June 15-17, 2013- Laguardia La Rioja, Spain

Saturday June 15, 2013: 

We had to be at the bus stop by 8:15 am to go to La Rioja, one of the two regions where they make wine in Spain. It was a beautiful drive that wound through the countryside and we made a few stops along the way to the winery. I learned that there are over 300 vineyards in La Rioja and 8 wineries. 

In one of the 300 vineyards where they grow grapes for wine! 

Stunning  views of this vineyard. 

I learned that it is only a mountain range that changes the climate from Tropical to Mediterranean between Bilbao and La Rioja. Without this climate change it would not be possible to grow grapes and produce wine. In the La Rioja region, 90% of the business revolves around wine production. 

The mountain range that changes the climate in La Rioja. 

In the 14th century the Basque people were producing wine and labeling it with a French label. Out of anger the French destroyed all of the fields in La Rioja , but this plan actually backfired. Prior to the destruction, the Basque people did not know how to properly age the wine, so it expired after 1-2 years making it very hard to trade. Once they rebuilt and began producing wine again they learned from the French how to properly age their wine, and they have been known for trading and selling wine ever since. 

Next we stopped in a very small town to see the Saint Mary of the Assumption church. It was built in the 16th century, and then expanded in the early 18th century. 

Inside of the Saint Mary of the Assumption church.

We were able to climb up the tower and look out from the top of the church! So beautiful! 

Outside the Saint Mary of the Assumption church.

Next stop was the winery for a tasting. It was a very modern winery, with large metal barrels for fermentation. (I was a little disappointed to not see the old wooden barrels that some winery's still use.) It was still very interesting to learn how they make the wine. The tasting and tour was all in spanish and I understood most of what she said. I even translated it for one girl from Germany who did not know any spanish! It felt very empowering to understand and be able to explain it to someone else.

Wine tasting in La Rioja! 

We learned the proper way to taste wine, first by looking at it. Next to smell it by entering your nose into the glass. Then to swirl the wine and smell it again...we repeated this process many times before we got to the final step, tasting it! Once we did taste it, some people didn't like it because it wasn't sweet so they dumped it out. I do not believe in wasting good wine so there was no problem for me :)

After the tasting was over we went to a town, Laguardia, and had 4 hours of free time.

On the streets of Laguardia in La Rioja, Spain. 

Looking out over the vineyards. 

It was during this time that we ate pintxos and drank more wine, just enjoying the beautiful day! Pintxos are a category of food, basically small dishes that can be eaten as lunch or dinner. I ate one that was sausage with an egg and pepper on top. The other one was a boiled egg and bacon deep fried. The desert pintxo I ate was the most delicious! It was a small piece of bread with goat cheese, dried onions, a sweet sauce, and walnuts on top.

Pintxos for lunch! 

Finally it was time to head home, but we had a great day in La Rioja! 

On our way home from La Rioja. 

It was a great day, and while I was at the winery I bought 3 bottles of wine to bring home. After the bus ride, and the metro ride (total of 2 hours) I was finally at my metro stop. As soon as I got off of the metro, the bottom of my box broke and the bottles fell out! The white wine bottle shattered, spilling wine everywhere! The other 2 bottles just rolled around. I did not know what to do and security was approaching. It is a good thing my friends were there, and that the security guard was nice. He told us to just leave and he would clean it. We left and my friends helped me pick up my things.

The worst part about the wine bottle breaking was that I had boughten the it to give to my host family! When I got home I explained the situation...I guess it is a little comical no. But at the time I was so disappointed! I guess that this just means that I need to go to another winery when I am in Italy! :)

I had the most amazing day! I will remember this forever and hope to return again one day!

Sunday June 16, 2013:

Another beautiful day in Getxo with great weather! I went to a new beach, that is about 45 min away from my home in Getxo, but it was so beautiful! The beach was filled with people and a little more crowded than I prefer, but it was a Sunday. I hope that I can go back one day this week so I can relax a little bit more. All in all it was a nice day. After dinner I went back out to see my friends at a local bar called West Side. It is fairly close to my home, maybe a 5 minute walk. I was home in time spend a little time with my family, catching up! (They are out of the house most of the time on the weekend as well).

