Never A Dull Moment In España

"Finalmente, el fin de semana!!!!!!" Aka, "finally, the weekend" and exactly what I chanted as I walked out of the Bilbao campus two hours ago. What a week it has been!! I remember being told by my friends who have studied abroad that time goes by in the blink of an eye, so appreciate every second of it. Not that I doubted them, but it's all making sense now. So what happened this week? Mucho. Here we go....

First, last weekend I convinced my friends to go see the suspension bridge in Las Arenas that connects Getxo to Bilbao. We were told by our program directors that it's a must-see attraction so I bugged people endlessly until they agreed to go (I knew they wanted to, we just had to find a day with nice weather). I'm not usually one for heights, but I figured while in Spain I had to bite the bullet....totally worth it!! The view was amazing!! We could see all of Getxo and the industrial zone of Bilbao (and of course the mouth of the river where it connects to the Atlantic Ocean). While I was on a roll, I figured I'd put in place some weekend traditions too, to keep us busy and give us incentives to get through the chaos of weekdays. Friday's have been designated homework days followed by exploring the nightlife. Saturday's are sleep/finish homework days followed by wandering town to find a new restaurant for dinner then searching for a cool spot to hang out and talk to locals. Sunday's are "lazy days" mainly because everything (literally) in town is closed so you have no other option. We'll see how it goes :)

On Tuesday I went on a hike with two of my friends. Well, we attempted to hike. Although we had a map from our program director, we're pretty sure it was printed in the 1990's because it no longer exists. We had a blast (and good workout) regardless, especially when we got chased by a goat!! Yes, I said "goat". People in rural Spain have the strangest lifestyles (but I love it!).

I've come to the conclusion that although this entire experience is going to be a life changing one for me, the most important lesson I will learn is patience. Something that if you know me at all, you know I lack. The busses here technically have schedules, but they basically do their own thing. For example, after class on Tuesday my 11:05am bus didn't show up until 11:40, on Wednesday morning the bus started to pull up to our stop then decided it didn't want to (even though there was plenty of room) and left without letting anyone on so we were almost late to class, and yesterday my 12:05 bus just never came so we had to wait over an hour for the next one. I found it funny that all the Americans were worried/annoyed and all the Spaniards had absolutely no issue.

After the past 5 days my brain = mush. The amount of Spanish I learn in 1 - 2 weeks at home we learn in 1 - 2 days here and I had a 7 page midterm this morning that was so intense I honestly couldn't even tell you what it was about. However, I was doing really well in grammar yesterday and my teacher said "muy bien, A+ para tú" so that's exciting! Except I still have a long way to go in the speaking realm.

I think I'm finally done booking trips!! By the time I come home in December I will have been to roughly 11 cities in 4 different countries!! Spain: Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, San Sebastian, Sevilla, Barcelona. Ireland: Dublin and Cork. England: London (maybe Bath or Brighton too). France: Paris and wherever my mom and I go the second weekend she's here. I REALLY want to go to Geneva or Rome but ticket prices and class schedules don't seem to be meshing so if they happen it will be on a whim.

My roommate blew a fuse in our apartment yesterday so we haven't had internet (or lights) in almost 24 hours. So annoying! Especially since it's dark when we wake up - try doing a morning routine in the dark...difficult. I'm going to "Art After Dark" tonight at the Guggenheim so I'll have another update later, just thought I'd get the chunk of info out today. Phew, yet another novel for the blog. Hope everyone has had a great week!!