The Redhead Travels

Roamin' Redheads (Part II)

2009-12-12T08:06:00.001-08:00

December 12, 2009

In an effort to pretend that finals don’t exist and that I don’t need to go home this week, I’m updating the blog. I’ve been slacking and have not updated in a month. The biggest things that happened were that my family came to visit and I went to Brussels and Rome! My parents and Brit came to Spain and I met them in Sevilla. We spent two days in Sevilla and two days in Granada, and saw a lot! We went to the Alhambra, La Catedral, saw a flamenco show, and frolicked all around. We went out for tapas a couple of nights which was hilarious because my mom was uncontrollably giggling after less than one sangria. We all came back to Bilbao together, and Brit stayed with me in the apartment. Rosa made a delicious (and huge!) meal for everyone on Monday, and later her sister and brother-in-law came down, they are unbelievably sweet. On Tuesday after classes we went kayaking in the river, which was awesome! It was really tranquil and I love seeing Bilbao from different perspectives. For dinner we went out with Meghan, Rosa, and Jasone. On Wednesday we went to Plentzia, but it was raining, so it wasn’t great. On Thanksgiving we were supposed to go hiking, but I was sick all day, so everyone explored a bit and then we had dinner together. My family left for Madrid early Friday morning, and I had the rest of the week to catch up on work before heading to Brussels and Rome! We had a long weekend so I went to Brussels, where I stayed with Kristen for the day! It was so much fun to see her, and I really liked Brussels with all of the Christmas markets (not to mention the Belgian waffles). On Thursday I went to Rome to meet up with Claire!!! I’ll skip the beginning of the trip, because that’s been covered already. The Vatican Museums were huge and much nicer than expected. I saw someone in my Spanish class there, which was funny. When Claire and I headed back, we ended up getting lost in some demonstration for about an hour before finally taking the PACKED metro. We had dinner at a really cute restaurant, and had delicious lemon gelato with limoncello! We went to an internet café and tried to call my friend who’s in Rome, but instead had a sketchy encounter with an Italian man who apparently teaches at Stony Brook. On Sunday we took pictures with rude gladiators, went to the Pantheon, then Piazza Navona (where we had yummy traditional Italian desserts), and finally Trastevere, which is the old part of the city. It was awesome, and had lots of unique stores and restaurants. (Good suggestion Kristin!) Rome was beautiful, but seeing each other was the best part of the trip!!! Now I’m back in Bilbao and I leave in 4 days...I could definitely stay longer, I absolutely love it here and my host family is incredible! Que será, será.

P.S. Happy Birthday B!

Roamin' Redheads!!! Part I

2009-12-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

Ali and I have officially rocked Rome. But let me backtrack...
Jason visited me for the week of Thanksgiving, and it was awesome. He did an amazing job cooking, and we went nearly everywhere in Graz during the week, and went to Vienna for a day as well. It was really nice to see him, and show him all of the sights! Plus, we ate the best desserts ever, that he somehow discovered while here.
Then last Thursday I headed to ROME to meet up with Ali. Getting to the airport and then the train station was fine; finding the hostel was a different situation. Make a mental note - Asking for directions in mcdonalds is not that reliable. After asking another old man (he was also wrong) and a third hotel front-desk man (he was right) I finally located the building... and was met by an interesting assortment of people. And then it happened: the most awesome redhead ever Ali arrived!!! I basically pounced on her. We spent the evening talking, catching up, discussing life, and eating austrian crackers, belgian chocolates, clementines, and nature valley bars.
The next morning I sprang out of my top bunk (just like a true sleepover) at 8am and after a shower that basically consisted of ice cubes attacking me, we went in search of breakfast, and found a little cafe with perfect cappuccino and sandwiches. It was slightly drizzly and we decided to spend the day roamin' (I am going to use that whenever possible!) and shopping. Tights stores are everywhere, and we liked the glass and leather stores a lot (sometimes we could even afford the things inside). Dodging the raindrops we went to a few markets, and walked some fancy streets... and happened upon the Colosseum. We also saw the Spanish Steps, held some roses and then gave them back to the guy selling them, and even bought some things (I think three things between the two of us. Which is a successful shopping day in our book). For lunch I had pasta with tomato and garlic, and Ali had lasagna, and later in the afternoon we had gelato, which is basically a requirement while in Rome, no matter the weather. For dinner we had pizza at kind of a sketchy little place, but it was still good, and then turned in for the night. We (aka Ali) did an excellent job navigating throughout the day.
The next day was the Colosseum. After a breakfast of more delicious coffee and multiple pastries, we arrived and joined an English tour (btw they didn't even offer them in German, and the Spanish one intrigued Ali, but I declined) to 'skip the lines' and found ourselves with some crazy blonde italin male tour guide with aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket. He ended up being great though, and I learned a lot of new things (basically everything he said about the Colosseum I did not know beforehand... including the fact that when I asked Ali about the Romans earlier that morning I was approximately 200 years off, if not more). The Colosseum was ginormous, and has such a rich history that afterwords I was really pumped to learn more history (nerd alert?).I guess Rome does that to you, because that is a feeling I rarely get. We were then informed that the Vatican is closed on Sundays (thank you all-knowing tour guide). So we changed our plans from seeing the Roman Forum to going straight to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel for the rest of the day.
Stay tuned for Part II

Stift Rein

2009-11-21T09:40:00.001-08:00

Last weekend Kadie, Fran and I went to Stift Rein, a monastery from 1100. The tour was amazing, and we even got to see the balcony/ organ area of the chapel! The library was stunning and our tour guide, after getting past the whole language barrier, really warmed up to us and took books out of the shelves and opened their fastenings and everything. They had one of the first science fiction books, which discussed men walking on the moon. The walk to Stift Rein was 45 minutes to and from the train station, and on the way back we stopped at a cafe for some dessert because they day had ended up pretty cold, but it was a quiet and gorgeous area - definitely worth the trip.
Last night I had a SUNY dinner up on the Schlossberg, which was amazing! I had pumpkin risotto with goats cheese and apple strudel, and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever eaten. After we went to a Gluhwein stand, which is basically just hot wine... but I was able to keep the lovely mug, so I guess it was worth suffering through the taste.
Today we went to a few thrift stores (which had dirndls, but only the old lady kind unfortunately) and a really delicious yet not expensive chinese buffet. At the moment I am attempting to finish all of my homework before Jason gets here tomorrow! I can't wait, and by next week I will have something exciting to post here...
Bis später! (Until 'later,' or 'until next time!').

Barcelona!!

2009-11-16T13:53:00.001-08:00

November 16, 2009

Hola! So Barcelona was awesome…it was my first real non-ISA related, need-to-take-a-plane trip out of Bilbao. I went with Megan, Chelsea, and Ana. Friday night (Nov 6), we figured our way out around the city a bit and ate dinner on a side street of Las Ramblas, which is the main street in Barcelona. When we got back we did some serious planning on everything that we wanted to see/do for the weekend. Saturday morning we got up somewhat early and headed to La Boqueria, which is a huge market with fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fish candy, chocolate, pastries, and basically any other foods you can imagine! I got a delicious strawberry-guayabana slushie. Saturday was a Gaudi-ful day (get it…like beautiful, but Gaudiful)- we went to La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and sort of saw his houses. La Sagrada Familia is one of the biggest attractions in Barcelona, it is the still unfinished masterpiece of Gaudi. The church was started by Gaudi, and it was such a huge undertaking that he never expected to finish it in his lifetime, but he did expect to get more done than he did, because he was killed by a tranvia (bonus fun fact: that’s why they don’t have tranvias in Barcelona anymore). The outside is stunning, there is an enormous amount of detail and each thing has significance, mostly religious or related to Gaudi’s life. He was influenced a lot by the physics and architecture in nature, which I thought was super interesting, and La Sagrada Familia mimics nature in a lot of ways (the crystalline structures, the spires, the columns that are like leaning tree trunks). Anyway, you can learn plenty about Gaudi himself on Google, so I’ll leave it there. We went inside, which is under a lot of construction so it wasn’t nearly as cool as the outside, and then up to the top which had beautiful views of the city. Next we went to Park Guell! Another Gaudi stop…but sooo cool! It was huge, and in a pretty remote part of the city, but there were beautiful mosaics, and buildings that looked like gingerbread houses, and overall gorgeous views- plus we were there when the sun was setting. Saturday night we went out, which was fun, and luckily did not get mugged like I kind of expected to.

