What are Men Compared to Rocks and Mountains?

This has been quite an exciting weekend so far! I sometimes wonder if this is really happening; it’s so amazing!

Yesterday (Friday) was a really fun day. I went out for lunch with my host mom, her daughter Susana, and her daughter’s husband Pedro, in order to celebrate Susana’s birthday. I did well enough understanding the conversation. My ability to understand sort of comes and goes in waves…one moment I can understand every word, and the next moment I have no idea what’s going on. I’m getting there, I guess.

Anyway, the lunch was soooo yummy! The main course that I ordered was a type of small fish called salmonetes, served with French fries (which I was really excited about!). I was a little apprehensive because I was pretty sure they were going to give me the whole fish, and sure enough, here comes my plate with two virtually intact little fishies – heads, tails, and bones included. But my host mom showed me how to cut them up and remove the bones, so it was no big deal. And it was delicious!! Fish is so much better when you order it at a place this near to the ocean.

Later, after going on some errands with my host mom and Susana (and having an embarrassing moment – I had my backpack with me so they thought I had my computer with me – which I did not – so they took me to Civican to figure out why I couldn’t get internet before. But I didn’t realize what they were about until we got there. Boy, this non-fluency thing makes me feel pretty dang stupid sometimes) I went to meet Lauren and Maja at the Corte Ingles. We decided to go explore el casco antiguo for a while, which was very cool. All the old buildings are so awesome! After looking around for a while, we decided to stop and have a bite to eat at the Café Iruña, a very old and lovely place with ornate décor. We had some cake that can only be described as the death-by-chocolate variety. So delicious!

When we left the café, Lauren and Maja were feeling tired so we decided to start heading back. While we were walking back through the plaza, we randomly met a couple of our advisers from the school and a couple of friends that they were with! It was a fun coincidence. Also, one of the guys was actually from America, so it was really cool to talk with him. They told us that they were on their way to dinner and invited us to join. Lauren and Maja were really looking forward to resting at home so they decided to get going, but I wasn’t feeling like I wanted to go back just yet, so I decided to go for it and hang out with them for a while. We ended up going to a place called Café Americano, interestingly enough. It’s a place with pseudo-American food – imagine a Spanish T.G.I. Friday’s. I got some nuggets that were actually quite good. We had a lot of fun talking and joking around; I was glad I had run into such a fun group of people! One of my profs ended up meeting us there, so it was a little funny for me to have my school-world and my social-world combine, but it was fun. And the guy from America was very nice – he told me funny stories about his friends in Pamplona, and he explained what the others were talking about when the conversation sped up. Also, he told me that if my friends and I want to do something fun on a weekend, I can call him and he and his friends will take us to some cool places. That sort of thing seems to happen a lot here – things may be very different and overwhelming sometimes, but there are so many wonderful people who are so happy to help and to make this experience the best it can be for us intercambios. :-)

After the café, the American and the other guy in the group invited me to hang out with their friends at one of the bars in casco antiguo. And I thought, why not? We went to a little, dark, and extremely noisy bar located deep among the old, twisty streets. It was a pretty cool place, but I think I would have liked it better if I’d had a friend along with me – I wasn’t sure what to talk about so I stood and tried to hear over the pounding music and drank my beer quietly. But it was pretty interesting, and I got to meet some new people (It still throws me for a loop sometimes when someone goes in to kiss me on the cheek, but I’m learning :-P). I kept thinking about how weird it was that I started the evening with people I knew and ended it with a group of people that were entirely new to me as of that night! Good thing they were trustworthy people. Afterward, the two guys walked me back to my neighborhood, which I was so thankful for, because I pretty much had no idea where I was at that point. Again, there are so many nice, helpful people here! And that was my Friday.

Today was so wonderful as well! We had an excursion to San Sebastián. And I have decided that it’s probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. Ever. There are wonderful mountains, a bay called La Concha, extraordinarily beautiful old buildings and houses, and the most gorgeous view of the ocean that you could possibly imagine. I think I’m in love. We climbed up to a place with cool rock formations called Peine del Viento, or Wind Combs. There were also some metal sculptures and an outcropping, and some of the people in our group went to climb around on them while the rest of us watched and hoped they wouldn’t fall off. After that, we took the tram up to the top of one of the hills. Let me tell you, the ocean looks even more beautiful from high up! The different colors of blue were amazing. There was also a little amusement park at the top, but it was really bizarre and kind of sketchy. We were amused by its weirdness, at any rate.

It took us a bit to climb back down, and I and three other girls lagged behind the group at one point, but we got to see some really cool, very European-looking houses on the way down. The whole adventure was quite a long walk, but it was fun and we saw so many nice views. And I made a couple of new friends – a guy from Hong Kong and a girl from Taiwan. Not having known many Asian people before, I was unfamiliar with some of their mannerisms, but they were so friendly and nice! Apparently, many people from Taiwan are super friendly, which is cool. I was jealous of the skill that the two of them have of talking easily with new people!

Anyway, once we got to the bar for pinchos, we were more than ready for a break. The first place was kind of small, but it was alright. I had a pincho that was basically a ball of cheese in breading. I liked the second place a little better, especially since we finally got to sit down! I had a beer there (which I think I’m beginning to like, strangely enough) and more to eat – a little sandwich with a slice of tortilla in it (a Spanish tortilla is not like the U.S. version – it’s sort of like a thick omelet with potatoes and onions in it, and you can order it everywhere), a seafood pastry, and another that consisted of three chunks of pulpo – octopus. Yes, you read that right. It even had the suckers on it! I really liked it – the texture was good, and it actually tasted a little like chicken (just like every random meat, apparently).

After the bar, we went shopping a little bit, and I bought a bunch of yummy Spanish candy at a little dulcería. Seriously, these last two days have been pretty much one big gastronomical adventure. And hey, I’m totally not complaining. Anyway, pretty soon after that, we headed back to the bus to go home. By then, we were all quite tired and ready to rest after a long day of walking, but we were happy after a day of so many beautiful and/or delicious moments!

So, two sore feet and approximately 100 pictures (which I will hopefully be able to post as soon as I can find an internet connection that will handle them) later, I’m back home. I’ll sleep well tonight, that’s for sure. And I’m so glad to have a bunch of great new memories! What a great couple of days.