Monday June 17th, 2013

I was hoping to go to the beach today, but it is RAINING AGAIN!! This is horrible news! Oh well, when in Spain, one cannot really complain! I have just accepted it and I will enjoy this week with my new friends who will be leaving shortly. (Some people are only here for 3 weeks). Looking forward to meeting a new group of people though. This time they will be coming from all over the world to study with us! And best of all, one of my best friends Katie will be here on Thursday!

June 13-14, 2013

Thursday June 13, 2013:

Thursday night a few of us went to see Grease el Musical! We decided to make a night of it and go out to eat in Bilbao before the musical. On the way we found out that I have a restaurant in Bilbao! (A little to expensive for our budget...) "Jaime's" looked like a great place to eat though!

I have a restaurant in Spain! 

But we ate somewhere else...

Local beef with fries and a salad! (yum!)

Dinner was absolutely delicious, and we enjoyed ourselves until it was time to pay...the restaurant we ate at had a ton of hidden charges, like the bread they served, and tax was not included in the price. Finally we figured it out and were on our way to the theatre! 

Quick stop for a picture with the elephant made of flowers! 

Grease the musical in spanish!! 

The walls in the theatre were made of wood. 

We took a group picture at intermission. 

The show was great! In reality it was very cheesy, but I think that because it was in spanish  I could appreciate it more! Some translations of the songs got a little lost, so they created new ones and new scenes but the general theme was the same. My favorite was their rendition of "Grease Lightning!" Mostly because they still pronounced that in english! Sadly we had to leave early so that we could catch the metro, but I am still glad that I got to go!

On the way out I saw this...a place to secure your umbrella!

Friday June 14, 2013:

Today was willed with midterms and presentations! I did pretty well, especially considering I had spent the night attending the musical :) I still had time to study on the metro on my way to class and the night before. 

After classes, a lot of people from the USAC group went to Barcelona for the weekend but about 10 of us stayed in Bilbao. My friends Diana and Marilu invited us over for taco night! We had fun hanging out and went out for a few drinks after. We all went home fairly early because we had to be up early on Saturday for a wine tour! 

June 12- Basque Country, France and Spain

On Wednesday we took a tour of the Basque Country through both France and Spain. First we visited San Jean de Luz, France.

In San Jean de Luz, we had free time to explore the town. I visited the beach, and the sand was some of the softest sand I have ever been in!

Putting my feet in the water :)

I also visited a church and was amazed by the details!

A church in San Jean de Luz, France

I was in awe of the peacefulness. 

I spent a little time exploring the shops, but everything was so expensive that I decided I would rather spend my time enjoying the flavors of France.

French Creeps with Nutella and raspberry jam! 

SO much cheese!

We look so french with our baguette! 

A group of us decided to buy some cheese and bread to share. 

After our short time in France, we were off to San Sebastian, Spain! (San Sebastian is only about an hour away from Bilbao, Spain.)

San Sebastian, Spain

A sail boat, I thought it looked beautiful! 

Our group went on a hike in San Sebastian. It was so beautiful, and the hike was not too hard. I think it might normally be only a 10 minute hike, but we all kept stoping to take pictures along the way it took much longer! Once you reach the top of the hike we were in the original San Sebastian, inside of a castle! Up even higher is a church, which still holds special events like weddings in it. 

One of my new friends, Morgan and I overlooking San Sebastian after the hike.

In the castle! 

After the hike, we went to an aquarium in San Sebastian.

A starfish from the San Sebastian Aquarium. 

Sea Turtle!

There were even sharks...ahh

I found Nemo! 

Overall I had a great time traveling through Basque Country. It was cool to see the different towns, and to see the similarities and differences that they share. Many people still hold onto their Basque culture in both towns and I have a great respect for that!

June 8-10, 2013

You meet sisters everywhere you go! This is me and another Pi Beta Phi who is on this same trip! It is incredible to be apart of the same organization and meet halfway across the world. (This picture was taken on my first day in Bilbao on the tour, we were just outside the Guggenheim.)

Pi Beta Phi-You find a sister no matter where you go! 