On Sunday we had a packed day!! We started off by going to Barri Gotic, the Gothic Quarter, which has a bunch of old buildings, the most famous of which is La Catedral (I think there about a zillion “La Catedrals” in Spain). We tried to find a secret surprise that Genoveva told us about, but didn’t have much luck, so we headed down to the Mediterranean! There was a market type thing along the water, and also on Las Ramblas that was cool to see, but definitely geared toward tourists. We had a delicious lunch at a little restaurant on the water, and the staff was really nice, which made up for the not so nice people where we had breakfast. After lunch we headed to Montjuic where we intended to go up on the cable car and see everything, but it was really windy so the cable cars weren’t running. Instead, we went to the Olympic Stadium! There was a snowboarding competition going on that was fun to see. There are tiles all around the stadium with the footprints of famous athletes in them (like Nadal). It’s also really close to some huge Palace with fountains…I should probably know the name of it, but I don’t. Meghan and I went back to Las Ramblas and stumbled upon this amazing local market with artesian foods like honey (with the honeycombs still in it), cheeses, pastries, all kinds of goodies! And then we returned Monday morning to torrential downpours, lightening, and thunder in Bilbao…

The rest of the week was fun, it was Meghan’s birthday on Monday so Rosa made a big lunch and we sang Happy Birthday in English and Basque. We also went out for Mexican food Friday night with friends to celebrate which was super delicioso. On Saturday we had an excursion with ISA to Burgos, which is where Genoveva is from. We took a tour of another “La Catedral” and went around the city, which peaked around 1200, but it’s still pretty cool. Yesterday, as a result of some miscommunication with Rosa, I ended up running a 10k…interesting….but fun. Rosa’s great-nephew came over for a bit because apparently he speaks some English, but there wasn’t much evidence of that, although he did live in New York for a few months! At night we went to see another play with Jasone and her girlfriend (whose name is Ainoa, I think) because they had a couple of friends in it. It was called “Sueños del Metro,” and it was pretty good, not the best, not the worst. And now my family is coming in less than three days!!!

Spanish Words of the Day:

Boina- beret

Sellos- stamps

Viudo- widow

Los sintecho- homeless

Cotillar- to gossip

Desviada- deviant

Guiño- wink

Basque Words of the Day:

Herri- pueblo- town

Krosa- carrera- race

Eskerik asko- gracias- thank you

Ez horregatik- de nada- you’re welcome

Zorionak- felicidades- congratulations

Bai- si- yes

Ez- no

Lagunak- amigos- friends

Großbritannien!

2009-11-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

On October 25th, 2 weeks ago, my mom's friend Isabella picked me up and we went to Tierwelt Herberstein, a zoo thats near an old castle-residence, and has beautiful gardens (that I am sure are even nicer in the spring! But there were some yellow roses left at least...). The day was very nice, and the zoo even had lemurs which was awesome.
The following Friday I was off to England! It started english-y enough, with pouring rain at 4:45 am as I took two buses to get to the airport, and ended up arriving before check-in even started. I was so excited though it didn't matter. Zoe greeted me at Heathrow Airport, and her dad Ian drove us back to their house, and I swear I got more and more giddy every sign I read - Coral Reef, the Lookout (where they filmed part of Harry Potter, btw) and Crowthorne!!! That afternoon Zoe and I walked around, checked out the new library (I was impressed), and I examined all of the new things that have crept onto High Street. Carol came home from work, and we had a delicious tea (dinner) and amazingggg pudding (dessert as the yanks would say) and watched some fabulous English reality shows. The next day we were off to Bristol, where I got to see Emma, who kindly made the trip from Uni to visit! We had Thai food for lunch (they had a special for students... we took full advantage) and attempted to eat crepes at the docks, without wearing them too. Emma is one of the funniest people I have ever met, and it was great to catch up. She left in the late afternoon to go to Dunster Castle (where she worked and LIVED last year!) to participate in their haunted house on Halloween. Zoe, Carol and I went back to their family friends' house for tea, and it was hilarious to hear everyone's continuous reactions to trick-or-treators... no one besides me found it anything other than annoying. Zoe and her friend and I played 'Cluedo' (Clue) and ate a ton of biscuits (cookies)!
The following day I went into Birmingham by train to meet up with Courtney! It was great to see her. We both showed up in dark blue pea coats, light blue scarves, jeans, and converse. Which we hadn't planned, but was kind of awesome. We got lost within 3 minutes of walking and looked confused enough for a man to stop without us asking, and offered us directions, which we mistakenly took. After an hour we realized that he had been wrong, but ended up anyway at 'the Mailbox,' a very posh shopping mall. So posh in fact, it didn't have even numbered floors, and only one directory. We looked at the stores' displays for the holidays, and found a small, considerably-affordable cafe that was playing the Grease soundtrack. We had lunch and coffee, and ended up talking for so long that not only did the Grease soundtrack play twice, but we ended up hearing some other 50s music as well. In the end though of course we had to leave to get back to our respective trains, unfortunately. But the good news is, Courtney will be meeting me in Vienna to have Christmas with my family!
On Sunday night I spent some more time with the Johnsons (including watching a BBC special!) and got ready to leave, which I was less than happy to do. On Monday morning we first stopped by my old neighborhood again so I could quickly take a picture of my reading tree (I used to climb the branches, which spiraled, when I was little, and read in the tree... apparently I have always been this cool) and then it was off to Heathrow again. Carol dropped me off, and after convincing security that yes, I have an Austrian visa in my USA passport and no you should not be alarmed, I-am-not-hiding-anything-in-my-decorative-scarf, and having my carry-on liquids tested, I bought a fun UK magazine (which ALWAYS come with free things! I couldn't find any with a free bathing suit at this time of year, but I did get free nail polish, and another 'mag' for Mel... but I can't say what it came with, because its a surprise, and she may be one of the 3 people who read this) and some English chocolates.
This past week I pretty much have been catching up with work, and tutoring, which I love doing. Yesterday I met up with some friends from German language class and the folk dancing class, and we went to the farmer's market and then to a great Austrian restaurant for lunch, where I had Marillenknoedel! (Oma, yours are still better. They got really overzealous with their sugar). I was a bit sick yesterday evening (no connection to the Knoedel) but I am better today... and in my health I have had ample time to catch up on my homework, I am happy to say. Last week I also signed up for my classes next semester, and I am really excited to return to the ICD. My friend Kadie and I have also been scheming for Thanksgiving, which is sounding rather ambitious - but Jason will be here, so I'm not too worried about cooking thank goodness! I'll just take on the baking, and leave the turkey to the others...

German words of the week(s):
das Abenteuer - the adventure
der Flughafen - the airport
Sommersprossen - freckles
Loewe - lion
Tiergarten - zoo
Markt - market
wunderlich - fantastic
Großbritannien - Great Britain
Nachbarschaft - neighborhood
Spaziergang - to take a walk

Halloween in Spain

2009-11-06T05:37:00.000-08:00

November 6, 2009

Quick Update: I’m leaving for Barcelona in 30 minutes, but haven’t updated the blog in a couple of weeks so here’s more or less what happened. Rosa went to Granada for the week, so her daughter Jasone and her girlfriend came to stay with us (I really need to learn her girlfriend’s name). That Sunday night we went to a play that Jasone’s friend was doing the lighting for- it was really funny, it was in Spanish, but there was a lot of nonverbal communication and it was really well done. All of her friends are about 100 times more hipster cool than I am, but they’re really nice! During the week it was fun to have other people in the house; I spoke so much more Spanish having them both here. On that Thursday night before Halloween we went out, but before leaving I made dinner for everyone, and Jasone’s cousin came over. We had a great time, talked a lot, and even all got somewhat dressed up in costumes! Last Friday we went to Puente Colgante, the oldest hanging bridge in the world (I think)- I had class in the morning so I missed walking across the top of it, but got to ride in it after. We all went out to lunch in Portugalete (not Portugal). Saturday Megan, Meghan, and I went to Plentzia- which is about a 45 minute metro ride, and it is beautiful! It’s basically a smaller version of San Sebastian that’s only a metro ride away! It’s right on the ocean, but also has the mountains…I loved it! We went out that night with a bunch of people from CIDE to Getxo, and later to a party in an old military bunker from the Spanish Civil War on top of the cliffs of the beach in Sopelana. Talk about guay! We ended up staying to see the sun rise, and didn’t get back until 9:00 in the morning. The walk back from the metro was interesting seeing as basically no one is out on a Sunday morning besides runners and everyone was looking at me like I was the weirdest person ever.

