Bella Roma!

    I'm dreading to find out how long this blog will end up taking me since it's been at least five days!  I'll try to remember every detail possible!

    Friday at 5:30 am my friend Mackenzie and I arrived at the Madrid airport.  That should be plenty of time to get through security to make it to our 7:05 flight, right?  Well, no!  We got on the shuttle for our terminal but confusion lead us to ride around the loop twice.  When we finally found where we needed to check in, the last call sign was already flashing.  Then, for some reason everyone was flying out of Madrid at 7 am so the security line was packed.  We cut :s  Then came the mad dash through the airport.  We arrived at check in just as boarding was supposed to start, but luckily the plane was late so no one had boarded by the time we found our gate.  We were finally able to relax (for the most part, Europe doesn't give you free drinks on the plane) and sleep until we landed in Rome at 9:30 am.

    When we arrived at the airport, the original plan was to take a train into town (since the airport is so far out of town) and then take the bus as close as we could to our hostel.  We stopped to ask at an information desk which train we needed, but a lady told us about a shuttle that would take us directly to our hostel for only a few euros more than the train would cost.  Since we were already stressed we decided to take the shuttle instead of trying to maneuver our way though public transit.  It turned out to be a great decision because our hostel was a little difficult to find at first.  The woman working the front desk at the hostel informed us that there was a public transit strike going on that day only, so it would be nearly impossible to see the Coliseum that day since we would only be able to travel on foot.

    After freshening up from an entire night of traveling, we set off to find our first attraction.  We decided to start with the Pantheon, an ancient church that is partially in ruins.  It turned out to be a great place to start because it was free to enter the church and look at the murals and tombs.  Right next to the Pantheon was a great restaurant where we had our first real Italian meal.  I had lasagna and absolutely loved it!  We kept walking to find the Trevi Fountain so we could toss in coins and make wishes.  Before we could make it that far, we ran into the most beautiful building I would see the entire trip.

    I still couldn't tell you what the building was called even though I tried to read it off of the map a million times, but there is some type of museum situated inside the building.  It is an all white, marble building with beautiful Roman pillars and close to 100 stairs.  There are statues everywhere you could possibly imagine with one giant sculpture on top.  At the top of the stairs there are large flame torches.  Everything about this area was beyond beautiful and it was my favorite site of the entire trip.

    In the distance from this building, we could see something shaped very similar to the Coliseum, though we knew we wouldn't be running into that today.  We figured we would walk down and see what the building actually was since we had three days to kill.  The closer we got, the larger the ruins got, until it was obvious that we did the unthinkable.  We walked the entire way to the Coliseum.  We decided not to take a tour through the Coliseum since many people said it wasn't worth the money and since there was so much construction going on inside the ruins.  Still, we had our magical Coliseum experience.  Finally, we found our way to the Trevi Fountain and were able to make our wishes.  At the end of the first day, we only had a few more sites in Rome that we needed to get to, and we still had two entire days to fill.

    The next day we woke early (way too early) to catch our train to Florence.  We had bought the tickets in advance and had asked what bus route to take to get to the train station.  We got on our bus and rode a few blocks before the bus driver said that we had to get off; this was the end of the line.  We were so confused because everyone said that the train station was the end of the line.  We were stumped at what to do next, especially since there wasn't a metro stop anywhere near where we had been.  The bus had dropped us right by the Vatican so we knew a metro had to be close, but our departure time was even closer!  We ran again, but this time through the streets of Rome, trying to follow the signs for the metro and hoping we were headed in the right direction.  Every chance we got, we would stop to ask a nun or a police officer if we were headed in the right direction.  Finally, 15 minutes before our train was scheduled to depart, we arrived at the metro, threw money into the machine and ran to the train.  Luckily, ours was pulling up as we arrived on the loading dock and our stop was only 3 or 4 away.  We made another mad dash through the train station and our train was easy to find even though the station was huge.  We arrived in our seats less than three minutes before we were scheduled to depart.

    Florence was absolutely beautiful.  It reminded me a lot of Bilbao but with more history.  It was the perfect size to do it just a day.  The Duoma was the most beautiful building I have ever seen.  The detailing on the building was unimaginable.  The inside had a painted dome ceiling that I liked better than the Sistine chapel paintings.  It circled around from the pits of hell to the top of heaven.  It was some of the best artwork I've ever seen.  In the Duoma, we took the hike up (and later back down) all 463 stairs to see the view of Florence from above.  You could see for miles!  On the way down, we got to look at the ceiling mural up close.  That may have been one of the highlights of my entire trip.

