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.