The Youts

Well, another weekend successfully passed me by and was spent sleeping, eating, drinking, and exploring in Bilbao, although I mostly just explored the same areas I've been to before- I'm just getting familiar with the local people and customs. These weeks are starting to fly by though, I'd better get some traveling in soon!

One of the groups of people I'm very slowly meeting and even more slowly understanding are the young peeps here in Bilbao. Now, they are very similar to the college-age kids around cities in the US, because there are couple-y ones, athletic ones, studious ones, short ones, tall ones, red ones, blue ones, you get the idea.
HOWEVER, at the same time they are completely different in how they like to actively live and be in the world, in 3 simple ways:

HAIR: These peeps have little to no fashion sense when it comes to hair. So far I've seen more mullets than Pittsburgh, mohawks, shags, weird short bangs, rat-tails, dreadlocks, dreadlock mullets (god-awful, trust me), but the worst of all has to be the mullet-mohawk combo. Mostly guys have this look although I've seen some ladies with questionable taste in hairstyles. I just don't understand it, because in most senses the Europeans are ahead of Americans in fashion and tend to wear styles that come into play much later in the US. But this hairstyle had better not ever EVER come to the US, it's dirty, messy, I don't get it. No comprendo.


PDA: Last week, my friends and I tried to hit up the "Casco Viejo" section of Bilbao, which is the old quarter and supposedly pretty bumpin' come Friday/Saturday night. because of tapas bars (called pintxos here, like pintchos). Alas, there is really only one or two blocks that are bumpin' because the rest of it is full of young Spaniards who are EXTREMELY in love. We're talking full-blown make-out sessions in and sometimes literally on top of the streets, as well as small groups of who knows how many people all doing something weird. Idk, they really have no qualms about PDA here, hand-holding is something even just-friends do, so use your imagination as to what else these crazy youts do on the streets, especially on Friday/Saturday nights in the dark twisted streets of Casco Viejo (OH EM GEE talk about culture shock).

SMOKING: HO-LY COW. These peeps like to smoke, a lot! Unlike the bars of the US, there is smoking permitted almost everywhere except some hotel lobbies, the library, and the computer lab at school. That's about it though, and it's not even the youths to blame. The weekends out with my family have shown me how parents relax after grade school sports- go to the closest bar, drink hard-core mixed drinks (think on-the-rocks type drinks, very little fluff), and smoke a pack or two of cigarettes EACH. It's no wonder the kids here all have lung-cancer! Ok, so maybe they don't have lung cancer, but it is ironic because the youths here do spend about 85% of their time outside, either smoking or just hanging out in the nice temps, so chances are they are actually semi-healthier than the youth in the US regardless of how much smoke they directly inhale into their little Spanish lungs. Again, no comprendo. I will probs never take up smoking and being surrounded by clouds of smoke everywhere I go won't help that; but smoking is such a social event in Spain that cigarette breaks are like recess and you get funny looks from the students when you don't join in between classes. Oh well, call me a noob cause I ain't playing that recess game, NO GRACIAS.


Well that's all the news I have from Espana, this upcoming weekend I am going to Barcelona with the chicas so the next entry will be packed full of pics and comments from my mini-adventure in southern Spain. Get excited! (I know I am!)

OMG I just ate what??

The subject of this entry can be deduced from the title, which is what I ask myself after almost every meal here so far: what the heck is going on in the cuisine in Spain? Some of the dishes are pretty easy to distinguish, like pollo and fritos (chicken and french fries) or sopa de lentejuelos (lentil soup), however every OTHER meal is made up of a variety of food odds and ends that I've learned are best explored AFTER eating them (don't get me wrong, I'll pretty much eat anything, mostly even after discovering what's inside).