    The rest of the day we spent exploring the city and shopping.  There is a great street market in Florence where bargaining is expected.  I loved it!  At some point I was nearly convinced to buy a hundred dollar leather jacket.  I talked myself out of that one though!  I did buy a few gifts for family and clothes for myself since Italy is also in their sale season.  Luckily it wasn't nearly as hard to find the train on the way back to Rome that night.  We rode home first class which meant we got complimentary drinks and snacks.  That is the only time you ever hear the word complimentary in Europe.  Not even the water is free!

    Sunday was free admission day at the Vatican Museum.  I will never pass up anything free.  The museum had an incredible about of art and kept me interested longer than most museums would.  All I wanted to see was the pope mobile/maybe even take a picture with it.  This dream, unfortunately, did not come true.  But I did get to see the Sistine Chapel along with the Creation of David painting.  No photos are allowed in the chapel and there is also no talking allowed to keep the building sacred.  The guards did a great job of ruining the sacredity in my opinion.  They would shout "No foto" every minute and shush the crowd.  I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't say either of those in the Bible....  I had to get a picture though, and with modern technology, I was able to get one on my phone without getting caught.  It wouldn't have mattered anyway.  If you get caught they just tell you to stop and let you keep whatever pictures you have.

    We spent a lot of the rest of the day resting since we had only been walking through the city and waking up ridiculously early each morning.  Of course, we fit in our daily gelado stop, which I now live for.  I tried as many flavors as possible:  mint chip, nutella, pistachio, cinnamon, and my favorite tiramisu.  Luckily there's a gelado shop just a few blocks down from my house in Bilbao!

    We finished up our trip on Monday by seeing anything that we had missed.  It turns out we only had one site left to see, the Spanish Steps.  It's basically a large plaza in the middle of the haute couture shopping district in Rome.  It's a large flight of Spanish style stairs that lead to another one of Rome's many beautiful buildings.  I absolutely despise the architecture of Spanish style stairs.  They are long but short at the same time so you have to take lots of little steps rather than a normal step.  This is one of the little things I miss about America.

    It rained in Rome on Monday so we spent a lot of time inside our hostel preparing for our all night trip back to Bilbao.  We decided again not to chance it with the buses and had a personal driver that works close with the hostel come pick us up.  Again, it was only a few euros more to be guaranteed a safe delivery to the airport.  Once again, traveling didn't go as planned.  The driver was 15 minutes late to pick us up.  Luckily (I think), he was able to get us to the airport fast.

    *Side Note-  All the cars here are stick shift and hatchbacks.  No one has the ability to drive smoothly.  Shout out to my bestie Michaela Neth!  I will never complain about riding in your stick shift car again if I ever did in the first place!  Anyway, there are very few driving rules in Europe.  Lines are less of a guideline and more of a joke.  Motorcycles and vespas make their own lanes and drive wherever they would like.

    So we are in the car with our driver and he starts weaving through traffic like he's being chased.  Then to further avoid traffic, the madman starts driving on the trolley tracks!  He stayed on them for a good two or three minutes before deciding to go back to his part of the road.  I just thank God that we made it alive and on time.

    We flew out of Rome around 9:50 and were back in Madrid by 11:30.  We then had to wait until 2:15 am for our bus back to Bilbao (which of course was late).  Apparently we booked a ride on the luxury bus because we were waited on by a man in a suit who brought little mints and blankets.  We had our own individual chairs with mini tv/tablets on the back.  They had internet but it was slow.  I slept a few hours on the bus but then woke up to be served breakfast.  It was only two mini donuts and hot chocolate but it was the most luxury breakfast I've ever had on a bus!  By the time I was finished we were only a half hour away from Bilbao so I decided to just stay awake.

    It turns out that I don't know where I live in relation to the bus station.  Since my host dad drove me I never had to learn.  I got directions and was going to figure out the walk on my own but it was 6:45, I had class at 9, and I was exhausted.  I decided to test out the metro for the first time and cut the trip by 20 minutes.  The metro in Bilbao is so simple and it's the cleanest I've ever seen, especially compared to Rome.

    Rome was by far the dirtiest city I've ever been in.  Everything about it was dirty.  Probably because of all the tourists.  But the tourists weren't the ones leaving their dog's poop everywhere.  **Gross Fact** On a 4 block stretch of sidewalk I counted 40 individual instances of dog poop.  **Disgusting**

Anyway, this took more than an hour and I have no desire to add any pictures since I'm running on less than four hours of sleep.  I'll set up a link to my Facebook photo album or add pictures later when I'm bored.


Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152531231135651.954111.562120650&type=1

23/1/2013

    The past two days have been pretty routine. Wake up.  Go to class.  Eat lunch.  Take a siesta. Eat supper.  Go to sleep.

    I'm not sure if the daily siesta is causing my insomnia or if the insomnia is causing me to take a daily siesta but either way, I'm feeling really lazy lately.  But I think I have earned my naps since my trip to Rome will not include much sleep.

