Well today was another FABULOUS Friday, I spent the day all over Bilbao and spent hardly any money enjoying the beautiful day! It began with the surprise breakfast for Marta which was pretty early but pretty delicious, with tortilla (the first time I've had eggs for breakfast since arriving here) and croissants and hot coffeeeeee yum! Then, I met up with Linden for some more coffee (the american sized huge coffee cups) and shopping, and actually bought a little Basque pendant for my necklace so I can remember this trip! In case I won't remember that I lived here for 4 months and practically mastered Spanish here, I'll have a little silver charm!
After the coffee break we kept walking around, buying souvenirs and getting some touristy shopping done so we could stay out in the nice weather (it was 65 and sunny all day!). Afterwards we returned to my casa for lunch with Marta and Esti around 3 and had a pretty great 2 hour discussion about Americans and Spanish/traveling/culture, it was so fun! We felt pretty fluent, especially after Esti insulted Americans and we were semi-able to dissuade her. Finally, we went back to Casco Viejo around 5 to partake in my new FAVORITE activity, biking around the city for FREE! It was so great, we rented two bikes, rode all the way through Bilbao and up to Sarriko where there is an architectural metro station or something, and then back down to the city, all during a beautiful sunset and perfect temps. Oh boy, I think I'm in love.
To top it all off, we returned to the casa where Linden left and the family and I went out to dinner for Marta's birthday to a Chinese-Spanish restaurant. Weird combo, I know, and actually awful. Hahah the experience was pretty great in itself because it was my first dinner outing with the whole family, but the food was terrible! God I miss New York Chinese take-out, the won ton soup here was like lettuce floating in water-diluted soy sauce, the noodles were bland, and the chicken fried rice was just lacking. HOWEVER, they did have this amazing "chinese bread" that is pretty much FRIED bread, like a funnel cake. The best part of the meal was watching my own family's social skills sort of break down in public- for example, Telmo, the 5-year old cutie patootey, had a pretty bad cold so he was drugged up on cough meds and kept falling asleep on benches. Pobre chico. Then, after a round of cokes for the kiddos, he was back on top of his game so much though that after a verse or four of "We Are the Champions", he slammed his glass down and it broke in his hand, forcing a small "Uh oh" from his little mouth. Still adorable. And he was fine, just chuckled it off. THEN, he decided to become a drummer with his chopsticks and after a few songs he jammed a little too hard and one half of the chopsticks flew across the table, hitting my own glass and landing in my lap. Needless to say, he was probably feeling better but has not eaten outside of the house much. Sara also tends to have chair problems, in the sense that she can't sit properly on a chair to say her life. Thus, many dinners are spent laughing at her as she falls completely off the chair, usually taking it down with her with a terrified look on her face. Hahah oh it makes me smile just thinking about it now, poor Meg.
Anywho, the whole day was a blast and I plan on spending most of my Fridays like this if possible. Between the FREE bikes and the beautiful weather, Bilbao is very quickly becoming one of my favorite places in Europe, although I haven't really visited many other countries so that's not really saying much. :)
viernes, 26 de febrero de 2010
jueves, 25 de febrero de 2010
El tiempo
Oy vey I apologize for the spans of time without posts recently- the weather has suddenly turned and spring is here! All week we've had weather in the upper teens (in celsius, so think 50s-60s), so everyone's been out and about doing everything they can out of the casa. Mostly that means walking the dog more often and watching the kids scooter in the streets (causing me a heart attack but no biggie for anyone else, no comprendo). Today I was able to sit outside of the Guggenheim on some benches and do some tarea before my next classes, it was the quintessential study-abroad-in-Bilbao moment, too bad I didn't have my camera!
HOWEVER, this doesn't mean Bilbao has lost it's bipolar-tiempo ways, as most mornings it will either be sunny and gorgeous or rainy and dreary (but still warm) and by 2pm the weather is the exact opposite! It's very strange, maybe it's the crazy winds that just push all weather through the city much more quickly, or else it's the Basque peeps trying to reinforce what a powerful autonomy they are so they are constantly keeping you on your toes with weather patterns. That's the most likely explanation.
