An Amazing Semester

So, I've finally gotten around to making the DVD of all our pictures and videos from Bilbao and the rest of Europe. The DVD is actually close to 2 hours long, but I made a 2-minute remix of my favorite pictures and memories.

Enjoy! What an amazing semester.

Nothing shows the real País Vasco like its little fishing towns: Bakio, Mundaka and Bermeo

And that's pretty much the truth. Bilbao's known for its professionals, its industrialism, businesses and Guggenheim with tourists. San Sebastián's known for its tourists, beach and pintxos. Tourists, tourists and more tourists.

But the rest, you seriously have to see for yourself. Once away from industrial Bilbao and the tourists' haven San Sebastián, you can really get a good gauge on what País Vasco is, and why the people who stay here love it so much.

A group of our friends took a weekend trip to Bakio, Mundaka and Bermeo this weekend, all basically a stone's throw from each other and an hour on the bus from Bilbao. And, apart from when I went Maui with my family when I was 16, I don't think I've ever seen white sandy beach, green hillside and aquamarine ocean combine in such a majestic way as I did this weekend.

We started the trip early Friday afternoon, when we took the bus from Bilbao to what we thought was Bermeo. Turns out it didn't, because the highway apparently had been closed down for some while, leaving the route we had planned on taking closed. But that only heightened the adventure, as we ended up in Bakio, a quaint little pueblo right on the coast.

After spending a few hours eating our picnic lunch, taking some great pictures and climbing the monstrous rocks on the sandy beach, we left for Mundaka, another small pueblo famous for its surfing and all-around awesomeness.

Once we checked into our hotel, we went out to explore what Mundaka has to offer: beach, beach and more beach. But, unlike Barcelona, Málaga or even San Sebastián where the beaches verge on mediocre, taking in the Mundaka beach landscape can take a full day. And even better, we were the only tourists.

Any words I conjure up, no matter how many adjectives I slap on, don't do it justice. Even the pictures don't, but you can see them here. It's just the way everything comes together - the green hills, the rocky cliffs, the deep blue and clear water, the white sandy beach, the bright blue skies - that's just so mesmerizing it's hard not to spend an entire sunny afternoon enjoying it all. To come to País Vasco without at least taking one day to see it should be criminal.

After we tore ourselves from this unforgettable scenery and night began to fall, we of course checked out the Mundaka nightlife, which is limited to say the least. In Bilbao, you won't go too far looking for a good pintxo bar at midnight. In Mundaka, we roamed the little streets for quite a while until we finally found a little smoky bar, where we spent the rest of the night with good music, good friends and good drinks.

The next morning we couldn't wait for more beach time. We checked out of the hotel, left our bags in the baggage room, and headed off for some more sun at what had already become my favorite beach in Spain. (Yes, seriously. Better than San Sebastián and Málaga. Better than them all...) Please though, look at the pictures. If you find a better beach in Spain with all the elements that make a beach a perfect beach, let me know. :)

This next part's where luck came in play. After an exhausting day in the sun, we didn't know whether we'd all be up for completing the trifecta of País Vasco towns and going to Bermeo. Thus, we thought we'd leave it up to EU tender. Tails we go home, heads we see the world.

I'm so glad that penny landed heads. Bermeo was almost as pretty as Mundaka, but still beautiful in its own unique Basque way. But, after seeing a pirate ship, staring in awe as the waves pounded against yet another beautiful cliffside beach and taking way too many pictures, we left the tranquil and serene scenery for the hustle and bustle of Bilbao.

And so ends another weekend journey. The more I see all of what País Vasco has to offer outside of Bilbao - most especially its amazing countryside - the more I just love being here. Only two weeks left, though. Even though I love it here, I think I'm ready to go back home. I miss family, friends, food and English. :)

Para todos mis amigos y mi familia en los estados, nos vemos en dos semanas. Para mis amigos aquí, nunca voy a olvidaros. For all my friends and family back in the states, I'll see you in two weeks. For everyone here in Bilbao, I'll never forget y'all. :)

Sinceramente,
Bana

Barcelona and Dad's Trip to Spain

Well, after relishing The Divine Victory of UT over A&M in Rome (and seeing many other amazing pieces of history), we flew back to Madrid in order to catch an overnight bus to Barcelona to meet Dad coming from the States.

A few quick words about overnight buses for those of you considering them:
1. The tickets for overnight buses cost the same as ones during the day, but the advantage comes from not having to pay for a night of hostel.
2. Bus seats are never comfortable enough to sleep well in unless you bring a pillow.
3. It is possible to sleep on the bus, but they stop every few hours, according to Spanish law.
4. Every time they stop they make an announcement and turn on all of the lights.
5. Despite all of this, it is possible to rest while on the bus. Just be prepared. Bring something to cover your eyes and a pillow (and pray that the guy or girl behind you doesn't snore).
6. The big thing to realize is that you will probably be tired the entire next day after the ride. How tired depends on your preparation. Hostels cost money, but walking around half asleep can cost you more in the long run.

All of that being said, we met Dad at the airport train station and basically went straight to sightseeing. About an hour into walking around, we realized that Barcelona is absolutely massive on a European scale.

We started on La Rambla, which is Barcelona's huge pedestrian street what leads directly from the Plaza Cataluña to the Port. From there, we went to the huge statue of Christopher Columbus "pointing toward the horizon in search of the New World" overlooking the Port. Strolling along the harbor, we cut back up into the Gothic Quarter and Dad got to see his first Spanish cathedral. From there we headed to the Plaza Cataluña and took a video panoramic from inside of the huge circular Plaza, complete with pigeons and plenty of young Spanish children running around playing with them.

