Quiero vivir en San Sebastian.

It's decided. I'm absolutely in love with the adorable beach town of San Sebastian, located on the northern coast of Spain. 

There may not be a ton of stuff there, but what is there is just enough. For monetary reasons, we decided not to actually stay the night in SS. Rather, we took a late night bus to arrive there around 7 in the morning, spent the entire day walking and sunbathing (which I partly regret due to my sever sunburn), then took another late night bus that night back to Madrid. 

The coolest part about our stay in San Sebastian was the glorious weather. It may not look like it by all of these pictures from the morning, but if you notice the one with the small opening in the clouds, that opening grew and grew, and by the time we had ridden the trolley to the top of Monte Igueldo, the weather was absolutely perfect for spending the day at the beach. 

Other reasons I'm in love with this place:

1) Tennis courts right by the coast

2) Everyone exercises...whether it be running or walking along the promenade, surfing, playing VOLLEYBALL on the beach

3) Beach visit daily after work. 

What more is there really? 

Of course, like in all places, there are a couple things I would have changed:

1) Worst part was this. Though this wasn't exactly a totally nude beach (Praise the Lord), I definitely saw enough topless women to last me...the rest of my life. 

2) Basque (Euskera in Spanish) is the official language of País Vasco (Basque country), so all of the signs are in Basque primarily, and Spanish underneath. This isn't a huge problem, but also a lot of native Basque people don't like to speak spanish because they're so proud of their own culture. Instead, they will talk to you in English if it's obvious that you're a tourist (which it usually is). I just love speaking Spanish, so it really bothered me that I couldn't practice it as much.

3) NO OLYMPICS ON THE BEACH. Haha, not really sure what that means, but we just noticed it on a sign on the beach (in picture below), so we thought that was

 quite silly. 

Other than that, this was an unforgettable place that I am so glad I got to see...and so thankful for the gorgeous day it turned out to be! After the beach, you can grab dinner at tapas bars or a sandwich to go, and sit at the main plaza in SS (in picture below). 

Pamplona--what an experience.

Entrance to the arena/stadium at the end of the run. It is also where the bullfights take place.

So if you've ever heard of the running of the bulls, which most people have, you probably imagine these Spanish men dressed in white and red running frantically through these cobblestone streets of Pamplona with these giant bulls, trying not to get hit or fall down and get trampled on by a massive bull. This is no misconception...it is precisely what the running of the bulls is.  

**sidenote: for those of you Spanish speakers, this is surprisingly not called La Corrida de Toros...that's actually the bullfight with the matador and all. In fact, the running of the bulls is called "El encierro de toros"**

The running of the bulls is just one part of The Festival of San Fermin, which is a 9 day (and night) festival celebrating Saint Fermin. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fermín for a more interesting description. 

Though it is technically a party in honor of Saint Fermin, most of what I saw was just a giant party, something comparable to Mardi Gras, I suppose. We got in the night of the 10th (Friday) around midnight, stayed up all night--because that's when the party is apparently--and left Saturday morning around 11. Sound crazy? It was! There were people literally everywhere you looked. Trash everywhere, which killed me because there were PLENTY of trashcans around every corner and park. They estimated about a million people on the weekend...which is exactly when we were there and exactly what it felt like. People 

come from all over (we ran across people from Italy, Britain, Ireland, the US, and Australia in addition to the masses of Spaniards) to take part in this massive party in the streets and parks of Pamplona. We met a fun group from Barcelona that played flamenco music for us. 

By the way, Spanish men are enamored with the "rubias"--blondes, which is why there's a picture of a huge group with Miranda, my friend from Minnesota, in the center of all of them. It's kind of a joke with her now though. She's used to them trying to get her to come to them as if she were a puppy. Literally people ask to take a picture with her just because she has blonde hair and blue eyes. If any of you Bell sisters come to Spain, you better be careful! 

There was a concert going on literally all night long, people packed in the streets, and then around 5 o'clock, most people start making their way toward the road where the running of the bulls takes place to stake their spot as spectators. 

Our group in general had a fairly good spot, although the fact that I'm 5 feet 2 inches didn't exactly help me see much of the running itself since I was standing behind a row of Spanish men who were sitting on the wall that was on the side of the street. From 6:00 until 8:00, we just stood there, holding our spots until the running began, which is pretty ridiculous when you think about the fact that the running itself only lasts for about 3 minutes, and the part that you personally get to see only lasts about 30 seconds or a minute if you're lucky. For those of you who have ever waited in line for 2 hours for the 2 minute-long Master Blaster at Schlitterbahn (or any other awesome amusement park ride), that's pretty much how it was for us. Of course, when you're waiting in line for those, you usually have your own personal space and place in line, whereas in Pamplona, you pretty much have to stake your ground and be prepared for numerous drunk Spaniards to try to plow their way through to the front. I honestly feel I have never gotten so close to so many strangers before in my life. And by close I don't mean emotionally...I mean when the running began EVERYONE moves closer to the street and there is NO room to budge. 

