Carnaval y El Puente Colgante

So currently Bilbao and from what my host mom tells me, all over Spain the Spaniards are celebrating Carnaval.  So I am not exactly sure what this festival derives from but being that its Spain I am sure it has to do with some sort of patronage to a Saint, as everything related to Catholicism here.  But whatever it's derived from, in secular terms its basically Halloween.  So the festivities are in different suburbs of Bilbao all through the month so even last weekend we rode the metro and saw people in all sorts of get ups.  On Thursday night the girls and I all went to a costume party decked out in our usual party outfits but with awesome masks.  Other students were in full costumes, just like Halloween, it was super awesome.  Friday was another themes party and Saturday is supposedly the biggest of the celebrations with parades and special parties...thats when Laura and I plan on wearing costumes, too bad I didn't know prior to getting here, there is a whole bag of costume get ups in our linen closet at home. 
  
Yesterday afternoon my abroad group went to visit the Puente Colgante, which is the oldest suspension bridge in the world and is located on the river, at the mouth of the sea, between the towns of Areeta and Portugalete. It's super tall to prevent the waves from the sea from hitting it, and we took an elevator and crossed it at the very top.   There was a little woman who gave us the tour, all in Spanish of course but I caught the gist of everything.  Some of the girls were scared because the footbridge was made of wood and it always rain is Bilbao and even snow recently...can you say erosion!  It was super windy and wicked cold up there but being above the entire town was super beautiful and its always nice touring the historical parts of Bilbao. 

I've been tarvelling Spain

So Bilbao is a beautiful city and the suburb that I live in, Getxo, is super quaint, beautiful beaches! Everyone knows about the Guggenheim here and i saw it with a tour guide but will have to do it again because she just picked what she thought was important and I was of course a little lost in translation.  
Last weekend for a four day break some friends and I went to Barcelona and it was absolutely amazing.  Barcelona is a super huge tourist area and everyone spoke English, so that did set me back a little.  The city is fusing with history, known for the works of Gaudi.  So we explored the city and saw La Sagrada Familia a huge church by Gaudi, Casa Mila La Pedrera which is his former apartment/turned museum, Parc Guell another Gaudi masterpiece, beautiful churches, and Gothic architecture.  Four days surely was not enough to do that city justice but it was bursting with life and just an awesome place to be.

The weekend of the 23rd my abroad group took a weekend trip out to Logroño, the capital city of La Rioja, a community in Spain.  The city is also the capital city of the Rioja wine trade and so we toured "Bodegas Otanon" a winery sort of place but not like Napa Valley exactly, it was more of a museum and the tour guide showed us the process for making wine and all sorts of information.  We concluded the tour of course with a wine tasting retreat, and I have tasted wine before, not a fan, but she showed us all these tricks for looking, smelling, tasting that made the experience much more pleasurable.  And from there we headed to Pamplona.


Pamplona holds the third largest bull fighting ring in the world and this is the town that is known for "Running with the Bulls."  We learned all about the running of the bulls every year and how the real danger is not so much the bulls as are the people trampling over one another.  This city was Ernest Hemingway's favorite place and there were all sorts of places around town dedicated to his days spent in Pamplona.  The Cathedrals here were some on the most famous and this is the starting point for the Camino de Santiago, the way of Saint James.   


A few weeks back we visited Gernika a city that was bombed by Spain for political purposes but is now infact a historical heartland known for peace.  There is a famous tree in the city that somehow managed to not burn in the attacks.  Small city but beautiful landscape and known for its famous red bean soup!  This same day we went to a biodiversity museum in a small town, Busturia, that looked what I imagine Ireland to be.  


I first arrived in Madrid we saw alot of Picasso pieces and Toledo was ancient and amazing.


So I realizing that  I have really been so many places and thought I should finally record the memories!

So I have been in Spain for 19 days and am finally starting a blog...

So I anticipate that my premiere post will be a little lengthy because I have done so much in just my first 19 days in Spain and I have yet to speak to most.  The flights here were nice, first time flying one of those huge international planes with the three rows and huge divided sections for class, but to my relief economy class was just delightful.  There were all sort of snacks and a flight worth of movies to watch, and though there were so many different languages being spoken on the flight the gentleman beside me spoke English and was fond of the northeast coast and delighted to hear of my courageous adventure.  Sure enough I land in Madrid, my first stop in Spain where I am taking excursions with my study abroad group, and my luggage never comes off the belt.  And then I remember, wow what a horrible time to not know how to speak Spanish, but that all got worked out and my bags were delivered to the hotel in Madrid within the first two days.

So in Madrid I meet my roommate, Laura Hanson from Minnetonka Minnesota, and she is just wonderful, we hit it off right away.  In my group, ISA Bilbao, their are four other girls as well and we all get along nicely.  Our first two days were spent in Madrid where went on a city bus tour, followed by a guided tour of the Prado Museum and visited the Reina Sofia (Picasso's masterpiece).  Now these museums were beautiful no doubt but I am not really into the art of the centuries from before anyone's time especially when the tour guide goes on forever and my eye has caught a painting I am actually interested in, but none the less the museums were nice.  On my third day we drove out to Toledo, and my gosh would this city take anyone's breathe away.  The architecture is so old and with its history comes so much character and a story in every detail.  The group split in two and took a three hour walking tour along the cobble stone streets, and we found that much of the history is embedded in religious sentiments.  The first three day excursion was awesome and finally it was time to leave the ISA students on San Sebastian and Santandere and head for our home away from home, Bilbao.

The six of us were super nervous to leave each other and meet our host families, but Laura and I ended up in the same house so we felt a little more at ease than the rest.  At the bus station we met our host mom, Jone, who looks like the funnest woman ever, and she is wonderful!  Laura and I live 25 minutes outside of the city center so we are on the metro line, and I guess Bilbao has one of the best metro systems globally.  I have my own room and it is super cute, plenty of space, and way bigger than any dorm I ever stayed in at Umass.  Our host mom speaks no English except for what I have taught her and a few things she has learned over the years with other exchange students.  My spanish comprehension has improved so much since I have been here, but my speaking is still really rough.  Laura is a spanish major so that makes things a little easier, but I have been doing okay.

Well I could go on about a million things but I figure this is enough for one post and I will continue soon, just wanted to get started somewhere.  Miss everyone and hope that all is well in the states : )