is basically like a pizza sub with a ton of different things on it. We shared it between the 5 of us as a snack before our free dinner at the hostel. Our dinner was a nice spread of chicken, beef, potatoes, pasta, and salad; everything was delicious. Since the kitchen was too small for everyone to fit, we all ate in the living room and mingled with the other people. Most were from Australia but there was also a couple from Canada. We stayed down there for a while talking before going to bed. Day 79 - Our day started with a 6 am alarm and a race to catch the bus to Auschwitz. I realized too late that I left behind my hat and gloves and had to sprint back to get them. I made it to the bus with 2 mins to spare! Our 6 hour tour at Auschwitz started with a cold and rainy day. It was an unreal experience and there are barely any words I can put to describe it. We were shown the life of the prisoners, walked the same path, imagined the experiences together and even had an opportunity to enter one of the gas chambers. That was intense because if you looked at the walls you could see the scratches on the walls. In some of the buildings they had exhibits that showed different valuables once belonging to the people who had lost their lives. Rooms full of pots, pans, suitcases, clothes, shoes, children's toys, even human hair, which was used to make carpets for German residents. BLAH. Just writing about that freaks me out. After 3.5 hours at Auschwitz our tour guide gave us a break where we stopped at a cafe and shared Pierogi's as a snack before moving on. Our next stop was Birkenau, (aka Auschwitz II or Auschwitz-Birkenau), mostly a women's camp but the biggest concentration camp. We were taken through the selection process and walked along the path that many children and elderly did, except our final destination wasn't a "shower." Everything about that visit was powerful and despite the fact that it was depressing, it was an amazing experience. Many people were trying to discourage me from visiting Auschwitz because "it's not important" and "spending time in a nicer place like Paris or London would be better." I'm glad I didn't listen to them. It was an experience I will never forget. After catching the bus back to Krakow and taking a pit stop at the hostel, we ventured out for souvenir shopping at a market followed by dinner. Lauren remembered Damian's suggestion for authentic Polish food at a restaurant called Grandma Rasperberry's. It was decorated really cutely and there was even a man playing piano! I ordered a bread bowl of Goulash and it was amazing! The rest of the night we all relaxed in the common room of the hostel. Day 80 - Instead of getting up early with Joe and Kelsey to visit the cathedral, Matt, Lauren and I slept in. We packed our bags, ate breakfast and headed out to the airport to catch our flight. Of course, the airport was tiny and we went through security within 5 mins, which gave us plenty of down time. Unfortunately, our flight to Munich was delayed an hour which caused us to miss our connecting flight to Bilbao. We were reassigned seats for a connection to Bilbao from Frankfurt. After waiting 4.5 hours in Munich we boarded our 30 min delayed flight to Frankfurt. On the flight to Frankfurt we were freaking out because the layover between our flight to Bilbao was only 20 mins. Needless to say, we ran off the airplane, sprinted across the airport and made it to our gate with a couple mins to spare. Of course, that flight was delayed too and when we landed in Bilbao we had to run out of the airport to catch the last bus to the city at midnight. By the time we all got home it was around 12:30 and were exhausted. At least they gave us snacks on the flights...
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Day 75 - Tuesday was pretty normal but I had a lot of homework to catch up on for class. I tried my hardest not to procrastinate but I think I was pretty tired from my trip and decided to blow off most of my time napping and procrastinating. I also stayed up pretty late catching up with Julian.