    I will leave tomorrow night at 1:00 am (so technically Friday morning) for the bus station where I will be bused to Madrid.  I'll get to Madrid close to 6:30 am and fly out to Rome around 8:00 and be there by 9:30.  My friend Mackenzie (who also goes to UNL) and I will then spend a day in Rome, the next in Florence, part of Sunday in the Vatican  and Monday finishing up in Rome.  We don't fly out of Rome until nearly 10:00 pm Monday night.  Then we board the bus and head back to Bilbao and will (hopefully) be back by 6:30 so we can make it to our 9:00 am classes.  It's kind of a whirlwind weekend but it should be amazing.  Our hostel is really close to the Vatican, so close to everything!  Since I will be gone for so long, don't be expecting a blog until at least Tuesday or even later!

    Really all I've done besides pack and prepare for my trip is eat.  We haven't eaten the same thing twice since I've been here (not counting leftovers).  I finally got to eat my paella and it was almost as good as I imagined.  What I'm really excited for is my spaghetti and gelato in Rome!

    My other big excitement has been talking to my host mom about peanut butter.  I'm not sure if she really understands what it is, but I know they sell it in some stores here.  I tried to explain Peanut Butter and Jelly to her and also apples dipped in peanut butter.  I think at some point I lost her because she told me today that she bought me regular bread, jelly, and more butter.  I guess we will have to work on that one again.

21/1/2013

    I have learned today that egg is the go-to meal when people here don't feel like cooking.  Yesterday for supper I had an egg.  And today for supper I had an egg.  At least tonight there was some type of fish mixed in with it.  I'm guessing "go fix yourself an egg" is the same as "go fix yourself a sandwich."

    They don't keep the eggs in the fridge here.  I'm not sure why they wouldn't.  Or I guess on the other hand, I'm not sure why we keep ours in the fridge.  Either way, it's weird.  There are also 4 or 5 cartons of milk in our cupboard. All of my friends have complained that their host mothers don't understand why they don't want their milk microwaved.  Good thing the first thing I told my host mom was to keep the milk away from me!

    Today I met another uncle, my host dad's brother Luis.  I hope he doesn't come for lunch again anytime soon.  To my understanding, he is a doctor/lawyer/sculptor/maybe even something else.  He was one of those people who liked to talk really slow to try to draw you into his story (or to make it sound more interesting). I don't like those types of people so I just zoned out of my Spanish brain.  Then he walked in on me while I was in the bathroom... :) Let's just say that I earned my siesta today.

    I would appreciate it if someone (MOTHER) passes this next part on to Jake.  All he wants to know is if there is anything slightly cool over here, especially electronics or toys.  The answer is no, everything is lame.  But I did find something slightly Jake worthy.  This is definitely Spongebob toilet paper.  And yes, it is yellow with Spongebob characters on it.  I will have to bring some back to America with me.

    Hopefully the picture will load for you guys.  The wifi here has been horrible this week, so if it takes me a year to respond to you, blame the wifi.

End of Week 2

    Hello Everyone!  It sounds like I should be jealous of the awesome weather in Nebraska.  And luckily I will only have to be jealous of people watching NFL games two more times this semester, today and the Super Bowl.  I plan to ask our U.S. Liaison if there is any place in Europe that plays the Super Bowl so I won't have to miss it.

    I'm already starting to have cravings for American things.  Yesterday at lunch I thought I would die without some ranch dressing on  my salad (we have vinegar and maybe salt on our salad).  In the afternoon, all I could think about was peanut butter and McDonald's french fries.  Luckily my friend Mary texted me and we went to check out a cupcake shop between our houses. That helped a ton.  Afterwards, we went into the shopping district so she could get some much needed rain boots.  We also explored the Casco Viejo neighborhood which is the original shopping district in Bilbao.  The streets are tiny so there aren't cars.  All of the stores are in antique buildings and it's in style to go down there and shop or go out to eat.  I hear there are really cool thrift shops in the district too, so I may need to check those out since I'm unable to stop myself from buying things.

    At least I should have a little job here in the next few weeks.  My program asked if anyone was interested in going into primary school classrooms once a month or so and engage in conversation with the kids in English.  Not only is it a great way for me to practice my Spanish and practice my teaching, it will also pay $10 an hour.  I'm not going to turn down a little extra spending money or such a great experience, so hopefully I hear back about it soon.

     Today has been very quiet.  My "aunt and uncle" joined us for lunch today and supper last night.  If I understand what they keep trying to tell me, they are redoing their kitchen so they will be eating with us a lot. My "Aunt" Christina said that they have been staying at her mother-in-law's house which is right by the ocean.  I think (and hope) she said that we will be coming over there for dinner one night soon.  I've never seen the ocean so I'm very excited.

