Weekend o' Pampering: San Sebastian & Biarritz

An ugly girl peacock! There were a bunch in this park in San Sebastian that we walked around.


























Our director Genoveva stopping to enjoy the flowers...
























... And what pretty flowers they are!


















A boy peacock! We were able to get really close to them.



















All the girls!
Kathleen (Corey's visiting girlfriend), Alex, Sarah, Cristina, me, Jill, Geno, Kasey






















An Apple Store! Well, as close to an Apple Store as you can get outside of Madrid.


























My new bff! Look out Bryan!






















The super huge beach of San Sebastian! This is one of three, and it all but disappeared completely when the tide came in a few hours later.


























Me at the San Sebastian beach!






















Jill and Alex being super dramatic debs. Life on the beach is sooooo taxing...


























80s rockers! OH YEAH!






















The boys. Almost got a smile out of Tim.






















THE coolest bathroom in all of Spain! I didn't go in, but the outside certainly is cool!






















Neat sculpture by the ocean.






















San Sebastian at sundown.


























Anchovies at the aquarium! Genoveva told me that she'd like to eat them.


























Baby Nemos!!!


























The lighthouse of Biarritz, France.






















Pensively looking into the distance...






















Relaxing on my rock throne.






















The end of the pathway we took around the edge of the ocean. We climbed to the top!






















Biarritz and me!




















I have no idea how these crosses got out onto the ocean.






















Their teen angst is definitely showing through here.

Friday in Las Arenas

Again, a very belated posting, but better late than never!

This is la Ría right before it spills out into the ocean.






















The view of Las Arenas from the other side of the river.






















This ferry defies gravity!!! Actually, it's suspended from the top of a really high bridge.



























The wonderful restaurant we went to! Get excited, parents!






















The famous bridge of Las Arenas. We walked along to top of it (no Sydney bridge, of course).






















The view of Las Arenas from the top of the bridge.


























The top of the bridge.






















The ocean!

Bryan's Visit (a visual recount)

The first night of Bryan's visit, after we played in a soccer scrimmage together (the other team didn't show up so he played goalie for us), Mama Christina made us a MASSIVE dinner. This is just the first course of delicious pintxos.





















The beach of Bakio, the town we visited on Thursday before hiking to the church San Juan de Gatzelugatxe.






















Soaking up the sun for a bit (we definitely need it...).























Posing at the beach!


























Enjoying cerveza (beer) and a pintxo (croquetito with ham and cheese inside).



























About halfway through our hike to the church. You can see Bakio, where we started, in the distance.




























Enjoying a side trail and taking a short break in between mountains.



























We finally made it to the church! Now just to climb another 236 steps...























At the Guggenheim in front of the Puppy! You can't see it very well in this picture, but it's a really cute sculpture of a puppy that's covered in flowers! Think giant Chia Pet...



























On Sunday we went on a hike with Christina and practically her whole family to the woods! Here we are at the trail head.



























An example of the painted trees.



























A donkey we found on our way back to the car!



























We stopped to get coffee at this castle that was apparently a summer home for Napoleon's wife. It's a tiny tiny castle, but very quaint and now a hotel!

Bryan's Visit :)

So I guess I didn't notify everyone, but Bryan surprised me with a visit during his spring break! He wasn't here for very long, but he was definitely a trooper through the jet lag and it was wonderful to see him 2 months early!

Here's what we did during his visit:

Wednesday:
A bunch of my friends, Bryan, and I went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant (SUPER cheap and SO much food!). Then Bryan watched me play a soccer game with my ISA girlfriends and he played goalie for a bit because the other team never showed up so we scrimmaged together. Afterwards, we took my professor Francisco a peanut butter sandwich (crunchy!) because we were originally going to go to that class and Francisco jokingly told me that Bryan could only come as well if he brought him that sandwich. This is because every time we watch a movie in that class (Lit & Cinema) I bring an awesome spread of snacks and Francisco gets jealous. Then my Mama Christina made us a MASSIVE Spanish meal and went all out with the txacoli (choc-o-lee) (the local white wine that's delicious!), pintxos (peen-chos) (local appetizers), and TWO main courses! And her friend Marta made us a delicious brownie for dessert. I really appreciate all that she did for us.

Thursday:
We went to this pueblo called Bakio on the coast for the txacoli festival. Didn't see much of the festival because it was farther from the part of the city that we were in, but we hiked up to this church on a rock in the ocean and enjoyed ourselves and killed our legs. We were told that the hike would take only 20 minutes, and it did on the way back, but it took us over an hour to get there! This is mostly due to the steep incline of the path and the fact that it was up THREE mountains...

Friday:
We went to the beach with a few of my friends. It was kind of windy and chilly, but fun nevertheless. We played soccer for a bit and soaked up some sun. My face was burnt (now tan) as a result. I'm catching up to you Lish!

Saturday:
I took Bryan on a brief tour of Bilbao (to my favorite eating establishments of course) and then to the Guggenheim. What I learned: the Japanese are MESSED UP. This one artist made a sculpture of an anime character getting friendly with himself and making a lasso with his... fluids. He is named "My Lonesome Cowboy." Across the gallery there was a very well endowed woman anime sculpture jumping a rope made out of her breast milk. Like I said, the Japanese are messed up. A Chinese artist that the museum is currently featuring works a lot with gunpowder on canvas. His works were really neat.

Sunday:
Mama Christina took us on an excursion to a pueblo close to Bilbao. We hiked in the mountains to this forest where this guy painted the trees and if you stand the right way they line up and make images. That was pretty neat. Then we ate lunch with like the ENTIRE family and relatives of Mama Christina (think Christina, her sister, her sister's husband, her sister's husband's sister, her sister's husband's brother and his pregnant girlfriend, and her sister's two daughters). It was a lot of fun, but we were beat by the end of the day.

Monday (Today):
Woke up at 4 am and took Bryan to the airport. He's taking back my suitcase full of stuff I don't need anymore so that I don't have to ship it home.

I'll post pictures later!!

¡Bilbao Carnavales!

These are really belated, but I thought everyone would like to see what the carnavales are like in Bilbao!

The parade of Deusto! These are big models of traditional Basque dancers.























I have no idea why these people dressed like the soccer team - in black face...



























Grease! I thought this was really entertaining because they were dressing all American.























These people were protesting the poor economy and all of the recent lay-offs throughout the country. They tossed fake 500 EU bills out to the crowd with the president's face on them.























At the Bilbao Carnaval! Sarah the cowgirl, Jill the pirate, Kasey the troll, and Alex the flower!
























This is Alex and I! She was a flower made out of balloons and I was a butterfly!



























This was the mascot of the carnaval this year. It's a typical pastry, but decorated like Mr. Potato Head! My Mama Christina bought these for Sarah and I - they're really tasty!























At the Algorta Carnaval.
Corey and Tim the ninjas, and Sarah the (real) cowgirl!



























Mateo was the best redneck ever!



























Someone was dumb enough to set a dumpster on fire. WTF?!?!