School is still great, not much homework and I've only had one test (they focus more on midterms and finals than periodic testing, I think), so I really can't complain about anything there. The fam is doing well, it's Marta's b-day tomorrow so the kiddos, Esti and I are making her a surprise "desayuno en la cama" (b-fast in bed). That should be pretty fun because I haven't been able to cook anything yet so maybe I will learn some Spanish tricks to bring home (besides frying everything in egg to make it taste better, I have definitely gotten used to that treat). Then I'm going out to wander the streets of the city until I find Coffee Break, the godsend coffee shop that is my new weekend activity. That way I can soak up some sun, drink some cafe americano, enjoy some people watching- another great weekend!
Oh I almost forgot to mention before, but my Basque Language and Culture class is apparently exactly that- not so much the history of culture/language or the economic/political views on Basque country, but we are literally celebrating the cultural events of the Basques and then learning to speak a little Euskera. HOLY COW! I've only learned some numbers, colors, and phrases right now but the goal by the end of the semester is to present a small paragraph/conversation about myself, IN EUSKERA. Yikesssss I'm excited in the sense that I get to learn part of a language that is virtually unique in its existence, but I'm also worried that I'm using some of my class credits on a language that is virtually unique in its existence. How would I ever use Euskera to make a business transaction on Fordham Road? Or in the Southside?? Most Americans, sadly, probably couldn't even point out Spain on a map let alone discuss the incredibly ancient and independent autonomous community that is Vizcaya. I sound angry about it, I'm not, it's just comical that I signed up for such a.....unique? narrow? useless? class. Ah well, when in Rome. Or Bilbao. Same country, right? (american intelligence joke)
HOWEVER, this doesn't mean Bilbao has lost it's bipolar-tiempo ways, as most mornings it will either be sunny and gorgeous or rainy and dreary (but still warm) and by 2pm the weather is the exact opposite! It's very strange, maybe it's the crazy winds that just push all weather through the city much more quickly, or else it's the Basque peeps trying to reinforce what a powerful autonomy they are so they are constantly keeping you on your toes with weather patterns. That's the most likely explanation.
School is still great, not much homework and I've only had one test (they focus more on midterms and finals than periodic testing, I think), so I really can't complain about anything there. The fam is doing well, it's Marta's b-day tomorrow so the kiddos, Esti and I are making her a surprise "desayuno en la cama" (b-fast in bed). That should be pretty fun because I haven't been able to cook anything yet so maybe I will learn some Spanish tricks to bring home (besides frying everything in egg to make it taste better, I have definitely gotten used to that treat). Then I'm going out to wander the streets of the city until I find Coffee Break, the godsend coffee shop that is my new weekend activity. That way I can soak up some sun, drink some cafe americano, enjoy some people watching- another great weekend!
Oh I almost forgot to mention before, but my Basque Language and Culture class is apparently exactly that- not so much the history of culture/language or the economic/political views on Basque country, but we are literally celebrating the cultural events of the Basques and then learning to speak a little Euskera. HOLY COW! I've only learned some numbers, colors, and phrases right now but the goal by the end of the semester is to present a small paragraph/conversation about myself, IN EUSKERA. Yikesssss I'm excited in the sense that I get to learn part of a language that is virtually unique in its existence, but I'm also worried that I'm using some of my class credits on a language that is virtually unique in its existence. How would I ever use Euskera to make a business transaction on Fordham Road? Or in the Southside?? Most Americans, sadly, probably couldn't even point out Spain on a map let alone discuss the incredibly ancient and independent autonomous community that is Vizcaya. I sound angry about it, I'm not, it's just comical that I signed up for such a.....unique? narrow? useless? class. Ah well, when in Rome. Or Bilbao. Same country, right? (american intelligence joke)
domingo, 21 de febrero de 2010
Poor Meg
I know I already posted something earlier today but I just had to write this somewhere. Tonight at dinner I realized I am living in an episode of Family Guy where poor 7-year old middle-child Sara is the Meg of the family. No jokes, everyone blames her for everything that goes wrong at mealtimes, she whines for help and they tell her "Sara, ya vale, por favor, ack ahhh! (Sara enough already, pleaseeee ack ahhhhh!)", and then to top it off all the other kids set her up to get in trouble (think blowing bubbles in the milk when Mom's not looking then telling Mom it was Sara, Sara gets yelled out and no dessert). Hahaha it's so mean to laugh but it's seriously ridiculous how big of a scapegoat this poor little Spaniard is in her family, but she doesn't seem to mind too much. Poor Meg, I mean Sara.
