Final Stage: Tour de France

It was early July when I realized that I had off of work for another Spanish holiday on July 25^th. Hillary and I had already been looking at travelling to France over the weekend in order to see some of the Tour de France, and seeing that the final stage in Paris took place on July 24^th, we seized our opportunity.

Getting to Paris was probably the worst obstacle I have had in Europe. With no Ryanair and Easyjet not flying to Paris, we were left with the expensive train or the less expensive (but still relatively expensive) bus. Being only two hours from the Spanish/France boarder, I thought Paris couldn’t be too much farther. Wrong. The bus ended up being twelve hours each way. So Hill and I bought our bus tickets to Paris, leaving Friday right after work (and travelling overnight) and arriving back in Bilbao in Tuesday morning, right before work. Perfect! The things I do for travelling. And to see Molly I guess. That’s right! Molly met me in Paris.

Hill and I arrived in Paris bright and early. We headed to our apartment to drop off our stuff as we couldn’t check in until the afternoon. The receptionist told us our room wasn’t ready yet, as we expected, so he upgraded us to a bigger room which was ready, contrary to what we expected.

Let me just explain all of the room stuff now, so I don’t have to revisit it later. First I had problems flushing the toilet. After about fifteen minutes of struggling with the lever, I pushed it down as hard as possible (actually I am pretty sure Hillary did this), it flushed successfully. Molly checked in later in the day as she arrived from Spain after us, and she also had flushing problems. Great. When we got back to the room we tried to figure this out. Eventually giving up, we asked the receptionist to help us with this literally shitty problem. He asked if I pushed really hard. I assured him I did but to no avail. He told me the plumber doesn’t work Sundays so he would put us in another room. This ended up being another upgrade. To recap, we booked the smallest apartment and were going to have to rent an extra pull out bed. We eventually were in the biggest apartment, never needing to rent the extra bed. And most importantly, the toilet flushed, free of problems.

Okay, so that was a pleasant and fascinating story I am sure. Anyways, Hill and I made our way into the city center. We started off our weekend in Paris at Sant Chappelle. This is on the same island as Notre Dame, but is arguably less known. I am not sure why though, because this place is gorgeous. It has stained glass windows at least 20 feet high, filling the lengths of the walls. I have pictures, but they do no justice to the intricacies of the windows and the detailed paid to the rest of the church.

If my memory serves me correctly, we then walked towards the Arc de Triomphe. We walked along Champs d’Elysees to scope out the Tour route, but were somewhat disheartened to find that the boulevard was lined with stands that seemed like exclusive access. I guess we would have to find another place to watch from.

We made it to the Arc and decided to go up. I was told it was free for European students (as I am) and I love free things. We stood in line as Mother Nature, again, thought it was the perfect time to screw with my plans. It got cold quickly. The storm clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. She then let us have it, throwing rain at us horizontally, rendering my feeble umbrella useless. We stuck out the line, found out that the ascent was indeed not free, and then made an awkward run for it. By which I mean, we ran out of line away from the ticket booths, not up into the Arc.

The weather made us think that a museum was the perfect idea. It just so happens it gave everyone in Paris that idea. When we arrived at the Musee d’Orsay, the line was worse than New Year’s weekend. We decided to eat instead, hoping the line would shrink in time. Well, the line was still quite long, but the sun came out and we ended up just wandering the area.

We walked up to Pere Lachaise, the famous cemetery in Paris, and wandered about, trying to find the graves of some select famous people. After seeing Chopin’s, we were on our way to see Jim Morrison’s when we were abruptly cut off by a security guard saying the cemetery was closing. No! We were so close! Hill and I then tried going up a different way, with the idea of saying we were lost if we were caught by the same guard. Well, it wasn’t the same guy, but we were stopped again. Drats! Then a couple asked us if we were looking for Morrison and pointed the way. We made a quick dash for it. Admittedly, the grave wasn’t astounding, but there was a beer bottle on it which made me kind of happy.

Eventually we met up with Molly and saw Harry Potter. After the movie we were hungry but excessively indecisive. That was a terrible combination as we ended up walking for hours without eating anything. We ended up at the Eiffel Tower. Molly’s first words went along the lines of “Wow, that is awful.” I had never heard anybody have that reaction to the Eiffel Tower, but I guess we are all welcome to our own opinion. It turns out she really dislikes when the Tower is lit up at night and the lights are twinkling. A crepe and a metro ride later and we were back at our apartment and crashed for the night.

