So the cheap beer was just a tease. Apparently, just like us, the concept of buying a 6-pack is foreign here in Spain. That's why it appeared that the beer was so cheap. But alas, the dirt cheap price indicated was for the CAN and not the 6-pack. We wondered, during our first few grocery store trips, why some 6-packs were missing a few cans. It's because people just take as many cans as they want off the ring and buy just that many. And so, the .72€ we thought was a steal for a 6-pack of beer is just for the one aluminum can. Ah...we knew it couldn't last.
And, more pictures on our album. We took the subway up to Plentzia beach this afternoon, just to check things out.
It was crazy windy and looked eerie like a storm was about to come through, but it was still a lot of fun! The wind was pounding like crazy - we took a video of it on my camera but it's too large to upload on this blog. And it only took .90€ for each of us to ride one way there, a 45-minute subway.
And on that note, transportation in Bilbao (and I'm guessing the rest of Spain and Europe) is incredible. You can't imagine how many different subway, bus, tram and train routes there are going anywhere you'd want to go. Not only can we walk to school in about 20-30 minutes, but we can either take the tram, bus or subway to school too if we're feeling exceptionally lazy or pressed for time. A bus or train ride to Madrid or Barcelona can flirt anywhere in the 20-30€ range, so that might definitely be a trip we're planning sometime soon.
As for the immediate future, our time for skiing is quickly melting away. We went to the travel agency in the school today to check out some cheap deals on a weekend ski trip. If we do go, it'll be sometime in February.
¡Hasta luego!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
More pictures
It finally stopped raining again, so we took pictures around the city today. This time we went to a park that's close to the university.
We added them to the picture website: http://picasaweb.google.com/bvarnon so please enjoy!
Menú del día
Obviously, lunch is HUGE in Spain. The meal, called the menú del día, is served by most cafés and restaurantes around 2 - 2:30 (and definitely not anytime before then), and most of them have a menu of what they're serving that day for lunch outside. When lunchtime rolls around, people just walk around, looking at their outside menus until they find something they're in the mood for that day. They're all three-course meals (with usually 4-5 options for each course) and INCLUDE a bottle of wine for two people.
Since we're trying to save our money in order to travel as much as possible this semester, we've been cooking every day instead of eating out. But last Thursday, we treated ourselves to the menú del día at one of Bilbao's cafés.
For 11€ each, we ate:
First Course - paella con carne (paella with meat) that was absolutely DELICIOUS!
Second (Main) Course - I had pechuga de pollo (chicken breast) with peppers, and Cade had the salmon. Just like our paella, they were both delicious!
Third (Dessert) Course - I had mousse de limón (lemon type mousse pudding), and Cade had some type of creamy pudding that was absolutely delicious!
Included with the meal was a bottle of vino tinto (red wine) and a bread basket.
It's too bad we can't eat out every day, but that was absolutely delicious! And it's so crazy how everything gets so busy during lunchtime. All the stores are closed (pretty much, except the restaurants, bars and grocery stores), and everyone goes out with their friends for the menú del día.
Since we're trying to save our money in order to travel as much as possible this semester, we've been cooking every day instead of eating out. But last Thursday, we treated ourselves to the menú del día at one of Bilbao's cafés.
For 11€ each, we ate:
First Course - paella con carne (paella with meat) that was absolutely DELICIOUS!
Second (Main) Course - I had pechuga de pollo (chicken breast) with peppers, and Cade had the salmon. Just like our paella, they were both delicious!
Third (Dessert) Course - I had mousse de limón (lemon type mousse pudding), and Cade had some type of creamy pudding that was absolutely delicious!
Included with the meal was a bottle of vino tinto (red wine) and a bread basket.
It's too bad we can't eat out every day, but that was absolutely delicious! And it's so crazy how everything gets so busy during lunchtime. All the stores are closed (pretty much, except the restaurants, bars and grocery stores), and everyone goes out with their friends for the menú del día.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A walk through Bilbao...