It's the bessssttt daaaaayy evvvverrrr! (Spongebob song, look it up- totally applicable)
Well yesterday was exactly that: probably the best day I've had in Spain so far, and that's including trips to other cites AND my birthday. For starters, it was GORGEOUS. Here in Bil-bow everyone knows that not only winter is bleak, but the whole freaking year isn't too great (47 in./year, about 15 inches MORE than Pittsburgh and even Seattle!), so when a nice day comes along regardless of temperature, EVERYONE goes out and about to enjoy it. People walk their dogs, their kids, their parents, everyone is just outside, basque-ing (haha, small joke) in the sunshine. So that's what I did, I called up my friend Linden, we went to downtown Bilbao and just walked around, window-shopping and chit-chatting. We eventually made our way to Casco Viejo which was BUMPIN for such an old part of the city- there were families everywhere and everyone was celebrating the big basketball tournament that's going on in the city this weekend. There we went to the Plaza Nueva, which ironically is one of the oldest parts of Bilbao (aka NOT nueva), and there part two of the best day ever began: we found huge coffees! I'm talking venti-sized, to-go, mocha/frappe/whatever type coffees that are nearly nonexistent in Europe, let alone Spain. We did a little victory dance right in the store, bought some muffins (another luxury), and sat outside in the sun for about an hour. We were blatantly being touristy with huge to-go cups of coffee and no jackets on (everyone else was bundled up like it was blizzarding outside, wtf?) but it was sunny! I think some freckles may have peeked out already, too, so I cannot wait until Spring actually starts and I can go outside once again to enjoy sunny weather like yesterday. :)
After that, it was lunch/siesta time (at 3pm, weekends are uber late) so we parted ways to enjoy the rest of the afternoon eating/napping/hanging with the fam, and then the best-day-ever continued with a trip to Algorta for Carnivale. Now technically Carnivale ended on Tuesday when Mardi Gras ended and Ash Wednesday started up the Lenten train on Wednesday, but I guess in Spain it's pretty much a 10-day thing. So we walked around the beach town at sunset (remember, we could see the sun this time!), had a few drinks and people watched the locals who ALL dress up like it's Halloween. I have to give the Spaniards props, though, because their costumes put American Halloween costumes TO SHAME. They are creative, homemade, all-or-nothing and just all-around great costumes. And the one thing they love more than dressing in costume (or drag, as many of the men here dress like women for Carnivale?? No comprendo...), is drinking kalimotxos and dancing! Kalimotxos are those wine and coke combo mixed drinks that are pretty cheap and easy to make (buy: 1 liter of Coke, 1 liter of wine, mix in coke bottle then drink in public), and the music they love is all American old skool rap, hip-hop, 80s- it's all over the place, but all classics! Needless to say, between people watching the youts acting like fools while dressed like Mario and Luigi or cowboys (not sure how they actually interpret the concept of cowboys here), and enjoying the ocean breeze and view, it was the perfect end to a pretty perfect day.
After that, it was lunch/siesta time (at 3pm, weekends are uber late) so we parted ways to enjoy the rest of the afternoon eating/napping/hanging with the fam, and then the best-day-ever continued with a trip to Algorta for Carnivale. Now technically Carnivale ended on Tuesday when Mardi Gras ended and Ash Wednesday started up the Lenten train on Wednesday, but I guess in Spain it's pretty much a 10-day thing. So we walked around the beach town at sunset (remember, we could see the sun this time!), had a few drinks and people watched the locals who ALL dress up like it's Halloween. I have to give the Spaniards props, though, because their costumes put American Halloween costumes TO SHAME. They are creative, homemade, all-or-nothing and just all-around great costumes. And the one thing they love more than dressing in costume (or drag, as many of the men here dress like women for Carnivale?? No comprendo...), is drinking kalimotxos and dancing! Kalimotxos are those wine and coke combo mixed drinks that are pretty cheap and easy to make (buy: 1 liter of Coke, 1 liter of wine, mix in coke bottle then drink in public), and the music they love is all American old skool rap, hip-hop, 80s- it's all over the place, but all classics! Needless to say, between people watching the youts acting like fools while dressed like Mario and Luigi or cowboys (not sure how they actually interpret the concept of cowboys here), and enjoying the ocean breeze and view, it was the perfect end to a pretty perfect day.
martes, 16 de febrero de 2010
Birthdays and Munich and Carnivale, oh my!