June 8 2013,

It was my first weekend here in Spain and I had an amazing time! A group of us got together to go downtown in Bilbao on Saturday night, and I cannot believe the number of people we saw that were out...of all ages! Many of the older people were standing just outside bars socializing, and the young people all went to the disco tecas (dance clubs). The club we went to was called The Loft, and it quickly filled with people from all over the world! Then, a group of performers came into the club playing instruments like drums, whistles, ect. and carrying spot lights. They danced for everyone, and after a while  a man came out with two plates of fire and danced with the fire! He also put the fire onto two sticks and ate the fire! It was incredible!! I have never seen someone do this before and I was so close I could feel the heat!

Dancing with fire! 

June 9, 2013:

Sunday afternoon I went to my friends appartment and we had a girls day, where we painted out nails and ate pasta! It was so much fun to just relax. At around 8:30 we went to my friend Brittney's home, where her host mother made us a 3 course dinner!

Mussels in a tomato sause with bread!

Paella...it has a face! 

For the main dish we ate paella! Paella is a dish that is rice based, and the one we ate had chicken, sausage, hot dogs, red peppers, and shell fish. At first I was intimidated by the face on my food, but I embraced it and did not hold back in trying something new! It was delicious.

Postre...delicioso!

During dinner we learned a lot about the political views of Brittney's host mother. She is Basque, and there fore does not consider herself to be a Spaniard. (We live in the Basque region in Spain) She is very involved in the revolution that is apparently going on right now, as were her parents. In fact, I learned that her father was imprisoned, and sentenced to death but that her mother dressed as a nun to free him. She has very strong views, and believes that one day the Basque country will be independent from Spain. I spoke to my advisor here in Spain who is also Basque and she said she considers herself to be a Spaniard. She explained to me that some people have a very hard time accepting that they are apart of Spain, but she does not because she is also half German and lived in Germany for a part of her life. 

The Basque "Santa Clause"

Here house was filled with all things Basque. Basque decorative plates on the wall, a door mat that says welcome in basque and a dog with a basque name. She is very proud of her heritage. (It was actually very inspiring to see someone so close to their roots). Above is the Basque "Santa Clause" that sings, and she brought it out to show us!



June 10, 2013:

Sadly I don't have any pictures to share from today, but after classes I went to a store called El Courte Ingles, and it was basically like a giant Macy's! It had 7 floors, and an entire floor dedicated to shoes!! (I love shoes...) I didn't buy anything yet, because I think I would rather purchase something from the smaller boutiques. It was still fun to look though!

When I got home I took a siesta (seriously my favorite part of the day!) and then my host mom got home and we visited while she cooked dinner...Chicken with a cumin sauce and salad. It was delicious! My family has been great to me! They feed me well and are so nice!

Tomorrow is suppose to be a nice day so I hope to go to the beach :)

June 4-7, 2013

June 4, 2013:

First day of classes! I was so nervous, but I found friends on the same metro I was on! Classes were very hard, but I think that they will get easier with time. I am taking two classes, one that has 4 students and the other has 6 students! It is nice to be in such a small class size, but the classroom is SO tiny! The classes are long, but time passes quickly because my teacher is so animated and teaches us in a very hands on way. (I have class from 9:40am-2:00pm every day)

After class we went on a tour of Getxo, the town that we are living in! It was nice to see all the areas that other students are living! I didn't realize we were so far from each other!

I went out after dinner with some friends to hang out, and we ran into some students from the USA that have been here since January! They gave us a ton of advice, so it was great meeting them.

June 5, 2013:

Today after class we went Paddle Boarding in Getxo!! I learned that there is no spanish word for paddle boarding because many of the new sports invented just keep their english name. In fact, when I tried to describe paddle boarding to my host family, they did not even know what I was talking about because they had never heard of it.

Some of us with our instructor-David

Group 2! We are so excited!

Paddle boarding! 

After paddle boarding I finally got to go to the beach! It has been cloudy for a while, but it was the perfect day to go to the beach.

Beach day with amigas

Fútbol is everywhere!

Something interesting that I learned is that some Spaniards put fútbol above everything else. They would rather buy a ticket to go to a fútbol game rather than pay their monthly rent!

