Last night in San Sebastian

Hey Guys,

Today has been really fun. We went on a walking tour of the city this morning, and checked out the gorgeous views of the beach. A big group of us got pintxos (appetizers, small sandwiches, etc) at this little restaurant in old downtown. Our server was from Germany, and it was pretty funny because I kept talking in Spanish and he kept answering in English. All we hear is Spanish 24/7, so I get in this mode, and I don’t realize when someone switches languages on me anymore. It’s most common with hotel staff, guides, etc…keeps throwing me off.

After lunch we all headed to the beach (Playa Concha). We laid out for awhile, then swam in the ocean. We made it out to a floating dock with a slide and a diving board, and fell asleep on it for a few hours. It was really relaxing, I have a feeling we will make quite a few trips to the beach in the next month. I went running yesterday on the walking trail next to the ocean, so I counted the swim as my workout. It had to be over ½ mile in total. Beats Hudy any day!

Tonight we ate at a restaurant overlooking the ocean and watched the sun set. We walked on the beach back to the hotel, and played in the sand. It was so peaceful there. On the way back we saw all these snails crawling on the concrete. We leave for Barcelona in the morning; it’s a 7 hour bus ride. I should get there mid-afternoon, so about 10 AM your time. I will be glad to get there and stay in one place for awhile. I am sick of packing my stuff every night. Love and miss you all.

Hasta Luego,

Becca

Welcome to Basque country..now leaving Spain

Hey guys,

Today we drove to San Sebastián. It was a pretty long bus ride, but thanks to my severe sleep deprivation I was knocked out most of the way. We stopped in Bilbao to tour the Guggenheim Museum. Not only am I sick to death of museums, the Guggenheim is really abstract. I don’t really get abstract, especially when the explanations behind the pieces are in Spanish. I was about ready to get out of there. We ate lunch at a Turkish restaurant, and I had some more doner kepap (pita, lamb meat, combination of ranch and Catalina dressing, lettuce, tomato). The U.S. is missing out, I think that will be my contribution to American history. I will bring that back with me to the States.

San Sebastián is in the Basque country (same as Barcelona), on the northern coast of Spain. The drive was up into the mountains, quite a change from Madrid, which is on a high plateau. Catalán (the Basque province) wants to be independent from Spain. They speak Euskera instead of Castellano (Spanish), so I don’t understand most of the signs. In Euskera, the city is actually called Donastia. People generally speak Spanish if they know you are foreign—which they do with us, because we stick out like a sore thumb—but there is a lot of nationalism involved so some people refuse.

It’s really easy to see the tension, between all the pro-Basque political graffiti or the fact that the Basque blue-and-white flag is above the Spanish one on the town hall. It was really evident at the Eurocup game last night. A bunch of us when to old downtown to watch it at a bar, and we were pretty surprised to see many people wearing German jerseys instead of Spanish. A few in our group wore the Spanish flag tied around their neck for the game in Salamanca, which isn’t Basque. People were celebrating in the streets after the win, it was great. When we tried that here, we were told to take it off because, “We aren’t in Spain anymore.” After Spain won, some people were celebrating in the street. All of the sudden, people started opening their windows from upstairs apartments and egging them.

Because of all the tension, it wasn’t very fun to be here when Spain won. I wish we could’ve been in any other province for the game. Those sentiments will continue for the rest of the trip, however, as Barcelona is also in Basque country. Other than that, San Sebastián is absolutely gorgeous. It is right by the ocean, with mountains in the distance. Every residence has flower boxes in the windows, and the buildings are very ornate. There is a huge statue of Jesus on the hill, and all the streets are cobblestone.

Since we didn’t want to get egged, we played it cool last night. We grabbed hamburgers (with egg on top…different) and ice cream, then got a couple of bottles of wine and hung out in the hotel. I don’t know what we were doing, but we didn’t go to bed until 4:30 AM again. Our sleep schedule is so random now that I don’t even know. I guess that’s what midday naps are for!

Hasta luego,

Becca

P.S. I posted a video of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca during the Eurocup game. Check out my previous posts.

P.P.S. I feel like I'm posting to no one. I'd love a comment...throw me a bone here!

