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 :)