The next day was the day of the Tour. But first, we were hungry. Jane, a friend who studied abroad in Paris this past spring, recommended the Jewish Quarter, L’As du Falafel specifically, for food. I have to hand it to her, the falafel was delicious, but I cannot say that this is the best falafel I have ever had. This still goes to the Rei de Falafel in Padua. Sorry Paris, you guys were close.

After gorging ourselves on the side of the street we walked up Rivoli to see if we could find some cheap Tour shirts. They were cheaper than the official stores up on Champs, but disappointingly, they were not 8 to 12 euros like I had read. Eventually we found people lining up to see the race, and found our place along the road from which to cheer for. I draped the Spanish flag around me in honor of Contador and Sanchez, and waited for the bikers to arrive.

After what felt like hours with the sun beating down on us and burning my oh so fair skin, Molly met up with us and the bikers came by soon after. This was after a ton of sponsor floats and team caravans paraded by. Well, I have to admit, it was pretty exciting, but also pretty comparable to the Running of the Bulls. After hours of waiting there were only a few seconds of excitement. Luckily they passed by twice and I could actually see the racers. Unluckily, Contador and Sanchez took 5^th and 6^th. Ah well, I have to hand it to Evans. Congratulations.

After the Tour we tried to make it to Place de Concorde to see any part of the ceremonies, but all the roads were blocked off, thwarting our attempts. We instead went for food near Saint Michels. The biggest event of the night was probably Molly ordering escargot. All the tables around us stared as she wrestled with the snails. Come on! This is France! Haven’t you seen a girl eat a snail before?

After dinner we bought a bottle of wine and kicked back on the banks of the Seine as boats passed by. Eventually it started to mist and the wind picked up so we headed back to the apartment for a good night’s rest.

Our last day in Paris, Hill (wowza, almost Paris Hilton) and I went up to Montmartre area. We walked up to Sacre Coeur and took in the view until our stomachs got the best of us and were urged to eat. We feasted on cheese and baguette in the sex district and a middle aged British lady told us that we looked very romantic. As she walked away, I asked Hill, “Romantic, or poor?” Apparently there is a fine line.

We walked around a bit more, down to the Opera and over to Tulieres Gardens when it was time to catch the metro to the bus station. We were early, but then alerted that we needed to pick up boarding cards or something before we could actually board, despite having tickets for the bus. We hurriedly ran down to the ticket desk and picked up our passes, all the while getting stressed out as our departure time passed. The stress was all for naught, though, as the bus sat at the platform a good ten or so minutes more.

I wish the bus ride was as quiet and uneventful as the ride to Paris was, but it wasn’t. The driver deemed it in good taste to play an awful movie really loudly. The movie was called Hole in One. Look up the synopsis if you have never heard of it. Actually, I am pretty sure you haven’t heard of it, it seems like a straight to video type of movie. Anyways, it was a raunchy teen comedy about a college student who liked to bet during golf. He made a bad bet and lost, ultimately ending up with a pair of fake breasts. The rest of the movie he tries to raise money to remove them and also get with his love interest. Hint, his love interest isn’t a fan of tits on men. Anyways, that ended and I tried to get a little sleep before we pulled into the Bilbao bus station twenty minutes before work started. I rolled off the bus and stumbled sleepily into work for a thrilling day at the office. All in all, I would say it was worth it.

Last Days in Norway (and a Little Bit of London)

It’s getting to the end of Norway, the end of probably one of my most favorite trips in Europe. Sad! But we still have a little bit left!

Late into the morning of day 4 we woke up to the sun shining into our tent. I walked outside and was greeted with probably the best view I will ever have in a morning, Bearded Valley’s fjord, and the sound of a waterfall a few meters down the trail. We slowly packed up our things and started our trek back to the cars. Only 4 miles this time, nothing too extreme.

Once on the road we headed towards Odda, the small village that we had been frequenting for food. Odda is really quaint, sitting right on a beautiful fjord. The Norwegians said it was an ugly town. I hope they never visit Gary, Indiana or Detroit. If Odda is one of their ugly towns, I think I could live with that.