Day 76 - Much like Tuesday, I told myself I would do work but didn't really. I went to class in the morning and instead of working on homework took a 3 hour nap. I woke up, ate linner (lunch/dinner) and ran to my afternoon economics class. We ended up getting out early and I met with my conversation partner for a little bit before going home to power through all my homework and getting ready to leave for Poland. Day 77 - Tonight at 6:30pm my plane takes off for Poland, but I have a problem. My host mom still hasn't finished with laundry and I don't have anything but shorts and t-shirts left; not ideal clothes for Poland in November. After class, I'm going to run home and I'm praying my clothes will be on my bed. If not, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to throw my things into my suitcase and run to the bus stop, catch the bus and catch my plane. I'm actually kind of worn out from traveling, especially after the terrorist attacks this weekend. I can't believe I only have one more month left here. It's gone by SOOOOOO fast and despite the fact that I miss home a lot, part of me doesn't want to leave. This vacation is one of my last but it's not going to be all smiles. The main reason were going to Poland is to visit Auschwitz, a not so happy site. Also, it's our last trip together as a group (Joe, Matt, Lauren, Kelsey and I) but I'm glad to be with them again. SO MANY MIXED EMOTIONS!!! I'm looking forward to seeing a completely different country though. I'll make sure to update when I get back. :) Day 70 - As you might have probably guessed from the title I'm in Paris right now with Jeshua. All day I've been so excited to get here and I even ended up leaving my marketing class early. I made it to the airport with plenty of time and took a quick cat nap on the plane. Our arrival was a little goofy because we landed on the runway at 7:30pm but didn't end up getting to our gate until 7:50pm. CDG is a gigantic airport! You need a bus or train to get in between terminals and it's super confusing. Luckily, Jeshua knew where to go for the most part and worked together to get to our Airbnb. Our place is conveniently a minute away from the metro and we had to use a couple codes to get into the place. It was kind of a complicated process but we figured it out! After we settled in and checked out the place, we left our stuff to grab some dinner. Jeshua found a couscous place called L'abribus, just a 5-10 min walk away from our place. It was amazing. We order beef and chicken couscous and it was ready surprisingly quickly. My first thought was that it had to be microwaved or something but the meat was really tender and not overcooked at all. I don't know how they did it but props to them. By the time we got back to our place it was pretty late and we decided to plan out our next few days here. So far, I love Paris (for the 3 hours I've been here). It reminds me of Bilbao and Chicago a lot and it makes me feel like home. It's also great to see a good friend and explore a new city together. P.S. I wrote this on Thursday but for some reason the entire weekend the website did not want to let me publish my posts. Day 71 - Our day started at around 9 am with Jeshua's alarm with really no concrete plans in mind. Our rumbling stomachs took us down the street to a wonderful cafe where we had the biggest breakfast of our lives. For 15 euro we ate a half a baguette with butter and jam, a croissant (a pan au chocolate in my case), a cup of coffee (hot chocolate for me), a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a giant ham and cheese omelet. It was delicious. ESPECIALLY the hot chocolate. It was made with really chocolate so I had to stir the bottom once in a while but it was the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life. If there is one thing I could take home from France it would be that hot chocolate. After our huge breakfast, we waddled to the metro on our way downtown. Instead of transferring to another train we decided to go up and check out the neighborhood where we ended up finding a little flea market where "real people live." It was definitely a different part of Paris. Even though we bought unlimited metro passes, we decided to explore this neighborhood more and head downtown at the same time. We ended up walking pretty far, discovering little things here and there and even finding a palace! It was a nice way to explore a new city, instead of just going to tourist attractions. Although, those were fun too and eventually ended up seeing most of them unintentionally. Because the lines were so long to get into the Norte Dame and Eiffel Tower, we decided to do them later in our trip. (In hindsight, that probably was not the greatest idea...) By the time we got back to the apartment we were completely exhausted. After resting for a bit, we ventured out to the grocery stores to get some food for that night and the next few days. Dinner was well received with delicious pork chops, peppers and salad. Instead of going out that night like we had planned, we decided to stay in and thank God we did. Friday night while we were still in the room listening to music and talking to Bobby and Eli, we found out about that terrorist attacks. It's weird how despite all of the sirens we heard, we didn't think anything of them. I received a message from my friend Joe asking about the attacks and that's when I looked at the news. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes after the first suicide bomb by the stadium went off. I think it was one of the weirdest and scariest situations I've ever been in my life. I was completely safe in the apartment but I was more worried about all the people who were out including our Airbnb hosts. The entire night we sat awake constantly checking the news. More than 100 hostages taken inside the theatre. 20 people confirmed dead. 50 people confirmed dead. Police are storming the theater. Over 100 confirmed dead. State of emergency. Borders closed. Flights restricted. Another attack. More sirens. A lot of anxiety was rushing through all of us. The decision to text my parents and tell them not to check the news but to know that I'm okay. Keeping calm because I knew nothing would happen to me. Our Airbnb hosts didn't get back home until 3:30 am, they told us they were only 200 meters away from one of the shootings. I don't know how but eventually I was able to fall asleep. Day 72 - Saturday we didn't worry about setting an alarm because we weren't sure if we could leave the apartment or not. While making breakfast our Airbnb hosts assured us it would be fine to go out but warned us that most things would be closed. We did a lot of sight seeing that day, which was very heartbreaking because we couldn't even get inside gardens. Everything was closed. There were surprisingly a lot more people outside than I would have thought. It was almost as if nothing had happened. If it weren't for the constant sirens, I wouldn't have known anything happened. Around the corner from our apartment was a beautiful cemetery, so we decided to go there first. Each grave had a little "house" on top that had an altar and kneelers to pray. Some graves were from the 1700's, some were small, some were really impressive and some were completely unique. The cemetery was so big they put in little street signs at every intersecting walk way, which for the amount of people buried there makes sense. Imagine trying to go visit your relatives and not remembering where they were buried. After the cemetery we made our way downtown to sightsee, making our first stop at the Louvre. Of course, we couldn't go inside but it was nice to see the outside. We wandered our way around the city, thinking that at least the gardens would be open. HAH. No. Oh well. I understood. I wasn't mad; it just gives me a reason to come back. The Eiffel Tower was closed as well but I'm pretty sure I made my way onto a news station because I was frolicking behind one of the reporters. By the end of the day, there was not much else we could do so we went home and made dinner. Later that night we went out for a walk and after 10 mins found one of the restaurants with bullet holes in the window. Someone had spray painted a frown underneath it. There were flowers, candles, news reporters, and people praying. In that moment there were no words to describe the atmosphere and even sitting here now writing this I can't explain it. We stayed there for a while to pay our respects before heading home. Day 73 - We ended up staying up super late on Saturday so Sunday we didn't wake up until 1:30pm or so. By the time we made breakfast and got ready for the "day" even though we ended up leaving at 4pm. I mean, it's not like it mattered anyway because everything was closed and we had already done most of the things we wanted to do. (Or better said: Seen most of the things we wanted to do.) We found a basilica on top of a hill where you could see most of the city and we were allowed to go inside even though mass was going on. It was gorgeous. I lit a candle and prayed for the victims and their families to represent that even in dark times there is still a light. We left the basilica and found the sun setting, a beautiful moment for pictures. Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. It was a pretty cool site and we ended up walking down the street finding a closed Christmas market, a palace and a beautiful walkway toward the Eiffel Tower. Before we went home, we bought crepes. Mine was pretty good filled with nutella and bananas but super expensive. From what I saw the entire time I was there though, the price was pretty typical for crepes. Day 73 - We spent our last morning in Paris watching the second democratic debate with Bobby and Eli while packing our suitcases and getting ready for the day. Even though the Luxembourg gardens were closed, we still went to see the outside. We wandered around the area, finding a comic book store, the University of Paris and ended up at the Norte Dame. Since we didn't get to go inside the first day we decided to take advantage of the short line and explore inside. First, it was HUGE. Second, SUPER OLD. Third, INSANELY BEAUTIFUL. Obviously they had done