No updates on cheap alcohol, but it finally cleared up today after a few days of rain, so we decided to go outside, explore around the city and take some pictures. Beautiful stuff. We mostly went down Calle Gran Vía (the main road that goes through the city), la Universidad de Deusto (our school) and the world famous Guggenheim museum. I put a new album called "Around Bilbao" on our Spain photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/bvarnon, so check it out if you'd like. This really is a beautiful town and country.
Here are some of our favorites of the day:
"The Thinker" by French artist Auguste Rodin.
The sculpture is usually housed at the Musée Rodin in Paris, but coincidentally is in Bilbao until February.
It's on Calle Gran Vía, completely free and open to the public and/or passers by.
It's a really pretty sculpture, and by pure luck it happened to be visiting Bilbao the same time we are.
How crazy!
And, here's a shot of Gran Vía at its best. Bilbao rains like Seattle (that's why they call it the "green country" in northern Spain), so when it's a pretty day, you have to take advantage!
This is la Universidad de Deusto, our school:
And of course, the Guggenheim museum:
Before I use up too much space on the blog, I'll stop there. But please check out the online album if you're interested in seeing more.
Oh, and one more thing about the alcohol: we quickly learned that even though some wine is cheaper than water, good wine isn't. I.e., the .98€ bottle of wine that we bought last night = not a great idea and is subsequently somewhere down the drain. Yuck.
Here are some of our favorites of the day:
"The Thinker" by French artist Auguste Rodin. The sculpture is usually housed at the Musée Rodin in Paris, but coincidentally is in Bilbao until February.
It's on Calle Gran Vía, completely free and open to the public and/or passers by.
It's a really pretty sculpture, and by pure luck it happened to be visiting Bilbao the same time we are.
How crazy!
And, here's a shot of Gran Vía at its best. Bilbao rains like Seattle (that's why they call it the "green country" in northern Spain), so when it's a pretty day, you have to take advantage!
This is la Universidad de Deusto, our school:
And of course, the Guggenheim museum:
Before I use up too much space on the blog, I'll stop there. But please check out the online album if you're interested in seeing more.
Oh, and one more thing about the alcohol: we quickly learned that even though some wine is cheaper than water, good wine isn't. I.e., the .98€ bottle of wine that we bought last night = not a great idea and is subsequently somewhere down the drain. Yuck.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Cheap Booze and Inauguration
So, I mentioned in my last entry that alcohol here is cheap - not so much liquor, but beer and wine. Today, I have proof. Eat your heart out Specs:
Budweiser 6-pack, for .71€. Add a 6-pack of Corona longnecks for 1.08€, and you've got some cheap fun:
But here in Spain, wine is pretty much all we drink. Wine and coffee are mainstays here. And apparently, you can get cerveza from the university vending machine. We'll be connoisseurs by the time we come back to the states!
Oh, and the inauguration: we saw it downstairs in the TV room at our dormpartment and kind of heard what he said, but it was hard with the Spanish voice over. Either way, we caught a symbolic glimpse of history that I'm sure we'll tell our kids about one day. And from Spain, no less!
Our Spanish is definitely improving. All my classes are taught in Spanish and Cade's are too. But it's only a week, and we're still trying to get the swing of things around here. We'll update when something else happens, or when we find more dirt cheap alcohol, whichever comes first. (Cade says hopefully the latter.) :)
Budweiser 6-pack, for .71€. Add a 6-pack of Corona longnecks for 1.08€, and you've got some cheap fun:
But here in Spain, wine is pretty much all we drink. Wine and coffee are mainstays here. And apparently, you can get cerveza from the university vending machine. We'll be connoisseurs by the time we come back to the states!
Oh, and the inauguration: we saw it downstairs in the TV room at our dormpartment and kind of heard what he said, but it was hard with the Spanish voice over. Either way, we caught a symbolic glimpse of history that I'm sure we'll tell our kids about one day. And from Spain, no less!