    Last night when we were having supper we were trying to decide what was the right word for the scarves I had bought.  I had called them "bufondas," the word I had been taught throughout all of my time in Spanish classes.  My host family then informed me that there were nearly 10 different words for scarf and that I was wearing a panuelo not a bufonda. They then went on to list every different kind of scarf.  I still don't know what makes mine a panuelo but I'll go with it.  My host mom also thinks it's very funny that we call mixed fruit "fruit salad."  I think it's her new favorite word.  that is one of my favorite parts of having a bilingual family.

    Tomorrow unfortunately starts another full week of class. I guess I'll just have to control the excitement that comes with being four days away from being in Rome.  :)

    I heard my family say something about having pallea for supper and I hope its true.  Sra. Schwisow has been saying great things about it for years!

A Day on the Town

    Well, when I say a day on the town I actually mean a short afternoon, but you catch my drift.  I woke up with just enough time to shower and chill before our super late lunch.  We've been having a lot of fish lately.  Fish and fruit!  After, I headed out on my own to Moyua, which is a pretty nice shopping district and the nearest metro stop to my apartment.  This district has a lot of businesses and restaurants and tons of shopping.  There are tons of small specialty shops and also big department stores.
   
    I only brought 60 euro because I didn't want to spend much money.  I spent exactly 60 euro.  I feel like I can rationalize buying 4 scarves.  People here wear scarves every day.  I have to keep up with the trends.  And it's still Rebajas season.  Rebaja is the Spanish word for sale, and my personal favorite word.  I also got a pair of red skinny jeans for only 10 euro and a sweater.  I probably could have survived without buying the umbrella but it had just started to rain when I was leaving so I had to buy that as well.  I took a different way back from Moyua so that I could practice finding my apartment.  I went quite a bit out of my way before I figured out where I was (always look for the skyscraper) but on my way I found a big park that looks like it will be great for walking in someday when it's not pouring.

    *Cultural Note* Tax is not added at the register.  What you see on the price tag is exactly what what you will be paying!

    I've been trying my best to put myself in situations where I have to speak Spanish.  I try to get out of my room more and play games with my family or ask questions to a sales person.  Even though I feel myself getting better, I'm still pretty bad.  It's pretty obvious that my host brother thinks I'm an idiot.  He never understands what I'm asking him, but I'll say the same things to my parents and they always know what I'm talking about.  Today, I asked him what he wanted to watch on TV and he thought I needed help using the remote (which are just like ours by the way).  This would be the second time he's taught me to use the remote instead of telling me which channel he would like to watch.  I've never had to talk to a real 11 year old on a daily basis so I have no idea how to even start a conversation with him (Jake skipped over this age range and is at about a 14 year old level right now so it's definitely not the same).  I guess this is only the second week so we will warm up to each other more.

Just A Few Cultural Notes :)

    *Dogs here are kind of a big deal.  I swear everyone has one.  And with all the dogs comes a leash law, right?  Well sort of right.  Technically it's the law that all dogs should be leashed and muzzled when they are out on walks with their owners.  I think I probably see only two or three dogs a day that are leashed and I have never seen a dog muzzled on a walk.  Our dog, Max, wears a muzzle when we're eating because the knows how to distract your attention one way and sneak around to the other side of your plate and steal your bread.  Also, in the plaza between my apartment and the university there is a doggie drinking fountain.  I'm not joking.  I wouldn't have even noticed it was there except for yesterday I noticed a man turn it on for is dog.  It probably serves as a hookup for a hose too but that's just what I observed.  Anyway, not a single dog wears a leas around here and they never run away.  They never fight with other dogs.  Sometimes they run out in the road but I think they know better than to do that too.  There is absolutely no reason to be scared of dogs here.

    *When there is an option to take the stairs or the elevator, ALWAYS take the stairs.  I'm sure the American technology isn't that great but it's a million times better than here.  In my apartment the elevator holds around three people.  It really only holds one comfortably but we've squeezed as many as for people and a dog on it once.  This is apparently how it is in every apartment building, at least those that kids in my program are living in.  The elevators in the university and in stores are closer to American sized but they are still awful.  They all come to a crash landing, especially when you want to stop on the ground floor.  The elevator at the H&M store doesn't open the doors for a good minute after you've arrived on your floor and the elevator at the university shakes for around 30 seconds after landing.  I'm guessing this is the reason that so many people here aren't obese.  They must actually hike up to the fourth floor.

    *Also related to stairs, the first floor is not called the first floor.  The first floor has a special name that slips my mind at the moment, but on elevators you push the number zero to go to the main floor.  So when I have to hike up to the fourth floor for my Basque Culture class I'm actually hiking up to the fifth floor.