restoration work but they did a really great job. We spent a while there before eating our last meal in Paris at a restaurant. I ordered a ham and cheese salad with Beef Bourguignon. Both were great and the waiter supplied us with unlimited bread. I also stopped at a bakery to pick up some very expensive (but totally worth it) macaroons. We headed back to the apartment to pick our our suitcases before we made our way to the airport. I thought it was going to take us a lot longer to get there and we ended up arriving with a couple hours to spare. Oh well, I'd rather be early than late. Despite the fact that we were super early I almost missed my flight because they didn't display the gate on the screen until 15 mins before boarding and luckily I heard the final call over the intercom. I ran to my gate and found a big line so I wasn't too worried. While I got out my passport, another final call was made and I realized I was at the wrong gate. I ran out of line and across the way, to be one of the last people to board the plane. THAT was scary. I arrived in Bilbao about 2 hours later, waited for the bus and walked home. I was welcomed home with hugs from my host brothers saying they were very worried about me. I felt very loved. :) Despite loving Paris, it was good to be back home and I really did not expect to miss speaking Spanish, but I did. We talked for a while about what happened before I caught up with my family back in Chicago and went to bed. Day 68 - Tuesday was a good day because in the morning I found out I got an A on my Spanish test! Go Patricia! Too bad I'm not taking that class for a grade. On my way to International Business I went to the cafe at school to satisfy an unavoidable craving for a napolitana. I've blogged about them one of the first days I came here. They're kind of like chocolate croissants and heaven. They are super addicting and I hope I have enough time to try making them here before I go. I ended up getting out of class early and decided to take a siesta since I was falling asleep in class. Two hours later I woke up...I have no control. I was able to yet again power through my homework even things that weren't due until next week because I'm leaving to Paris on Thursday! I'm meeting Jeshua there and I can't believe we're going to be there for 5 days! Hopefully I won't have a lot of homework due on Tuesday because my flight doesn't get back until late Monday night. Day 69- FINALLY! I AM CAUGHT UP WITH MY BLOGS! I hate being behind but blogging while on trips is nearly impossible because I don't have time and I don't want to take my laptop around everywhere. After class, I came home and chatted with Jeshua while finishing my econ paper. I made pasta for lunch but it didn't come out as great as I thought it would. Oh well! I had pasta and it's Wednesday, that's all that matters. My economics class got out early today too so i had just enough time before bed to finish all of my homework and pack for Paris. Now that I think about it, I didn't really do much exciting things but I'm excited for Paris! Don't worry I'll try to update over there but I can't make any promises! Day 65 - My day started with some breakfast from a bakery that one of Matt's friends suggested. It was just off La Rambla and specialized in quality products (aka expensive) that were good. Since lunch in Spain is later than in the US, I unintentionally carb loaded by trying the veggie focaccia, a lemon muffin and a cheese brioche. The only thing I wasn't really fond of was the cheese brioche. After breakfast, we headed to the Sagrada Familia only to find out that tickets were sold out until 2pm. Yay for not planning! Instead of waiting there for 2 hours we headed to Camp Nou, Barcelona's soccer stadium. That day I made sure to wear Julian's Messi jersey because taking it to the stadium was one of the only reasons I went to Barcelona. Joan Miro park was next on our list but my first impression was that it wasn't as pretty as I thought. As I walked in further (like every other park) it was beautiful. There were a ton of palm trees everywhere and there was even a "garden hallway" with flowers all around! I spent a lot of time there just relaxing and enjoying the scenery before we headed to Plaza Catalunya. I wasn't surprised that there really wasn't much to see in the plaza. We stopped for gelato to eat up (literally) some extra time before we could enter the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is hands down my favorite basilica. Compared to the other churches and cathedrals, Antonio Gaudi made the inside very simplistic. If you look at the outside of the basilica you would assume that the inside would be very similar but its not overwhelming. I don't know how to describe it but it's simply complex. The pillars on the inside represent trees in a forest and if you look closely at the ceiling you can see the leaves of the trees. We paid an extra few euro to be able to go up one of the towers, which was pretty cool. The entire basilica is being constructed solely by donation; just the way Guadi wanted it. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's completed. By the time we left the Sagrada Familia my feet were exhausted and even though I had skipped lunch, I wanted to prevent a headache and stopped at a fruit market for snacks. Until we went out for tapas, I spent most of the time relaxing in the hotel and talking to Julian before he went to work. After searching for what felt like forever, I finally found a really good tapas bar called Sensi. Even though it was expensive it was worth it because all of the other tapas bars were catering to tourists and it was hard to escape the over priced bars. While at the bar I ordered a Vermut because the tourist map said it was a typical wine that was flavored with fruit (now that I think about it maybe they meant sangria...). It turns out it's basically a sweeter version of an old-fashioned. It wasn't bad but I was definitely looking forward to a sangria type drink. I guess that's my fault for believing a tourist map. Lesson learned. Day 66 - Sunday morning I did not want to get out of bed but when I finally did, I stopped at the bakery across the street for breakfast. The first place we visited was Mountjuic, which used to be a Jewish cemetery converted to a fortress and then a prisoners "castle." It only cost 3 euro to get in and it was pretty cool to see. After we got back down the mountain we headed all the way across the city to Park Güell, which was another hike up. It was definitely worth it for the views and being able to see Guadi's house. When we got back down we stopped by a cafe for lunch but it was pretty expensive since it was really close to the park. The food was average and the entire lunch only took us 30 mins! That's so unheard of in Spain but I think here they cater to tourists more, which is sad because you lose so much of the culture. After our quick lunch we headed to the Piccasso Museum and stood in line for an hour to get in for free. I loved the museum but there were some parts that were a little strange. I noticed throughout my trip that most people in Barcelona don't really speak Spanish. Everything is in Catalan, then they'll speak to you in English and then Spanish. The entire time I was there I was speaking Spanish and I threw so many people off it was ridiculous. They would stand there in shock and not know what to say. Even when we went to the bar for tapas, the bartender kept speaking to us in English even though I spoke solely in Spanish. Eventually, he was stopped and said, "Wait, you speak Spanish really well!" Day 67 - Monday I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4 am to make it to my 7 am flight. I went to bed early the night before so I got plenty of sleep but I still managed to knock out for an hour on the plane. I woke up at the perfect time in the middle of my slumber to catch a beautiful sunrise. Life goal complete. I hurried off the plane to the bus stop but unfortunately missed the first bus to the city. Another one came about 30 mins later and I ran into class 40 mins late. (Don't worry I told my professor I would be late).
After class, I made my way home looking forward to my roasted vegetables but apparently Ignacio liked them so much he left only 2 pieces...Thanks... Luckily I had the leftover pasta which was absolutely delicious! I productively powered through all of my homework, figured out my class schedule, sent post cards and made food, even while talking to Bobby and Eli! After my afternoon class, I registered for Julian's and my classes, made dinner (eggplant pizzas again! woo!), met with Lyuda for Enactus, and sat in the Enactus meeting! Day 63- Thursday I had my Spanish midterm, which was a lot easier than I thought. Looks like all that studying paid off because I was the first one to finish! After I got out, I attempted to use my time to figure out my schedule for next semester but ended up talking to friends. I'm freaking out a little because I don't know if I'm going to graduate on time. The stress of being back home is already getting to me. I also started applying for internships and jobs but so far they all want me to wait until I get back in the US to apply. On a happier note, in my International Business class today we watched a documentary made by 4 college students who spent a summer in Guatemala living on $1 a day. It was very eye opening and I felt kind of bad because these families don't know where their next meal is will come from while I am frustrated that I can't do everything I want. After the documentary, my teacher gave us a website where we can loan money to families in the form of small amounts called micro financing. I instantly made the connection with Enactus and thought this would be a great way for us to have an impact by loaning some money. We could even do awareness events, it will be awesome! Hopefully, everyone else agrees. If you'd like to help out visit: kiva.org I left my marketing class a few minutes early to have enough time to go home, pick up my suitcase and head to the airport. Again, getting to the airport was a breeze and we arrived with plenty of time. The flight to Barcelona went by really quick because I spent