Our Spanish is definitely improving. All my classes are taught in Spanish and Cade's are too. But it's only a week, and we're still trying to get the swing of things around here. We'll update when something else happens, or when we find more dirt cheap alcohol, whichever comes first. (Cade says hopefully the latter.) :)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Pictures
OK, I think I finally figured out a way to post pictures so everybody can see them. Thanks to Aunt Janie for the advice. Check out this site for pictures from SPAIN!
http://picasaweb.google.com/bvarnon
If that doesn't work and you can't see the pictures, please let me know. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/bvarnon
If that doesn't work and you can't see the pictures, please let me know. Enjoy!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Dos Tejanos en Espana, Primera Semana
Hola, from our first week en España. I think we’re FINALLY starting to adjust to this strange place and language, but it’s still taking time. Today we went to the Guggenheim, which is absolutely amazing. It’s mostly architectural art, and there are a few exhibits that are really interesting and engaging and a few more modern that Cade and I are I guess too “uncultured” to realize their aesthetic beauty. :)
We got a call from the apartment office yesterday that said our rent was late and that we had to open up an account right away before 9:30 this morning. In the states, they’d give us a few days but in most cases not here. So we went to the bank today and tried to open una cuenta (an account), but they told us we needed some identification number for non-Spanish citizens to be able to open an account. Nobody told us that! So we went to the “hacienda” to get our NIFs (which we thought would be a same-day kind of thing) and filled out our forms and everything and the lady said it would take a few days before we got them. So we couldn’t get an account and were freaking out, scared that the apartment would kick us out or something. But when we went back to the apartment, they were completely cool about it and just let us pay our first rent in cash until we get our NIFs to open a new account. We pay our electricity and water each month along with our rent. Water is a flat fee of 8 euros per month, and electricity is 30 euros per month (but if we end up using less than that, they refund us the unused amount each month). They were really cool about it.
That’s something I’ve noticed about this place. Spaniards are really nice and eager to help you. Most people know English, but we don’t ask them to speak it so we can get more Spanish practice. Yesterday, there was a big group of us – maybe 5 or 6 people – who were obviously American and obviously lost, and there was some lady who just stopped on the street to help us find where we needed to go. It’s hard understanding them when they speak so fast, but if they tell you can’t understand, they slow down and speak more clearly so you can understand it.
But I like the Spanish spoken here much better – it’s so clear to understand what people are saying in surrounding conversations because the way they speak is so clear and crisp. They don’t slur their words and annunciate everything. I imagine it’s the same thing for someone trying to learn English. I’d guess trying to understand a British person would be much easier than someone trying to learn English from a Texan. We’re less annunciated, but I’m proud of where I come from. :)
That, in addition to their accent (the theta, which I’m inadvertently starting to adopt like in gra’th’ias or empe’th’ar) is something I’ve noticed about the places and people surrounding me. Some other things that separate this new place from back home:
*First, and maybe of higher or highest importance: beer and wine is dirt cheap here. You can buy a fair bottle for 1 euro, and a better bottle for 3 or 4 euro. In fact, we found a bottle that we paid $15 for at a Specs back in Austin for only 3 euro! Also, beer is dirt cheap. We found a can six-pack of Budweiser today for 92 cents! Of course, that’s 92 cents in euros, but that’s still cheap.
*Secondly, beef and ham are expensive. We went to the grocery store today to try to buy groceries for the next few days (we’re trying to cook mostly instead of going out to eat so that we can save money to travel more across Spain and Europe), and it costs 4 euro for 6 slices of ham! On the other hand, fish is fairly cheaper here (I guess since we’re so close to the coast).
*Everybody smokes here.
*Spaniards really care about the way they dress. They look really nice, but have their own style which is completely different than back in the states. Tennis shoes are discouraged, so it’s no wonder that everyone can automatically tag me as an American before I open my mouth.