    *About half of the TV shows here are American shows translated into Spanish.  This is great for me so I can understand better what is going on but it's also a disadvantage for me too.  The shows don't mute the English speaking like you would think. They just turn down the volume on the English and turn up the volume on the Spanish.  So if I'm watching Modern Family, it's very easy for me to tune out the Spanish and watch in English.  To bad that doesn't help with my language skills.

    *Can someone think of the last time they had bread with their dinner on a regular night?  I know the last time I did before I got here was Christmas dinner.  Now I eat it for lunch and supper.  At first, I dreaded it.  you couldn't bite into it because it was so hard and they expected you to eat it.  Now it is seriously my favorite part of each meal.  It didn't take me long to learn that you don't bite into it, you tear it apart.  The Spanish dip it in everything and make sure their plates are completely spotless of any leftover sauces, but that's not quite my thing yet.  They refuse to put the bread on their plates too.  I thought this was horrible table manners at first and I'm still getting used to it.  When I have space, I try to put my bread on my plate, but more often than not I put it on the table.  When you pull the bread apart, millions of crumbs fall all over the table.  They like to get as many to stick to their finger as possible and lick them off.  I like to just leave them where they are.  Sometimes they brush them off onto a plate after the meal, but a lot of times the crumbs stay there for a day or two.  It doesn't bother them in the least.  It makes my mind go crazy, but it's something I'm getting a little more comfortable with.  If you ever come to Spain Eat The Bread!!

    Today my mom made me salmon for lunch.  I'd never had it before today.  It's my new favorite thing.  I hope I made it clear to her how much I liked it because I'm hoping that she makes it all the time!  I have five classes today and plan to be at the school until around 6:30.  The rain was light and back to normal today and there were even a few hours of sun.  I'm so glad Mother Nature put me through the first two days of this week because now the daily rain is so easy to handle.  Tonight is the Stars and Stripes party at a new club in my neighborhood.  It's for the international students at Deusto and the public university.  That is why I'm writing this blog so early!  Apparently it's customary to stay out until 6 am when you go clubbing (even for the 16 year olds).  I can tell you for a fact that I will not be doing that! It's a good night out when I make it out until 1 am.  This weekend I want to explore as much as possible and restrain from buying everything I see.  Since I just realized that my debit card expires in less than two weeks, I'm trying to save my money.  Luckily drinks are free tonight!!!

    Have a great day :)

The Sun Came Out!!

    So today started out with a bang.  Turns out that I accidentally set my alarm for an hour later than I had planned and I woke up 10 min before my first class started.  I'm not sure how I was out the door in less than 10 minutes, but I was.  I ended up only being 10 minutes late for class but my teacher was really cool about it.  Probably because I looked like I was a mess.  Luckily, Wednesday is my easy day and I only have two classes.

    After class, my friend Mackenzie and I booked flights to Rome for the long weekend next week.  Well we tried to book them.  None of the websites we used liked American debit cards, so we are still in the process, but that doesn't stop us from being excited.  We decided to travel all night next Thursday and all night the following Monday so that we can have four full days in Rome.  Hopefully by tomorrow all the little bugs are fixed and our trip will be officially booked.


   When I was leaving school to come home today the rain had stopped.  And even better, there was sun!  It was still sprinkling but that's normal Bilbao weather.  The flooded road had cleared up and everything looked beautiful.  I seriously fall in love with the Guggenheim every time I see it and it looked especially beautiful today drying in the sun.



    Tonight for supper my host dad made some type of soup, probably with some type of pumpkin or squash but added orange juice to it.  I love to try new things, but my host brother described it best: "Que Asco!" (How disgusting).  For dessert we had a sweet bun that was created in Bilbao called a Cristina.  My host brother ate his with butter.  Then he asked if we could try them with cream cheese and they were seriously the best.  Then I had to tell my mom about pickles and cream cheese dip.  She thought it sounded pretty crazy!

    I'll close out today with a picture from the hallway at school today.  Birds get in all the time!  I think this one was just looking for his next class :p

I'm Going to Whine A Bit

    Apparently it's not supposed to rain this much in Bilbao....but it is.  I thought yesterday was pretty miserable when I had to walk in the rain one time.  Today I walked in it three times.  My umbrella broke the first time I was in the rain.  If someone knows some expert tips about walking in the rain please comment.  I think if I have to sit through another class with soaked pants, I'm probably going to get sick.

    By the time I was leaving the school at 5:30, the road in front of the university was flooded.  Luckily I don't have to cross that particular street.  Unlucky for others, it's a pretty busy street. I think a lot of my classmates learned that you can't carry your books around without a backpack in Bilbao. Hopefully tomorrow the rain will go back to normal since my umbrella can't take another day.

    I'm sure there is much more to talk about from this day but all I can think about are the blisters from my rain boots.  We had mashed potatoes with our supper tonight.  It was a welcome surprise but I don't think there was butter in them.