For example, last night I had a special sausage that is a Spanish specialty all over the world but especially in the Basque country and Spain itself. I looked like any other sausage I've tried, and since I know I LOVE chorizo I figured I'd love this special dish as well. My host family had told me the name of it several times before but I could not quite remember it exactly (although it sounded so familiar), until after I tried some and LOVED it. Then I asked again for the name and it stuck this time, mostly because I remembered where I'd heard it before: morcilla. Now I know my spanish-speaking friends back at FU know this dish, mostly because they tried to get me to eat it without telling me what it was (knowing full well it had some, let's say "interesting" ingredients). SO I looked up the word in my little Webster's dictionary and all it said was "blood sausage or black pudding." UM.....OMG I just ate what?? Yes, morcilla is the specialty sausage made in Spain with BLOOD and other stuff that actually tastes pretty delicioso so I'm not completely complaining, but I think this is a good example of the types of atypical cuisine offered to me in Bilbao. To be honest, I've loved almost every dish I've tried so far with my family or at the University outings, but I must say that I've learned not to ask what's int he dishes until AFTER eating them (remember this tip if you ever decide to travel abroad).

Morcilla isn't the only dish that has some questionable cooking instructions, in fact one of my fav foods here are the sardinas (sardines, that's an easy one) that we eat for lunch. These aren't the little canned sardines that are soaked in saltwater or anything, thye are full on fried fish, skins on and bones inside. The best and worst part of the dish is grabbing the tail and ripping the entire skeleton out of the poor little guy before devouring the rest of him (maybe I shouldn't have personified the fish...). When you first see it, it looks absolutely horrifying, for both the fish who is being disemboweled over your dinner plate and then yourself who has to semi-prepare your own meal by doing the dirty disemboweling. Oh and I forgot to mention you do all of the above with YOUR HANDS, no utensils necessary! Hahah I'm definitely making this all out to be way worse than it really is, because after the first two or three fish you realize how freaking delicioso they are so you lose any qualms about bones and tails and whatnot.

There are so many other foods that are almost similar to American cuisine but also so different, like tortillas which resemble either a huge omelette/ crust-less quiche, or tomato, parmesan, and anchovies salads. I wish I could send you all some of the bread here, it puts Panera to shame, as does the fresh olive oil on melt-in-your-mouth steamed veggies that no restaurant in the US could ever achieve. So, I will keep trying all of these new cuisines and even learning the recipes (although I will definitely pass on morcilla, I think ignorance will be bliss for that one), and when I return I will gladly attempt to duplicate them for all of you! Oh, I almost forgot to add that adding to the already scrumptious meals is a lovely glass of Spanish wine at lunches and sometimes una cerveza at dinner, usually on Thursday to celebrate the weekend. :) I could probably get used to that everyday, I'm just saying...

Primer dia de las clases

I hope everyone had a good weekend at home, I know mine was full of friends and wine and all around relaxation, the perfect way to start my first week of classes! Today I had three classes, all in Spanish (duh) but about completely different things (more later). I'll be taking four or five classes total which meet about twice a week. So far I'm taking Basque Language and Culture (that could be rough, the language is unlike anything I've EVER heard), Cultural and Political Economy in Contemporary Spanish Society (I think that's the name, they usually just call it "the long one" haha, it reminds me of all those IPE majors back at school), Intro to Spanish Linguistics, and finally a regular Spanish grammar class (because God only knows I could always use more practice conjugating). At first it sounded like kind of a full schedule considering I only take 4 classes at FU but there's much more free time and they are pretty easygoing about workloads until we all feel situated.

I'm pretty excited for next week because of new classes mostly (and new school supplies! yessss), but also because we are learning about all the sports/activities offered at Deusto (the name of the university, in case anyone didn't know). The group that most international students do (myself included) is the hiking club because we are literally in the middle of the Pyrenees Mountains and thus hiking and backpacking and pretty much going outdoors is really big here. I'll be sure to get a camera before I go on those trips so I get to show you just how mountainous it really is here, and hopefully we'll be able to see the Bay of Biscay and the beautiful Atlantic, too! Not sure if I'll join any other sports though, considering they offer ping-pong, chess, track and mucho mas, all of which I can't really do well at all, and then of course soccer, but I would rather not attempt to play the Spaniards' favorite sport and then humiliate them when I don't know what I'm doing (I wouldn't want someone defacing my precious futbol amerciano like that!) Alas, we shall see what they offer anyways and who knows, maybe I'll come back and be fluent at Spanish and the next Forrest Gump of ping-pong in Spain (the most likely outcome).