Thankfully, we had a group of guys from our program who were there with us, and they had been there for the running the previous day (the day that one man was killed), and they did a good job of making a human barrier behind us girls so not very many people succeeded in pushing us out of the way. When all was said and done, I was able to peek and see a little of the running, but my pictures and videos really are not that impressive. Though it was definitely crazy and not my typical scene of choice, I am extremely glad I went and experienced it. It was unforgettable to say the least. By the way, if you're wondering if I ran, I did not. I considered it, but when I thought about all the ways I would want to die, being maimed by a bull at the age of 21 is not exactly my first choice. There were, however, 3 people I knew that ran from our program (the guys below were 2 of them). All three are fine, but confessed it was pretty scary stuff. 

Anadulcia and La Alhambra

This past weekend was our group trip to Andalucia, which is the southern region of Spain. It's major cities include Sevilla, Málaga, Córdoba, and Granada (see map at bottom of blog, or just google Spain map).
 Our main destinations, however, were just Córdoba (first 4 pics) and Granada (the rest). 

We were only in Córdoba for a few hours on Friday to see La Mezquita (the mosque) and La Judería (the jewish quarter). You've probably seen pics of La Mezquita before with the red-striped arches like this picture. What I never quite realized was that the mosque was turned into a cathedral, much like all of the mosques, during the inquisition. So, in addition to having all of the original muslim architecture, the center of the mosque was now a sanctuary with two ridiculously old organs and lots of ornate decorations. The Jewish quarters themselves were honestly not that intriguing...we walked around the neighborhood a little bit and then saw a small room that had a menorah in it (in center of pic on top of wooden pedastool).  Also notice the Calle de las flores pic with the tower of the mezquita in the background.

After eating lunch in a hotel in Córdoba (where I'm pretty positive I ate rabbit--actually delicious), we headed to Granada, where we spent the next two nights. 

Granada is actually quite large, a city with about 450,000

citizens, with a large population of university students. Though I enjoyed all the rebajas going on (store sales, which are most common in the month of July here in Spain), I think I prefer the smaller Toledo area. There were a few times when I was scared for my life crossing the streets in Granada. 

The Alhambra (at night, above) was absolutely exquisite. The gardens were probably my favorite, and the waterways and fountains came in a close second. I won't try to describe the palace itself...it's too impressive and I'm sure I would use some incorrect architecture terminology. Just take a look at the pics here and on facebook to see for yourself. If you don't have facebook but want to see the pics, I'm working on creating a picasa account through google to share all my pictures. 

In 

addition to seeing the 

breathtaking Alhambra, we also saw a stunning flamenco performance while in Granada. Flamenco is a very intriguing, dramatic dance that originated in Andalucia. It features fast footwork, emotional singers, guitar accompaniment, and not to mention intense facial expressions. I couldn't help laughing every so often at their furrowed brows and stern looks. All in all, though, I'm definitely glad I experienced that.

Well, I must go write a couple of papers for tomorrow. I have to remind myself once in a while that I am taking classes...it's kinda tough finding the motivation. 

London and back...

First of all, sorry I haven't been posting too often. Traveling and sleeping and recovering from a slight cold have been my priorities lately, but I will try to post more often with some brief stories. :)

So I'm back in Spain after my trip to London, which was fantastic. I feel like I got more exercise there than I did sleep, as the first night I was there I walked around a lot of the major sites (tower of london, tower bridge, globe theatre, big ben, parliament, westminster abbey). Because this was in the evening and also because I had bought a ticket to ride this gigantic ferris wheel that's along the Thames River, I didn't really go into any of these places. The ferris wheel (see pictures) was amazing...it towered above big ben and gave spectacular views of London's skyline--precisely why I went as late as possible to try to catch the sunset. 