Rosa came back from Granada and brought us cute boxes, she’s so nice! On Monday night Rosa and I were talking, and she started showing me pictures of her husband and family- it was really interesting to hear all about, because I didn’t know much about him. He was fifteen years older than her, because Rosa is a baller, and when he was 7 he was sent to England to live for 2 years when Franco gained power. He loved to dress up in costumes for Carnival, there were a lot of pictures of that. She said that he held all kinds of jobs- fisherman, cleaned crystal, etc. It was really sweet of her to show me things from his life, and I like looking at old photos so it was fun. On Tuesday night we went to another play with Jasone that her girlfriend directed- it was quite possibly the oddest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Wednesday night I saw Millenium 2 with Megan and Becca…also kind of a strange movie. That’s the shorthand version of the past two weeks minus the boring midterms and presentations. On the plus side, I just registered for classes! Next semester will be terrifying, but it’s worth it. I don’t really have time to do words of the day- but I promise to make it up next time!

In der Lurgrotte

2009-10-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

I spent most of last week actually doing school work, including enough German reading in my literature class to last me a lifetime! My Wednesday night Austrian Folk Dancing classes have been going extremely well - and last night we even learned a greek dance, which was really fun. Theresa's dad visited her last weekend, and we went with our friend to a cafe that overlooked all of Graz. In the evening the dorm building threw a party in the basement, which was pretty fun because we were able to meet more people that we basically live with!
On Sunday Theresa and I woke up fairly early and headed to the Hauptbahnhof where we were to meet our SUNY Graz family... and where they left without us! It was a mix up on their part though, so Julia was kind enough to turn around and pick up the poor orphans. She then proceeded to drive what had to have been at least 100 mph to the Lurgrotte to get us there on time for the tour.
There was a big group there and in most of the cave you have to walk single file, and despite the freezing temperature, it was an awesome experience. Each centimeter of the stalagmite build-up caused by the water along the crevices takes about 100 years to form - they almost look like icicles, and some were taller than me! (I know that isn't that hard because I'm short, but that's basically millions of years, which is still impressive!).
There are over 600 bats living in the cave... thankfully the handful of them that we saw were not only asleep, but tiny. Around the size of my thumb. At one point there is a lake where all the streams in the cave meet, and there is water raining from a hole in the cave, even though it wasn't raining outside at that moment. The tour guide turned off all of the lights and shone a flashlight onto the sprinkling water, and it created this amazing effect, as if glitter or gems were falling.
This past Sunday was also my mom's birthday, so of course I called her to wish her a good one! Melanie had hidden my card excellently... we are just those sneaky sort of kids.
I am still working on my current weekend plans, and will surely update next week! I think Ali wins this week's blog post competition... but not to worry, I have plans up my sleeve in the coming weeks!
Quick note - Today in history, I learned about Austrian coffee, because my Professor was appalled that we didn't know specifics. So Dad, I know you have been dying to know: A Grossen Brauner is so strong because it is the first coffee made from the beeans, only being run through it once. A 'Brauner' has milk, a 'Schwarzer' does not. However, a Melange coffee is the second run through the coffee beans, so it is lighter, and also has the fluffiness in it(as he, the teacher, described to me).

German words of apparent significant importance, according to my classes this week:

Klauen - slang for 'stealing'
ledig - single (not married)
fluchten - to curse
wimmern - to whine or complain
lallen - slur
das geschorene Shaf - the shaved sheep

Austrian:

jäh - abruptly
Heuer - this year

and if you ever want to say 'potatoes,' you have three choices: Erdapfel (Austrian), Kartoffeln (German), or Krumbirne (apparently originally somehow French!).

Santander

2009-10-19T12:29:00.001-07:00

October 19, 2009

Hola otra vez! This weekend was a bit uneventful seeing as I was sick most of the weekend L I have a cold…and can only breathe out of one nostril…it’s awesome. BUT this week was still really good! I had a paper and two tests last week, because apparently I need to do work when I’m in Spain. I think that should actually be illegal, but the tests were basically like high school tests, so that’s fine. I’ll just be extremely unprepared for JPE and Lit 499 next semester, joy. I got an e-mail from the woman who stopped me in the hall about a month back, Nieves, and I met her and her son Nicolas today. He’s kind of shy, but she said that he already knows some English which is good, and she was very nice.

On Friday we had an excursion to Santander, which is about an hour- hour and a half from Bilbao. It was really relaxed, and a lot more of the stereotypical Spanish atmosphere just because everything was so mellow. It was great place to spend the day, but more than that there wouldn’t be a whole lot to do. We saw an old cathedral (700 years old?) that burned down twice (the wooden parts), and some of the ashes are still above the glass. After that we went to this nifty outdoor aquarium type thing right on the coast. The coast was gorgeous, a lot of rocks and jagged cliffs, but surprisingly the waves didn’t make much noise when they crashed against the rocks and shore. We took a train ride…and by train ride, I mean those trains that six year olds take at a carnival…around the park. I’m pretty sure I could walk faster, but that’s ok. We started walking, and stopped to get ice cream and watch Nadal!!! He won…obviously. We continued to the Santander Futbol Stadium and meet up with the ISA Santander students. We went into the press room and got to run on their field, which was also pretty cool.

Saturday, Chelsea and I were supposed to go kayaking, but there was a class that used all of the kayaks, so instead we went to the Maritime Museum. Not the most exhilarating museum I’ve been too, and there was a really bizarre video- it was literally just a screen with the same song repeating about not eating shark fins, and displaying a lot of images of the sharks being killed and the Asians eating soup with what I assume was shark meat. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. Saturday night is when I started feeling sick, and the result of that is that I am now done watching season three of Weeds. Sunday a bunch of us went to the Athletic Bilbao game! It was awesome! The game itself was alright, our team isn’t very good, and the other team wasn’t great either, so we ended up losing 2-1. I just love how into it everyone was; they cheered their team on when they missed the goal, they cheered their team on when they sprinted for a ball, but were nowhere near it, and they seemed to catch everything because half the time they were yelling at the refs when nothing had happened. We made friends with the people behind us and got to wave their ginormous Atleti flag, even though I twisted it instead of waving it. Something really unique about the Bilbao team is that they only allow Basque players on the team, going along with the whole Basque pride/independence. Although it may not be the best strategic move, it really preserves part of their culture. Also Sunday…delicious paella, I’m going to learn how to make it. Agur!

Spanish Words of the Day:

Las impuestas- taxes

Carteras - roads

Seguro- insurance/sure

Ordenador- computer

Cupo- amount

Calidad- quality

Cantidad- quantity

Basque Words of the Day:

Gorri- rojo- red

Larre- lugar- place

Galtza- pantalones- pants

Ilargia- luna- moon

Thalersee II

2009-10-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

German words:
Kristalluesters - chandalier
geklatscht - clapped
Wispern - whisper (thats a tough one...)
Berge - mountain
jodeln - yodel
Tratschen - gossip

Specifically Austrian:
Sackerl - bag (like from the grocery store)
Tischerl - small table

Plabutsch und Thalersee

2009-10-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

Since last week, I have gone on another hiking trip, and started classes!
My International Relations course has been extremely interesting; my Professor is actually on the Comittee for the Prevention of Torture, and therefore has the first hand experience that makes all the difference for the class. My Austrian history class is also intriguing, and the Professor did an amazing job making his German understandable - I got the whole thing! Literature is a bit of a challenge; I am not sure why all of our reading list involves learning vocabulary words such as prostitute, brothel, and slut... but I will just refrain from using those in my daily German discussions. My German language class was also a success, so all-in-all its been going well!
On Sunday I went on a hike to Plabutsch and Thalersee. Theresa and I were debating it at first, as it had rained for days and we knew mud would be a possibility. But we braved the fatigue (we actually went out the night before, we were so proud of ourselves!) and the iffy weather, and met up with the international exchange group, ERASMUS. We took a 30 minute bus to the bottom of the mountain, and then we started hiking - no wait - mountain climbing. Apparently the Austrian tradition is to rough it out. The walkways/ pathways are for tourists: we took the 84 degree angle, through bushes, trees, thorns, and the long-awaited for mud! But at the top, it was once again worth it: You could see all of Graz from above, plus a rainbow above the scene!