Oh boy I am behind on my updates! Although I must say first that I hope everything is going well in the states with all this snow! Holy cow it's starting to sound ridiculous.
Anyways, things for me are going very well! I celebrated my 21st birthday (what whattttt!) last Friday so that was just nutso because I decided to go to a discoteca for Carnivale (in costume) and then fly off to Germany to celebrate for the weekend! CrAzY! The discoteca was interesting, it was a pretty cool dance-club-bar type thing early on and they played old and new skool American music (think hip-hop and R&B), but then as the night continued the music changed to this monotonous dance "beat" that didn't really vary at all. THEN, the fun discotec-ers who arrived early and in fun costumes started to leave and creepy groups of Spanish men in masks ("costumes", I guess) starting to fill up the place and surround us hahah. So we decided that dancing in a tight little safety-circle just wasn't cutting it anymore and we peaced. Still a great night because I got to see a lot of the students I don't normally get to talk at Deusto going out and about in the night life, so that was a blast.
21st birthday shenanigans!
Then it was Friday and I flew off to Munich, Germany! (in case you weren't sure where it was) There I spent the weekend visiting Alexander Crist, a friend from high school who is studying there for the entire year (whoa!). We went to Marienplatz, Schloss Nymphenburg, some Bavarian restaurants with German names so of course I don't remember them, and then the best part..... the BMW Factory and Corporate headquarters!! Sounds nerdy, I know, but we got to sit it/touch these B-E-A-UTIFUL factory-floor cars, all brandy new and shiny!
Oh boy it was lovely. It was also cool because they had some of the "motorbikes" there and we could sit on them and make vrooooom noises and pretend to be racing- not touristy at all, they practically thought we worked there. Needless to say, although those beamers cost more than my college experience I think, I will always remember that real cream-colored leather interior against the cool navy blue paint color on the brand-new 5-series Gran Turismo when I daydream about driving in Europe. We'll always have Munich. <3
Por fin, this whole week/weekend was Carnivale, which I sort of mentioned before I believe but is really just a huge celebration of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday (but really Fat last-Monday-to-this-Tuesday) where people dress up in masks or full costumes for the whole week. It's pretty entertaining for me to see demons shopping for shampoo or Superman being walked to school by his mom, I did NOT dress up but only because I'm too cheap to buy a costume and I stick out as an American in an orange coat enough already. However, it was fun to see all the other costumes and little parades of children throughout Bilbao for each grade school, and I'm glad I got to see an original Carnivale Mardi Gras treats-and-sweets legit Spanish/European Bilabo bash! (That name is probably why they only call it Carnivale.)
Anyways, things for me are going very well! I celebrated my 21st birthday (what whattttt!) last Friday so that was just nutso because I decided to go to a discoteca for Carnivale (in costume) and then fly off to Germany to celebrate for the weekend! CrAzY! The discoteca was interesting, it was a pretty cool dance-club-bar type thing early on and they played old and new skool American music (think hip-hop and R&B), but then as the night continued the music changed to this monotonous dance "beat" that didn't really vary at all. THEN, the fun discotec-ers who arrived early and in fun costumes started to leave and creepy groups of Spanish men in masks ("costumes", I guess) starting to fill up the place and surround us hahah. So we decided that dancing in a tight little safety-circle just wasn't cutting it anymore and we peaced. Still a great night because I got to see a lot of the students I don't normally get to talk at Deusto going out and about in the night life, so that was a blast.
21st birthday shenanigans!
Then it was Friday and I flew off to Munich, Germany! (in case you weren't sure where it was) There I spent the weekend visiting Alexander Crist, a friend from high school who is studying there for the entire year (whoa!). We went to Marienplatz, Schloss Nymphenburg, some Bavarian restaurants with German names so of course I don't remember them, and then the best part..... the BMW Factory and Corporate headquarters!! Sounds nerdy, I know, but we got to sit it/touch these B-E-A-UTIFUL factory-floor cars, all brandy new and shiny!