*Everyone walks in Bilbao. Or they take the bus. There are a few cars around, but not nearly as many as there are people here. Public transportation up here is abundant.
*They play American music in the grocery store like all the time, and it’s weird. And there’s a lot more English than I thought there would be. The other day I bought some cereal that said “corn flakes” on the box.
*People here look really fit. There aren’t many overweight people here, and we think it’s because their food is healthier. Maybe it’s just the Basque area we’re in, but we haven’t found much fried food, which is good. And everyone walks everywhere, so that makes sense too.
*EVERYBODY closes for lunch. The entire city just shuts down. It’s the most important meal of the day, and it consists of two courses, a dessert and a glass of wine anywhere from 10-15 euros for a reasonable price. It’s not bad, but we’re trying to cook more because our priority is traveling. Today we cooked chicken spaghetti with red sauce and baguette bread (amazing and fresh for only 40 euro cents). MMM. The food here is buenísima.
*Everybody said it rains a lot here, but at least since we’ve been here, it’s been really pretty and sunny. It’s only really rained one day, but I hope I didn’t just jinx myself out of a semester of good weather.
*There’s a lingerie store here called “Woman’s Secret”. No joke. I wanted to take a picture of it but I haven’t had my camera handy yet.
If you have any questions about Bilbao, Spain or Europe in general, just ask us!
We’re learning everyday new and crazy things that are constantly surprising us!
We’ll write more when we can, and if you’d like a post card, please give us your address and we’ll try to send something. Parents – don’t worry; we already bought y’all a postcard so yours should arrive soon. We just have to figure out a) where a post office is, and b) how much it costs to send mail back to the United States.
Also, I have pictures, but I don’t know where to post them. I’ve never used Flickr, but I guess I’ll try to check that out since Facebook isn’t available to everyone (and most importantly our parents). We’ll let you know when we get that figured out.
Well, until next time! ¡Hasta luego!
We got a call from the apartment office yesterday that said our rent was late and that we had to open up an account right away before 9:30 this morning. In the states, they’d give us a few days but in most cases not here. So we went to the bank today and tried to open una cuenta (an account), but they told us we needed some identification number for non-Spanish citizens to be able to open an account. Nobody told us that! So we went to the “hacienda” to get our NIFs (which we thought would be a same-day kind of thing) and filled out our forms and everything and the lady said it would take a few days before we got them. So we couldn’t get an account and were freaking out, scared that the apartment would kick us out or something. But when we went back to the apartment, they were completely cool about it and just let us pay our first rent in cash until we get our NIFs to open a new account. We pay our electricity and water each month along with our rent. Water is a flat fee of 8 euros per month, and electricity is 30 euros per month (but if we end up using less than that, they refund us the unused amount each month). They were really cool about it.
That’s something I’ve noticed about this place. Spaniards are really nice and eager to help you. Most people know English, but we don’t ask them to speak it so we can get more Spanish practice. Yesterday, there was a big group of us – maybe 5 or 6 people – who were obviously American and obviously lost, and there was some lady who just stopped on the street to help us find where we needed to go. It’s hard understanding them when they speak so fast, but if they tell you can’t understand, they slow down and speak more clearly so you can understand it.
But I like the Spanish spoken here much better – it’s so clear to understand what people are saying in surrounding conversations because the way they speak is so clear and crisp. They don’t slur their words and annunciate everything. I imagine it’s the same thing for someone trying to learn English. I’d guess trying to understand a British person would be much easier than someone trying to learn English from a Texan. We’re less annunciated, but I’m proud of where I come from. :)
That, in addition to their accent (the theta, which I’m inadvertently starting to adopt like in gra’th’ias or empe’th’ar) is something I’ve noticed about the places and people surrounding me. Some other things that separate this new place from back home:
*First, and maybe of higher or highest importance: beer and wine is dirt cheap here. You can buy a fair bottle for 1 euro, and a better bottle for 3 or 4 euro. In fact, we found a bottle that we paid $15 for at a Specs back in Austin for only 3 euro! Also, beer is dirt cheap. We found a can six-pack of Budweiser today for 92 cents! Of course, that’s 92 cents in euros, but that’s still cheap.