Another story from the language barrier - Theresa and I wanted bottled water, and forgot this is still a somewhat American idea. So at the top of a hiking mountain, they have a restaurant, not a vending machine or anything, and theres nothing 'zu mitnehmen' (To Go) so you have to sit there properly and order and be civilized and everything in your mud-covered outfit. So we asked for bottled water, and were given two 1-liter glass bottles of 'Pricklen' (sparkling water). We were so thirtsy, and needed more water for our trip back, plus we didn't want to waste it... so into our backpacks the giant glass bottles went. If you are thinking at the moment 'that sounds like a terrible idea' then you are a step ahead of where we were.

Not five minutes later a wasp decided to fly into Theresa's face, and she jumped off of the fence she was sitting on, flinging her backpack onto the one section of concrete there was up there. As water gushed everywhere, and we sprinted into the bathroom to clean it up, lets just say we caused a bit of a scene. Her backpack was full of broken glass, but we just put everything into my bag (yay walking down two hours with twice the weight!) and she carried an empty but soaking wet backpack the rest of the day. And it gets better.

The trail down to the lake, named the Thalersee, was too narrow at some points to even walk with one foot besides the other. People were falling and slipping in the mud puddles, and within 5 minutes we stopped caring and basically all ran/ slid/ and flew down the mountain for a while. After around 2 hours we made it to the lake. Definitely beautiful! We ate a picnic there, and then I said goodbye to Ann-Karin, my friend from France, and went Theresa on the bus back to our Studentheim (passing the display of the boat that Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed to his wife on at the Thalersee).

El Dia de la Hispanidad

2009-10-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

October 12, 2009

Today is El Dia de La Hispanidad, which is the Spanish National Day (and also a sort of celebration of Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas). In the Basque country, we have off because it’s a national holiday, but it’s really not celebrated at all because Basques think of themselves as separate from Spain. I’m not sure that it’s very big in most parts of the country though. The biggest celebration on this day is the fiesta in Zaragoza, dedicated to their Virgin, Nuestra Senora de Pilar. Because we had a long weekend, we decided to take advantage of it and go on a little trip. On Saturday morning Megan and I left for San Sebastian, because we love that city. We spent the day there, going around town and to the shops. We climbed up to the old military fort where there’s a pretty big statue of Jesu Cristo. We had “dinner” in the historic part of the city, which really means that we gorged ourselves on the best pintxos in Spain- salmon, crab, berenjenas rellenas, bollos de mariscos, alcachofa, delicious!

Early Sunday morning, after very little sleep, we left our hostel to catch the bus to Zaragoza in the rain, but when we got there it was sunny and a perfect day! It was about a three and a half hour ride from San Sebastian. Zaragoza is in Aragon, which Karen pointed out to me is Goya’s birthplace and apparently I could have seen his home turned museum, my b. We had absolutely no idea where we were going, but we got a map, and I am very proud of myself because I actually successfully navigated the whole day! Not that I expect this to be a frequent occurrence, but it was pretty exciting. We walked along a pretty big open air market (more Latin American style, not really the fruits and veggies kind of market). Then we headed toward the historic part of town, which is where the Plaza de Pilar (?) was, and the street was closed off- there was a roller skating race, a lot of vendors and people, but not a huge crowd because today was really their fiesta day. We stopped for lunch at New York Café! I wouldn’t suggest eating there, but it was good to get some grub. Megan called her host brother carlos who was in Zaragoza and went to school there so he knows the city well, but he didn’t wake up until 5, so we did our own modified tour of the city. Eventually we stumbled upon the Plaza de los Toros, and they were holding a bullfight that day. In the Plaza right next to it, there were a bunch of angst-ridden youth shouting obscenities in protest of the bullfights- with signs (cruel a los toros, cruel a todos), megaphones, grafittied pants, and even some wearing black garbage bags and horns with red point splattered on them. We watched the interactions, which was some of the pest people watching in quite some time. The bullfight was on TV, which wasn’t so much fun to watch. We headed back to San Sebastian and got there around 11, at which point we went to bed. This morning we woke up and headed out because it was kind of rainy and gross in San Sebastian. And that was my weekend!

I should also point out that last Thursday I took a course to be certified to teach English as a foreign language (TEFL). It was extremely bizarre because the guy running the class was a native Spanish speaker, incredibly nervous (I’ve never seen so much sweat pour off of someone forehead…Matt, your sweaty hands have some competition). During our break he was even smoking pot! And he tried to give us our money back twice…it was weird, and kind of seemed bogus. It makes me wonder what his credentials are to be teaching us, and also what kind of teachers end up teaching English. I think it would be really fun though, so I’m excited to have my certification! That wraps up my week…I can’t believe I’ve been here for 6 weeks already!!

Spanish Words of the Day:

Manifestación- protest

Corrida- bullfight

Boboso- creepy

Chupeculos- brownnoser

Basque Words of the Day:

Ondo- cerca- near

Ibar- río- river

Barria- Nuevo- new

Etxe- casa- house

Bonjour, Francia!

2009-10-05T13:15:00.001-07:00

October 5, 2009

Hola! This week was pretty eventful…well, not the week itself because basically all I did was go to class, run, do homework, and walk around the city. However, this weekend was absolutely ridonculous. On Friday our group went on an excursion to San Sebastian, and I took the bus to meet them there because I have class on Fridays. It was really fun; we walked along the coast and then took the funicular up to the top of the city, which had really nice views. There were these little portals that caused all of the wind from the waves to rush up at you. There are some sweet pictures of that. We also saw the sculptures of steel that are in the water and were built while Franco was in power, I think there’s something important about them, but I don’t really remember what. We went to go to a spa (which is really just mineral water baths), or so we thought, but decided to swim in the ocean instead because it was so nice out. After, we went to dinner and then went back to the hotel. I ended up going out again with a bunch of people to this street with a lot of bars and the best pintxos I’ve had yet. We went to the beach and hung out for a while, then got gelato on the way back. Unfortunately, my sandal broke on the walk back! And people in Spain like to use the streets as toilets, so my bare foot was pretty disgusting by the time we made it back to the hotel, just thought you should know.

Saturday we went to Biarritz, France! It was probably the best day of trip so far, it was completely amazing! First, we went to a chocolate museum, which is always a good way to start the day. It wasn’t much of a museum, but it was fun and had very good chocolate. Next we went to the actual town, which was really cute. It was definitely a bit of culture shock because Biarritz is only two hours from Bilbao, but I didn’t realize how much Spanish I know until I was in France and basically couldn’t say anything. We walked around for a bit, and then went swimming because it was such a beautiful day. We swam out to the rocks and jumped off. For lunch we went to this super cute crepe place, and I can now officially say that crepe man makes the best crepes, even better than in France! They were still yummy though- ham, cheese, and tomato crepe and a chocolate, nut, and raspberry crepe. Everything about the day was just fantastic, and I think that we are going to go back next weekend for a little while.

On Sunday, Chelsea and I went with “El Grupo de Mountain” which is basically a hiking group, to Orduna to climb Sierra Salvada. Let’s just say, it was a hike and a half. We climbed to four different peaks; the first one was to a statue of the virgin, the second and third kind of looked like we were on the rock looking out about to sing “Circle of Life” from “The Lion King” and the fourth one was the border between Alava and Bizkaia. It was super guay. There were a lot of cows, horses, goats, and bulls…and they actually wore cowbells! In total we hiked about fourteen miles. There were about twenty people who hiked it, mostly international students from Erasmus (there were 10 countries represented in our group), and some Spaniards. It was nice to meet new people, and they were all very friendly, plus we got to practice our Spanish more. One girl from Sweden was really nice, and we might all go hike Picos de Europa with the group in about a month.