Oh boy it was lovely. It was also cool because they had some of the "motorbikes" there and we could sit on them and make vrooooom noises and pretend to be racing- not touristy at all, they practically thought we worked there. Needless to say, although those beamers cost more than my college experience I think, I will always remember that real cream-colored leather interior against the cool navy blue paint color on the brand-new 5-series Gran Turismo when I daydream about driving in Europe. We'll always have Munich. <3
Por fin, this whole week/weekend was Carnivale, which I sort of mentioned before I believe but is really just a huge celebration of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday (but really Fat last-Monday-to-this-Tuesday) where people dress up in masks or full costumes for the whole week. It's pretty entertaining for me to see demons shopping for shampoo or Superman being walked to school by his mom, I did NOT dress up but only because I'm too cheap to buy a costume and I stick out as an American in an orange coat enough already. However, it was fun to see all the other costumes and little parades of children throughout Bilbao for each grade school, and I'm glad I got to see an original Carnivale Mardi Gras treats-and-sweets legit Spanish/European Bilabo bash! (That name is probably why they only call it Carnivale.)
miércoles, 10 de febrero de 2010
Feliz cumpleanos!
Well I think I officially have the best family in Bilbao. This week was a rough one because I was feeling pretty sick and had mucha tarea so I couldn't really interact with the fam too much, but they still invited me to this little family party they were having for a nephew's 11th b-day today. So I decided to suck up my bad attitude about school work and take some cold meds and hit it up after class ended at 7. I arrived around 7:15 and immediately was given a plate of food, a drink, and multiple people to talk to, including a French teacher/family member who obv speaks perfect Spanish but talked with me the whole night and corrected me when needed so I could learn simple conversation tactics better. So that was a great surprise because here I was expecting this little formal family gathering around a table with lots of weird fish or Spanish cuisine with a group of people who notoriously talk too fast and informally, and instead I got A BIRTHDAY CAKE! It was obviously the 11-year old (Alex)'s birthday so he got presents and party favors/balloons/the works, but they bought me a raspberry torta with 21 candles and sang to me in Spanish! It was a pretty great surprise considering I really didn't expect them to do anything because I'm going to Germany on my actual birthday to visit Mr. Alexander Crist, let alone I am only here for a few months and am no way a real part of the family. But alas, they all really welcomed me to the party and to Spain in general, into their family, culture, and traditions, so I am feeling pretty content about my situation in Espana now (a nice change from the panic attacks I had upon my arrival that the family would quickly realize how incompetent I am at Spanish and throw me to the metaphorical dogs). Also, a quick note about birthday and regular "tortas" here: in the US it is customary to have a big spongey cake with a much thinner layer of icing in any variety of flavors, but HERE they must love their desserts because my cake was an ICING CAKE. It was literally a very tiny (think 1/4 of an inch) layer of sponge cake on the bottom and top, and then a solid 2 INCHES of icing in between!! Needless to say, I had pieces of both cakes but could barely even eat half of either one. It definitely added to the wonderful spectacle that was my unofficial Spanish birthday party.
The other great part of this fiesta today that gave me an "aha!" moment was speaking with Lucia, the Spanish French-professor (hahah confusing!) who seemed to really enjoy not only asking me about home, my hobbies, Deusto, etc., but correcting me as I spoke on grammatical errors, verb-noun and gender agreement, and idiomatic expressions. It was great! It was like having my own personal tutor, and maybe it was the 3 San Miguel cervezas Esti keep handing me but by the end of the party I felt truly fluent! This was a drastic change to merely 2 hours before in my linguistics class when I spent a good 7-8 minutes trying to explain/understand a linguistic tree diagram about subject/verb/adjective/prepositional phrasing in order to understand Hispanic syntax (WTF) and barely getting my point across without yelling it out in English (I won't deny that I didn't ask the other students pleadingly if they knew what the heck I was talking about, in English of course). So although the day started rough with 9am classes and a remaining head cold, it quickly pulled a 180 and possibly became the day I finally felt fluent at Spanish. Who knows, maybe I am!
Just a quick note before I end this epiphanic entry (I miss my crosswords), like I said I'll be going to Munich, Germany this weekend so I probs won't be able to send any updates until Monday morning when I'll have time to load pictures and give you all the juicy details of my extravagant and momentous 21st b-day bash celebration of going to the BMW museum and sitting in the Englischer Garten. wHoOoOo watch out Munchkins! (I should probably refrain from calling the residents of Munich "munchkins", although I can't promise I won't after I have a few leiderhosen and schnitzel in me! Those are the only German words I kind of know. Should be an interesting weekend...)