*Secondly, beef and ham are expensive. We went to the grocery store today to try to buy groceries for the next few days (we’re trying to cook mostly instead of going out to eat so that we can save money to travel more across Spain and Europe), and it costs 4 euro for 6 slices of ham! On the other hand, fish is fairly cheaper here (I guess since we’re so close to the coast).
*Everybody smokes here.
*Spaniards really care about the way they dress. They look really nice, but have their own style which is completely different than back in the states. Tennis shoes are discouraged, so it’s no wonder that everyone can automatically tag me as an American before I open my mouth.
*Everyone walks in Bilbao. Or they take the bus. There are a few cars around, but not nearly as many as there are people here. Public transportation up here is abundant.
*They play American music in the grocery store like all the time, and it’s weird. And there’s a lot more English than I thought there would be. The other day I bought some cereal that said “corn flakes” on the box.
*People here look really fit. There aren’t many overweight people here, and we think it’s because their food is healthier. Maybe it’s just the Basque area we’re in, but we haven’t found much fried food, which is good. And everyone walks everywhere, so that makes sense too.
*EVERYBODY closes for lunch. The entire city just shuts down. It’s the most important meal of the day, and it consists of two courses, a dessert and a glass of wine anywhere from 10-15 euros for a reasonable price. It’s not bad, but we’re trying to cook more because our priority is traveling. Today we cooked chicken spaghetti with red sauce and baguette bread (amazing and fresh for only 40 euro cents). MMM. The food here is buenísima.
*Everybody said it rains a lot here, but at least since we’ve been here, it’s been really pretty and sunny. It’s only really rained one day, but I hope I didn’t just jinx myself out of a semester of good weather.
*There’s a lingerie store here called “Woman’s Secret”. No joke. I wanted to take a picture of it but I haven’t had my camera handy yet.
If you have any questions about Bilbao, Spain or Europe in general, just ask us!
We’re learning everyday new and crazy things that are constantly surprising us!
We’ll write more when we can, and if you’d like a post card, please give us your address and we’ll try to send something. Parents – don’t worry; we already bought y’all a postcard so yours should arrive soon. We just have to figure out a) where a post office is, and b) how much it costs to send mail back to the United States.
Also, I have pictures, but I don’t know where to post them. I’ve never used Flickr, but I guess I’ll try to check that out since Facebook isn’t available to everyone (and most importantly our parents). We’ll let you know when we get that figured out.
Well, until next time! ¡Hasta luego!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Day 2, ¡Está bién!
Whew! Well, so far at least, day 2 was much better than day one. Bana had her orientation today and met several people. I took my Spanish placement exam this morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon with the other girl from UT on exchange like me. That's when I found out that Spaniards don't eat lunch until 2:30! The restaurants don't even serve lunch food until 2:30! But, eating at 2:30 was a lot easier than getting kicked off the bus yesterday.
Overall, I think we're both feeling A LOT better today. Tonight we went out with a couple of people that Bana met today. We went to a bar and had Pintxos (Tapas, or Pinchos, as they're known locally). It was a new experience for all of us. You try ordering a food you've never had at a bar you've never been to in a language you've never actually used! But, it worked! We got what we wanted and, hopefully, got over our fear of actually talking to Spanish people.
So, today was a success. Of course anything would be better than the day we had yesterday! But, in the words of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), "The night is darkest before the dawn." Today dawned our adventure in Spain, and we're serious! (For those of you who haven't seen The Dark Knight, watch it!)
Overall, I think we're both feeling A LOT better today. Tonight we went out with a couple of people that Bana met today. We went to a bar and had Pintxos (Tapas, or Pinchos, as they're known locally). It was a new experience for all of us. You try ordering a food you've never had at a bar you've never been to in a language you've never actually used! But, it worked! We got what we wanted and, hopefully, got over our fear of actually talking to Spanish people.
