It has been a while since my last update…so sorry, but I have been a traveling fool lately and haven’t had time! This is my attempt to try and catch up! The weekend after Oporto (Oct. 3-5), I went to Bilbao, Spain with Val and Alison, but before I give you any details, let me just express the excitement I felt to see Val when she arrived in on Tuesday. I was so excited I almost cried! It was fantastic to see a familiar face for the first time in a long time. Val was extremely exhausted from her travels so we didn’t do much on Tuesday, but I did take her to see the cathedral because it is the one “must-see” in Santiago. We didn’t do a whole lot while she was here because it was a jam-packed week for me as far as school goes, but it ended up working out because it gave Val a chance to rest up for Bilbao.
We left on a 10 hour overnight bus Thursday night at 11pm. The first hour wasn’t so great because my Dramamine hadn’t kicked in (Yes, my stomach is just that weak…sad huh?) but once it did, I was out for most of the trip. One side note on taking long bus rides…Don’t do it if you’re a senior citizen. I was amazed at how many old people were on our bus. They were so uncomfortable, cranky, and not so friendly and although I was a bit annoyed, I felt bad for them. I noted to myself…When I’m old, I’ll pay the extra money and take a plane, it’s much quicker and less painful! We arrived in Bilbao at 8:45 Friday morning, ate breakfast, and checked into our hostel. We spent most of the afternoon walking around and shopping. There was a festival going on so we took a little walk through some of the tents set up with jewelry and other things you could buy. Then, we went back to our hostel and took a nap! You would be surprised at how much traveling takes outta ya…it can get quite exhausting, and when you are used to having a siesta…your body counts on it! (Who knows what I’m gunna do when I get home. I might have to bring the “siesta” custom home with me and always take a nap from 2-4 everyday…yeah right, I wish!)
After we woke up and got ready, we enjoyed a couple bottles of wine before jumping on the metro and meeting up with some of Val’s friends that she met in Madrid her first week in Spain. They go to school in California and are in Bilbao on a study abroad program. We all headed to “Mao Mao Beach”, a nightclub in Bilbao. I think it’s funny that so many things in Spain are in English, such as names of restaurants and discotecas…I mean Mao Mao Beach, come on, how un-Spanish can you get!? Also, a lot of “graphic tees” have words in English written on them. It is also really common to go to bars here that play American music, only most of it is way old school, like 90s music. Every now and then you hear more recent American stuff, it just depends on the place. Mao Mao Beach was a pretty big place with lots of young people, of course. I had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out, especially because I was with Val. I think I could have been at the worst nightclub in the world and had fun just because she was there, LOL! The club had a pretty interesting atmosphere…shirtless buff bartenders and girls in bikinis dancing on a stage, not your typical American nightclub. The music was mainly Spanish Techno, which was fun, but got a little old after awhile just because it’s hard to dance to and I really like to dance when I’m out! :). At about 4am we left Mao Mao and because there wasn’t a taxi in sight, we started walking toward the metro station. While walking, we were on a serious hunt for a McDonald's, but unfortunately, never found one. I know what you’re thinking…how American of us to want McDonald's after drinking at 4 in the morning. I know it sounds crazy, but we were on a mission and seriously thought we might come across one because Bilbao is such a big city. To our disappointment, we never found a McDonald's or food in general…Spain doesn’t have 24 hour places! Thank goodness for McDonald's, Ihop, the Waffle House and other places in America that stay open 24 hours…I’ll utilize these places for sure when I get home and I will appreciate them like never before!
We ended up walking a pretty long way before we flagged down a taxi and asked him to take us to any restaurant he knew of that would serve food (at this point we didn’t quite realize this was an impossible task). He ended up driving us a little ways before dropping us off at a corner, pointing at a building and telling us to wait 2 hours until a restaurant opened. We couldn’t believe it. This guy seriously just pulled over and told us to get out of the cab and wait. We think he might have been a little annoyed by us considering we were 3 American girls speaking English loudly in the back of his cab. Keep in mind we had had a few drinks by this point and were seriously hungry and probably annoying…poor cab driver, but he still had no right to just pull over and tell us to get out!
A little side note --
My Spanish has improved since I’ve been in Spain, of course. Not drastically, but definitely an improvement. I understand a lot more now than I did before. I also can read and write better. Where I struggle is speaking, which is a little ironic considering I am Mexican and most people assume if anything, I would be able to speak great and lack at the other parts. Usually I know what I want to say and which verbs to use, I just find it difficult to conjugate a verb in the correct tense on the spot, which is why it sometimes takes me 5 min. to get out one sentence, LOL! I find that when I’m tired, cranky, or in a bad mood for whatever reason it is even more difficult to speak Spanish. I can’t explain it, sometimes I am just not in the mood to even try because my mind doesn’t process things. Other times, like when I’m in a really good mood or have had a few drinks, it is a lot easier for me to speak Spanish. I think it is because I am a lot more confident in these cases and don’t think about things as much, I just let them come out. Although they might often come out wrong, I usually get my point across and people understand me.
