Hello all!
Well, the first 2 days in Bilbao/Getxo are done and guess what? I survived! Probably no shock to you, but a great comfort to me. We had orientation the past two days at both campuses (there is one in Leioa where Spanish classes are held, and one in Bilbao where business classes are held - I live in Getxo, kind of confusing) which was pretty cool. For my schedule I will be mostly at the Leioa campus. In order to get there I have a 10 minute walk to the bus stop from my apartment then about a 25 minute bus ride (unfortunately I can't walk, I asked my program director and he looked at me like I was insane...oops) To get to the Bilbao campus I have a 5 minute walk to the metro, then about a 25 minute metro ride. I am taking 4 classes throughout the semester. My three spanish classes are part of a track. I'm in "track 3" because I have completed 4 semesters of spanish at home, so I will be taking Spanish Composition 1, Spanish Composition 2, and Advanced Spanish 1. They are taken consecutively, so Composition 1 starts tomorrow and lasts until the beginning of October (I have a final for that) then Composition 2 goes until mid-November and I'll take a final, then Advanced Spanish will go until the end of the semester. These classes are from 8:45am - 10:40am Mon-Thurs at the Leioa campus, and Friday at the Bilbao campus (aka I will need to get used to waking up EARLY again). In addition to these classes I am taking Basque and Iberian Cultures (taught in English - it counts for my last elective credit at NAU) which is the entire semester on Monday/Wednesday from 12:30pm - 2pm. I'm pretty excited for classes to start so I get a routine going!
We went to one of the beaches today and it was amazing! There are multiple in this area so I'm going to try to get to as many as possible before the weather gets cold/rainy (apparently that hits in October so I have a month). We also have built in activities we can choose to participate in for free, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of that! They are Friday's so I'll keep you posted. My spanish is improving, I went on a walk/to the grocery store by myself today so that was a good ice breaker. Starting to get my bearings and the hang of things. My roommates are really nice, our personalities (aka partying trends) just don't mix but I'm keeping an open mind about it.
Alright, that was long enough for today I'm sure. Oh! Quick story - apparently in Spain it's socially acceptable for old men to come up to girls and tell them how beautiful they are? Not in a scary way, but a few of us after the beach went to a cafe to hang out and this man came up and started talking to us then did the whole "dos besos" (2 kisses - one on each cheek) thing and we were all like ummmm that was awkward/he smelled like gross cologne. Gotta love different cultures!
For all of you waiting for pictures I will try to get some up later tonight!
You are beautiful in all ways - but wow - that's a different experience for sure. Love every moment of it as I wish this culture was as kind to all persons! LOL (hate that, but am going to have to get used to it as you do make me laugh a lot & it's a lot easier to write. The Mom
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing such an intense portrait of Spain since Ron and I will probably not get there any time soon. Your classes sound very interesting, especially the cultural ones, fits right into sociology. Vicki
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