Well, we stopped for some Chinese food for lunch and then had some dessert at Langfoss. We said our goodbyes to Cecilie and Trygve and headed back to Kristine’s. Once back we showered and cleaned up because we were eating dinner at Kristine’s parents’. Let me tell you, a good home cooked meal after climbing mountains for the past three days is one of the best things you can experience. Her parents were delightful and the food was perfect. It was traditional and comforting, exactly what I wanted as it was actually raining. Did I mention we lucked out with no rain during the backpacking? Well, the food, like I said was traditional Norwegian. We ate these balls made out of potatoes that Kristine assured us we wouldn’t like (but did) and a bunch of meat. Top that off with some ice cream and I was in heaven.

After dinner we just relaxed at home and fell asleep early. The next day we woke up late, ate breakfast, saw a mini Statue of Liberty where the French got all the copper to make the statue and went to the airport for our flight to London.

Once at Stansted, Caitlyn and I headed into London while Hillary went to a friend’s house. We didn’t do too much in London honestly. We just studied for our last final, Foundations, over a pint outside and then had some delicious burgers at another pub. I fell asleep really early (9 maybe).

The next day I woke up really early. I felt like I should at least sightsee a little, since after all, this was only my second time in London, so I left Caitlyn to her studying and walked around to Big Ben, the Globe Theater, Saint Paul’s Cathedral and a few other notable sights. We then headed back to Stansted and caught our flight home to Santander.

Another Overdue Update

I have my last final tomorrow. My last final in Spain. My academic responsibilities in Santander are coming to an end. I don't know if I should be overjoyed or saddened or a little bit of both. I can't dwell on that now, though. I still have one test remaining: Foundation Engineering.

I read through all the chapters in the book. I went through all of our old homeworks. I looked over all the powerpoint slides. I reviewed my own notes. I feel like I have exhausted what I can do now. All I have left is to watch movies and write my blog.

Yes, long time no see, blogging world. I have been on hiatus, for no reason at all. I guess I should quickly recap my life from where I left off before I write my next blog about my adventures in Norway.

So I left you in Porto. Well, after Porto I visited Erica and Iona in Madrid where they both have been studying for the past semester. Finally, a little CCC love, I missed it, although have not been to any concerts still.

We explored Madrid, ate some long craved for (by Hillary) southern food at a restaurant called Gumbo, clubbed a little, went to a quiz night in an American haven and retired into the sun in Retiro. While I really enjoyed seeing my Cornell friends, I just wanted to be back in Santander. I wanted my own room with my own bed. I had been travelling for 3 weeks now and was just tired. I always seem to need a vacation from my vacations.

Back in Santander I had work to catch up on. More prelims and problem sets than I really wanted, but put my nose to the grind so we could host a Chili Fest of our own later that week for our Italian friends. I have gotten pretty good at corn bread and we have experimented a little with some chilis. We had our good old original beef recipe accompanied by a pork and beer chili and my personal favorite, a white bean chicken chili.

More Italian food and problem sets followed in the weeks to come. I eventually met with Ferrovial, my summer employer. The interview was really just a “What are you looking for?” type of deal, nothing to be too worried about. I will be working on the Historical Archive of Euskadi building in Bilbao for six weeks, although I still haven’t heard anything from them and am supposed to begin next Monday.

I then had finals. I took four tests in the week and a half leading up to my trip to Norway, notably two of them being for Coastal Engineering. Yes, I had my second prelim two days before my final. How are you supposed to know what you are doing incorrectly when you have barely just been tested. Oh well, turns out I passed that class.

What was really great was that before two of my afternoon finals I got to go see prehistoric art in the Cantabrian countryside for several hours in the morning. While my peers were studying, I was in a Land Rover sick to my stomach navigating steep hills and cow pies to see a few rock carvings. This happened two Fridays in a row. Great. Sad thing is, these carvings will be around longer than anything I will ever design. Ugh.