    *Here's one positive for the day.  I found today that located only a block from my house are a cupcake place and a Mexican restaurant.

First Day of School

    Today I had to be at school by 9 am!  That really isn't bad since I had to be at work or class by 8 every day last semester.  The first hour we got out class assignments.  Luckily, I tested into Spanish 3, which is what I needed this semester for my major.  Three days out of the week I don't have class until 10 and Tuesdays I have class at 9.  Fridays are meant for traveling so there isn't class.

    So far, my classes seem like they will be very easy.  Usually at UNL, after reading the syllabus I would be ready to drop out of school, but here there are very few assignments and tests.  All of the classes were gone over completely in Spanish, and I understood the majority of it, so that seems promising.  In my Spanish Conversation class we will be paired up with Spanish students learning English and exchanging stories to help us with the language.  Our final grade will be determined by a presentation we will give about our partner.

This is a picture of my notebook paper.  Almost all of the
notebooks are like grids.  It took me forever to figure out a
system to write my notes!

    The school has 3 main buildings.  It is so small compared to UNL!  There is a building that houses all of the business classes and the "Glass Building" which is where all of my classes take place.  It's also where the office to the CIDE program is located so I can get all the help I need.  Attached to the Glass Building is something very similar to our student union.  It's enormous and holds everything that you can think of:  a small cafeteria, a chapel, a small bookstore, and plenty of space to spread out and "study."  I went to the bookstore today to get a few notebooks for my classes.... I'm definitely not in America anymore.  The notebooks and folders are so weird.  There aren't even normal folders.  The "normal" ones here have rubber bands to hold in your papers and they only are on one side.  I don't think I'll ever understand.  One thing is the same though; the bookstores know how to screw you over.  Notebooks and folders in America would probably be around $4 but I spent 7 euros on two notebooks and two folders.  That's nearly $10 in America!!!!

    One thing I learned today is that my umbrella will not hold up in Bilbao's weather.  Today it poured.  Tomorrow it will pour.  It will still be pouring on Friday.  One of my classmates said that we won't see the sun until next Wednesday!

    My next class is tomorrow morning at 9 am!  Adios

Lazy Sunday

    When I say Lazy Sunday, I mean really, really lazy Sunday.  I slept until 1 and when I woke up, it was almost lunch time.  My host mom's sister joined us for lunch today and we had some type of sausage.  It tasted more like a steak but it was definitely not beef.  Sometimes I think it's better that I don't know what I'm eating.

    My host dad prepares almost all of the meals.  He works from home so he has time to cook lunch and supper and even go to the market.  I think my mom has only cooked once or twice since I've been here.  She cooked last night because it was just us and she was so worried that the food didn't turn out right.  I wouldn't have known any different.

    It was a really rainy day so I didn't feel bad about sitting in my bed all day and doing absolutely nothing.  I probably should have went out and explored more but this neighborhood can be so confusing.  The roads not only run the normal north to south and east to west, they also run in every other combination of directions that you can think of.  That makes it so easy for me to get turned around. Also, the blocks are around quadruple the size of a regular city block in Nebraska so I could pass the same store every day and not notice that it is so close to my house.  I did learn today that the river runs in an arch shape through the town and that definitely helped me to figure out where I was.

    I took a walk with my family through the city for nearly two hours just trying to get used to my surroundings.  One thing that will definitely be an adjustment is how open kids my age are with their sexuality.  A few times since I've been here, I've seen couples standing scandalously close, but tonight it was everywhere!  There was even a girl straddling her boyfriend on a park bench in a playground.  I knew that people were a lot less private about that kind of thing in Europe but, WOW, that's disgusting!

    Tomorrow I find out at 9 am what level of Spanish I tested into.  It will determine what classes I can take. If I don't get into Spanish 3, I will be retaking credits that I already have, so hopefully my Spanish wasn't too rusty when I took the test.  Classes will start tomorrow at 10 and hopefully it will be an easy day.  All of the classes are in Spanish with very little help in English, especially toward the end of the semester.  Hopefully I get enough sleep tonight because my body has to be dying or something!

My First Saturday in Bilbao

    I accidentally slept until 12 today.  If it wasn't for the jet lag, this whole trip would be a piece of cake right now.  I'm sure my host family thinks I'm lazy.

    Today, I was supposed to get a Spanish cell phone.  My host dad had an old one that we were going to have activated, but the company didn't have the right SIM cards.  That wouldn't be a problem at the UNL Phone Shop!!!! ;) I guess I will have to go a few more days relying on Facebook to communicate with my classmates here.
   

This is my apartment building, right in the center of the
Deusto neighborhood in Bilbao.