School is starting to get really busy between classes, homework, projects, and papers- especially when I’m gone all weekend, and trying to plan trips. It’s all working out really well, though. On Thursday I’m taking a certification course so I will be able to teach English part-time (not that I intend to while I’m here because I don’t think I would have time to, but it’s still something I’m very excited about!). Hasta la proxima vez!

Spanish Words of the Day

Debajo de- under

Encima de- on top of

Arriba de- above

Al lado de- next to

Fuera de- outide of

Dentro de- inside of

I don’t have any Basque words of the day, so I’m bringing back the fun Trivia Fact:

Most Spanish words that begin with “al-“ have their origins in Arabic (like alfombra- rug)

Also, in Spain the language is called “Castellano”

Bad Ischl - Schoeckl

2009-10-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

As I am too tired to do anything else after my "Wanderung" (hike), I will catch up with Ali's updates! I recieved my package from my family last week, so am now all ready for the quickly-coming chilly weather. On Thursday the 24th of Oct. I had dinner with my friend Ann-Karin from my German class. She is from France, and made ratatouille! It was delicious. Also at the dinner was our friend from Italy, two girls from Finland, and a guy from Italy but originally from Germany.
On the following Sunday I went to the Erlebnistag im Freilichtmuseum, aka a festival at the open-air museum in Stuebing. We saw what an old 'village' would have looked like, including farms, houses, school buildings, and mills. There was dancing, Trachten, and drinking... like most Austrian festivals. They even had a Dirndl fashion show! The weather was perfect and we ate lunch on a bench squished between a lot of people, but it was fine, because we ate the most amazing Krapfen that have ever been made. Krapfen are doughy donut-like pieces of heaven that are sprinkled with sugar and filled with apricot jam. They made them right in front of us, and I will forgive the burns I temporarily had from holding a fresh one - it was worth it!
After the day at the museum walking around and frolicing Austrian style, Theresa and I took a train to Bad Ischl, where her cousin picked us up and drove us to her home in St. Gilgen. It was dark at the time, and I knew the house was on the Wolfgangsee, but when I woke up (in the tope bunk! yay!) and all I saw out of the window was water, it was a bit of a surprise! But a good one. The view was out of this world; all you could see was shimmering water and mountains. We walked around in the morning and bought breakfast at a little local bakery, and drove into St. Wolfgang later in the day. By the afternoon we had worked up the nerve to go swimming (although I am not quite sure what possesed us to, seeing as it was the end of Sept.) but we each went in after about an hour of dipping our toes in and screaming. And we jumped in just in time for a tour boat to pass!
The next day we explored some more, and went to a few little local shops. For dinner we made her cousin dinner (spaghetti, very fancy!) and then got ready to go back on Wednesday for...
Classes!!!
(rumor has it, when they said 'study abroad' they meant 'study'... not 'travel')
So after a week of freedom from our intensive course, Theresa and I headed back to Graz to attend our first proper class of the semester. Of course, that night we left again, being the world (read: Austrian) travelers we are, and took a bus to Klagenfurt. We stayed with Theresa's family friends' who were extremely nice and with whom we went paintballing! I have the black-and-blues to prove it; and even with 3 girls on the team vs. all boys, we managed to hold our own (despite wearing uniforms meant for people of normal height... the shirt was down to my knees, and i had to roll up the pants to keep from tripping). On the second night we went to a carnival, and while the giant ferris wheel was fun, and provided a great view, it was the bumper cars that really made the impression. Make that 'killer' bumper cars. In the pouring rain. Drunk 17 year olds in hyper-mode can be both entertaining and dangerous, but we survived, and the look on Theresa's face (and mine most likely) as we got hit by 3 cars at once was completely priceless.
Today we went with SUNY Graz on a hike up Schoekl, and the hike basically resulted in mountain climbing. But I was ready in my hiking pants and boots (from visiting Colorodo with Ali senior year!) and we made it to the tope in just over an hour, impressing our temporary family here in Graz! At the top we ate outside at the Stubenberghaus with a view that was endless, and then went on the 'Hexenexpress,' kind of like a rollercoaster that went down part of the mountain. We spent a while walking around, taking pictures, eating ice cream, and just talking, and then headed down for the long walk back. It is 1,445 meters over the Adriatic Sea as its recorded, which apparently implies I should wear more than 30 spf (and I was still the only one who was flushed-pink after! From the sun, that is... most of us were pink from the workout as well).
That about sums it up for the last week and a half or so. Tomorrow my first full week of classes start, and I'm excited to actually fully attend Karl-Franz Universitaet!

Pamplona, Logrono, y Mas

2009-09-27T12:41:00.001-07:00

September 27, 2009

I’m very far behind on my journal writing, but let’s catch up, beginning with the AMAZING crepes that I had last Thursday. This crepe place, Don Crepe, just reopened last week, so we went in to try it out and it was deeeeeelicious! Megan, Meagan, and I split a Mushroom and Tomato Crepe, Shrimp Crepe, and Chocolate and Banana crepe. They…were….so….YUMMMY!!! And the guy that worked there was awesome! He’s from Portugal, and served in the military, then he was a chef in London- he speaks Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, and French! We told Rosa Maria about it, and then she made us crepes the next day for breakfast! We went to Pamplona on Friday, and we went to the street where the running of the bulls is, and into the plaza de los toros, where we actually stood on the sand where the bullfights are held- we also went to Puente de la Reina and saw a bunch of really nice churches, and it's part of the Camino del Santiago, so there are a lot of pilgrims hiking- which we want to do for 2 days in October. Once we got to Pamplona we relaxed for a bit and walked around, and then had a tour with a really fun guide. We got to see the hotel that Ernest Hemingway stayed in every time he came to Pamplona and Café Iruna, which is the setting for parts of The Sun Also Rises. We got coffee there, and it’s really cute; everything is still furnished as it was in the 1800s, and it was one of the first places in town to have electricity! Later we found this small bakery/chocolate place and had AMAZING gooey fresh out of the oven chocolate croissants (which are called Napolitanas here). We also went to a delicious pintxo place nearby. Saturday we went to Logrono, our bus got lost for a little bit, but we went to a bodega because La Rioja is very well known for its wine, and we had a tour of the winery and did a wine tasting. On the way back we stopped at a hotel that Frank Gehry designed (same architect as the Guggenheim) and then another cool winery, where we frolicked and ate the grapes and it was near the mountains and beautiful. I accidentally frolicked in a thorn bush and got some thorns stuck in my foot, which made it randomly go numb whenever anything touched it for about a week. When we came back we had dinner, and then went out (everything starts really late here, so we didn’t even get to the discoteca until 2) and its crazy because the entire street was filled with people just drinking out of coke bottles and things, because they don’t go in until even later, and we waited on line for an hour, but were still pretty far, so we left, and went to a bar close to here called DaVinci. It’s funny because almost all of the bars and discotecas play American music. There was this Romanian guy at the bar who was SO excited to meet us, seriously elated, because he had never met anyone from the U.S. before, it was pretty interesting.

I started my classes with Spaniards this week; Phonetics and Phonology and 20^th Century Northamerican Literature. It’s kind of intimidating being the only foreigner in the class (although there are two others in my literature class), and the Spanish students are surprisingly not that friendly. Hopefully that will get better though. It’s good that the classes are in English, but we had an in class surprise assignment where my professor read a paragraph from the book out loud and we had to write it down in Spanish,…not so fun. Other than that, classes are going well, my professors are good for the most part, and the work isn’t too bad yet. This weekend we went to Casco Viejo a couple of times- we watched the soccer game (at a bar) Athletic Bilbao v. Sevilla, and it was a home game so a lot of people were out, but then people just started leaving because our team was so bad, and they ended up losing 4-0.