Probably one of the most interesting things I have done between Porto and Norway was that I tried surfing. A few of my Italian friends knew this place we could rent boards and suits for 10 euros for the day over at Somo Beach so the Sunday before I headed off to the fjords I caught the ferry and a few waves. While I wasn’t outstanding, I was pleased that I got up a few times, especially since the Italians gave me a five minute lesson before I entered the water. I was sore and felt like I ate a pound of salt afterwards, but it was amazing to think that I would start the week off hanging ten in the Atlantic and end it at the edge of Trolltunga jutting into the Norwegian fjords. But more on that later.

I hope schnitzel is as good as paprikash

Our last day in Budapest and I am realizing that we almost have no time left on this trip with my family.  Two days in Vienna and one in Madrid and then I say farewell to them.  Yes, I will still have a few days in Portugal and a few more back in Madrid before I am back in Santander struggling to catch up with homework and studying, but time is fast approaching when I have to say goodbye to my parents for another three months.

That's okay.  Back to travel updates.

We spent our last day in Budapest walking around the market and eating some more Hungarian food.  Joder.  Paprikas is one of my new favorite dishes.  I hope I can figure out how to make it or can at least find a good restaurant in Ithaca for Hungarian.

We caught a train to Vienna in the afternoon and spent the rest of the evening eating falafel at Maschu Maschu, this great middle eastern restaurant.

Tomorrow, we will actually see Vienna.

Hungry in Hungary Day 1

Hillary's dad asked her when we arrived in Prague, "So Hillary, why am I here?". I could only imagine what he was thinking when we arrived in Budapest (pronounced BudapesHt).  Although a fairly well known destination, it probably doesn't normally make it on the travel itinerary of many family vacations.  Many have compared it to Prague, and I do agree, they have their similarities.  They were both part of the Hapsburg rule.  They both have great architecture and food.  Their histories are very similar too, especially in the past century, being Nazi and Soviet occupied for the vast majority of those years.  Yes, the cities are very comparable, but they are also very different.  Prague seemed almost surreal with it's clean perfect gothic architecture dotted around the city while Budapest is admittedly a little less polished, a little more run down.

Yet, it does have it's jewels.  The parliament building is outstanding.  They say it is supposed to be built with the London parliament as inspiration.  To be honest, I like this building better.  It is beautiful.  The red domed roof and the white facade shining over the Danube is quite a sight to see.  And the perfect view is from across the river on Castle Hill up by St. Matthias Cathedral.  The cathedral is a view itself.  It has a colorful tiled roof that makes it look like a patterned carpet.  Up near the cathedral is the Fisherman's Bastion which some say is the inspiration for Disney's castle.  That is probably the fourth castle like structure I have heard this about.  From the bastion you can see St. Stephen's Basilica and the chain bridge.  Both are spectacular examples of architecture.

Well, we saw all of this on a free walking tour.  Yep, we love our free walking tours.  While this wasn't the most informative when compared to Sandeman's New Europe Tours, our guide was probably the most entertaining.  She was great, very excited about everything, especially the food and the drink.

And oh, the food.  Here the goulash is a soup and is so savory.  Ad I know that everyone thinks goulash when they think Hungary, if they think anything, but the paprikash is even better.  It is this creamy stew spiced with paprika, the country's favorite spice.  This dish is good.  I had it with a side of dumplings and cleaned the plate.  Besides this, langos is the dish to try.  It is fried dough covered in garlic, sour cream and cheese.  Yeah, Hungary is a pretty healthy place.  Add to this delicious pastries and a good selection of beers and wines and you will never want to leave, or go on a diet.

Berlin Day 2

Our second day in Berlin was perfect weather. 70s and sunny. I did not expect Germany to be like this.

We wake up early and... wait around. Unlike when I stay with friends at a hostel, we have one bathroom and everyone needs to look good (Meghan)with their hair did and make up on. I am not used to this after traveling with just a backpack for 8 months now. Nobody chooses a curling iron over an extra tee. Oh well. Instead of waking up, showering and heading out (or evev skipping the shower now and again and just smelling a little), I wait around, yearning to. Go explore Berlin more.

Finally we are on the road! We stop at this little pastry shop and I eat the best apple strudel I have ever had. I guess waiting around a little bit can be fine. We then catch a metro into town to meet up for the free tour at Brandenberg gate.