The other great part of this fiesta today that gave me an "aha!" moment was speaking with Lucia, the Spanish French-professor (hahah confusing!) who seemed to really enjoy not only asking me about home, my hobbies, Deusto, etc., but correcting me as I spoke on grammatical errors, verb-noun and gender agreement, and idiomatic expressions. It was great! It was like having my own personal tutor, and maybe it was the 3 San Miguel cervezas Esti keep handing me but by the end of the party I felt truly fluent! This was a drastic change to merely 2 hours before in my linguistics class when I spent a good 7-8 minutes trying to explain/understand a linguistic tree diagram about subject/verb/adjective/prepositional phrasing in order to understand Hispanic syntax (WTF) and barely getting my point across without yelling it out in English (I won't deny that I didn't ask the other students pleadingly if they knew what the heck I was talking about, in English of course). So although the day started rough with 9am classes and a remaining head cold, it quickly pulled a 180 and possibly became the day I finally felt fluent at Spanish. Who knows, maybe I am!
Just a quick note before I end this epiphanic entry (I miss my crosswords), like I said I'll be going to Munich, Germany this weekend so I probs won't be able to send any updates until Monday morning when I'll have time to load pictures and give you all the juicy details of my extravagant and momentous 21st b-day bash celebration of going to the BMW museum and sitting in the Englischer Garten. wHoOoOo watch out Munchkins! (I should probably refrain from calling the residents of Munich "munchkins", although I can't promise I won't after I have a few leiderhosen and schnitzel in me! Those are the only German words I kind of know. Should be an interesting weekend...)
domingo, 7 de febrero de 2010
Basque business
Hello my friends, sorry for such a long lapse between posts- things are really starting to pick up! For starters, now that our classes are legit los profes have decided to give out enough homework to make up for the first 2 weeks of experimental/optional classes, gracias profes. Then, this past weekend was a big festival for Santa Ageda, a Basque feast day where all the kids dress up in traditional Basque clothing and parade through the streets singing songs to promote springtime and fertile soils or something. I'm not quite sure how the female martyr Ageda was related to agriculture but I'm going with it- it was great to see/hear some traditional Basque cultural activities!
Speaking of Basques...
On Friday we had one of our university-sponsored excursions and this time it was to Bayonne, France and Hondarribia, Spain, two cities that reside in two of the Basque provinces. It was interesting especially because in Spain, especially Bilbao, Euskera (the Basque language) is one of the four official languages of Spain: Castellano (what I speak, Spanish), Euskera, Catalan, and Galego (from Galicia). This mean students in each region can go to specific schools taught in Castellan or another offical language, like the kids in my family who take classes in both Castellan and Euskera. But in France, even though they have the same Basque "autonomous community" status, French is the only official language so almost nobody knows Euskera, let alone Spanish or other languages, (This posed an extra-tricky problem for us when we had free time during the trip everyone spoke Spanish or English in our group, but everyone else only spoke French. Even taking 3 years of French in high school did nothing to help me communicate with the French, although I think it's safe to say I'm a master of pantomimes now.)
After seeing how little the Basque presence in France seems to impact its outward culture, I think I can now honestly say I love Spain more than I used to love France. Don't get me wrong, my favorite movie is still Amelie (French), and I will ALWAYS choose French baguettes and crepes over any other version, but Spain just seems so much more accepting of other cultures. Just look at Bilbao: nearly the entire city is full-blooded Spanish with most Basque families living in the suburbs, yet the favorite sport and team is the Basque-only soccer team "Athletic Club" which has been historically closed-off to everyone else since its start in the 1800s. This amazes me, supporting a team that prides itself on not being one of you! You can even look at what I said before about Spain's four official languages: four! I'm still learning everything I can about Spain's history and the Basque provinces' histories, so hopefully I can give more insights on how culture here in Bilbao at least shows how awesome Spain really is, especially through the aspects that aren't even Spanish. :)
I can't believe I'm missing the Superbowl tonight, even missing the past few weeks of american football in general has been pretty hard. BUT, I will hopefully get to watch some of the highlights online tomorrow, and then maybe write a little entry about sports in Spain! (Some of the Basque sports = wAcKy, trust me) Enjoy the game, try not to get lost in all that snow, New England, and "Ariatsaldeon!" (Good afternoon in Euskera, a relevant language in America. NOT.)
