Day 1 - Mon 24 Oct
I woke up at 6:39, and my roommate and I were supposed to leave our apartment at 6:40. Needless to say, my morning routine was cut short. Luckily, I was 95% packed so getting ready didn't take to long. And we even got to school a couple minutes early, only to discover that the bus had broken down and the new bus was going to be 20 minutes late. This gave me time to go mail the rest of my postcards, and let my heart rate slow down a bit.
Once we got onto the bus, it was a 5 hour bus ride to San Sebastian. I was going to get some reading done, but instead I took a very long, bumpy nap. When we arrived, we headed straight off the bus to get lunch, because here in San Sebastian the restaurants are very strict about closing at 3 pm for siesta. I got a wonderful combination platter with eggs, french fries, lomo (a type of pork), and some red peppers. After that, we went up to a look-out point to see the city from above, and then we checked in at our hotel. Q and I are roommates, and we have a pretty nice hotel room.
After we had a short break, we all went as a group to a fancy restaurant called La Perla, located right on the beach. We had an amazing dinner with three courses and an incredible dessert. It was really nice to not have to worry about the price of the meal, and just enjoy the food. We walked around after dinner along the beach and the boardwalk before heading back to the hotel. We hung out with some of the other USAC students in one of the hotel rooms, and then they headed out to go to a bar. I watched Desperate Housewives with Devon and called it a night.
Day 2 - Tues 25 Oct
This morning we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel, and then started out on a walking tour of the city with Alvaro and Susan. We got to see a lot of the city, and wander about during some free time. I really enjoy hearing about San Sebastian from Alvaro, since he is originally from this city. After our walking tour we went to the Aquarium. We only had an hour, but it wasn't that big so we had enough time to see everything. I skipped over a lot of the museum section about fishing and merchant ships because I wanted to make sure I got to see all of the aquatic exhibits. There was a tunnel where you could walk underneath, and lots of smaller exhibits with really cool fish. I love going to aquariums, and I am glad we got to go.
We got free time for the rest of the day after the aquarium. We had to be back to the hotel between 7 and 7:30 to pick up our money for dinner. Some friends and I got lunch, but I wasn't feeling too well. I wanted to go on the boat tour with them, but I figured moving around on a boat wouldn't help how I was feeling, so I headed back to the hotel for a nap. After my nap, I went down to pick up my money, and we headed out on our pintxos route.
We visited 4 different bars in San Sebastian, and tried different pintxos in each place. I really enjoyed all of them. Only one of them had a name: Pintxo de Tiburon which means Shark Pintxo. It was actually shark meat, with potato, grilled onion, capers, and a sauce. It was really quite delicious. I also enjoyed the other pintxos that I had. I took pictures of all of them, and I will put them up soon. We had a great time wandering around to find bars and try new things. We also got to practice Spanish, and even learn a little of the Basque language.
Day 3 - Wed 26 Oct
Today we got up earlier and had the buffet breakfast before leaving for Bilbao. It is only an hour long bus ride, but I slept pretty much the whole way anyways. Then we took a walking tour with one of the USAC professors of the program here in Bilbao. We got to see the modern city, the city of the 19th century, and the city of the 18th century. Bilbao has an amazing story of reinvention and change. Our tour ended at our hotel, where we were given our room assignments and had free time until 5 pm.
After a quick stop in my room, I headed out with a large group to grab lunch and go to the Guggenheim Museum. The Guggenheim is incredibly beautiful from the outside. It is a work of art all to itself. Inside are three floors of modern art. Modern art isn't exactly my thing, but it was just cool to see how all of the exhibits had been designed. There are some sculptures that I really did enjoy. Hopefully I can find them online, because I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the museum.
Before dinner, we went to the Athletic Club Bilbao stadium to see the museum and take a tour of the stadium. It was cool to see, but I wasn't too interested because I don't follow soccer or the Bilbao team. Also, I was too busy being excited about dinner. We got to eat in a txoko (pronounced choke-o), a Basque gastronomical society. Traditionally, they were all-male societies where men came together to cook and socialize. Now, they are usually still all-male, but women are allowed to enter them. The Resident Director of the USAC program in Bilbao is a member of a txoko, and we were invited to dine there. We had chorizo, hot green peppers, bread, hake, veal, steak, and salad. For dessert, we had cheese, walnuts, and some kind of fruit jell-o like product. It was delicious, and we had an amazing time laughing and eating together. We even got to see a demonstration of traditional Basque music and dancing.
Day 4 - Thur 27 Oct
Today was the last day of my trip to the Basque Country. I had been waiting for this the whole semester, and it flew by way too fast. Breakfast was at the hotel again, and then we headed off to see a pelota demonstration. Pelota vasca is a Basque sport played on an indoor court. There are many variations involved different types of balls, different courts, and different equipment. The version we got to see played is called jai alai. Some may recognize it, because you can buy a version of it in the toys section at the store (check my pictures if you are confused). We even got to bet on who was going to win the match we saw, because betting is a huge part of watching pelota vasca.
After the match (my team did not win), we got to go out on the court and try out jai alai. When it was my turn, I explained to one of the players that I am surda (left-handed). He told me that no one plays pelota with their left hand, they are just taught to play right-handed as a child. He let me put the basket on my left hand, but none of the instructors could teach me how to throw the ball, because they don't know how to play left-handed. One of the instructors, a surdo himself, had me switch the basket to my right hand, and showed me the throw that is easiest for a left-handed player. It was much easier than trying to throw with my left hand. It was a pretty fun game, even though I knew my shoulder would be sore the next day. We had a lot of fun, and got out lots of energy before heading back to Madrid. We got one and a half hours for lunch in Bilbao before getting on the bus for the 5 hour ride home.
I had a great experience in the Basque country. I got to see and do so many things that I know I would have had the chance to, if I hadn't gone with USAC. It was worth doing the writing assignments and attending the meetings, and I would do it over again if I had the chance. The only thing I regret is that I didn't spend more time there, and that I was sick for part of one day so I didn't get to use all of my time.
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