Like usual the free tour was great. Our guide was really informed... although he did have an abundance of awkward pauses. I think he thought this helped the really heavy stuff sink in a little. And there was definitely a lot of heavy stuff said. After the tour I said that Berlin had a lot of history, more than a lot of cities I have seen. This isn't really true since Seville, London, Madrid, Barcelona are all much older places. I think I got this impression because all the history was so tangible. World War II, the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain. It all happened so recently and its impacts are still felt.

But on the tour we saw a lot. Brandenberg Gate, the wall, Chechkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, the Holocaust Memorial, Humboldt University where Einstein was once a professor, gendarmenmarkt and Museum Island. There was so much history and sites, I was tired. We ended with a beer behind Berliner Dom with our guide and the Richards. A perfect introduction to Berlin.

Hungry, we found a German restaurant and finally I ate some good beef. Sorry Spain, you just don't cut it when it comes to beef. We then walked Dow, to the Reichstag and the Teirgarten for sunset and headed hom tired and satisfied.

The next day: Potsdam.

One disappointment, I found out that we will have class following Semana Santa, instead of the class going on field trips which means no Portugal. Sad.

Leon, Oviedo & Updates

I went to Leon and Oviedo awhile ago. Like over a month ago. With Erasmus. I should update you guys about that first.

That was a lie, I should tell you guys first about probably one of the most quintessential study abroad nights I have had first. So I mentioned before that I met the Polish kids from our class for drinks and a concert. I also said that we agreed that we would have an international potluck. Well that potluck happened on the Friday before I left for Leon.

Not knowing what I could make that represented American and could also feed a good number of people (I was not prepared to make 25 cheeseburgers), I decided I would fall back on an easy favorite: Chili and Cornbread. Yea, I guess it is kind of Mexican, but I consider it TexMex cuisine over anything else, which means it is at least part American. Actually, a quick Wiki search just now informed me that it was first made by Spanish Canary Islanders in San Antonio, Texas. I feel like that means it is wholly American.

Anyways, I made chili and cornbread and it was actually a hit. The Italians especially liked it. I was surprised, especially after having eaten the other food made. The Italians made lasagna and pizza, a Hungarian made goulash, and admittedly, I forget what else was there. Regardless, it was all very delicious. I was in food heaven. Either way, I impressed some people and they made me promise to make more chili. Only as long as they make me more Italian food.

LEON

First I would like to point out that after seeing probably around 20 cities in Spain, a lot of them being only for a day or two, Spanish cities are starting to blend together. I do remember a bit about Leon, though.

Leon, like a lot of cities in Spain, has a beautiful cathedral. The one in Leon has pretty incredible stained glass throughout the building. Leon also has the MUSAC, a contemporary art museum that is full of a lot of random things. A few of the exhibition halls displayed what I would describe most accurately as what would happen if everything from a dorm building was emptied into a room and haphazardly organized. There were also one or two Guadí buildings on Leon, but nothing at all compared to those in Barcelona.

Probably the most memorable aspect of Leon is the nightlife. Leon does tapas like they are meant to be done, by which I mean you order a corto of beer (a small glass) and with it you get a small thing of food like a slice of pizza, bread with chorizo, or even octopus (gross and chewy), all for slightly more than a euro. Caitlyn, Hillary and I met some students from Germany also on the Erasmus trip and headed out to a few bars to try their tapas. It was a lot of fun. Like I have probably mentioned before, one of the best aspects of studying abroad and traveling is meeting people from such different cultures. Did you know you have to pay several hundred euros and take intense tests to get just about any license? This includes fishing licenses. That is ridiculous considering obtaining a fishing license in Wisconsin involves paying $20.00 annually.

After drinks and tapas with the Germans we also met up with a group of Italians (the same that hosted the potluck). We partied it up until the wee hours of the morning. I could tell that eventually this group of Italians was going to be the death of me. Luckily they are helping me practice my Spanish.

Oh, did I mention we went for churros con chocolate with the Italians? Delicious.

Anyways, we woke up late into the morning, ate breakfast, and boarded the bus to Oviedo.