One of the things I wanted to do today though, besides explain the classes situation, was describe some of the cultural quirks I've noticed on my way to school. Now, I only walk about 9 blocks to school so it's only 10 or 15 minutes, but I see more of the Spanish culture then than any other time of day. For starters, let's discuss the dog situation going on here. I'm pretty sure most of you have seen dogs in America, usually on leases (sometimes mandated) and about half the time pretty wild and jumpy/friendly, etc., which I love because it feels like they've been waiting to meet you their whole lives :). HOWEVER, the dogs in Spain are practically PEOPLE- they don't use leases hardly ever because every dog is super well trained, loyal, obedient, you get the idea. But they go a step further and train their dogs to go out by themselves! I can't tell you how many dogs I've seen walking through the streets alone (sometimes the owners are around somewhere), totally normally as if they are just going out to their favorite public restroom for a bit until returning to their apartment where their owners are waiting inside. CrAzY!! I only wish my dogs could do that, except then it's not really like a pet anymore just a really furry, illiterate sibling (and who needs another one of those, really).

Then, today I had my first "cafe", which is really just espresso. Most people know that, and that "cafe con leche" or "cafe americano" is regular coffee as we know it. Again I say HOWEVER, the coffee/espresso/whatever you want to call it here is muy excelente, I mean MUY (very). It's super smooth, quite strong, tastes good even without sugar because it's never bitter- it's my roomie Kara's dream haha! I'll have to bring some back for everyone to try, although then you might be just as hooked as me and we could have a real problem with our Euro-coffee addictions. The one thing I really miss about the US though, NYC especially, are the coffee carts. People only seem to drink coffee in the morning and then during the siesta, and always at home or at a bar. I just want one little aluminum coffee stand run by a set of twins (I'm talking about that cart by Lincoln Center, so tasty and cheap!) on the corner until 2pm so I can grab a coffee to go and possibly a day old but still deliciously cheap bagel. Ah well I guess the Spaniards can't be completely perfect, although don't even get me started on metro cards because I might move here permanently (trains, subways, buses all on one little card and each trip is only 70 cents!!!!! Wowowow!).

Alas, there are plenty of other things I see on my way to school, like little old ladies in full length fur coats, brown stockings, and little pumps just like in the movies, and plenty of things I DON'T see, like trash (where is all their trash, Bilbao has to be the cleanest city in the world!), but I have all semester to explore those and get back to you. For now, I'll leave you with a clip of a little kid speaking Euskera, the Basque language (my favorite part is when the camera turns sideways, pretty much how you feel when you're listening to it and wondering "what the heck are these letters???"). Que disfruten!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_af-5QrfUI&feature=related

Los fines de semana en Espana (Weekends in Spain)

So it's my first weekend in Spain, and so far I've slept in and just relaxed, as per the other Spaniards. Marta (my Spanish "mother") says most people do little on the weekends except watch futbol or play basketball on Saturdays, maybe go grocery/clothes shopping, and then rest all day on Sunday. Most businesses are closed completely on Sundays, I guess they took God's "On the seventh day he rested" part quite literally, which is fine by me! Although it will be nice later on when the weather is nice because we can just go to the beach or go hiking on Sundays and have all day to enjoy Bilbao.

Today, I went to my first Spanish basketball game (el baloncesto) between two teams of 11-year old girls from my Spanish siblings' school, and let me tell you (pardon my french) those chicas are bad-ass. First of all, they play outside, in the wind, on CONCRETE, and on these tiny courts with no benches or walls, nothing but them and the court. INTENSE. Then, they do drills before, after, and during the game! They use halftime to practice foul shots, run plays, do layups, etc. I was pretty impressed, and I have to say, no offense to my little bro (sorry Teej) but they took more shots and made more of an effort than any little grade school team I've ever seen! They're scrappy, have great defense skills, can actually dribble when they get the ball and not freak out and freeze up (my childhood), it was a great game! I knew basketball was a pretty popular sport here, but considering it's not the number one sport yet these girls play it so well, I can't wait to see people playing futbol and just schooling everyone. Oh those athletic Spaniards.

