I am so happy with life right now! I just got home yesterday from Basque Country, a region in northern spain, near France--it was so beautiful and the culture is very different from that of traditional Spain! In fact, there were posters all over the old part of town that read, "Attention Tourist: You are not in Spain, You are not in France, You are in the Basque Country. Welcome!" Just to give you an idea of the sense of Basque pride!
I went with Jackie, a girl from Chicago whom I met during orientation my first week in Madrid. We visited Bilbao and San Sebastian, traveling 100% in bus. It was a long trip (5 hours to Bilbao from Madrid Saturday morning, 1 hour to San Sebastian from Bilbao Sunday morning, and almost 7 hours from San Sebastian back to Madrid yesterday), but so worth it. We left Satruday morning at 7 am from Madrid. We were both exhausted from packing and preparing before the trip...we were searching like crazy people for a hostel that was not completely booked for the long weekend, but couldn't find anything! So the first thing we did upon our arrival to Bilbao was call down the list of hostels we obtained at the bus station. And, surprise! The third hostel I called had rooms still available! So we hurried to the hostel to reserve our room and put our things down. Then we walked around the city! Bilbao I had always heard described as an industrial city, but I thought it was beautiful! Perhaps the changing leaves had something to do with this...but I absolutely loved it! The main tourist attraction in Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum which is a modern, metal structure along the river. It provided some pretty great photo ops! : ) The weather wasn't very good; it was sprinkling on and off during the day and Saturday night when we tried to go out it was downpouring, so we decided to just stay in, which was fine because we were still exhausted from the short night before! But we did, however, go out for pintzos, tiny sandwich-like appetizers/tapas, which the Basque Country is famous for! I had one of tortilla espanola; another of grilled ham, cheese, and tomato sauce; and one of fried cheese. SO delicious.
So Sunday morning, we got up and caught the 10 o'clock bus to San Sebastian. This time we had a hostel reservation! Our hostel--OceanView--was right on the beach and was a surfer's paradise. We met tons of people from Australia and even some other Americans who are living in Madrid and teaching through a similar program! We walked around the old part of the city and the harbor, and then it started to sprinkle, so we headed back to the hostel. We took a nap and relaxed there for the rest of the day. At night, all of the hostel guests chipped in for a few bottles of wine and we just hung out in the hostel! It was a lot of fun. Monday we got up early and did tons of sight-seeing. We hiked up to the Jesus statue that overlooks the city, then walked across two beaches to the famous "Wind Comb" sculptures, had lunch at a little cafe on the beach, saw the cathedral, and went back to the hostel with very sore feet from all that walking! But it was great to finally have a little sunshine and be able to really explore the city!
I posted some of my favorite photos from the trip, but I have more on facebook if you want to see more! Enjoy : )
P.S. I also had an interview for a nannying position today and it went really well! It's for a 7 year-old boy and the family lives near Plaza Mayor, 15 minutes walking distance from my apartment! PERFECT. I will let you know as soon as I hear back!
besos.
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