OVIEDO

One of our Spanish friends, Pelayo, is from Oviedo, one of the two large cities in Asturias (an autonomous community read: Spanish equivalent of states). He raved about how great the city was. It was clean and much nicer than Santander. It even won a golden broom (or something along those lines) for being the cleanest city. Right, Pelayo. We therefore made it our mission to find as much garbage as possible and take pictures of it. Luckily it was the weekend before Mardi Gras and there was a fiesta the day before. The streets were slightly littered, and we made sure we told Pelayo. Besides being clean, Oviedo, and Asturias in general, is known for its cidra, or cider. You have to pour the cidra from above your head to a glass near your waist. You waste a lot of cidra, get it on the floor and other objects around you, and also aerate it, enhancing the taste. I don’t see the point, because it still is pretty disgusting.

Anways, Oviedo has a cathedral too. It has a street full of cidrarias (cider houses). It has some nice squares. It also has a statue of Woody Allen. That is about it. All in all, a fine city.

Eating with the Italians

After our night out with the Italians, we promised each other food. They promised to make panzerotti, a deep fried calzone popular in Bari and the region around Bari. We promised something American (we would think of something). Well, I still haven’t had panzerotti, but they did make us pasta, chicken, pizza, and risotto. All of this was outstanding. I made Luca promise to show me how to make this chicken. Seriously, all of it was the best Italian food I have ever made. So far we have made them pancakes and apple pie. We will be making them chili con carne and white chili after Semana Santa and hosting an American night of drinking chock full of beer pong, flip cup, quarters and kings. I think we are getting the better deal here.

Friends Visiting

I mentioned earlier that Sabrina (with friends in tow), Ben and Eve visited. I went to dinner with Sabrina and her friends one night. The other night I had everyone over to make tortillas. This was my first time being in charge of the tortillas. It might be my last time, too. The tortillas tasted great, but they weren’t exactly how they are supposed to look, and honestly, Hillary and Caitlyn make a better tortilla (not to mention Manila, the restaurant with the best tortilla in Spain, or second best if you ask Manuel). It must have been decent though, because when Sabrina got back to Oxford she told me she made tortilla.

Then day after was Saint Patrick’s day. Being a little bit Irish (one eighth, which is not mostly, Dad), I had to celebrate. I made some of the Spanish kids celebrate too. Well, I invited some of the guys over the drink and then go out with Ben, Eve and I. A few bailed, like usual, but we enjoyed our time. We met up with the Italians (as we are apt to do) and they dragged us to more and more clubs. We ended the night at The Indian, this American themed club, at 6 in the morning. Ben and Eve were tired, I was exhausted. I had class at 9:30 the next day and only got two hours of sleep. This is what Erasmus is all about, isn’t it? I cannot handle Erasmus.

Besides that, I brought Ben and Eve around the city. We did the naturally tourist things to do in Santander (there are not many). We ate kebab and Doner King. We walked along the port. We saw the palace with the penguins and we went to the beach. Eventually their (very) short stay came to an end and before I knew it I was dropping them off at the bus stop.

Sadly it was kind of poor weather for my visitors, especially Sabrina. The next week, though, was fantastic! It got well into the 80s and we went to the beach several times. And before I knew it…

I WENT TO IRELAND

(This will get its own post)

I got back from Ireland and the weather was crummy. Oh well, the beach could wait, by which I mean, stop distracting me and let me concentrate on homework and studying.

Since Ireland, we finalized our exam schedule. This in itself isn’t very exciting, but meant we knew when we could travel, and we are going to NORWAY! Yep, Kristine will have three eager Americans rocking Haugesund and the fjords in June. How lucky she is.

Also, Hillary and I met up with some Spanish kids for tortilla at Manila (the really good tortilla, remember?) and then made apple pie for a second international potluck.

Now I have three days until I see my family. It has been 238 days (or just short of 8 months) since I have seen my parents and sister. I am looking forward to it. It will be nice to finally see them. Being able to travel like a normal person instead of a poor student won’t hurt either. That is right! No hostels. Being able to eat in restaurants. Paying to see things. Taxis. I can’t fathom the difference between the way I have learned to travel and how travelling with my family will be.