After the game, Marta took me to the supermarket to stock up on some foods for the week and staples for me. It was pretty cool, it was underneath the big plaza next to our casa and had a little pharmacy, wine/liquor/beer section, and the best (or possibly worst) part was the fresh fish section. I'm not sure if you all know about Spanish and Basque cuisine, but they love their seafood here. While standing in line to get some fresh salmon and I guess cod (not sure what anything really is, as long as it's not shrimp I'll eat it!), I saw them violently cut off heads, rip out bones, use a knife the size of my cat, and then literally wipe fresh fish blood off their aprons. Wow. And of course everyone around me is chatting calmly about the weather and such, not really noticing that there was not only brutal mutilation of fish compadres going on behind the counter, but also almost 150 fish eyes just watching us. It was kind of creepy but it appeared to be a societal norm so I'm going to try and go with it. Although I can't promise I won't turn away when they are using the big knife to chop off fish parts, sorry Spain.

Tonight I'm going to el Casco Viejo, the oldest part of Bilbao. It's pretty close to the University, about a 10 minute walk, and has a bunch of bars, restaurants, shops, etc., so it should be fun to see how the modern day Spanish youth parties and se disfrutan (enjoys themselves) in such a historical town.

I also went to the infamous Museo Guggenheim yesterday, which (not surprisingly) no one here can pronounce properly so I can never tell what they are asking me about. It ends up sounding more like Museo Oo-hen-heim, so we're all working on saying it right haha. But, here are a few more pictures of the Museo for your enjoyment, hopefully you all are starting to get a feel for the city and to begin loving it as much as I am!

This is "El Puppy", the curious not-so-little puppy who sits in front of the Guggenheim as a permanent exhibit/guard dog. It's pretty funny because the Bilbaons (is that right?) loves to decorate him for upcoming holidays and seasons, so now he has flowers all over his "fur". Presh.


Here's the Museo as seen from the University, which is across the street (in case anyone ever visits and gets lost, just ask for the Guggenheim and I'll be across the street!)


Speaking of the University, I'll leave you all with a photo of the main building. I must apologize to FU because it pretty much crushes Keating in a best college facade contest. :)

First week.....

Alas, it's nearing the end of my first week here in Spain. Everything is improving by the day, and I'm thankful for my family stay for that. I've talked to some of the students who are living in dorms or apartments and everyone says they haven't really spoken Spanish at all nor have they eaten anything besides chicken and french fries because that's all that the dorms like to serve for some reason. So, as rough as it is to just jump in with a random and unknown family and start living with them as if I have always done, I am very appreciative that I can easily practice my Spanish or eat REAL Spanish meals.

That said, things with the family are going much better. I didn't cry myself to sleep last night so I figured I'm doing better (just kidding, Mom), every night I eat dinner with Marta and Esti (the aunt) so I get to practice with them while we eat. It's great because Marta loves to explain things to me so I practice listening to the Castellan, but Esti loves asking me hard questions about things I do at home, here, things I like, etc., so I get to practice my conversation with her! She laughs at me a lot because I'm so slow but I understand what she's saying much more now so I think she's slowly getting prouder of me haha!

I do walk myself to school now, Marta showed me the way on Tuesday and then I got a map of the city so I found my way back that day alone, and now I just go by myself so she can get the kids to school or whatever. She doesn't mind at all, in fact I think she's glad I'm not attaching myself to her side and being needy or something, and I love being able to walk around to/from the university (called "la uni") and usually I'll take my time getting home and explore a little just so I can start getting a feel for the place. It's a big city in the sense that there are lots of different districts in it (most with confusing Euskara names), but for the most part I can walk everywhere I need to go or use the metro without having to go farther than around the corner! I'll get a camera soon and take some pics, since I realized today I should probably try and share with everyone what I get to see everyday!