the entire time writing; besides it's not like an hour is a long time. We navigated our way through the airport, took a bus to the metro and arrived at our hotel within 45 mins. We invested in 4 day metro passes to be able to use the metro as much as we want while we were there. In order to get our money back we would have to use it 10 times. Not too hard. After we settled into our room we headed out for dinner at a "Mexican style" restaurant. The food was good but nothing compared to Asadero back home. The rest of the night we used the free map that we got from our bus ride to the city to pin point all of the places we wanted to visit before we went to bed. Day 64- Thursday night before I went to bed I remembered that Matt snores like a train so being in the same room and getting sleep didn't seem possible. As I expected, every couple hours I woke up to a roaring snore. Instead of waking up at 8 like I was supposed to, I woke up 40 mins later to recover some of the sleep I had lost. We spent the morning getting breakfast and exploring the Gothic Quarter, stumbling upon the market I wanted to go to. It was cool but I liked the market in London a lot better. Since we had so much time there we didn't have to worry about seeing everything in one day and could take some time to explore. We walked along La Rambla and then visited the Museum of Illusions. It was pretty cool but the lighting was awful and made some of the pictures come out with hotspots. Check out the pictures! We also saw the cathedral and the Picasso museum but decided to wait until Sunday to get in for free. On our way to the park we found a place to eat for lunch. In an effort to embrace Catalan culture I ordered a traditional pasta dish, portions with veggies and potatoes and flan. When my first plate came I was greeted by pasta with clams. Instead of returning it (because I don't like seafood) I swallowed my pride and ate as much of it as I could. It was good; I just couldn't stand the taste of fish. Luckily, I had delicious bread to cover up the taste. The second plate couldn't have come sooner and it was so delicious. The flan was okay but not the greatest. After we paid for our food the waitress offered to show us the private dining room they had for parties downstairs. It was absolutely gorgeous. Definitely a place to keep in mind for a huge fancy dinner party. The park reminded me of the one in Madrid and so far Barcelona hadn't impressed me too much but once we walked more inside and found a beautiful fountain, I was in awe. There's just something about parks that I love. I spent most of my stroll through the park thinking about back home and how much I miss everyone. If only they were all with me sharing in the experiences, everything would be much better. The shocking thing is that I don't have that much time left here. Most of this month I'm going to be on some of my last vacations os the weeks are going to fly by and before I know it I'll be in the Bilbao airport heading home. It's kind of crazy to think of but I think it will be bittersweet. After the park, we headed to the beach, which was beautiful. Never in my life would I have thought I would be able to walk along the Mediterranean Sea while the water splashed against my feet. By the time we made it to the hotel we were both pretty tired and relaxed for the rest of the night. Since we were still full from lunch we decided not to go out for tapas. I'm glad because because that meant I could shower early and turn in for the night.
Day 60- Monday the usual with classes. I used most of my afternoon to finish the second economics paper and any other homework I had. Earlier that morning my host mom had changed her mind about making lunch for me and said it would be easier if I just made all my meals for myself. I am totally okay with making my own meals because now I can start working on losing all the weight that I gained here. I set out to continue a similar routine I started back home by accurately measuring my progress every week. Hopefully, I can achieve my goal before I go! After class this evening I decided to go on a walk to complete my 12,500 step goal. Matt joined me and we walked along the river by Deusto until we happened upon a park. I was too excited and was desperately looking for swings only to find out there were none. The unique obstacle I had to climb/tightrope on to get to the top of the slide made up for it though. Many times I thought I was going to slip or mis-step, fall through and then get chopped in half. Luckily, I was skilled enough that I was able to avoid such a tragedy. After pretending I was a princess, flying an airplane, and experiencing something that vaguely reminded me of teacups, we continued with out walk along the river. Since it was dark out all the lights made the walk that much prettier. We stopped on the white bridge and just watched the tide go out until we were tired and went home. P.S. I didn't blog Monday night because I was studying from my marketing midterm. Day 61- Tuesday morning I made myself a hearty egg sandwich for breakfast; a rare occurrence in Spain. Instead