Upcoming Travel Plans

Family Trip:

Berlin, Germany

Prague, Czech Republic

Munich, Germany

Budapest, Hungary

Vienna, Austria

Bratislava, Slovakia

Post Semana Santa:

Porto, Portugal

Madrid, Spain

Haugesund & Fjords, Norway

An Update on Life

So a bit has happened since my last series of posts, but I have been too lazy to write about them until now, and this isn't going to be a great post as it is.

About two weeks ago we didn't have class because there was a conference about construction (I believe) that all the Spanish kids in our class went to. Finding out about this, we decided to go to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim Museum as we kind of got on this kick about visiting all 1000 Places to See Before You Die. Bilbao is only an hour and a half or so away by bus so we thought why not.

Bilbao is a pretty industrial city, but it has a nice old part of town and the Guggenheim is the main attraction anyways. We spent a few hours wandering the galleries of the museum. One of the most impressive pieces of art was this gigantic hangar sized room with equally gigantic steel structures winding around the room. Another piece that really struck me was this series of scrolling LED signs that extended probably 30 to 40 feet into the ceiling above. All in all, the museum was really interesting, full of modern art, but after a while we got hungry and left to eat lunch on the steps. We wandered la parte vieja a little bit before returning back to Santander.

The next day I met up with Kasia and Michal, two Polish kids I have class with. We sat through a little concert in a bar down in the centro. The singer was really good and I met a bunch of Italians and English from Kasia and Michal's Spanish class with whom I agreed to have dinner with. We are all going to cook a dish from home and bring it to share, a little International Potluck. One Italian, Marco, made Kasia promise to make "un monton de pierogies" or literally a mountain of pierogies.

Last weekend we met up with the Spanish kids from our class for a dinner at Pinocho, this pizza place that is Pinocchio themed. It actually had pretty good pizza (much better than Telepizza's) and was nice to finally hang out with the Spanish kids without being the ones to invite them. We all then proceeded to Peter Pan, this bar a lot of students go to for big cheap drinks, and played some dice games.

The following day we had our first excursion for our Prehistoric Art class. This has got to be one of the most dull classes I have taken. Sorry prof. The class is essentially our professor pointing out legs, backs, and horns of animals that were painted 12,000 years ago. Thrilling, truly. The tours of the caves we went on were pretty much the same thing. The caves themselves were really interesting though. The stalagmites, stalactites, and these formations that could be played like xylophones were really neat.

While all of this has been going on, I have been on another quest of sorts. I think I have been getting obsessed with completing lists of somewhat epic proportions. First the 1000 Places list (which isn't going to happen anytime soon, I am at around 50). More recently I have been watching movies from IMDb's top 250 list. In the past two weeks or so I have watched 10 of the movies and am up to a total of 76. Now, I am not going to watch all 250, because most movies made before 1970 just bore me to death (I am ignorant, I know). That leaves me with 163 total. I am almost halfway done and am kind of on a roll (but don't worry mom, homework comes first. Also, I am watching these in Spanish so that should count as productive).

On the cooking front, we have been getting creative lately (and partially cultural). We celebrate Falafel Fridays every Friday. I have to admit, our fried chickpea concoctions have been pretty mouth watering. Not so successful was our attempt at gnocchi. Some of them turned out like mashed potatoes while most of them just were too mushy. I think we have to figure out the cooking time and add more flour to be more successful. Last night we actually ate out. This is a rare occasion because I would rather save money for travelling. I have to admit though, the restaurant was delicious. We went to Dia Delsur and ordered a bunch of different raciones (large portions of tapas) to split. The food was excellent. I was particularly a fan of the patatas bravas we ordered. In Madrid the patatas bravas we got were like roasted potatoes drenched in this delicious red sauce. Here, it was home made potato chips with two different sauces, a red sauce resembling a salsa and this sour cream-ish sauce that reminded me of the Chives n Fries dip you get from Saz's (Wisconsin people know what I am talking about). The Tikka Masala chicken kebab and rice was really good too. The only thing we got that I probably wouldn't order again was a vegetable plate. It was super oily and salty making everything really soggy and heavy. Finally, today, in celebration of Mardi Gras, Hillary and I are going to fashion a King's Cake out of Cinnabon's Cinnamon Rolls. It should be delicious.