  I spent the early part of this afternoon exploring my neighborhood.  So far, I've had a really hard time finding my way home after the sun sets.  The roads here go in every direction making it hard to know exactly where you are. I would walk around each block and see exactly what each store was.  The blocks in my neighborhood are about double the size of regular city blocks in America so they were loaded with shops and restaurants.  Across the street from my apartment is a small grocery store with almost all of the necessities.  I was finally able to buy some much needed lotion even though it doesn't smell all that great.  Across from that is going to be one of my favorite stores this semester.  It is a small shop called Boom which sells anything you can think of that is fun.  Half of the store is a candy shop, which also sells Coke (thank God!).  They also sell many trinkets that say Bilbao like a cute, but tacky, pig magnet that said "Bilbao."  You can also rent DVDs there.  Most of them are American movies translated into Spanish.  Someday on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I plan to rent a few and hopefully improve my Spanish a little bit.  

    After lunch I went out shopping again with my friend Mary.  The mall is only a 5 minute walk from our apartments.  I fell in love with the store Zara!  It is the Spanish version of Macy's and I have never fallen in love with so many pieces of clothes in my life.  Apparently in Spain, people will not buy clothes if they aren't on sale.  At this time of the year, all of the stores have incredible sales and the stores are packed!

   Tonight it was just me and my host mother at home.  We had a tortilla de papas for supper and we spent the rest of the night looking at some of my pictures on Facebook.  I told her (in my best broken Spanish) about our traditions like prom and homecoming.  I showed her a picture of my friend Nicole and I in our prom dresses and she thought I was a guest in Nicole's wedding!

    I have no idea what tomorrow brings.  I would love to explore the city a bit more but I'd rather spend the day sleeping.  Classes start on Monday and tomorrow is my last free day of the semester.  Luckily I only have class before 10 am one day a week!

The Guggenheim

    Today the CIDE Group (which is the program I belong to) took a trip to the Guggenheim Museum which is located across the river from my university.  It is said to be responsible for the great economy in Bilbao.

    The museum is home to many modern art pieces.  There isn't much to say about an art museum :p

    The rest of the day was free for us to do whatever we wanted.  The plan was to go shopping with my friends at the mall right across the river from the school, but by the time I got home and had lunch the jet lag kicked in again.  I ended up taking a 3 hour nap while listening to MTV shows in Spanish.  Believe it or not, Jersey Shore is just as trashy in Spanish.

    I just got done eating dinner with my family. They invited two couples over for dinner tonight which didn't start until 10 pm.  We got out the fancy dishes for supper and I suppose it was because the dinner was in honor of me.  I barely know what is going on most of the time :s  There were tons and tons of questions about America and for some reason I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying tonight.  I was really overwhelmed and ended up zoning out most of the night even though my host mom was very good about explaining what the conversation was about.  

    Tonight I was going to go with a group of friends to watch the Athletic Bilbao soccer team play in a nearby bar (since I'm drinking age here even though my host mother likes to pretend I'm not).  We were going to head out around 9 but the dinner party didn't start until 10 so I unfortunately had to miss that.  I'm sure I didn't miss much since it was soccer.

    Lunch in Bilbao comes around 3 each day and supper is usually at 9 (which is a little past my 6:30 sharp scheduled eating time).  Tonight we ate even later because we were waiting on my host brother, Martin.  It's very common for the kids to stay with their friends and play after they get out of school at 5.  I usually don't see Martin any earlier than 7.  I always see kids walking around to the shops throughout town or running around in the plazas without supervision.  I'm guessing that's a good sign for my safety.  

    Tomorrow I have plans to go shopping with my friends.  I'm excited to live within walking distance of a mall and hopefully I'll find lotion somewhere!  All of the girls in our group are excited because there is an H&M right down the street from the school and my house. 

    Feel free at any time to comment or ask questions!

Photos

I didn't have time to post today so check out my new photos.  Hopefully the link works

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152474064745651.948354.562120650&type=3

Orientation Day 1

    I can't begin to explain how overwhelming today was.  The day started immediately with the language placement test.  I don't think I did too hot, but as long as I'm placed in level 3 I won't be concerned.  Next, we talked about the city of Bilbao in general:  how to get around, where to get money, and what's open and at what time.  Later, we had lunch in what I believe is the employee cafeteria.  It served wine and beer though so I'm not sure if that's exactly what it was.

    I've been having a hard time with the food so far.  I've found most of it to be pretty bland or I put the wrong dressing on my salad.  Tonight my family made a vegetable soup that I enjoyed and my host dad made homemade chicken nuggets.  He made some spicy because I told him I liked spicy food.  That was the first time I'd felt like eating so far.

    Eating with my family is very different than any dinner I've ever had in America.  They set the table and my host mom serves the food to you while at the table.  She is also very worried about eating breakfast.  I had to explain to her in my broken Spanish that I've never enjoyed breakfast which was a big disappointment to her.

