Easter in Espana

Tuesday the whole group got to go on an excursion after school. We went to Comillas and Santillana, about an hour outside of town. In Santillana we got to walk around the village and see inside the church of Santa Juliana. Afterwards we had time to walk around so we went into a little bar and tried the local sidra. Not too bad! In Comillas we took a tour in the Sobrelleno Palace which was designed by one of Gaudi’s workers. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but after the tour the lady said “go ahead as long as I don’t see you taking them.” So me and my friend Kayley ran back and took as many pictures as we could. We were even able to sneak into the library as you can see.  We then saw the El Capricho which was actually designed by Gaudi himself (Jewel this house made me think of you!). It was like a giant sunflower house. Apparently they have now made it into a restaurant and you can eat there.

Sneaking in the library

Gaudi's El Capricho

                                                                  El Sobrelleno Palace

Got to spend another long day at the beach Wednesday and that night there was a futbol game, Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, so we all went out to watch it at bar. Man they love their futbol. They town went nuts after Real Madrid won. We were walking through the plaza hours after and people were still waving the flag and singing what I’m guessing is their fight song. Before I knew how expensive it was I thought it would be cool to go watch a game one time but I think I could settle for this. It was definitely a fun night.

One of my friends parents left for Semana Santa (their Easter) so Thursday a couple of us went over to his place to watch a movie. This might be the one thing I have missed the most and by dying to do. Just sitting on a couch, feet up, curled up in a fuzzy, watching a movie. By the way no one here knows what a fuzzy is. I keep referring to my blanket as a fuzzy and no one knows what I’m talking about, which didn’t really help me in the ongoing joke about me being from the country. But anyways we kind of felt like we were in high school again. All excited when someone’s parents go out of town and trying not to touch anything the whole time we are there.

Castros

Friday a group of us took a bus to Castros for Semana Santa. I think it was just like an hour and a half outside of Santander. We got to watch a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus or pretty much Passion of the Christ in live. It was an outdoor play that moved throughout the city and pretty much went all day. It started at 10 am and was over at like three. It was pretty long but so amazing to see. They had speakers throughout the town too so even if you couldn’t see it you could still hear what was going on.  You could tell that so much work was put into making this. It was intense though! At the beginning one guy hung himself. It showed Jesus being whipped. The whips that they were using had red ink on them to make it look like he was bleeding so part of it was costume but they were still whipping him hard enough to leave welts. Can’t even explain what we saw.

Jesus being whipped

Most of us were on three hours of sleep so after standing for five hours surrounded by hundreds of people who have no idea what personal space was we were exhausted. Of course we had to get one beer and tapa afterwards but after that we were done. We went sprawled out on some stairs until it was time to take our bus back because we didn’t have any energy to walk around the town. I think everyone of us slept the whole way home.

Two of my host mom’s kids are in town  and one son-in-law and are going to be staying at the house for the week. They are very nice and its fun having them here. The son-in-law speaks English and doesn’t really know any Spanish and her daughter, his wife, speaks Spanish and can’t really speak English so I haven’t quite figured that one out. It’s different to see the parent-child relationships here and just the whole family structure in general. It’s very different from how it is in the US. Here kids don’t even get there first job until after college. Nobody works before or while they are in school. I told them about my family and how my brother and sister are married and how old they are and it just sounds crazy to them.

Sad to be missing my favorite holiday! I know you guys are all sad to not have any of my treats during this fine holiday. I think we might try and go to a Spanish mass tomorrow and try to have our own little easter here in Spain.

                                            Taking an elevator from the top of town to downtown

Santander from the elevator

"Sometimes I can't believe this life is mine"

I’ve definitely have got better with food here and normally don’t mind anything she makes. The schedule however, still haven’t adapted. One bowl of cereal in the morning doesn’t hold me over until 3 pm with no snacks. I don’t get how they don’t snack here.  I feel very spoiled now growing up in a house with snacks always available or coming home from school and mom having a warm corn dog ready! Ah the little things. Anyways, I decided I would take matter into my own hands and solve the problem. I went snack shopping. I was a little worried my host mom was going to catch me coming back in but I was able to sneak into my room and hide everything in my suitcase. Unfortunately I have already eaten most of it and need to make another trip to the grocery store.

                Last Thursday I had a small oral test which I though went ok until I realized that she had actually asked me to describe a computer and not someone who is organized. Darn it! I hoping because it was the first test it will be more of a marker to see how much I improve. I can only do better. Tomorrow in class I have to give a ten minute presentation on anything I want. Still haven’t really decided what I want to talk about. Not really looking forward to that.

                Last week everyone in my group was set up with a local to be conversation partners. The locals are interested in learning English and us of course Spanish. It’s actually me and a friend that are paired up with the local. We met him yesterday and went for the longest walk. He had said that he wanted to show us around the city but I didn’t think he meant we would literally walk the city. Three and a half hours of straight bookin it. We were walking so fast that wind was too loud to even hear each other. At about hour three I was winded and had managed to get three new blisters. (Ow! Have to wear flip flops for the next three days) I was trying to take the bus back at one point but he wanted to show us three more miles of city. I’m sure when we left us he was thinking “lazy Americans.” While it was a lot of walking we did get to see some really cool stuff. We went up and saw this castle where the Queen of Spain would come stay in during the summer. We got to see a small little zoo with seals and cute little penguins. We saw about half a dozen beaches, minimum. Then we got to look at the golf course which looks pretty cool surrounded by the bay.