Fiesta de San Pedros

Hey guys,

This morning we took off for Burgos. It was about a 4 hour bus ride, and you can tell we are farther north. It is way colder in the mornings and evenings. I slept most of the way. We took a walking tour of the city, including the cathedral. It was beautiful, but I feel like I am getting desensitized by all of it. After a while every cathedral and museum seem the same I guess. Some parts of the cathedral were cool: the statue of the Virgin Mary has 190 lbs of gold, and there’s a carriage drawn through the streets every Easter that has 425 lbs of silver. We saw a painting of Mary Magdalene done by Da Vinci, and horizontal organ pipes, which I guess are pretty unique. When we were walking to lunch we saw a parade of giant wooden men randomly walking down the street. Kelsey and I got bocadillos; I had one with eggs, potatoes and onions. I heard about morcilla today, which is a delicacy made from rice and pig blood. Pretty excited to try it.

The end of June has the biggest fiestas in Burgos (right now we are in the middle of the Fiesta de San Pedros) so tonight there was a mock bullfight, fireworks, and a parade at 3 AM. Kelsey and I got stickers from two older couples on the way to dinner. We had paella negra, which is a seafood dish made with black rice. Looks gross, tastes amazing. Everyone is really friendly and helpful here. Tomorrow we leave for San Sebastián, which is close to a 5 hour bus ride. We stayed up tonight until 5 AM, so my guess is I will sleep for most of that one too.

I loaded some videos of the cathedrals; one is of the Sacristia, where the priest changed in the 1200s. The other is of the main chapel of the cathedral in Salamanca.

When Spain wins the EuroCup, it´s like the Jayhawks winning the NCAA tournament...

Hi Guys,

I forgot to tell you that yesterday on the drive to Salamanca, a rock from a passing truck smashed the outside window next to Tammy. Luckily there were two panes of glass, because it instantly spider-webbed, then started to break off. It made a huge noise like a gunshot, so I immediately thought of the movie “Babel.” It was pretty strange.

It is a lot harder to get around in Salamanca than in Madrid, even though the population is only 160,000 compared to almost 4 million. The streets don’t run straight, and change names almost every block. If you get even one block over, it’s super easy to get lost. We watched Spain in the Eurocup in the Plaza (they won 2-0) and ran around Salamanca with all the Spaniards celebrating afterwards. Kelsey and I bought wine for only 3.60 euros and sandwiches for dinner. I was still pretty full from that amazing lunch. I realized today too that the Plaza de Mayor is the setting for the beginning of Vantage Point.

After the game I went back to the hotel with Mel and Kelsey. We got lost of course and had to ask for directions 3 times. We actually made an entire circle before we oriented ourselves, but we came back to the room to drink a little wine and relax before going out. We were so busy chatting that we forgot all about celebrating the victory until 3:30 AM. It was actually a really deep conversation about religion, which didn´t end until 5 AM. Most of the girls on this trip are a bunch of whiny, spoiled sorority girls, so I don´t know what we would all do without each other. They are rude to the Spaniards, complain constantly, and think that everyone conform to their American ideas of life. I am embarassed that they are representing the U.S. to these people. We didn´t start hanging out with Mel until yesterday, but we are starting to form our own little circle of friends within the entire group.

Today we did a walking tour of Salamanca. We saw the church of Jerónimos (amazing, I will upload video later), the Ursula monastery, and the University of Salamanca. The church was built in the 1300s and has the forearm of a martyr for its relic. There are tombs below the floors, and we were able to sit in the same chapel used by monks and priests more than 800 years ago. The University is the oldest in Spain as it was founded in the 1200s. There is red writing all over the walls in Latin from victorious bullfighters who mixed the bull´s blood with olive oil for paint. Pretty crazy stuff! We leave for Burgos tomorrow morning. I uploaded some pictures to the other blogs if you want to check those out.

Hasta luego,

Becca

I think I was a Spaniard in my past life :)

Hi everyone!