So, today was a success. Of course anything would be better than the day we had yesterday! But, in the words of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), "The night is darkest before the dawn." Today dawned our adventure in Spain, and we're serious! (For those of you who haven't seen The Dark Knight, watch it!)
Monday, January 12, 2009
1st day here...
So, we made it. We’re now home sweet home in our new dorm/apartment, and now our heads our reeling with the culture shock that we knew was going to come but didn’t think it’d be this bad. But I guess that comes inevitably when you’re in a foreign country where you don’t know nearly enough of the language as you should.
So, let me start from what I guess would be the beginning. The flight from Houston was long, but nice. What really sparked our interest were the TV updates, which updated the passengers on where the flight was on the globe. It tracked the trail from Houston to Frankfurt – something interesting to keep up with when all you see for hours upon hours is blue ocean.
Nonetheless, I guess we arrived a little late because once we arrived at the German airport and readied ourselves to transfer to Bilbao, it was all rush rush rush. Much to our surprise, we had to go through another round of customs for German security, where Cade went through additional screening because apparently the magnetic strip bar code in his pocket pants is an inadvertent act of terrorism. But after we (and mostly Cade) got through that security check, we realized that our flight to Bilbao left in 10 minutes! So we rushed down to the gate, after much rigmarole due to the crazy geography of the German airport (trust me, it’s confusing). The good thing is that they got word that the flight from Houston was late and waited on us. Whew!
But apparently it wasn’t like it really mattered, because we didn’t fly out until nearly one and a half hours later because of ice on the runway and plane and everything. But FINALLY we flew to Bilbao.
First of all, let me say that Spain is gorgeous. As we flew in, we could see quaint little farm houses perched up on those beautiful green mountains. After our arrival, I met up with my study abroad program and headed to Bilbao!
But that’s where the culture shock came in. It was beautiful watching it from afar as we descended into Spain on the plane. Once Cade and I actually explored the city – we realized how truly different everything is. Seriously. And it’s not like I expected it to be like Austin – I just didn’t expect such a huge culture shock like this.
So as soon as we moved our stuff into our dorm that we’re sharing, we headed out to find a cheap pay as you go cell phone, because obviously ours won’t work over here. So after shopping around a few places (Cade doing all the talking because he knows WAY more Spanish than I do and seriously impressed me tonight), we bought a pair of cheap phones for 19 euro each.
We were so excited that we had our little phones finally that we decided to explore more of Bilbao by hopping on the tram. So Cade steps on the tram, and I walk up to the doorway, and the bus starts freaking out: BEEP BEEP BEEP. So, naturally – scared like hell – I step off the bus and the doors just slam shut and the bus rolls away.
So Cade tries to get the driver’s attention to open the door for me, and he won’t budge. The bus, and Cade, disappear – leaving me all alone in a city that I’ve only been in for three hours (without a map). I had my newly bought cell phone, but that didn’t do me any good because we had just gotten the phones before our tram sham and hadn’t had time to give each other our numbers. So there I am, scared out of my mind, without knowing Spanish fluently, without a map, without anybody’s phone number, my boyfriend probably halfway across town somewhere, and without a clue on how to get through this foreign city.
So naturally, I chase after the bus, but the damn thing beat me and went out of sight before I got halfway to the end of the block (but btw, the city is walkable – the roads are tiny and because of this, I think, it looks a lot bigger on the map than it is geographically). So I decide I’ll just walk home, before realizing that a) I don’t know where that is, and b) even if I did, I don’t have a map to get me there. So, I did what I should have done in the beginning, and went back to the tram stop where we got separated and there was my knight in shining armor – just as scared as I was.