Saturday Meghan and I made lunch for Rosa Maria: chicken and pasta in a garlic lemon butter sauce with a tomato, avocado, mozzarella, and cucumber salad. It was really good, and nice to do something for her, but also to eat food we were used to! We had a good conversation too; I told her about my ideal city that I wrote about for composition class where everyone lives in treehouses, we have weekly festivals where everyone creates a different dish using the same ingredient of the week, and how Anderson Cooper and I win all of the weekly competitions. Today I went to the beach with Megan, which was wonderful because I love the beach, even though it was a little chilly. The beaches here look a lot like Northern California with the cliffs and waves. Now everyone is all caught up! And by everyone, I mean my parents and Claire’s parents, because I’m pretty sure that those are the only people who read this blog.

Agur!

Spanish Words of the Day:

Puente- bridge

Bolsillos- pockets

Semillas- seeds

Basque Words of the Day:

Ikurrina (the word for flag, and also the name of the Basque flag)

Aita- Father

Ama- Mother

Eta- and

2009-09-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

1. I have been spelling 'Traechten' wrong in my post - for the record, its 'Trachten' (no e)
2. I forgot to mention this AMAZING random little rose garden Theresa and I stumbled upon in Vienna with... yellow roses! Theresa had to drag me away.

Riegursburg & Such

2009-09-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

So as I had to take a midterm a week ago, and have had an influx of work ever since, I haven't had that much time to update, but here it goes!
On Friday the 11th, after our 'zwischenpruefung' (midterm) my class went on a short walking tour, that Theresa, Laura, and I had already done a week before, but it was fun with a big group of people as well. We actually got to see inside the press room of what would be equal to the governor of Steiermark (Styria), which was a gorgeous old room with chandeliers and hundred-year old mirrors.
On Saturday, I went Opera-clubbing with a few other students from my classes and Studentheim. That's right, you read it correctly... opera clubbing. The Graz Oper opens up their stage once a year to Ö3, a radio station, to host a giant party. There were people of every age there, and every type of outfit... including ball gowns, business casual, Traechten (traditional Austrian clothes), and cargo shorts. The reception started in a back room of the opera, with giant sets set up behind the bar, as the room is usually used for storage. About an hour later, the clear glass covered bridge between the two sections of the opera house opened up, and an hour later the actual stage, with a set on it, opened up as the dance floor. The DJ was at the front of the stage, so behind him was where the audience would sit and watch their opera. The disco ball looked a bit out of place among the chandeliers, but it was certainly a different kind of experience! Earlier in the day I had worked on my homework (asking specific questions about the sights of Graz) with two classmates and saw the famous art museum building, nicknamed the 'friendly blue alien' because of its appearance, as well as the Murinsel, which has not only a cafe but a playground (which apparently I am not allowed to go, being too old...).
The next day SUNY Graz and Theresa, Laura, and I went to Riegursburg, a castle/ fortress still owned privately by the family of Lichtenstein. At first (after what can only be considered a full-fledged hike up a mountain to get to Riegursburg in the first place) we saw a Birds-of-Prey show, which was great until the presenter realized I didn't like it when the birds flew right next to my face, and then held a dead chicken behind my head so I ended up with a giant bird about to land on me. The birds were stunning and entertaining, especially the one who decided he wasn't in the mood to come back, and wouldn't land when the presenter told him to (karma!).
Next we went to the actual castle, where they had set up some of the rooms in their original state, and we learned about the witch trials between 1546 and 1746, when they sentenced and killed over 300 people in Styria for things such as being able to grow flowers in winter, controlling the weather (hail storms destroyed thousands of crops), starting invasions from nearby countries, and for starting the plague. The castle itself is 850 years old and has three kilometers of defense walls with loopholes, seven archways and eleven bastions. My absolute favorite part was the White Room: a ballroom with white porcelain chandeliers, paintings, marble, and staircases.
The following week pretty much consisted of some more exploring, homework, shopping (IKEA may be the best store EVER, Theresa and I not only bought pots and pans, but ice-pop makers!) and eating (now that we have pans, we have started to actually cook, rather than microwave, our dinners). On Thursday Theresa and I had a picnic in the park, and tried to feed the ducks, but ended up feeding the fish because the ducks were lazy and wouldn't cross the pond to get to us. (Although I never knew fish liked bread, these fish were seriously attacking each other over it). On Friday, Theresa and I took the train to Vienna (about 2 1/2 hrs) to see my family. We stayed with Barbara in her apartment on Sternwartestrasse that has an amazing rooftop terrace with an unreal view of Vienna. We went to Carina's (my cousin) Birthday/ Goodbye party, and I had a great time catching up with my family after having been here now for about 3 weeks! On Saturday we went Traechten shopping with Barbara in the first district and saw the Stephasdom briefly, and got some goodies from Sacher! (Danke Barbara : ) )
On our train back to Graz we met a girl who will be working at today's Styrian festival, which I am psyched for. They close down the streets for an entire day of eating, drinking (Almdudler soda!), singing, dancing, and Traechten-wearing (Theresa and I will be sporting our proper Austrian scarves that Barbara kindly let us borrow). I actually have to get ready for the festivities soon, and I think I have included everything from the past week or two, so until next time, Aufwiederschreiben!

Important German words for Riegurburg, or when you get lost in Austria and end up asking French tourists where to go (aka Theresa and I. The group of 2 old woman and 1 old man offered that they could try to help us in French, Spanish, or Italian. We speak German and English. They ended up just giving us their map). -
Hexen - witches
Strasse - street
Hilfe - help
Berg - mountain

Oh! And since Ali updates everyone on her food consumption, let me add mine: The chocolate here should be illegal. It is ridiculously delicious and I should probably consider getting help for my addiction soon. Secondly, I made frozen Marillenknoedel (apricot dumplings) the other day, which were good (thats for you, Melanie!) but nothing is better than my Oma's!