The second day (Friday) was my favorite, of course--Wimbledon. Woke up SUPER early, and really, if I hadn't had roommates who just got back from partying and were laughing when my alarm was going off, I probably wouldn't have woken up at all because I was pretty exhausted from all that walking. Anyhow, left the hostel around 4:50 to catch a 5:00 bus to the train station that took me to Wimbledon. From the train station, you have to ride a tram (much like Schlitterb

ahn, except it's a cute red bus) down to the "queue" entrance to the park. This is where I started my queuing experience--around 6:45 in the morning to 9:45 I waited in line, occasionally moving, but most of the time it felt like we were just sitting. They actually have a fairly sophisticated/intelligent way of organizing the queue so that you don't have to stand the whole time...They break the line into sections, and once there is space for one section to be moved, then you all move that distance at one time. Very smart and courteous for the people (like me) who want to sleep while in line. Anyways, this 

queue is RIDICULOUS...literally thousands of people (they have 6000 tickets available the day of play for the public as long as they get there in time to claim one) standing in this grassy field. See the pictures I took that can maybe give you an idea. I tried to upload a video, but it didn't work...so just check out the pics.

 

Once I got into the grounds, I bought a grounds ticket, and thanks to a nice girl from Ireland, Brenda, who's working at Wimbledon, 

I knew to go straight to the ticket resale counter at the top of Henman Hill and wait to buy a show court ticket for only 5 pounds that someone who's seen enough tennis has turned back in for charity. Granted, I did have to wait a while, and I didn't get to see Roger play because no one wanted to leave when he was playing, but when all was said and done I got to see two full matches on centre court at Wimbledon, and I was also able to walk around the grounds and watch other players who were on s

ome of the smaller courts (Sam Querrey, Robert Kendrick). Also, I wasn't sitting in 

line the WHOLE time because I was able to make some friends in line, and we took turns to go walk around the grounds and look around a bit. Oh and did I mention that I got to see Novak Djokovic play Mardy Fish LIVE?! :) 

After I finally got back to the hostel Friday night, it was already about midnight, and I still had to take a shower. By the time I got to bed, it was about 1. I set 3 alarms (knowing myself, and how I really can sleep through anything if I'm that tired), and sure enough, I didn't wake up until 7:30, when I 

had originally planned to wake up at 5 to try to head back to Wimbledon for a second round of fun. Once I got to Wimbledon this morning, it was already 9:00, and there were already over 6000 people waiting in the queue, which meant that I wouldn't get into the grounds until 5:00! That's EIGHT hours waiting in the hot sun just to get into the grounds that I had already seen. Anyways, I felt a little down, but I was able to go check out St. Paul's Cathedral, which is extremely cool if you're into beautiful, impressive old buildings, and also took a look at Tower of London. Tower of London's AWESOME...I just didn't have sufficient time to take it all in.

So that's pretty much it for London. I loved the city...safe, nice people, clean (as clean as a giant city can be), and fantastic/easy public transportation--would definitely would go back again.

London Life

Though it's the middle of the afternoon here in London (I made it!), I feel like it's the end of the day from all of the traveling I've done. Here are some of the key points of the trip here:

Caught the late bus from Toledo to Madrid, where I met this VERY interesting Israeli man named Shmuli. He's apparently a journalist that will be pursuing his doctorate degree from Notre Dame next fall. The bus ride was an hour and a half, and I might have talked for about 5 of those 90 minutes. He was quite intelligent in all things historic and political, things I'm not exactly in tune with, which pretty much made our "conversation" a story by him, then a question and answer session with really detailed answers. His main interest is in german politics, but he writes for a paper back in Israel about futbol. I also learned he's a jewish atheist, or an atheist jew, not sure which is correct. Basically he just participates in jewish traditions for support of the culture, not because it's part of his belief. One of his longest stories had to do with how he had just been to Barcelona to interview Jordi Pujol i Soley, who apparently was the president of Cataluña (a province of Spain) from 1980 to 1999--was elected 6 times in a row!

Once we got off the bus in Madrid, I took a taxi to my hostel, which was a pretty cool hostel in Madrid with a bar downstairs and really nice receptionists. I got there around 12:00 and had a flight at 6:30 this morning, so really I was there for about 3 and a half hours before catching the shuttle (much cheaper than a taxi and safer & easier than the metro). I would have just stayed at the airport,  but I've heard that's not the best idea when traveling alone. Next time I will do that though because there were tons of people doing it and lots of police around.  Needless to say I just slept in my clothes, which is a good thing since I slept through my alarm, and didn't wake up until the nice receptionist came up to my room! Kinda crazy but I was able to get all of my stuff together, check out, and leave the place all in 10 minutes. The nice thing is that I wasn't the only one the shuttle was waiting for...the last person was a woman from Uruguay, Sandra, whom I actually became pretty good travel friends with. It was funny because we would switch from Spanish to English and back a lot. Anyways, we just stuck together at each point of the flight process. 