So then we both get on the tram, and check out a few things – like the university and the Guggenheim museum (which really is a remarkable piece of architecture). Seeing as how nobody thus far had checked for tickets, we thought that the tram was free. So naturally, when we were done at the university and museum and ready to go back home, we got back on the tram. Ten minutes later, we got kicked off.
Apparently, the tram isn’t free. You have to have this special ticket type thing which we had no idea about, and when the guy asked to see ours and we didn’t have it, he made us get off at the next stop.
Then we went to the grocery store to get some food to cook for tonight (we have a kitchen in our dorm room), and were shocked as hell that milk, among other things, is sold on a shelf at room temperature. But we bought our food (what we could recognize at least), paid 7 euros and were out the door of our first international shopping escapade.
Bilbao isn’t Austin, and I didn’t expect it to be. But I didn’t expect things to be so different, either. When we got home, we each curled up and crashed on the bed, exhausted with all the things we just don’t know about this culture and the way things are done here.
But then again, I know that we’re not the only ones who’ve experienced this our first day abroad. It was, all in all, a terrifying experience. But hopefully as we learn the ways of Bilbao – we’ll have the time of our lives, and come back like everyone always does from abroad saying it was worth it all. The good part is that we’re together. There’s no way that I would have survived the culture shock from tonight if I didn’t have him by my side.
But either way, we start our respective study abroad programs tomorrow so hopefully that will propel us both into a faster adjustment to this unknown place. For now, it’s just plain intimidating.
It’s not night for most of our readers, but it is for us. ¡Hasta luego!
So, let me start from what I guess would be the beginning. The flight from Houston was long, but nice. What really sparked our interest were the TV updates, which updated the passengers on where the flight was on the globe. It tracked the trail from Houston to Frankfurt – something interesting to keep up with when all you see for hours upon hours is blue ocean.
Nonetheless, I guess we arrived a little late because once we arrived at the German airport and readied ourselves to transfer to Bilbao, it was all rush rush rush. Much to our surprise, we had to go through another round of customs for German security, where Cade went through additional screening because apparently the magnetic strip bar code in his pocket pants is an inadvertent act of terrorism. But after we (and mostly Cade) got through that security check, we realized that our flight to Bilbao left in 10 minutes! So we rushed down to the gate, after much rigmarole due to the crazy geography of the German airport (trust me, it’s confusing). The good thing is that they got word that the flight from Houston was late and waited on us. Whew!
But apparently it wasn’t like it really mattered, because we didn’t fly out until nearly one and a half hours later because of ice on the runway and plane and everything. But FINALLY we flew to Bilbao.
First of all, let me say that Spain is gorgeous. As we flew in, we could see quaint little farm houses perched up on those beautiful green mountains. After our arrival, I met up with my study abroad program and headed to Bilbao!
But that’s where the culture shock came in. It was beautiful watching it from afar as we descended into Spain on the plane. Once Cade and I actually explored the city – we realized how truly different everything is. Seriously. And it’s not like I expected it to be like Austin – I just didn’t expect such a huge culture shock like this.
So as soon as we moved our stuff into our dorm that we’re sharing, we headed out to find a cheap pay as you go cell phone, because obviously ours won’t work over here. So after shopping around a few places (Cade doing all the talking because he knows WAY more Spanish than I do and seriously impressed me tonight), we bought a pair of cheap phones for 19 euro each.
We were so excited that we had our little phones finally that we decided to explore more of Bilbao by hopping on the tram. So Cade steps on the tram, and I walk up to the doorway, and the bus starts freaking out: BEEP BEEP BEEP. So, naturally – scared like hell – I step off the bus and the doors just slam shut and the bus rolls away.
So Cade tries to get the driver’s attention to open the door for me, and he won’t budge. The bus, and Cade, disappear – leaving me all alone in a city that I’ve only been in for three hours (without a map). I had my newly bought cell phone, but that didn’t do me any good because we had just gotten the phones before our tram sham and hadn’t had time to give each other our numbers. So there I am, scared out of my mind, without knowing Spanish fluently, without a map, without anybody’s phone number, my boyfriend probably halfway across town somewhere, and without a clue on how to get through this foreign city.