of packing myself a lunch I just packed some carrots because I ate breakfast pretty late. My marketing midterm was pretty tricky but I think I did okay on it. By the time I got home I was pretty hungry so I decided to start cooking my dinner: Eggplant Pizzas. I know it sounds weird but it was really delicious! Essentially just replace the bread with an eggplant slice! After dinner, I went to my room and did homework until it was time to go to bed. Day 62- Wednesday consisted of the usual routine with class in the morning and at night. I spent most of the time in between class studying for my Spanish midterm that was on Thursday and packing for my trip to Barcelona with Matt. For lunch I whipped up some green beans with garlic and a salad. After 2 months of being veggie deprived, most of my meals are centered around veggies. I LOVE IT. For dinner, I made a poor women's version of Chicken Broccoli Alfredo because I didn't have heavy cream so instead just topped it with shredded cheese. Delicious! Of course, it was nothing like if I made it at home but with what I had I'd say I did a great job. While making my dinner, I decided to roast my zucchini, red pepper and eggplant for lunch when I got back home on Monday. (Also, that way they wouldn't get ruined.) I left the pan on top of the stove to cool while I worked on some homework. Ignacio came home and asked if I could teach him how to make the eggplant pizzas. I told him they were really easy to make and only took 1 hour from start to finish. He looked pretty disappointed and said, "Isn't food in the U.S. made much faster than that?" I explained that 40 mins out of the hour the dish was in the oven but in my house 1 hour to make dinner from start to finish (including cleaning) is really fast. It seems to me that they are more of Rachel Ray cooks than Chef Ramsay. I say that because almost all of their cooking methodology is to do things quicker. Example: They will microwave a potato to cook it instead of boiling it. I'm sure this probably has to do with the fact that electricity is more expensive here but still. Anyway, to each his own but I prefer Chef Ramsay. He asked if he could try the roasted veggies because they smelled good and of course I told him yes. As I was falling asleep in bed later that night I suddenly remembered I forgot to put away the veggies. I ran to the kitchen to discover they had already been put in the fridge and I also noticed only half of it was left. Well....I guess my cooking is just that good! :) Sundays are usually my set day to do homework both here and at home. I have even more motivation to save my homework for Sundays here because EVERYTHING is closed. Even though it was a beautiful day outside I forced myself to stay inside and be productive. I wasn't as productive as I wanted to be but I still got some homework and things done.
I ate a filling lunch of baked chicken and potatoes with my host mom and brother. I was super stuffed afterwards but instead of taking my siesta I just watched 2 episodes of Gran Hotel. Later in the day I Face Timed with my mom, Sitti, Georgette, Valerie, and Julian (all at different times). It was nice to catch up with everyone. My mom and I even got a work out session in! Other than that I didn't really do much else. I guess today wasn't as productive as I thought. I was pretty lazy today because I didn't change out of my pj's until 1:30pm. I spent my morning talking to Eli and Bubbles. I had the whole apartment to myself because my whole host family went out somewhere. My host mom told me to just make whatever I want for lunch. I was so excited! I made myself a burger topped with tons of spinach and green peppers. Since we didn't have french fries I cut up some carrots and had carrot sticks to keep it healthy. ;) Simply delicious. After lunch I decided to go shopping again and ventured out to buy my trench coat. Instead of going back home after I bought the coat I went shopping in Casco Viejo. I stumbled upon a random book fair and found 2 precious gems that I have been looking for since I came; authentic Spanish pastry cookbooks. As the sky got darker, the festivities started and everyone was dressed up. Most people don't realize that Halloween is actually a Christian holiday and is celebrated differently around the world. Here, kids don't really go trick or treating rather they all play in the plazas together while their parents are in bars. Everyone dresses up for halloween here and a lot of people were really creative with their costumes! Before I went out with my friends I chatted with my parents and made another delicious veggie meal, which consisted of salad, rice and stir fry veggies. I cleaned up my mess and headed out to Areeta to meet up the gang at a nice bar. We spent the night talking and waiting for special halloween drinks but they kept pushing back the time they were going to serve them. At 1 am they told us 2:30 am. I wasn't really interested in waiting that long so I decided to head home. All night I didn't feel tired but when I got on the metro it really hit me and I was glad I was heading home to sleep.