Mi Vida en Bilbao

2009-09-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I need to catch up on the last twelve days. Our first weekend in Bilbao, we pretty much just roamed the city and tried to figure out how to get around (which I still can't do half of the time). Almost everything is closed on Sundays, oddly enough candy stores are just about the only places that stay open. We went to Casco Viejo and I had chocolate con churros for the first time…..mmmm! I think that’s the kind of tradition that we need to bring to the U.S.! Rosa Maria took us on a walk in Getxo, which is on the northern coast. We walked along the beaches and local streets. It was really pretty and nice to see another part of the Pais Vasco. Spain and El Pais Vasco have gone through so many changes in the past 20 years, and you can almost track the changes through the land. The Basque country used to be rolling hills, valleys, and farmland. It then quickly became industrialized, and the effects of that are very visible. Now Bilbao is similar to other large Spanish cities, although there is a very strong Basque presence. Even on the coast, we looked to one side and saw the ocean, cliffs, and beaches; but a panoramic view also shows the cranes and industrial work being done a few miles away.
As of right now the classes that I am taking are Hispanic Linguistics, Spanish Grammar, Spanish Composition, Culture, Politics, and Economy in Contemporary Spain, and Basque Culture and Language. I will need to drop Spanish Grammar and Culture, Politics, and Economy in Contemporary Spain to fit my two English language courses (Phonetics and Phonology and 20th Century Northamerican Literature). I just found out that I will have Friday classes also, which is kind of a bummer for travelling. Oh well, que sera.
On friday our group went to Gernika which was really nice. I liked getting away from the city atmosphere of Bilbao for the day. Gernika is more rural, and a lot more similar to my expectations of el Pais Vasco. First we went to Museo de La Paz (Museum of Peace), mostly designed to further our understanding of coexistence and how to achieve peaceful relations. There was a room called the Begona room that we went in and it was laid out as a room in someone’s house. A recording came on, and it was the voice of this woman, Begona’s, journal. She described her life before the Spanish Civil War and how the church bells rang for mass, baptisms, weddings…and then how they rang when there were planes in the strike zone. Eventually sirens would go off but people didn’t always want to go through the trouble of going underground, so they stayed. Unfortunately, Begona died at the bombing of Gernika and this room is to help us understand her position. It was a really good way to get the message through and make the experience interactive. When we walked to the next room, debris was piled under parts of the floor, and then glass was placed over it, so it was literally as though we were walking on the shambles of the city. At this point, my roommate, Meghan, fainted. That was definitely a shock, but no worries, she’s ok! The rest of the museum was interesting; it reminded me a lot of visiting Yad Vashem and being able to physically and visually comprehend the experiences of so many people.
After the museum, we went to the Tree of Gernika, which is actually more of a stump. Historically, it was the meeting site for the Assembly. It was not destroyed in the bombings of Gernika, and became a symbol of Basque hope. There is a new tree of Gernika that is alive and at the assembly house (which is really nice!). We ate lunch in a park and walked around for a little bit before heading to a biodiversity museum. I really enjoyed it; they had sustainable/recycled art and it was basically a giant biology museum. The rooms were very unique….one had squares with pictures of different animals in each one and it literally covered every side of the room, including the top and bottom. We went up to the top of the building, which had a beautiful view, and looked through the telescope things they had set up, which was awesome, especially because it was such a beautiful day out.
On Saturday I went to Sopelana with Meghan and Megan, which is about a 30 minute metro ride from Deusto. It was absolutely fantastic!!!! There was a Basque food festival, with a lot of market stalls filled with all kinds of fresh fruits, vegetables, artesian cheeses and jams, handmade breads, tortillas, and pastries. There were also a couple of stands with jewelry and a leather craftsman. I tasted a LOT of different foods, and had a tortilla with chorizo for lunch, yummy! We bought some apple cider to bring to the beach, which turned out to be alcoholic and not very good. We met up with Ana and Chelsea at the market, but they didn’t stay long. We walked to the beach, which was pretty far away but so beautiful! There were a lot of sailboats and surfers out in the water. I went swimming and it was perfect to be in the ocean looking out at the cliffs and diving into the waves. We didn’t stay for the Basque music festival that night, but there was a decent sized band that we saw in the plaza, which was really cool. They were all dressed in traditional Basque outfits, as were a lot of the kids, vendors, and people on the street. It’s always nice to go to the smaller towns around Bilbao where most people are Basque and are very proud of their heritage. It is such a unique culture, and I love that there is such a strong cultural tradition here.
On Sunday Meghan and I went to San Sebastian to watch the San Sebastian Regatta! It was so beautiful out, and it was PACKED at the regatta. There were tons of people all along the coastline, and a sailboat with a maritime band playing on it. It looked more like a city on the Mediterranean than Northern Spain. The water was clear, there were whitewashed houses along the coast and sailboats in the water. One of the major attractions to the San Sebastian Regatta is the fact that Basques are the ones participating, and everyone comes out to support local teams.After the regatta, we walked into the city more, relaxed by the beach for a while, and then found the site where the International Film Festival will be next week. We walked along the river, which was gorgeous, and coincidentally found our friends Ana and Chelsea eating lunch by the river. We went around the city with them for a bit before coming back to Bilbao. It was such a great day, and I love how open San Sebastian felt.
This weekend was really fun, and although it was great to get away from Bilbao and see other places, I'm also starting to get into the routine of being here. Today I saw “He’s Just Not That into You” in Spanish, so it’s more like “Qué Les Pasa a los Hombres.” It was actually really cool to be able to watch something that I had already seen in English, so I knew the plot and could follow the words. We had an official welcome to the university today, and there were mad old peeps getting their international masters degrees.
Rosa María has been watching an awesome game show called “Pasapalabra” while we eat dinner, and it’s starting to get pretty intense- I actually get some of the answers right. It’s basically a word game; the host describes a word and the participants have to guess it within a certain amount of time to win. There are a few different sections; for one part they need to guess words beginning or ending in certain letters (like –ato), and for another they need to guess words that start with a certain letter or have that letter in the middle. It creates some interesting conversations for us, which is good. Rosa María isn’t bad at it, but I really want to see if they have some sort of Spanish Jeopardy show.

That's all for now, and I'm sure it's more than enough!

Spanish Words of the Day:

Bolsillos- pockets

Marea- tides

Basque Words of the Day:

Egun on – Good morning

Arratsalde ou- Good afternoon

Gabon- Goodnight

Continuation...

2009-09-08T03:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to abruptly leave the cafe with internet because it was closing, so I will finish my German words of the day/ week now, following directions (North, South, East, West) which are very important for walking tours (as I have discovered)...

Nachbarn - neighbors
Studentwohnheim - Student living space, apartment
Treppe - stairs
Fenster - window
Spiegal - mirror

and for those of you who feel like describing your family rather than your house:
Ist deine Familie gross? - is your family big?
Wie viele Geschwister hast du? - how many siblings do you have?
Wie heissen deine Eltern? - what are your parents' names?
Hast du Kinder? - do you have children?
Bist du verheiratet? - are you married?

Off to orientation again, after drei Stunde (3 hours) of Deutsch Klasse, which is actually going exceptionally well. Tschuess! (I have yet to figure out umlauts on my computer).

The Old Town Walk

2009-09-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Old Town Walk is from Graz's guided-map, and on Saturday Theresa, Laura, and I decided to follow it. We saw the Herzoghof, the Stiegenkirche, Palais Saurau, Hof des Deutschen Ritterdorns (all the cobblestones are from the river Mur), Hofbaeckerei Edegger-Tax, the Masoluem, the Glockenspiel, and the Priest's Seminarythe Landhaus Courtyard. My favorites though were the Burggarten und Stadtpark, which had unbelievably beautiful flowers and an incredible view. We also so the Double Spiral Staircase. It is a bit hard to explain, but basically there are two spiral staircases as the name suggests, but at points in the circle they share steps. It is from 1499 (the end of the Gothic period), and teh Burg where it is located is the 'seat of Styrian regional parliament.'
On Sunday I went with the SUNY Graz team to the Hundertwasser Kirche. Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed the church's exterior in addition to twelve gates around the church symbolizing different world religions. After we went to Piber, the home of the famous all-white Lipizzaner horses, who are actually born black, and are trained for ten years in Spain before performing, and then sent back to their home in Piber for 'retirement' after about 13 years of performing. We were allowed to pet the horses, saw some of them run, and were told that they were available for purchase... at approx. 11.0000 euros.
Today was another German class and then orientation for the exchange students, most of which do not come from the U.S. I have met some people from Croatia, Australia, Sweden, France, and Czech Republic.
German words of the day:
Norden, Suden, Osten, Westen

Bilbao

2009-09-03T13:54:00.001-07:00

September 1, 2009

Yesterday we were in Madrid and went to the Museo de Reina Sofia. It had a lot of modern art and art by local Spanish artists. We saw the mural of Guernica, which was fascinating to learn about. I can only really appreciate art when I know the reasons and symbolism behind it. I learned that the light at the top of the painting represents industrialization and all of the problems associated because it is artificial. All of the animals and people have their mouths open in the painting, which expresses their agony at the massacre of Gernika. The horseshoe and the flowers at the bottom of the painting are symbols of hope for the future. There was a lot of artwork by Picasso, Dali, and Muro. Some of the modern art just doesn’t capture the emotion that I know the artist is trying to show, because although the concepts are very developed, the artwork itself is not. After the museum we had some free time to get lunch and walk around. After that we went to El Palacio Real de Madrid, which is the royal palace. It was enormous and incredibly detailed, with everything appearing rich and extraordinary. Inside the rooms were made of marble, granite, porcelain, wood, gold, etc. and they had valuables such as fine silver, but also some very intimate items created for previous kings and queens. King Felipe III had III etched into the decorations on the walls. There were huge sculptures brought from France and Italy. My favorite room was the one where the walls and ceiling were made of porcelain, and painted over in an oriental pattern (it was not the porcelain room). The room looked both intricate and exotic, but it was not as over-the-top as some of the others, it was a much more subtle beauty. We took the bus to Toledo, went swimming, had a meeting about classes, and then went to Toledo for the night. We ate dinner at a small restaurant, and I learned the difference between champinones (mushrooms) and chipirones (squid). Guess which one I ordered for dinner? That would be the squid cooked in its own ink; surprisingly, it wasn’t bad but it was definitely not something I want to order again. We walked around central Toledo for a bit, which is a beautiful old city behind a stone wall. There was a really fun club that was actually an old church; it had similar paintings on the ceiling to cathedrals, and the deejay booth was in the altar.