So naturally, I chase after the bus, but the damn thing beat me and went out of sight before I got halfway to the end of the block (but btw, the city is walkable – the roads are tiny and because of this, I think, it looks a lot bigger on the map than it is geographically). So I decide I’ll just walk home, before realizing that a) I don’t know where that is, and b) even if I did, I don’t have a map to get me there. So, I did what I should have done in the beginning, and went back to the tram stop where we got separated and there was my knight in shining armor – just as scared as I was.
So then we both get on the tram, and check out a few things – like the university and the Guggenheim museum (which really is a remarkable piece of architecture). Seeing as how nobody thus far had checked for tickets, we thought that the tram was free. So naturally, when we were done at the university and museum and ready to go back home, we got back on the tram. Ten minutes later, we got kicked off.
Apparently, the tram isn’t free. You have to have this special ticket type thing which we had no idea about, and when the guy asked to see ours and we didn’t have it, he made us get off at the next stop.
Then we went to the grocery store to get some food to cook for tonight (we have a kitchen in our dorm room), and were shocked as hell that milk, among other things, is sold on a shelf at room temperature. But we bought our food (what we could recognize at least), paid 7 euros and were out the door of our first international shopping escapade.
Bilbao isn’t Austin, and I didn’t expect it to be. But I didn’t expect things to be so different, either. When we got home, we each curled up and crashed on the bed, exhausted with all the things we just don’t know about this culture and the way things are done here.
But then again, I know that we’re not the only ones who’ve experienced this our first day abroad. It was, all in all, a terrifying experience. But hopefully as we learn the ways of Bilbao – we’ll have the time of our lives, and come back like everyone always does from abroad saying it was worth it all. The good part is that we’re together. There’s no way that I would have survived the culture shock from tonight if I didn’t have him by my side.
But either way, we start our respective study abroad programs tomorrow so hopefully that will propel us both into a faster adjustment to this unknown place. For now, it’s just plain intimidating.
It’s not night for most of our readers, but it is for us. ¡Hasta luego!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
And, we're off!
Whew! So you all might have noticed, but we haven't been able to post anything on the blog for almost 3 weeks (2 of which were spent without internet access!).
But the good news is, TEXAS WON (making them the only Big XII South team to win their bowl game, after OsUck loses tonight)! But more importantly....and probably a lot more crucial to this blog....
WE'RE GOING TO SPAIN IN LESS THAN 3 DAYS!!!
That's right! It's finally here. All of you don't have to bore yourselves with our day to day preparations. We're finally getting to the meat of the blog.
By the way, sorry to those of you who posted comments while we were out of internet range. In the future there won't be huge time lags like that. From what I understand, we'll have internet almost everywhere in Europe.
So, as we make all of our final last minute preparations, this will be our last post from the US (barring any unfortunate circumstances).
Again, welcome to all of our new readers. If you have anything that you want to say, just post a comment. We want to hear from you!!
Thanks to all of both of our families for support and we'll see you when we get back!
-Cade
But the good news is, TEXAS WON (making them the only Big XII South team to win their bowl game, after OsUck loses tonight)! But more importantly....and probably a lot more crucial to this blog....
WE'RE GOING TO SPAIN IN LESS THAN 3 DAYS!!!
That's right! It's finally here. All of you don't have to bore yourselves with our day to day preparations. We're finally getting to the meat of the blog.
By the way, sorry to those of you who posted comments while we were out of internet range. In the future there won't be huge time lags like that. From what I understand, we'll have internet almost everywhere in Europe.
So, as we make all of our final last minute preparations, this will be our last post from the US (barring any unfortunate circumstances).
Again, welcome to all of our new readers. If you have anything that you want to say, just post a comment. We want to hear from you!!
Thanks to all of both of our families for support and we'll see you when we get back!
-Cade
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