As far as classes go, I am doing pretty good. I am understanding my professors A LOT better now than I was in the beginning. I have done a pretty good job on almost all of my homework assignments, quizzes, tests, and mini-papers. I have been disappointed with a few of my grades on assignments, but I guess I can’t always expect to get As…it’s unrealistic and shockingly, I have come to accept this. I guess I can’t have the same expectation as I do on assignments in English, considering I’m doing work in a completely different language. All that matters to me is that I’m trying, and that is an accomplishment in itself! Not everyone is able to learn another language and if it were easy, everyone would do it, so I take pride in the fact that I’m putting time and effort into doing something that not everyone is cut out to do. As most of you already know, I am a woman without a whole lot of patience and I am completely willing to admit that, but with that being said, I have to take this into deeper consideration when I get frustrated with myself. There have been times when I have wanted to just give up and forget about Spanish and learning a new language, and those are the times I need to have patience with myself and realize that learning a language is a process and it doesn’t come over night. I know I can say it now, but it is easier said than done. It is difficult for me to have patience, especially with myself because I have high expectations for myself, but I am learning slowly how to handle things better and with more patience.
Now, back on track…After the cab driver pulled over and made us get out of his cab, we asked a few people wondering the streets for directions (I know not very safe, but not much more could have been done), and found our way back to our hostel. At this point we were so tired and frustrated that we just went to bed. On Saturday, we slept in a little. Once we woke up and got going, we went to Burger King for lunch. We actually asked a couple of people on the street if there was a McDonald's around (we were STILL stuck on McDonald’s for some crazy reason), but most of the people we asked looked at us like we were crazy and said they didn’t understand us. This wasn’t because we weren’t speaking their language because we were, it was because they didn’t know what McDonald's was. When we told them it was a restaurant, they continued to look at us like we were crazy and said they had no idea. We, being the “Americans” we are, were shocked. How can people not know what McDonald's is. I feel like even if you have never eaten it, you would at least recognize the name, but that’s not the case here! Anyhow, after we ate, we visited the Guggenheim. For those of you who don’t know what that is, Google it…it’s very neat! There are different Guggenheim's in different big cities and the one in Bilbao was awesome. I wasn’t really that impressed with the content of art inside the Guggenheim, but the building itself was amazing! After a couple of hours walking around the Guggenheim, we headed downtown to check out some famous churches. Along the way, we met a pretty cool guy named Cyrus. He was traveling around Europe alone for a couple months and happened to overhear us girls speaking English so he decided to ask us to hang out. We, being the open-minded people we are, said of course. We ended up checking out an old church on our way to dinner. It was really neat because there was a wedding going on. So here we are, taking pictures inside this church while the wedding party is doing the same. I know what you are thinking…wedding crashers, lol…but that wasn’t the case. Apparently, the church is always open to the public. After walking the city for a while we, with our new friend Cyrus, ate dinner at a really nice restaurant with delicious food!
We decided since we had to leave so early on Sunday morning, we would call it an early night, so after dinner we headed back to our hostel and went to bed. Val took a taxi to the airport at about 4 am and Alison and I headed toward the bus station around 9 am. The bus ride on the back to Santiago was very long, but I managed to get a few things done, including writing a few post cards. Hopefully some of you guys reading this have received those now! :). Overall, my weekend in Bilbao was fun, especially because I was with Val, but it definitely wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. It may have been a bit better if we had the time to see the other “sites” of the city, but because of time and weather restrictions, we didn’t get to do much. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it was pretty cold and rainy the entire weekend we were in Bilbao. Although it wasn’t my favorite weekend so far, it was definitely fun and I will forever remember the weekend I hung out with one of my best friends in Bilbao, Spain! Not a whole lot of people can say they hung out with their friends in a foreign country, so I feel pretty blessed!...Thanks Val! ;)
I didn't have a camera in Bilbao so I stole a couple pics from Val...check them out on my Shutterfly: http://mexigurl14.shutterfly.com/
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Bilbao, Spain
It has been a while since my last update…so sorry, but I have been a traveling fool lately and haven’t had time! This is my attempt to try and catch up! The weekend after Oporto (Oct. 3-5), I went to Bilbao, Spain with Val and Alison, but before I give you any details, let me just express the excitement I felt to see Val when she arrived in on Tuesday. I was so excited I almost cried! It was fantastic to see a familiar face for the first time in a long time. Val was extremely exhausted from her travels so we didn’t do much on Tuesday, but I did take her to see the cathedral because it is the one “must-see” in Santiago. We didn’t do a whole lot while she was here because it was a jam-packed week for me as far as school goes, but it ended up working out because it gave Val a chance to rest up for Bilbao.