Today we went into Toledo again for a walking tour with our guide, Mario, who was a great guide, but wasn’t such a fan of personal space. We first saw a famous painting by El Greco; it is the scene of the former Mayor of Toledo's death. Apparnetly this man acted like a saint, and upon his death Saint Augustin and Saint Stephen descended and buried him with their own hands. The painting is split between a much lighter, Italian-inspired top-half, and a darker and realism-Spanish-inspired bottom half. The men looking are famous writers and artists of El Greco’s time (1500s), and the painter included himself as the only one among them looking directly at the viewer, probably because he looked directly into a mirror to see himself and copied that image. El Greco also painted his son in the bottom left corner and signed the painting on the scroll his son is carrying.

Next we went to Saint Juan de Los Reyes, which was built for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. The church itself is done in a Gothic style. It is made almost entirely of limestone, and the walls are carved into the shapes of flowers and animals. One very interesting carving is a monkey reading a book, with the hood of a monk, and sitting on a toilet. At the edge of the roof on the second floor, looking over the garden are statues of gargoyles, and pipes running through their mouths to deliver rain water to the garden. The wall was also carved with an alternating pattern of F and I (for Ferdinand and Isabel). After the church, we went to the Jewish Quarter of Toledo. We visited the oldest synagogue in Spain, which was later used as a church, and was built in the 1100s. It was built in an Arabic style because the Jews commissioned the Muslims to build it. It was very interesting to see the mixing of three cultures in Toledo, because there were a lot of Arab, Jewish, and Christian influences on the entire city. Madrid was so much of a generic international city that it didn’t really feel like I was in Spain, but Toledo is really nice and much more similar to my expectations of Spain.

September 3, 2009

Today was our first full day in Bilbao. We spent most of the day yesterday driving from Toledo to Bilbao, which took about seven hours total including stopping for lunch. When we finally got here the bus dropped us off in La Plaza Muyúa and our host families were there to pick us up, which was really cute. My host mother is Rosa María, and she brought her daughter Jasone and Jasone’s girlfriend, Ainhoau. We took the bus back to our neighborhood, even though it’s only about a 20 minute walk, because of all the luggage. Outside of our apartment building it looks a little bit like Queens, but once we came into the building we were surprised by how nice it is. I got into the elevator, which is very small. Rosa Maria lives on the tenth floor, and we have a gorgeous view of the city from our window. The apartment is more than I expected- our room is adorable, and I made it a little more homey by putting up pictures of friends and family. We had dinner with Jasone and Ainhoau, who live in El Casco Viejo. It was really fun to talk to them, even though there were several times when Meaghan and I looked at each other and needed to ask what something meant or how to say a certain word. I’m really glad that I have a roommate because it would be difficult to deal with all of this without having someone there with me to get through it with and speak English to! Ainhoau was talking about a Basque racquet sport that I really want her to teach me. They were also talking about some of the local places to hike, which would be fun! Both Aunhoau and Jasone speak Basque, but Rosa María doesn’t because when she was growing up it was forbidden to speak Basque under Franco’s rule.

Meghan and I gave Rosa María the gifts that we brought her; I gave her an apron that she wore to dinner and it was very cute, with matching potholders, and a dish towel that had a map of Long Island (which Claire’s mom gave me to give to her). We also showed everyone pictures of our families back home, which they really enjoyed seeing so they could know more about where we come from. Rosa Maria’s sister lives in the apartment above us, and as we were eating out on the balcony, they came onto their balcony to say hi. Jasone started telling us about how her mother likes music, and Rosa Maria came in and started playing an LP of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” album, which was hilarious. After dinner we unpacked and took a walk around the center city with Rosa María. We passed the Guggenheim, the ISA office, La Plaza Moyúa, el centro commercial. We walked for about an hour or two, mostly on La Gran Via. When we got back Meaghan and I were exhausted and went to bed pretty quickly.

This morning we woke up early and had breakfast before heading over to La Plaza Moyúa. Rosa María walked us over, and it almost felt like the first day of school to have your mom walk you to the bus stop. Our entire group walked with Genoveva to the Universidad de Deusto. We took a 45-minute multiple choice placement exam that was SOOO DIFFICULT! No one expected the test to be nearly as hard as it was. We also had a 15-minute composition component, which wasn’t as bad. After the test we had a quick information meeting about the international CIDE courses and registering, etc. The group went to the ISA office, which is actually really comfortable; it has a corner with huge bean bag chairs and a lot of books. We took a trolley/metro ride to the top of Bilbao, which had a great view of the entire city, a park, a few sculptures, and a playground.

I came back to the apartment for lunch with Meghan and Rosa María. She is a really good cook- we had a lobster and mussel soup, which was my favorite part of the meal (and I don’t even like seafood!). Staying here has been the first time that I will eat whatever is put in front of me…I also tried fresh sardines last night! Rosa María’s sister came down with two of her grandchildren to meet us and they were all very sweet. Meghan and I met the other Megan at one of the bridges and walked around the center city, shopped for a little bit, and then went to Casco Viejo. EL Casco Viejo might be my favorite place in Bilbao so far; the buildings are beautiful and everything was extremely oriented toward Basque life and Euskera. We walked around a LOT and found some interesting places that I want to visit, like the Basque Museum.

My first impression of Bilbao has definitely been a good one! The people have all been very nice, my host family is fantastic, my roommate is great, and we are both incredibly lucky to be in such a beautiful place. We can see the Guggenheim and la ría from our window right now, and we even have WiFi! iCreo que mi vida en Bilbao va a ser fantastica!

Spanish Words of the Day: Mono/mona (cute)

Vale (ok/good)

Tener ganas de (to be excited for)

Super guay (super cool)

Basque Words of the Day: Aguro (goodbye)

Pintxos (tapas)

Malimotxo (a Basque drink of red wine and Coca-Cola)

Kaixo (hello)

Graz!

2009-09-02T04:35:00.001-07:00

Gutentag!
So, on my second day in Graz I am currently sitting at a cafe outside of my dorm building and 'Uni Graz.'
Arriving on Friday night, I spent 3 days with my relatives in Groisbach and walked around Wien (Vienna) on Monday. Yesterday morning I arrived in Graz and was met by my Austrian 'buddy' who was extremely helpful, especially with locating my classroom. After I took a walk for a bit and saw the Leechkirche, a church from 1204, which is about 4 minutes from my dorm. Across the street from the church is a Stadtpark with a giant fountain, a lake, and students everywhere.
Today after our language interviews, 2 friends and I decided to explore, and ended up on a 3 hour walk. We walked through the center of Graz (and ate delicious Wienerschnitzels-to-go) and by the famous opera house, as well as an open-air market. Tomorrow we receive our placements for German classes and the real work begins!
Tschuess,
Claire

Mis Primeros Dias en Espana

2009-08-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

Bievenido a nuestra blog!
I made it to Madrid! Yesterday I got in around 12 and met the group- we went on a bus tour of Madrid that I mostly slept through because I was exhausted, and then somehow found our way to Plaza Mayor where we ate dinner outside. The food in Spain is delicious! And our breakfast in Spain always has freshlys queezed orange juice, which is soooo good! Today we went to El Escorial, which is an enormous building with a church, monastery, school, and it holds the tombs of the Kings and Queens of Spain. We had an hour to walk around the town a little bit, and we found an exercise park similar to the ones in China- it looks like a playground, but all of the equiptment is similar to the equiptment you would find in a gym. That park also has a nice view of the city. After El Escorial, we went to Valle de Los Caillidos, which is where Francisco Franco is buried. It's a really interesting place because it's essentially a cemetary, but it's definitely a one of a kind cemetary. It's carved into the mountain, and on top is a 35-story tall cross. The building itelf is very dark and oppressive, but right outside of it is an enormous open space that is incredibly bright, symbolizing life and death. Inside is a church, and Franco is burried right next to the altar, and Jose Antonio is on the opposite side. A lot of the architecture mimics that in El Escorial, and because Franco oversaw the construction of everything, it is his way of incorporating his own royalty into the building, because he was not ever King. I will leave you with a fun trivia fact:The cyprus is the tree of death that is used in a lot of cemetaries.
Hasta luego!

The Start

2009-08-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

My countdown is at 8 days in approximately 48 minutes. Let the panic, excitement, and loads of packing begin!