Confusión y comida china // Confusion and Chinese Food

Sí conoces a mi amiga Adrianne, ella puede decirte una cuenta de cuando fue a Wendy’s para pedir unas Frosties. No recuerdo los detalles exactamente, pero el punto de la cuenta es que pidió, decimos, dos Frosties chocolates medianos. El cajero era un hombre de India y tiene un acento como puedes imaginar. Pues, cuando Adrianne pidió dos Frosties, unos problemas seguían. Sigue una imitación de la conversación que tuvieron.

A: Dos Frosties chocolates medianos por favor.

H: Dos Frosties vainillas grandes.

A: No no no. Dos Frosties chocolates medianos.

H: Un Frosty chocolate mediano y un Frosty vainilla mediano.

A: ¿Qué? No. Dos Frosties chocolates medianos.

H: Vale vale. Un Frosty chocolate mediano y papas fritas.

A: No. Dije dos Frosties chocolates medianos.

H: ¡O! Lo siento. Dos Frosties chocolates, un grande y un pequeño.

A: ¿En serio? No. Dos Frosties chocolates medianos.

H: Sí sí sí. Tres Frosties chocolates medianos.

A: Casi. Pero solo quiero dos.

H: Vale. Entonces, dos Frosties chocolates pequeños.

No puedo recordar cómo termina la cuenta, pero consigues la idea. Pues, anoche traté de pedir comida china por teléfono y lo mismo ocurrió. Estaba diciendo el número de teléfono a una mujer y no podía entenderme.

Y: Seis tres cuatro.

M: Seis cuatro ocho.

Y: No. Seis tres cuatro.

M: Seis cuatro ocho.

Y: Erm… no. Seis tres cuatro

M: Seis seis cuatro

Y: No no no. Seis tres cuatro.

M: ¡O! Sí, seis seis ocho.

Y: No. Seis tres cuatro. Como, uno dos TRES.

M: Ah sí. Seis tres tres.

La conversación pasó como 5 minutos y finalmente lo dejé. No creo que tenía mi número correcto, pero la comida llegó sin problema y probaba muy bien. Pero una nota, ¡la comida no vino con galletas de fortuna sino pan china! Y pan china parece como styrofoam. Prueba bien pero todavía, no lo mismo.

Viajes planeados que vienen pronto

- Madrid, Segovia y Toledo

- Oviedo y Leon

- Burgos

- Brussels, Bruges y Ghent en Noviembre

If you know my friend Adrianne, she could tell you a story about when she went to Wendy’s to order some Frosties. I don’t remember the exact details, but the point of the story is that she ordered, let’s say, two medium chocolate Frosties. The cashier was an Indian man with a thick accent, like you can probably imagine. Well, when Adrianne ordered two Frosties, some problems ensued. What follows is an approximation of the conversation that they had.

A: Two medium chocolate Frosties, please.

H: Two large vanilla Frosties.

A: No no no. Two medium chocolate Frosties.

H: One medium chocolate Frosty and one medium vanilla Frosty.

A: What? No. Two medium chocolate Frosties.

H: Okay okay. One medium chocolate Frosty with French fries.

A: No. I said two medium chocolate Frosties.

H: Oh! I’m sorry. Two chocolate Frosties. One large and one small.

A Seriously? No. Two medium chocolate Frosties.

H: Yes yes yes. Three medium chocolate Frosties.

A: Almost, but I only want two.

H: Okay. Then, two small chocolate Frosties.

I can’t remember how the story ends, but you get the idea. Well, last night I tried to order Chinese food over the phone and the same thing happened. I was saying my phone number to a woman and she couldn’t understand me.

M: Six three four.

W: Six four eight.

M: No. Six three four.

W. Six four eight.

M: Um, no. Six three four.

W: Six six four.

M. No no no. Six three four.

W: Oh! Yes, six six eight.

M: No. Six three four. Like, one two THREE.

W: Ah okay. Six three three.

The conversation lasted probably 5 minutes and finally I let it go. I don’t think that she had the number right, but the food arrived without a problem and it tasted good. But one note, the food didn’t come with fortune cookies, but rather Chinese bread! And the bread looked like the stryofoam. It tasted good, but still, not the same.

Trips coming up soon

- Madrid, Segovia and Toledo

- Oviedo and Leon

- Burgos

- Brussels, Bruges and Ghent in November