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.)