And finally, I'm at my hostel in London. Finding my way to the right tube in Victoria Station was a little crazy, but I kept going back to this really nice British man at the info. desk who pretty much looked up how to get directly to my hostel for me. It took me a little while then to find the right street of my hostel, but once I found an internet café, I was able to google map it (something I forgot to do before I left obviously). 

Wimbledon Wishes and Woes (I'm a fan of alliteration):

So, if you're wondering why I came to London all by myself, it's really and truly because of the most prestigious, classic tennis tournament--WIMBLEDON! I could not pass up the opportunity of catching a cheap flight to London (as opposed to an outrageously expensive flight from the states) and at least going to the grounds one day. The thing is, every year Wimbledon is quite unpredictable with the weather. I'm just praying that the predictions for tomorrow do not prevent play, since I didn't get here early enough today to queue and get tickets. Here's the queuing low-down for those who are interested:

* You can stand in line (queue)* for one of the 200 centre court tickets sold on the day of play or one of the 6000 grounds admission tickets sold on that day of play.

* Grounds don't technically open until 10:30 a.m., but some people even camp-out the night before to get tickets (I will not be this extreme...though I do plan on getting there around 5:00 tomorrow for grounds tickets). 

*Getting to Wimbledon at these odd hours can be quite tricky, since it is actually a suburb of London, not in the city. 

Primera semana ya ha pasado?!

DISCLAIMER: This is a long blog post. I apologize, but it's up to you how much you read. The next few should be shorter. It is summer after all... most of you should have some free time! :)

 

Wow, I can't believe it's already Tuesday of the second week that I've been here. Time has flown, yet it has also been full of fun and memorable moments. First, for general info:

*  I'm living in Polígono, which is really a suburb-like town with mostly apartments for housing outside of old-town Toledo, which is essentially a town enclosed by medieval castle-like walls that were first built in the 1200s. Crazy, I know. My host family is wonderful: a mom, Tere (Teresa), a younger sister, 18 (Tania), and a younger brother, 13 (Rubén). They are a loving, open, and very energetic family.  

* IT'S HOT HERE. If you're used to the Texas summer heat, it wouldn't bother you that much (yet I hear it isn't even close to it's hottest temps--those come in July, apparently), but all I have to say is that it's the same temp. as central Texas, and guess what--No AC. I didn't necessarily anticipate, or even hope for it, but you're definitely feelin' the heat on the days with no wind. No humidity though, so not quite as bad as back home.

* Ciestas. This is an instituted time of day (usually around 2-5), when nearly every business shuts down so that its employees can go home, eat lunch with their families, and rest before heading back to work. I have thought of two reasons why this works so well in Spain: 

1) the sun shines so bright, and for so long here. The sun rises before 7 and sets a little before 10, but it really doesn't get dark until 10:20. 

2) It's so hot here that during the day, the only thing people do outside is go to the pool and cool off. Social life is a huge part of the culture, and going out at night provides a much better atmosphere than during the day. The weather at night is perfect. 75ish Farenheit, crisp, clear air (minus the cigarette smoke that accompanies nearly every group of Spaniards) and an occasional breeze. 

* I'm going to class on Mondays and Wednesdays: taking 20th century Spanish lit. and recent spanish film class. Same professor for both...very understandable and intriguing man who's actually from Argentina. Seems really nice as well as a terrific professor--repeats things with clarity and a variety of explanations. This part of the trip is not as exciting as the rest, so I probably won't talk much more about classes. Don't worry though Mom, I am studying and doing my work...

*Last and least, the U.S. dollar means very little here. It is quite sad when you see something that's about  15 Euros, and think that means it's cheap, but really it's still about 25 bucks. 

                1 Euro = 1.4 dollars!!!

Here are a few highlights:

* Upon arrival in the airport (which is a really cool airport by the way...I suspect my architect brother would think it interesting), some Spanish woman asked--in Spanish--me where the exit was. Of course, I had no idea, but that didn't stop me from trying to answer her with "um, I'm not sure, I think it's over there" (in broken Spanish). 

* One of my favorite things about Spain is café con leche. It's strong, but very smooth (esp. when you buy it from a local café rather than try to make it in your house) coffee, pretty much a latté...but I tell you the truth: it beats Starbucks ANY day. The only negatives are that you don't get as much coffee and refills (for any drinks, for that matter) are in no way free here. I have had them at cafés twice so far, and over my stay, I plan on hitting as many cafes as I can afford to find the best. 