Today I went for a morning run...to the bus stop. I really have no idea where my time went but before I knew it, it was 8:35 while I was making my breakfast. That's when I started running. I thought I was going to be left behind but I arrive as soon as everyone was getting on the bus. The ride to France was nice, as usual the beautiful mountains of Bilbao did not disappoint. Our first stop in France was a little town called Saint Jean de Luz. It was enchanting, not even 5 mins in the town and I was in love. We saw the Saint Jean de Luz church, which was very beautiful. Then they let us have free time and conveniently dropped us off at a market. It had anything that you could imagine! I passed a woman who was selling different types of honey and bought a little package for my dad. :) Our teachers also told us that the chocolate is phenominal so I bought a variety box to try. I wonder if it will last 2 months until I go back home? I do have to mention though that I have not been more useless in a conversation. Everyone spoke French obviously but all I could say was "Bonjour" and "Merci." They could tell I was clueless when they spoke because I looked like a deer in headlights. Even still, I managed to navigate around the town and purchase things. I definitely want to brush up on my French before I go to Paris. I also really want to go to culinary school in France. Wouldn't that be awesome? The free samples today have confirmed my decision. At around 12:45 we met at the bus and headed to the restaurant for our 4 course lunch. When we arrived, we had our own room with the tables already set (bread included). Our 2 hour lunch consisted of a 4 course meal of pimientos rellenos de bacalao, ensiled iberica, duck confit and an apple tart tatin. Everything was delicious and I was surprised the peppers didn't taste like fish. Afterward, we headed to Biarittz, another beautiful town. I bought some macrons (the original uncolored ones) and gelato while walking on our tour. When we came up to the beach I was mesmerized by the waves. Unfortunately, we only had 30 mins of free time in the city and I wanted to buy postcards but couldn't. The bus ride home was okay, since it was dark out I just looked out the window and tried to take a nap. When we arrived in Bilbao, I walked home hoping that Zara would still be open to buy my trench coast. Unfortunately they weren't so I have to buy it tomorrow. When I got home I was excited to relax a little bit before going out again with my friends. All was fine and dandy until I realized that the housing officer talked to my host mom. I went to the kitchen to get water and it all got more interesting from there. They were upset at me for talking to the housing officer! My host mom freaked out and was like, "Listen, Begoña called me and said you don't like my food and that you want more veggies but you don't eat veggies." Long story short: I stood in the kitchen for 30 mins in a very awkward and uncomfortable situation getting scolded. We decided I will write them a list of my dinners for the week, then they'll buy what I need and I can make my dinners but they'll still make breakfast and lunch. I really don't understand why they were so mad. Don't they get that's why I was nervous to tell them? I mean, one of the first weeks I came here I told them honestly that I was complicated and it would be better if I cooked for myself to avoid any problems, did they listen? No.
For those of you that thought I was cooking for myself since my "Success" blog post: Right after I cooked that meal my host brother knocked on my door and brought me to the kitchen where my host mom was sitting. They wanted to make a list of all the veggies I liked so they know what to cook with. For more than an hour we sat and I explained every exception and particulars of veggies I like. Apparently, when I gave them the list of foods I didn't like they did not assume that I liked everything else. Example: green beans. My host mom saw me eating green beans that day and she was like you didn't tell me you liked green beans. *Sigh* Anyway, after we finished the list was tacked onto the fridge and they said they would cook from then on. So, I have only cooked once since I've been here. ANYWAY, it's all in the past now. When the uncomfortable situation was finally over, they left and I got to make my dinner with the veggies they had bought. I ate carrots with salad and sautéed eggplant, spinach and peppers. It was delicious. I didn't eat much because I was still full from the enormous lunch. I was glad to have an excuse to leave the house and meet up with my friends. We hung out in Getxo and I stargazed for the rest of the night. |
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