                Last night a group of us went for Mexican food and wow. Money well spent. I got a huge thing of fajitas and just about ate the entire thing. It was nice to be able to have say in what you were eating. It took us forever to decide what we wanted to eat because we were afraid we would mess up and we didn’t know when we were going to get this opportunity again. The place was kind of a rip of though. They were charging 2 euro for water and they only gave me four little baby tortillas which of course wasn’t enough. I asked for more they charged me 3 euro. But like I said so worth it!

                Every Sunday here they close down the tunnel right by my house and all these locals come and it’s pretty much a giant garage sale but worse. The tunnel is decent size though and there are a few good tables. I will probably go walk through it again today since it is so close. It’s fun just to people watch.  

Pants are getting a little snug

Week three! I can't believe its already my third week here but at the same time it feels like I've been here forever.

        We went on a excursion for class to see some prehistoric caves. The first place we went to was actually pretty cool it was Cueva de la Castillo.  There was a bunch of caveman finger painting all over the rocks or "art". Then we went to Altamira which was only a replica of the cave because people were no longer allowed inside the caves.We got to see a more finger painting by a guy trying to be like a caveman on a bunch fake rocks. It probably would have been cooler if we hadn't just seen the real deal...or if I could have understood the tour guide. But there was  good company and it was still a good time. We also got to throw spears at a target. It took me a couple times but I finally hit it on our last try. Then we got to try shaping/carving rocks for spears. We used antlers to break the rock into a point. Its a very slow process. I didn't get very far.
      The weather has been amazing here! Thursday we all had our moms pack us a lunch so we could go straight to the beach after class. Unfortunately four hours at the beach with no sunscreen makes for some red skin! But I'm not complaining! We went to the beach again on Saturday. We were a little "tired" from friday night so  just went on took a nap on the beach. There are several beaches here, some facing north some south. So when its windy at one beach you can just go to another beach. I think I can get use to this!
     This new place opened up outside my apartment called Churreria Chocolateria. Very dangerous! They have churros served with a warm chocolate pudding type thing to dip in. Oh my. Heaven. I can see the place from my window and have to walk by it everyday. I had to cave and get one before dinner today. I wonder if they are still open?
     Everything is still going good with my host mom. She has figured me out pretty fast. She can tell when I don't really understand what she is saying and am just saying "si". I need to come up with a new game plan.
    Almost forgot I am here for school and have homework. Guess I should do that now. I will try and write again soon!

Bethany

    

San Sebastion for the weekend!

We have lucked out on weather here so far! Friday it was soo nice. I think around 85 but someone said 90! I love it and I went more. We went and hung out at the beach and got ice cream!

Twice I have not woke up to my alarm! I'm suppose to catch the bus at 8:35 on  school days and on Wednesday I woke up at about 8:15 to my host mom yelling "BET-A-NEY NO TIENES CLASE?! BET-A-NEY BET-A-NEY NO TIENES CLASE?!" Shoot. But I made it. The second time was Saturday. We went out Friday and again were out till past four. Probably went to bed at 5 and my alarm was set for 7:15 because we were going to San Sebastion for the weekend. This time at 8:45 I woke up to the same BET-A-NEY BET-A-NEY! Luckily I live right by the bus stop. Our bus didn't leave till 9:30 so I had time to pack my bag but I was still feeling last nights drinks so it was interesting to see what I brought when we got to San Sebastion. Socks but no shoes. Atleast I remembered my fuzzy :).

The bus ride to San Sebastion was about three hours long. We all pretty much caught up on our sleep the whole way. San Sebastion is beautiful!! Makes Santander look a little more ghetto ha. When we got there we went to the beach for a little bit until we could get into our hostel so that we could drop our bags off. We got a room for 15 euro and it included breakfast in the morning!  I definitely wasn't expecting the hostel to be as nice as it was. The four of us girls got our own room which was nice because we didnt have to worry about our bags. The two boys had to share a room with four other guys. After we got our rooms we went on a little hike to the top of this hill where there was a lighthouse. Great views. On our way up we passed this house playing live music on the balcony over looking the ocean and we could see a guy in a chicken suit, a wolf looking man, little red riding hood, etc.. They asked us where we were from and then asked if we wanted to come watch them shoot there music video. So we went up there was it was sooo cool. They had a choreographer and director there shooting live video and everyone had on crazy costumes. They got some videos of us so we are crossing our finger that maybe we make the behind the scence video :) haha we wish. I think the band was called laruba? I dont know but the music was actually pretty good. We didn't know what they were singing about but we liked it! Can't even explain how cool it was though.

After we finished our hike we went to the grocery store and got some food and went back to our hostel to make dinner (see mom we are trying to save money). We got ready and went out, met a bunch of people but called it a night at about two. It was raining when we woke up and we had to be out of the hostel by ten but our bus wasn't leaving for Santander till two. A group of students from all over that was staying at the hostel asked us if we wanted to ride back with them on bus they rented. They were heading to Santiago but said they would stop in Santander to drop us of. So we did. Another very unique experience. Im glad they didn't turn out to be American hunters. Still so much to see.

Five more french people moved into my apartment so its very cramped. They are just here for the week though and then they leave but im sure other people will move in. My host mom says I'm eating fish tonight for dinner. The first day I was here I told her I didn't like fish but she said (in spanish) "I know you don't like fish but I'm going to make it for dinner and you can eat it. You can try it and tell me if you like it." As nice as I could I told her i have tried it before I just dont like it but she is insisted that I try it again tonite. Super. I just had a fried ham and cheese sandwich things, with fried mushroms, salad, and fries.  I think I will be ok if I have to skip dinner.

Will write again soon!
Bethany