    Rest of the day of orientation consisted of taking a tour through the main part of the city.  All of the buildings are ancient and it is probably the most magnificent architecture that I have ever seen.  We made our way to the old quarter, which is the original part of Bilbao.  From there, my tour leader said that we were on our own to get home.  I was miles away from my apartment and I wasn't even sure what it looked like.  Luckily a girl in my tour group lived close to me.  I was so grateful that my host mother had pointed this out the day before.  Our tour guide showed us on the map where to go and we followed hoping we didn't make a wrong turn.  Of course we made a few.  At least now I know what my apartment actually looks like!

    Tomorrow we tour the Deusto campus and visit Biscay.

First Day

    I'm writing this post from the couch in the home I will be living in for the next 4 months.  It was a really long day (even though it's just starting for all of you) but I figured I would update everyone.

    I flew through the night and arrived in Brussels around 2 am USA time.  From there, I flew to Bilbao.  As we were getting closer to landing, I was excited for the first time in months.  The view of the hills from the plane was breathtaking.  I forgot what it was like to not be surrounded by flat ground.
 
    My host mom and dad were at the airport to pick me up.  *Culture Shock* In Spain, it's customary to do the double cheek kiss when meeting someone.  I guess I will have to get over my dislike for touching all people.  After that, we searched the entire airport for my missing suitcase.  It was actually where it was supposed to be, I just wasn't patient enough to wait for it.

    The ride to my new home was probably the coolest experience I've had yet.  Roads make absolutely no sense to me (which isn't any different than usual) but surprisingly they drive on the same side of the road as we do.  As we drove into the city, I was blown away.  All of the buildings were ancient.  I'm sure some of them have been there since the city was created. And in the middle of it all is the Guggenheim Museum.  There will be pictures soon!  There isn't a good way to describe it besides breathtaking!

    I have walked around the city a bit with my family but other than that I've only unpacked a little and tried to sleep off a little jet lag.  Tomorrow I will have my first day of orientation.

One Day Left!

    Tomorrow will be my last full American day.  I'm thrilled to know I will be spending the day with my family and my boyfriend.  I'm sure most of the day will also be spent with last minute packing.
   
    So far, I've learned that any packing that doesn't involve Space Bags is dumb.  It's amazing the amount of clothes I was able to fit into my suitcases!

    I will be leaving from Lincoln Monday at 1:30.  I'm extremely excited and am so thankful for all of the support.
   

First Post 1/2/2013

    I've never had my own blog before.  I've never even thought about blogging.  Even as I sit here typing, I have no idea what even to talk about.  But one thing is for sure; I'm usually very good at talking about myself.  :) So I guess I will start with how this all began.
   
    When I changed my major to Secondary Spanish Education toward the end of my Freshman year at UNL I never imagined that I would be signing up for a semester abroad, but that is exactly what I was doing.  My adviser told me that day that I would be studying abroad during the Spring semester of my Sophomore year and asked if that time would work for me.  It would be an understatement to say that I was shocked.  Studying abroad wasn't required, but it was highly recommended (so required in other words).  Though this would sound exciting to most people I almost changed my major then and there.  I would lean toward classifying myself as a homebody and I'm closer than most 20-year-old's to my family.  After discussing this trip with my mom and my friends I came to the decision that I definitely had to go study abroad.  God put this trip into my life for a reason and I was meant to follow this path no matter how hard it would be.
   
    The destination for my semester abroad was left up to me and I immediately remembered a presentation that was given a few months prior in my Spanish class about the CIDE program at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain.  The program was sponsored by the University and specialized in teaching language proficiency.  It couldn't be more perfect.  I quickly began to envision myself living in Bilbao for a semester.  This program would allow me to take the 15 credit hours that I needed to stay at pace for graduation while learning in the target language, Spanish.  All of the credits will transfer back to UNL and count toward requirements for my major.  I would be able to choose how I wanted to live and what exactly I wanted to study.
    I chose to live with a host family, preferably a family with younger children so I could feel as much at home as possible.  I was thrilled to find out that I was placed with a family who had an 11-year-old son, Martin (who would be only a year older than my brother Jake).  Martin is into soccer rather than football, but I figure that will be one of the easier adjustments I will have to make.  My host family even has a beagle named Max!  I will be living only a 10 minute walk away from the University so I will be living in the middle of the city.

    I will be leaving for Bilbao on Monday the 7th.  I'm thrilled to have a layover in Brussels, Belgium even though I won't be able to venture away from the airport.  The program begins almost the minute I touch down in Bilbao.    I will be there until May 17 when I will arrive back in Lincoln.  I'm both terrified and slightly excited.  I thought a blog would be the best way to keep everyone informed:  my friends, family, and even my community.  Hopefully I keep this updated as well as I would like. : /