I am in Salamanca right now at an internet café with a bunch of other students. We just ate at an amazing restaurant. Every one has a menú del día, which is a 3 course meal that includes dessert and wine for about 11€. Kelsey and I have been sharing most of our meals because it´s a lot of food, and cheaper to boot. The first course was a kind of beef stew, with mushrooms and potatoes. The main course was trout, but it was whole--gills, head, eyes, everything. It was really delicious though, but you had to watch for fish bones. It came with a salad, and then we had flan for dessert. I think I am becoming a wine conneisseur, too :) Actually I am clueless and usually ask what is good or stick with the house wine. Kelsey drinks a lot of wine back home, so she helps me out too. We are going to the Plaza Mayor tonight to watch the Eurocup soccer game. Spain is still in it, so if they win it should be pretty crazy to see. We stayed in Ávila yesterday, which is a walled medieval city. Kelsey and I went to a local bar. There was only a few guys in their 50s there, so they gave us some pretty strange looks when we first walked in. Most people over the age of 30 don´t speak a word of English. We struck up a conversation and ended up talking with them for over an hour. They were really nice, and we talked about everything from American politics and the election, to the war in Iraq and the price of gas. None of them have been to America, so they asked a lot of questions about what it´s like. I took tons of pictures already, but will have to wait until Barcelona to post them all. It is so pretty here! We also went to a monastery in San Lorenzo, and two museums with works by Greco, Goya, Picasso, and Dalí. Picasso doesn´t make any more sense up close! We met a lot of fun people in Madrid too from Brazil, London, and France. I love Spain! We are in Salamanca until Saturday, then move on to Burgos. Hope everyone back home is well, talk to you soon.

Hasta luego,
Becca

Madrid Day One

We made it to Madrid! Kelsey and I ended up sitting next to each other on both flights, so we talked quite a bit. Then we had wine, popped some cold medicine, and knocked ourselves out for the overnight flight. It was a little less than 7 hours, so not bad. After we landed, we went through customs and got on the bus with the rest of the group. We came to our hotel, the Florida Norte, and checked in. We ran to the grocery store for snacks and shopped in the mall across the street before coming back for a much needed nap! I got a watch and a purse so far, but I plan to do some damage shopping in the weeks to come. It's pretty hot here, and no A/C in our rooms, so it gets really stuffy. Otherwise things are remarkably similar to the U.S. Of course we have to speak Spanish, which is actually going really well. We asked for directions, took the metro for Japanese food, shopped, and exchanged currency, all in Spanish with not too much difficulty. It takes a lot of concentration though to listen and interpret, so it tires me out. I'm sure it will get easier the longer I am immersed in it. Tomorrow we take a bus tour and explore Madrid a little more. I am on the hotel computer because wireless isn't working, but hopefully it will be fixed so I can use my own computer and set up Skype. I will keep you posted!

Love and miss you lots,

Becca

One workout and counting until Spain!

I have been measuring my time until Spain in workouts instead of days, because they are much more influential on my life. I am very nervous/excited/anxious about going right now. I have high expectations, but don't know what to expect. I already miss Kansas and my circle of friends and teammates. They became my safety net when I had to leave home, and it will be hard to break that dependence at first, even if it is only for 6 weeks.

I figure it will be the longest period of time I have been without organized basketball for over 6 years. A friend of mine going, Brandon, says he will work out and lift with me. We plan to find a rec league in Barcelona to hoop, and he will help me stay motivated.

I'm also interested to see how my Spanish will hold up. I expect to be really frustrated at first when I don't understand native speakers. The Basque region of Spain (where Barcelona is) has a unique accent on top of it all. I don't know if fluency is too lofty a goal in 6 weeks, but I'm optimistic.

Here are some websites:

Intro Tour of Spain:

June 23-25th- Madrid

Our hotel in Madrid: http://www.hotelfloridanorte.com/
It’s in Spanish, obviously, but you just click on “fotos” and check out the building! You can also translate the page if you search for the hotel’s name in Google.
June 25-26- Avila

The hotel website: http://www.hotel-cuatropostes.es/avilahotel/esp/index-esp.htm
Look on the left for Guía del Ávila and Fotos del Hotel tabs. The former has a few pictures of major city attractions.


June 26-28- Salamanca

http://www.hoteles-silken.com/salamanca_ronadalba_fotos_2/gallery.php/24/10/0/0/1/1/



June 28-29- Burgos

http://www.hotelcordon.com/es/contenido/?idsec=3


June 29-July 1- San Sebastian

http://www.hotelsansebastian.net/index.php?seccion=galeria&galeria=presentacion


July 1-August 2- Barcelona
We will then arrive in Barcelona and stay at the Collegi Major Sant Jordi. Our classes are from the Universitat de Barcelona.

General pics of our dorm: http://www.cmsantjordi.com/information.php

An interactive map of our dorm: http://www.cmsantjordi.com/facilities.php

A great site to learn more about the city: http://www.bcn.es/english/ihome.htm
The tourism link on the lefthand side is especially interesting.

One of the world’s largest outdoor markets, La Boquería is in the heart of downtown Barcelona. http://www.boqueria.info/Eng/index.php
Here’s the link to an interactive map of the market: http://www.boqueria.info/Eng/index.php

Hasta luego,

Becca