  So far, I have already had some fairly exciting personal experiences here, but because the first week, I have been overwhelmed by buying the necessities, and honestly, planning my London trip for this weekend (Wimbledon, here I come!!), I haven't posted anything. Entonces (so), so that I don't stay up any later tonight writing and so that I don't inundate you with all my fascinating experiences thus far, I will leave you with one that happened today, and will fill you in gradually over the weekend on my downtime in my London hostel. In fact, I might make this a regular (we'll see how often I actually do it) section of my blog that consists of a specific event or unique experience. 

Cuento del día (Story of the day): 24/06/09** 

Mi viaje turística personal (My personal tour): 

Today (which was Tuesday), I went to the mall, which is actually quite close to my house. Just a quick bus ride away. Or at least it should be. Tere (host mom) took me by car to show me where the bus stop to come back home is. The mall's not huge, but it is 3 stories (3rd is food court), and it's clean and has all the things you can't find easily in the local mercados, not to mention it's open during ciesta (a time practically instituted in Spain from about 2-5 in the afternoon to rest from work...I'll talk more about this in another blog). There's a giant Wal-Mart-like store called Eroski (I had never heard of it before), and a few stores with some pretty sweet deals. Anyways, back to my cuento (story) personal. Shopping was fine, got most of the stuff I needed. I walked to the bus stop my host mom showed me. I asked this fairly attractive Spanish guy if he knew which bus went back to my neighborhood. He was very helpful and actually told me the correct bus to get on. As I boarded, I asked the driver if he was in fact going to my neighborhood just to make sure the muchacho (guy) was right. He said yes, so I felt good. However, what I didn't realize was that my stop in Polígono on this bus is different than the stop I always pass by on my way back from school. It's actually a block farther. But, I thought that we would eventually get to my street, since it is one of the major streets in Polígono. We did, but we actually just passed it. Well, before I knew it I was in the industrial area of Toledo, where all the big car factories are. By that time, if I had gotten off, it would have been an EXTREMELY long walk to my house...I mean, we crossed a highway to get to this area of town. Plus, I wanted to get to town = Toledo (not Polígono, the suburb) because the school put on flamenco classes tonight at 10. So, I continued to ride the bus to see where it took me, with the intention of finding a familiar stop where I could switch to a different bus that I knew was going to my stop for school. About 20 minutes later, after seeing another entire suburb of Toledo (Santa Barbara) as well as the bus station, the bus finally stopped at a stop that I recognized from my usual ride to school. I hopped off quickly, and sure enough, was able to get on the next bus to the plaza de Zocodover (my stop to go to school as well as a popular place in central Toledo).  To wrap it up, I called my friend that I had planned on meeting up with, and she was actually at the plaza eating dinner at McDonald's--which is exactly what I was going to do since I had to miss dinner at home. So awesome...and I'm not talking about the McDonald's. I had a salad, so unfortunately  I can't compare the food. Even though this was a little nerve-wracking, it was actually more funny than anything. I mean hey, I had my very own personal tour of some sights in Toledo that I otherwise probably would never have seen: 

- A nice football (soccer) field in Santa Barbara

- the bus station

- where to buy a car (industrial part)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm pretty sure one other guy knew what was going on all along.  He was sitting right next to the cute guy I asked about the bus all the way back at the mall and was still on the bus when I switched to the one going to the plaza. I'm sure he heard my home destination, and knew exactly how far from home I was. He was very nice though and didn't say anything to me, which I greatly appreciated since I was already a bit embarrassed. 

**in Europe, they put the day of the month before the month number

Questions? Just let me know!!

Con cariño,

Samantha

Adios amigos!

Hey friends,

So, I'm sitting in the San Antonio airport, and I remembered that I have yet to create a blog to share with my friends and family all that I will experience in the next six (actually seven) weeks. For six weeks, I will be taking 2 classes in Toledo, Spain, which is a small town about 30 minutes outside of Madrid. I am going with a program, but I really know no one that will be on the trip. I don't do a lot of things on my own like this, so I'm really looking forward to meeting some new people and making new friends, and of course speaking a ton of español while I'm over there. I cannot promise that my blog will be a captivating read, but I will do my best to keep it short and sweet for y'all. I'll be posting my pictures on facebook from time to time, so if you want to see more than the few I will add individually through these posts, be sure to check those out. Hope you are all having a fantastic summer! Email me or facebook would be the best way to contact me, but I also have a skype account that I will sign into occasionally: SamanthaJane49  :) 

Much love,

Samantha :)