We left on a 10 hour overnight bus Thursday night at 11pm. The first hour wasn’t so great because my Dramamine hadn’t kicked in (Yes, my stomach is just that weak…sad huh?) but once it did, I was out for most of the trip. One side note on taking long bus rides…Don’t do it if you’re a senior citizen. I was amazed at how many old people were on our bus. They were so uncomfortable, cranky, and not so friendly and although I was a bit annoyed, I felt bad for them. I noted to myself…When I’m old, I’ll pay the extra money and take a plane, it’s much quicker and less painful! We arrived in Bilbao at 8:45 Friday morning, ate breakfast, and checked into our hostel. We spent most of the afternoon walking around and shopping. There was a festival going on so we took a little walk through some of the tents set up with jewelry and other things you could buy. Then, we went back to our hostel and took a nap! You would be surprised at how much traveling takes outta ya…it can get quite exhausting, and when you are used to having a siesta…your body counts on it! (Who knows what I’m gunna do when I get home. I might have to bring the “siesta” custom home with me and always take a nap from 2-4 everyday…yeah right, I wish!)
After we woke up and got ready, we enjoyed a couple bottles of wine before jumping on the metro and meeting up with some of Val’s friends that she met in Madrid her first week in Spain. They go to school in California and are in Bilbao on a study abroad program. We all headed to “Mao Mao Beach”, a nightclub in Bilbao. I think it’s funny that so many things in Spain are in English, such as names of restaurants and discotecas…I mean Mao Mao Beach, come on, how un-Spanish can you get!? Also, a lot of “graphic tees” have words in English written on them. It is also really common to go to bars here that play American music, only most of it is way old school, like 90s music. Every now and then you hear more recent American stuff, it just depends on the place. Mao Mao Beach was a pretty big place with lots of young people, of course. I had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out, especially because I was with Val. I think I could have been at the worst nightclub in the world and had fun just because she was there, LOL! The club had a pretty interesting atmosphere…shirtless buff bartenders and girls in bikinis dancing on a stage, not your typical American nightclub. The music was mainly Spanish Techno, which was fun, but got a little old after awhile just because it’s hard to dance to and I really like to dance when I’m out! :). At about 4am we left Mao Mao and because there wasn’t a taxi in sight, we started walking toward the metro station. While walking, we were on a serious hunt for a McDonald's, but unfortunately, never found one. I know what you’re thinking…how American of us to want McDonald's after drinking at 4 in the morning. I know it sounds crazy, but we were on a mission and seriously thought we might come across one because Bilbao is such a big city. To our disappointment, we never found a McDonald's or food in general…Spain doesn’t have 24 hour places! Thank goodness for McDonald's, Ihop, the Waffle House and other places in America that stay open 24 hours…I’ll utilize these places for sure when I get home and I will appreciate them like never before!
We ended up walking a pretty long way before we flagged down a taxi and asked him to take us to any restaurant he knew of that would serve food (at this point we didn’t quite realize this was an impossible task). He ended up driving us a little ways before dropping us off at a corner, pointing at a building and telling us to wait 2 hours until a restaurant opened. We couldn’t believe it. This guy seriously just pulled over and told us to get out of the cab and wait. We think he might have been a little annoyed by us considering we were 3 American girls speaking English loudly in the back of his cab. Keep in mind we had had a few drinks by this point and were seriously hungry and probably annoying…poor cab driver, but he still had no right to just pull over and tell us to get out!
A little side note --
My Spanish has improved since I’ve been in Spain, of course. Not drastically, but definitely an improvement. I understand a lot more now than I did before. I also can read and write better. Where I struggle is speaking, which is a little ironic considering I am Mexican and most people assume if anything, I would be able to speak great and lack at the other parts. Usually I know what I want to say and which verbs to use, I just find it difficult to conjugate a verb in the correct tense on the spot, which is why it sometimes takes me 5 min. to get out one sentence, LOL! I find that when I’m tired, cranky, or in a bad mood for whatever reason it is even more difficult to speak Spanish. I can’t explain it, sometimes I am just not in the mood to even try because my mind doesn’t process things. Other times, like when I’m in a really good mood or have had a few drinks, it is a lot easier for me to speak Spanish. I think it is because I am a lot more confident in these cases and don’t think about things as much, I just let them come out. Although they might often come out wrong, I usually get my point across and people understand me.