About this time, we realized that there was no way that we could walk around and see everything we wanted to see, so we hopped onto a touristic bus from Plaza Cataluña to check out the sights. And sights there were.

The bus ran two lines, the East Route and the West Route. We started on the East Route.

The first place we stopped gave us the best view over Barcelona that we found. From the Mirador (viewpoint) your could see almost all of Barcelona stretching between the mountains and the sea. Honestly, it was one of the most breathtaking views I've seen in Europe. I'll post a picture of that scene as soon as I can get one from Dad (our camera was dead on the first day), but here's the link to everything else that we took.

Continuing on the bus tour, we rode past the 1992 Olympic Stadium, the Museu Nacional de Arte Cataluña, the Plaza de España, Avenida Diagonal, and finished back at Plaza Cataluña. At all of these places, you can get off, take pictures, tour the site, etc., but we decided to stay on since we hadn't had much sleep the night before. Dad had been on a plane for 15 hours and we were on a bus for 7 hours. We all were tired. We just didn't know how tired...

We got back to the hostel around 4PM, checked in and went to sleep...for a nap...or so we thought... We finally got up and out of bed the next morning around 7AM after having slept for 15 hours each. Needless to say, we all felt very refreshed.

The next day we took the other route on the Bus tour and saw the Olympic Village, Barceloneta (the beach), Gaudi's Sagrada Familia (a giant church), and pretty much all of the other sites that we missed the day before. We even spent and hour or so walking through Gaudi's famous Parc Guell where this picture of Dad and Bana was taken.

And later that night we ate at the Hard Rock cafe in Barcelona, where we were fortunate enough to get a Maragrita and a real american hamburger!

Barcelona was an absoultely amazing city except for all of the Catalan everywhere instead of spanish. The entire city was redone to host the 1992 Olympics, so everything along the port and the "touristy" areas are cleaned daily and in really good condition. Dad was saying that he couldn't get over how beautiful the city was despite what he originally thought was going to be an old and trashy place. Even as much as Bana and I enjoy the small places, Barcelona is definitely a must see while you're in Spain. Just be prepared to walk or pay the metro if you don't want to take the tour bus.

Anyway, on Tuesday morning after spending Sunday and Monday in Barcelona, Dad went with us back to Bilbao. Here he basically relaxed around for the rest of the week while Bana and I were in class. In quite a contrast to Barcelona, life in Bilbao takes on a much slower pace of life, and enjoying Bilbao is about enjoying relaxing around in the different sites around the city. We took him to the Funicular to get the panaorama of Bilbao. We ate pintxos (tapas) in several bars at night. We took him to an Erasmus Party, and of course to the Guggenheim Museum.

Overall, I think he enjoyed the trip, and of course it was good to see him after being away so long. Just like when Bana's parents came up in March, I didn't want to see him go back to the States. But, we've only got two short weeks left here in Bilbao then it's on to London, Dublin, and back home to Texas.

Until then,
Cade

Lisbon and Madrid

Senioritis I think has attacked again. It's creeping up into my schoolwork, presentations, tests, and apparently this blog. But before the parents start freaking out, we're okay. We're just lazy seniors who will graduate in t-minus two months. Eesh. But, my graduation invitations came in yesterday, so I'll send them out asap. The transit back to the United States could take well over two weeks, though, so expect them - just not anytime soon. In addition to that, the only other disadvantage to sending them from over here is the money it's going to take to send them over there. Here, a stamp is .78euro, so roughly $1.02 with the current exchange rate. But we knew studying abroad in our final semester wouldn't be complicationless so we're doing the best we can. Besides, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, despite said complications. :)

Last weekend we went to Lisbon with Jason and Jenny and had a blast. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because I thought I forgot my memory card in my computer. Well, I did forget but I also forgot that I had an extra card in my camera case. Beautiful weather, cute streets and the Portuguese all made the trip good, but what made it great was the hostel where we stayed. If you ever make your way down there, try to hit up Rossio Hostel. It's the best hostel we've been to, seriously. Every night we were there we all hung out in the living room, drinking Portuguese wine and playing cards, and met pretty much everyone else from all over the world. It was a great place to stay and I'd go back in a heartbeat if I'm ever in the area again.

That said, some parts of the trip weren't so great. I think we got ripped off by the Taxi driver the first night we were there (for some "baggage fee") but it's hard to counter when you don't know the language. Also, their cheap food tricked us a little. In contrast to the states (and the rest of Europe for that matter), they charge you for every single thing they put on the table that you eat. For example, if they put bread on the table and you eat it, you're charged extra. Not the same in Spain. They put all kinds of little finger foods on your table without asking you whether you want it and without saying it costs extra, and then charge you when you eat it. As such, we got charged 6euro for olives and other nonsense that we wouldn't have eaten otherwise if we had known. And we had lots of people trying to sell us drugs, but that's not such a big deal when you blow them off. But oh well, just something to watch out for I guess....

After Jason and Jenny left, we flew back to Madrid, where we had a 9 hour layover until we took the bus back to Bilbao. We took advantage of the time and explored Madrid for the better part of the day, and this is when I remembered the extra memory card, so we have pictures! Since we only had an afternoon, we really only visited the Palacio Real (royal palace), Puerta del Sol (a huge plaza in Spain) and Plaza Mayor. Here's a picture of the palace, but there are more pictures here. We didn't get around to the biggest thing we want to see (Museo Prado), but we're planning a spring break trip there during our two weeks off of school in April, so we'll catch it again.

So, we're back in Bilbao and absolutely loving the beautiful weather since it's stopped raining. After skies littered with clouds all through February (yes, pretty much every day) it's so nice to need to remember sunglasses in the mornings before school. Oh, the simple things. :)

Hope everyone's doing well! Y'all know we miss you.
-Bana

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!

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!