Mi casa es tu casa

Since one of my main reasons for coming to Spain was to improve my Spanish, I decided to live with a host family. I had a few concerns about living with a host family. Wait... scratch that. I didn't have too many concerns until after talking to my mom and my sister because they watch too much Criminal Minds! (Which is a really good show if you haven't seen it!) But, honestly, you never know what to expect when you are going to live with people you've never met in a foreign country where you aren't fluent in the language. I had a million doubts running through my head in the days before leaving for Spain:

What if I don't know a word they are saying?
What if they starve me?
What if I end up on a 20/20 special report?
What if they don't have internet?!?!?

However, all of those doubts left when my host parents came to pick me up from the airport. My host mom greeted me with two besitos (a kiss on each cheek), a hug, and made me feel extremely comfortable *huge sigh of relief* And while sometimes I really don't know what they are saying (I just smile, nod my head, and say,"Ah sí, sí!"), everything else is great (including this internet!).

My host mom, Maite, is a woman in her 50s. She's so nice and loves to talk. She tells me stories about her former students, places I should visit while I'm here, classes I should (and shouldn't) take, etc. A few nights ago, we bonded over our love for romantic comedies. (She really likes Richard Gere, so we will be watching the Spanish version of Runaway Bride and Pretty Woman soon lol) She sings in a choir every Monday and Wednesday and goes to lunch/coffee with her girlfriends often. She is also really helping me with my Spanish. From the first night, she told me that she considers me to be a part of her family and that she would treat me that way. She definitely has so far!

My host dad, Juan, is hilarious. He is retired, so he basically does whatever he wants. This generally consists of watching TV, playing Sudoku, drinking wine, cooking, watching the local fútbol team's games, and fishing. He really likes the Nature Channel and dislikes the TV show Monk and when there are no good movies on TV lol. He said that he would teach me how to cook some of his favorite recipes, so I'm excited for that. I knew we would get along great when, in one of the first days I was here, he insisted that I take a nap for siesta. Anyone who knows me knows that naps are my life.

Maite and Juan

I have a host brother, Yon, and a host sister, Maider. They are both in their early 30s, so they don't live here, but they come over often to eat lunch or just visit. Maider has a 4 month old son, Endika (it's like the Basque version of Enrique), who my host mom takes care of every day. He is soooo cute! If I could bring him back to the US, I so would.

We live in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in Algorta. It's a really nice area and I like the apartment. I have my own room and we all share the 2 bathrooms.

The sala (living room)

Our kitchen

I was really excited to find out that the shower has good water pressure and hot water. You would be surprised at how comforting those things can be when you are in a new place!

Left: Bathroom #1

Right: Bathroom #2 right across the hall

Yes, I have two beds (a girl has to have options!)

            

My closet that I lock myself out of almost every day

There are all of these Spanish books in my room because I'm staying in my host sister's old room. Hopefully I'll get a chance to read them some time. My host mom did also give me a few English books she thought I'd like: The Da Vinci Code, "The United States of Europe," and the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books (yessss!)

The only downside of my host family is that the cooking is sooo good and there is so much of it! They give me large portions and keep trying to make me eat more. One of their goals is to have me gain weight while I'm here, but I don't think I'll have to worry about that. All of this walking will definitely balance out the effects of the food! (Food post to come....)

Plan for tomorrow: A group of us are going to San Sebastian tomorrow for the day and it's supposed to be really beautiful there. First weekend trip!

- Kassandra

First week down...

With the first day of classes yesterday, that means it is time to start the “study” part of study abroad. But the first week of orientations was so fun! Here are some of the highlights:

• Bilbao, Spain: Whenever I tell people I'm studying in Bilbao, Spain, they ask me if I meant to say Barcelona. Er... no. This is Bilbao:

 

yes... I'm in love

 

The churches are really beautiful

• Universidad de Deusto: My school is so pretty! It’s right off the water and the architecture is amazing.

 

An auditorium

"Knowledge is better than gold"

The old library

• The Metro: Since I live in Algorta, a suburb about 40 mins away from school, I have to take the train every day. The Metro is really nice though. It won an award for being either the best or most efficient public transportation system in Europe. To paint a better picture for the Chicago people, the Metro has the El service with Metra quality. It runs constantly every 5 – 10 minutes but it’s really clean and comfortable. You cannot eat on it. I almost got in trouble for having an apple just in my hand! Also, they have security walking around constantly.