As far as classes go, I am doing pretty good. I am understanding my professors A LOT better now than I was in the beginning. I have done a pretty good job on almost all of my homework assignments, quizzes, tests, and mini-papers. I have been disappointed with a few of my grades on assignments, but I guess I can’t always expect to get As…it’s unrealistic and shockingly, I have come to accept this. I guess I can’t have the same expectation as I do on assignments in English, considering I’m doing work in a completely different language. All that matters to me is that I’m trying, and that is an accomplishment in itself! Not everyone is able to learn another language and if it were easy, everyone would do it, so I take pride in the fact that I’m putting time and effort into doing something that not everyone is cut out to do. As most of you already know, I am a woman without a whole lot of patience and I am completely willing to admit that, but with that being said, I have to take this into deeper consideration when I get frustrated with myself. There have been times when I have wanted to just give up and forget about Spanish and learning a new language, and those are the times I need to have patience with myself and realize that learning a language is a process and it doesn’t come over night. I know I can say it now, but it is easier said than done. It is difficult for me to have patience, especially with myself because I have high expectations for myself, but I am learning slowly how to handle things better and with more patience.
Now, back on track…After the cab driver pulled over and made us get out of his cab, we asked a few people wondering the streets for directions (I know not very safe, but not much more could have been done), and found our way back to our hostel. At this point we were so tired and frustrated that we just went to bed. On Saturday, we slept in a little. Once we woke up and got going, we went to Burger King for lunch. We actually asked a couple of people on the street if there was a McDonald's around (we were STILL stuck on McDonald’s for some crazy reason), but most of the people we asked looked at us like we were crazy and said they didn’t understand us. This wasn’t because we weren’t speaking their language because we were, it was because they didn’t know what McDonald's was. When we told them it was a restaurant, they continued to look at us like we were crazy and said they had no idea. We, being the “Americans” we are, were shocked. How can people not know what McDonald's is. I feel like even if you have never eaten it, you would at least recognize the name, but that’s not the case here! Anyhow, after we ate, we visited the Guggenheim. For those of you who don’t know what that is, Google it…it’s very neat! There are different Guggenheim's in different big cities and the one in Bilbao was awesome. I wasn’t really that impressed with the content of art inside the Guggenheim, but the building itself was amazing! After a couple of hours walking around the Guggenheim, we headed downtown to check out some famous churches. Along the way, we met a pretty cool guy named Cyrus. He was traveling around Europe alone for a couple months and happened to overhear us girls speaking English so he decided to ask us to hang out. We, being the open-minded people we are, said of course. We ended up checking out an old church on our way to dinner. It was really neat because there was a wedding going on. So here we are, taking pictures inside this church while the wedding party is doing the same. I know what you are thinking…wedding crashers, lol…but that wasn’t the case. Apparently, the church is always open to the public. After walking the city for a while we, with our new friend Cyrus, ate dinner at a really nice restaurant with delicious food!
We decided since we had to leave so early on Sunday morning, we would call it an early night, so after dinner we headed back to our hostel and went to bed. Val took a taxi to the airport at about 4 am and Alison and I headed toward the bus station around 9 am. The bus ride on the back to Santiago was very long, but I managed to get a few things done, including writing a few post cards. Hopefully some of you guys reading this have received those now! :). Overall, my weekend in Bilbao was fun, especially because I was with Val, but it definitely wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. It may have been a bit better if we had the time to see the other “sites” of the city, but because of time and weather restrictions, we didn’t get to do much. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it was pretty cold and rainy the entire weekend we were in Bilbao. Although it wasn’t my favorite weekend so far, it was definitely fun and I will forever remember the weekend I hung out with one of my best friends in Bilbao, Spain! Not a whole lot of people can say they hung out with their friends in a foreign country, so I feel pretty blessed!...Thanks Val! ;)
I didn't have a camera in Bilbao so I stole a couple pics from Val...check them out on my Shutterfly: http://mexigurl14.shutterfly.com/
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1 comment:
I'm so glad you updated. We've been waiting! Even though your Spanish isn't as great as you'd hoped, it's good that you're learning and getting better. I enjoyed Val's pictures. I'm glad you got a chance to see each other. You're right...not everyone gets to meet with a friend in a foreign country.
Well, I'm off to read the blog on London! :)
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