At around 9:30pm I went out to dinner (because everyone eats later here) and had the most amazing bocadillo, which is basically a toasted sandwich, at a restaurant called Krunch...it was so nice to not be rushed while I was eating. We could take as much time as we wanted because here is customary to spend a lot of time with friends over a meal or wine or coffee.

June 6, 2013:

It rained today! I had plans on going to the beach again after class, but since it was cloudy so I went shopping instead. Then it started raining, and I did not have my umbrella, so my friends and I went to the metro and went home.

I have been having a great time, but this storm needs to clear out! I want to go back to the beach! I also only packed clothes for warm weather...if it doesn't warm up it is going to be a problem!

June 7, 2013:

It rained again today! Once again I was caught without my umbrella in Bilbao (you think I would have learned from the day before) and it down poured!

She did not forget her umbrella! 

Interesting building: the photo was captured 15 min before it rained! 

Later I went over to my friends apartment to hang out. Around 10:00pm a bunch of us met up to go to "Art After Dark" at the Guggenheim art museum. It was really cool because they had a DJ inside of the museum and a bar to order a drink for while you walked around and looked at the art.

At my friends apartment

On our way to the Guggenheim Museum.

I have been living la vida España, and loving it! I can't wait to have more adventures while I'm here!

June 1-3, 2013

June 1, 2013:

I began my adventure at 11:15 am when my Dad said goodbye to me at security in the Phoenix Airport. I had a connecting flight in Dallas, TX and then it was 9 hours and 30 minutes to Madrid, Spain! In Madrid I had to catch another connecting flight to Bilbao, but only an hour to go through customs and security...then change terminals, and find the correct gate...I made it with 10 minutes to spare! The flight from Madrid to Bilbao was about 30 minutes so it was very short! 

Right before taking off from PHX! 

June 2, 2013:

Once arrived in Bilbao I met a few people from my program at the baggage claim but once we walked out the doors to the main area I was immediately met by my host family! I am living with a couple with a family that is in their 50's and really nice! When we got to their home, I realized that we had to walk up two flights of stairs!! (I am not a light packer-each of my bags 40-50 pounds!) I was very grateful for their help with my baggage. My room is a good size, I have two closets built into my room, a set of drawers and a desk for all the studying I will be doing ;)  

My room! 

After my first Siesta (nap) my host family showed me around the town I will be lining in, Getxo. Getxo is close to the beach, only 5 minutes or 15 minutes walking distance from my home depending on which beach I want to go to!

15 minutes form my home! (Getxo)

June 3, 2013:

I woke up at 7:30am to take a shower and eat breakfast. I ate toast for breakfast, but was very surprised to find that it came from a bag- pan tostada can actually be purchased at the store I guess! Not bad with a little butter...and the coffee was absolutely amazing.

Toast in a bag...not bad!

I left for my orientation at 8:30 with my host mother. She walked me all the way to school. We had to take a metro because I will be living in Getxo and taking classes in a nearby town called Bilbao. The metro was so efficient and easy! It is the main form of transportation here. After the basic orientation and placement testing we toured Bilbao!

I love this city! (Bilbao)

 Bilbao is a very city interesting because there are some areas that are rich in history with very traditional and intricate architecture, while other areas are very modern in design. Bilbao was founded originally in the 1300's. Later on it became very industrialized and had factories and places for ships to come into port as to ship out their goods. Then in 1980's there was a huge shift, and a lot of unemployment for a period of time. Now the people do many different things.

A dog made out of flowers! Designed by an American! 

The modern part of Bilbao.

  Something that is also very unique here is the history that the people of Basque country keep. (Basque is the region I live in). 25% of the people speak in Basque, which was the original language of this area of the country. In fact just across the border in France, there are also many people who speak Basque- as they are apart of Basque country!

It is SO green here!! (Bilbao)

After I went home and had dinner I went back out and met up with two of my new friends. We decided to walk around and explore the city of Getxo. It was so beautiful! 

The port area. (Getxo)

It was my second night in Spain, and I just can't get over that the sun does not set until around 10pm! It makes the day so much longer, it is no wonder that the Spanish people take a siesta during the day! 

Stunning sunset...at 10pm! 

All in all I would say that these past few days have been great! I am adjusting well and I do not have too much jet lag. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me while I am here...Classes start tomorrow, wish me luck!