• Portugalete and Balmaseda: These are two cities near Bilbao in the Vizkaya province of País Vasco. Unfortunately, the day of our excursion, the weather was cold in rainy, but we still got out and looked around a little bit. My favorite was the “Puente Colgante” or “Hanging Bridge.” You cross the water in it by going under the bridge. I also heard that many people go base jumping off the top of the bridge during the summer because you can also walk across the top. I definitely will not be partaking in that...

Balmaseda, Spain

           Lots of rain...

                                                              Portugalete, Spain

                           This is what you ride across the water (cars go in the middle open section)

• "Festa de Bienvenida" ("Welcome Party") - On Thursday, we went to a bar in Las Arenas (a suburb of Bilbao). It was a chance to meet everyone and see what a bar in Spain is like. One word: smoky.

Jon Franco: The Man, The Myth, The Legend (and also the US Liasion Officer)

 

• Guggenheim Museum: I will be the first to admit that I don’t know much about art, but the museum was really cool. The design of the building is really modern but then there are all of these older buildings near it. They had an exhibit about Frank Lloyd Wright so I felt more connected to Chicago :)

 

Giant spider statue *shudder*

• Nightlife!! - The Spaniards party late! They don't go out until after dinner around 10 or 11, then many clubs stay open until at least 5 or 6 am! Friday we went to a club called "Fever." It was basically an abandoned warehouse that they turned into a club. But it was a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed the Spanish version of "I Got A Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas and a random Asian man who had his own dance routine to every song (see below). Saturday, I went out with some friends and one of my friends' Spanish host sister. Everyone was partying in the streets because the Bilbao fútbol (soccer) team won against Madrid.

 

 

This man was CRAZY

Lesson #1: Patience

I said that I would tell the story of the awfulness that was my flight to Spain so here it is:


Sunday, January 10:
My flight to Spain was supposed to leave last Sunday at 4:45 pm from O'Hare. I had to get there 3 hours early because people want to put explosives in their underwear... So, I'm at the airport at 1:45 only to find out that the flight is an hour late. Luckily, a quick stop at Target and Panda Express with my family made the time pass quickly. Back in the airport, I meet 9 other U of I students who are going to Bilbao with me. (Thank God they were there because I could not have survived this crazy trip by myself.)

Fast forward... we don't start boarding for the flight until 6:30! At some point, I fell asleep on the plane and woke up expecting to be in the air. Nope! At 8:00 the door to the plane was still open and the passengers were being soothed by drinks and the instrumental version of classics like "Endless Love." At 8:30 the captain announces that we all have to get off the plane, we will get vouchers for a free meal in the airport, and we should come back at 10:00 to check the status.


After eating dinner at Chili's, we go back to the plane, board again, and finally take off around 10:45. Apparently, the gas in the plane kept freezing... That makes no sense to me since planes fly in colder temperatures all the time and other flights from O'Hare were leaving, but what do I know about planes?

Yea right...

Monday, January 11:
After the 8 hour flight and 6 hour time difference, we finally arrive in Madrid, Spain a little after 1 pm local time. Our connecting flight to Bilbao was supposed to leave at 11:55 am. However, the Madrid airport was basically shut down because of bad weather and snow. So, the flight we were supposed to be on kept being delayed and still hadn't left by the time we landed. Instead of waiting in the long customer service line to find a new flight, we decide to go straight to our gate and try to board.

We get to the gate and find out *surprise surprise* the flight is delayed again and there is no representative at the gate to answer questions (Iberia Airlines is not so big on communication). After sitting around for a little while and meeting some students from a school in Virginia who are in our same program , we look to find out that our flight was completely CANCELLED.

At this point, the customer service line was at least 100 people long, I kid you not. Luckily, we found a gate where another flight to Bilbao was boarding. God was definitely watching over us because the flight wasn't full and they let everyone who had a ticket for our cancelled flight get on... But without our luggage.

When we finally got to Bilbao, I called my host family and spoke to them in broken Spanish, they came to pick me up from the airport instead of making me take a taxi. They were sooo nice and helpful which made me feel much better after over 24 hours of traveling and misplaced luggage (which came that Wednesday).

Well, it's after midnight here and classes start tomorrow morning! More posts about my first week soon. And I promise these will be happier :)

- Kassandra

¡Bienvenidos a España!

Hello world! Welcome to my blog!

¡Hola mundo! ¡Bienvenidos a mi blog!

Hopefully you know who I am and that's why you are reading this. If not, you will soon get to know me very well! I am going to *try* to update this blog as often as possible (at least once a week?) to share my experiences in Spain. I'll give you some little facts about Bilbao, Spain where I'm living and my travels throughout Europe, which I hope to do a lot of! (First trip in 2 weeks: Barcelona!) Be sure to comment and let me know what you think!

Kassandra