Speaking of Basques...
On Friday we had one of our university-sponsored excursions and this time it was to Bayonne, France and Hondarribia, Spain, two cities that reside in two of the Basque provinces. It was interesting especially because in Spain, especially Bilbao, Euskera (the Basque language) is one of the four official languages of Spain: Castellano (what I speak, Spanish), Euskera, Catalan, and Galego (from Galicia). This mean students in each region can go to specific schools taught in Castellan or another offical language, like the kids in my family who take classes in both Castellan and Euskera. But in France, even though they have the same Basque "autonomous community" status, French is the only official language so almost nobody knows Euskera, let alone Spanish or other languages, (This posed an extra-tricky problem for us when we had free time during the trip everyone spoke Spanish or English in our group, but everyone else only spoke French. Even taking 3 years of French in high school did nothing to help me communicate with the French, although I think it's safe to say I'm a master of pantomimes now.)
After seeing how little the Basque presence in France seems to impact its outward culture, I think I can now honestly say I love Spain more than I used to love France. Don't get me wrong, my favorite movie is still Amelie (French), and I will ALWAYS choose French baguettes and crepes over any other version, but Spain just seems so much more accepting of other cultures. Just look at Bilbao: nearly the entire city is full-blooded Spanish with most Basque families living in the suburbs, yet the favorite sport and team is the Basque-only soccer team "Athletic Club" which has been historically closed-off to everyone else since its start in the 1800s. This amazes me, supporting a team that prides itself on not being one of you! You can even look at what I said before about Spain's four official languages: four! I'm still learning everything I can about Spain's history and the Basque provinces' histories, so hopefully I can give more insights on how culture here in Bilbao at least shows how awesome Spain really is, especially through the aspects that aren't even Spanish. :)
I can't believe I'm missing the Superbowl tonight, even missing the past few weeks of american football in general has been pretty hard. BUT, I will hopefully get to watch some of the highlights online tomorrow, and then maybe write a little entry about sports in Spain! (Some of the Basque sports = wAcKy, trust me) Enjoy the game, try not to get lost in all that snow, New England, and "Ariatsaldeon!" (Good afternoon in Euskera, a relevant language in America. NOT.)
lunes, 1 de febrero de 2010
Barcelona y Febrero!
It is February! Which means a) this semester is starting to move much more quickly than I anticipated, and b) my birthday is coming up! All in all, I'm pretty excited because it's finally starting to warm up a bit here and we are starting our university-sponsored excursions this Friday. We are heading to "the south of France", which isn't very specific at all but I'm not picky because I love France! I'm getting my hands on a fresh baguette if it kills me.
Anywho, this past weekend was spent in the beautiful yet quirky city of Barcelona! I say quirky because it had all the charms of a historical Spanish city like architecture and sightseeing, but it also had all the weirdo street-performers/prostitutes/pick-pocketers that you could find on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan. However, it was sunny every day and not too chilly so we walked everywhere and really got to know the heart of the city. We saw pretty much everything there is to see, minus the Tibidabo, the old monastery-turned-amusement park that sits on top of the highest mountain in the city and overlooks the ocean (pretty magical, if you ask me). La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, La Pedrera, Las Ramblas, Estadi Olimpic, MNAC- we saw it all! I have pictures uploaded to Facebook that are available for anyone to see so check them out! (I took almost 200 pictures, yikes, but it definitely gives you an idea of the city!)
It was an odd feeling to come "home" after that trip, though. Although I've mentioned before how much I really do love it here and how at-home I am beginning to feel in my casa with the fam, it was still weird to come back to someone else's apartment and unpack, etc. This is technically my home for the next few months but it still feels like a vacation of sorts, and I didn't really come "home" from Barcelona, I just came back from a mini-vacation to my extended one. I guess I'm still in the first month of living/studying/just being here, so I'd be surprised/worried if I didn't feel a little homesick for the US after my weekend trips around Spain.