Yesterday we had an excursion to the Bay of Biscay and it was great because I met even more people and got to see Portugalete and Getxo (like Getcho), the small cities by the beaches. We also got to see the transporter bridge (called Puente Colgante de Portugalete) that was built by a student of Mr. Eiffel, the tower guy. You can sort of see the way the car hangs below the bridge and is swung across like a zipline, and the clouds in this picture are pretty much what the weather looks like here, a bit gloomy.



Last night we all went to a bar near Getxo, where we were during the day, and although it was a tiny bar full of hardcore 80s hair-band-wannabees (no joke, there were several guys there with full Ozzy-esque hairstyles and leather jackets, one was even wearing eyeliner. Wow.), it was still pretty fun because everyone was meeting whoever they couldn't talk to that day and most people were exchanging phone numbers. It's really nice that the whole group is so friendly and eager to make the most out of this semester, now I'm really looking forward to the classes and outings every other week.

I did find a few pictures of Bilbao so you guys can all see what the city looks like, it's pretty surreal because we are literally surround by huge mountains and Bilbao is adorable, one of those quintessential European towns. Love it!

Check out the tallest building in Bilbao, near the center of the picture, and then go north about 4 blocks. That's mi casa! (Or at least the area of our apartment building)


Casco Viejo, the old part of Bilbao from the 14th century! Cool!


Adios muchachos, more fun information still to come!

P.S. My address here is:

Caitlin McGrath, c/o Marta Areizaga
C/ Manuel Allende, 3, 3 ext. izda.
48010 Bilbao

It's a little confusing to understand, but I pretty much live at 3 Manuel Allende St., on the 3rd floor, in Bilbao, 48010. Maybe I'll hear from some of you!

I love traveling!

Hello all! This is my first entry for my first trip to Spain! In case you were wondering what the heck "Bidaiatzea gustoko dut" means, it's "I love traveling" in Euskera, the Basque language. Don't worry, i don't actually know how to say anything else nor am I trying to learn it, but it's all over the place in Bilbao (where I'm staying) and I thought it would be appropriate to share!

So far I am living with my family of 5, Marta, the mother, and her four children Ane (12), Adrian (8), Sara (7) and Telmo (5). They are pretty adorable, Marta and Ane love to help me out with my Spanish which I am very grateful for, and Telmo likes to ask me questions about flying to Spain and which foods I like, which is sometimes tricky because he is usually eating and mumbling and generally difficult to understand. But he's trying and he's so cute it's hard not to want to talk to him Sara is very shy and likes to watch me and ask questions about me but never to me, and Adrian thinks I'm a moron who has no reason to be in Spain since my Spanish is so rough! But they are both very nice and fun and I can tell they are just as excited as me, but probably just as nervous for me haha!

My program has about 90 people in it which is much larger than I thought it would be, but it's nice because everyone is eager to speak English again and share their own stories about interacting with the locals, not an easy task considering no one speaks more than 15 words of English and when they do speak Spanish its at about 200 words per minute! I'm still getting to know everyone (and remember their names!) but I think we have a pretty good group because we all talk a lot and everyone is genuinely friendly and excited to be living abroad. I just hope I get close enough to some of them soon so I can go out and really explore the city and the nightlife, since having 4 little kids around doesn't make our casa (apartment) very exciting at night.

I don't have any pictures yet but I will soon, and then you all can see the beautiful mountains that surround the entire city and "la ria de Bilbao" that flows from the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Ocean all the way into and past Bilbao. Also, I'll add my address later so anyone can write me some letters if they see fit and I can write to you guys too! (Emails work great,t oo, but phone calls will probably be non-existent because of the high rates, sorry.)

I hope to write again soon, but my internet is rather slow in the casa so entries might be few and far between. I can't wait to tell you more about the program and classes, which we start on Monday, so I'll give plenty of updates when I have them!

P.S. It's currently 13 degrees Celsius here, which I really have no clue what that means, but I believe its around the lower 50s! Sorry Pittsburgh, that's the one thing I do NOT miss from home, all that snow! We only get lots of rain but even then it's in the 50s so it's like a lovely warm spring rain. Ahhh.