On a happier note, we officially registered for our classes today! So as of today I am a registered student at Deusto and now I can get credits for my classes/hopefully fufill my double-major-credit-fulfillment-business. Technically today (Feb. 1st) is the first day of the Spring semester for the real Deusto kids so the hallways were bustling and lively throughout the day. It was a nice change from the quiet and cold hallways we've been having classes in up until now, and who knows, maybe I'll get to meet some legit Spaniards outside of my family! The classes are starting to get a little harder, but mostly because of all the readings we are assigned. I thought doing all the assigned readings/books at FU was tricky enough (Dad's always saying college is a breeze if you can just keep up with that outside reading!), but this is wayyyy harder because I end up reading half of the assignment and then half of my pocket translation dictionary, so everything takes twice as long. Soon I think some of the new words will start to sink in, though, and then the readings won't be quite so tricky to manage on top of speaking a second language.
My spanish is definitely improving, thanks to those classes/readings, but mostly because of my host family. The best part of living with them is just sitting and listening/watching them interact because then it's much easier to learn the lingo/idiomatic expressions. Let me tell you, these Spaniards like to yell ALOT so half the time if you aren't watching them and are just listening to the convos, you can't tell if they are screaming words of enthusiasm and excitement, or horrible, terrifying anger. (The kids especially are fond of yelling out random words and emotions when they play, but when I am in my room they end up sounding more like angry shouts of frustration and insolence- multiply that times 4 kids = yikes.) Needless to say, I'm getting a hang of conjugating verbs faster in my head and using idiomatic expressions correctly, as well as learning some new ways to scream about how much fun I am having with the kiddos. Yay immersion!
Anywho, this past weekend was spent in the beautiful yet quirky city of Barcelona! I say quirky because it had all the charms of a historical Spanish city like architecture and sightseeing, but it also had all the weirdo street-performers/prostitutes/pick-pocketers that you could find on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan. However, it was sunny every day and not too chilly so we walked everywhere and really got to know the heart of the city. We saw pretty much everything there is to see, minus the Tibidabo, the old monastery-turned-amusement park that sits on top of the highest mountain in the city and overlooks the ocean (pretty magical, if you ask me). La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, La Pedrera, Las Ramblas, Estadi Olimpic, MNAC- we saw it all! I have pictures uploaded to Facebook that are available for anyone to see so check them out! (I took almost 200 pictures, yikes, but it definitely gives you an idea of the city!)
It was an odd feeling to come "home" after that trip, though. Although I've mentioned before how much I really do love it here and how at-home I am beginning to feel in my casa with the fam, it was still weird to come back to someone else's apartment and unpack, etc. This is technically my home for the next few months but it still feels like a vacation of sorts, and I didn't really come "home" from Barcelona, I just came back from a mini-vacation to my extended one. I guess I'm still in the first month of living/studying/just being here, so I'd be surprised/worried if I didn't feel a little homesick for the US after my weekend trips around Spain.
On a happier note, we officially registered for our classes today! So as of today I am a registered student at Deusto and now I can get credits for my classes/hopefully fufill my double-major-credit-fulfillment-business. Technically today (Feb. 1st) is the first day of the Spring semester for the real Deusto kids so the hallways were bustling and lively throughout the day. It was a nice change from the quiet and cold hallways we've been having classes in up until now, and who knows, maybe I'll get to meet some legit Spaniards outside of my family! The classes are starting to get a little harder, but mostly because of all the readings we are assigned. I thought doing all the assigned readings/books at FU was tricky enough (Dad's always saying college is a breeze if you can just keep up with that outside reading!), but this is wayyyy harder because I end up reading half of the assignment and then half of my pocket translation dictionary, so everything takes twice as long. Soon I think some of the new words will start to sink in, though, and then the readings won't be quite so tricky to manage on top of speaking a second language.
My spanish is definitely improving, thanks to those classes/readings, but mostly because of my host family. The best part of living with them is just sitting and listening/watching them interact because then it's much easier to learn the lingo/idiomatic expressions. Let me tell you, these Spaniards like to yell ALOT so half the time if you aren't watching them and are just listening to the convos, you can't tell if they are screaming words of enthusiasm and excitement, or horrible, terrifying anger. (The kids especially are fond of yelling out random words and emotions when they play, but when I am in my room they end up sounding more like angry shouts of frustration and insolence- multiply that times 4 kids = yikes.) Needless to say, I'm getting a hang of conjugating verbs faster in my head and using idiomatic expressions correctly, as well as learning some new ways to scream about how much fun I am having with the kiddos. Yay immersion!
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