The calm before the storm

I want to mention a few things before I start with the whole summary of my life these last two weeks:

1. It's been stormy for the last two days here in Bilbao - rain and wind all over the place. But since it's not cold, I don't really mind the tempest state of things.
1a. Braving the storm this afternoon was a lone swan floating down river. Not just a goose or an oversized seagull but an actual swan! His tranquility stood in stark contrast to the debris and mud building up on the surface of the water.

2. I'm going to the opera at Euskalduna tonight! It's an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi, so they'll be singing in Italian, but the captions will be in Spanish. I'm therefore looking forward to being enveloped in a world of unfamiliar sights and sounds with an accompaniment of (semi)-familiar text. Nevertheless, I'll be able to understand the story through context clues and fully enjoy the experience of high culture in Bilbao.
2a. I have to get going to the opera but a recap of transpired events is coming soon - prometo (I promise)!

Tenacity

The nachos here are delicious! If you're ever in town,
look up La Foca Nicanora.

First off, I'd like to apologize in advance for being so American. I'm at a casual pizza restaurant eating nachos and blogging. Now, you might say, "Sarah. Stop being so American! Go out and eat some pintxos! See the city, go to a museum, do something!" and you would be totally justified in your tirade. In my defense, though, I have become quite cultured and cosmopolitan in this last month and I'm rewarding myself with nachos. Tomorrow I will have been in the glorious city of Bilbao for a month, and I can't believe how quickly the time is passing. I also can't believe how quickly I just ate those nachos.

I'm trying to get into a routine of blogging, but that plan obviously hasn't worked out so far. I'm hoping that after this entry I'll make it a point to write on Wednesday nights, even if it means rewarding myself with more nachos every Wednesday that I keep to my goal. Definitely worth it. Since my last entry, my 21st birthday came and went. We celebrated by going to a discoteca on Saturday night the 29th and to a great Spanish movie called También la lluvia on Sunday. My host mom gave me a card and some chocolate, and I made myself a cake from a mix whose instructions were only in Spanish! Re: last entry, I'm counting the completion of that cake as a definite victory. The following week went smoothly: I made a few trips to the library to pick up more books and some Basque music, but most of my free time has been dedicated to learning as much Spanish as possible. We're almost done with our first module of Spanish (out of 3), which means that after our final exam next Tuesday the 15th, 3 of my 10 credits will have already been accounted for. The modular system is a foreign concept to me, but I like the prospect of divvying up the credits because it's much less daunting than having the fate of 10 credits depend on the results of one final exam.

In other news, almost our entire group went to the south of France over the weekend, to a fishing/tourist town called St. Jean de Luz. The weather was perfect, 65˚F and sunny for the duration. We walked along the beach and through the city during the day and stayed in and cooked dinner for ourselves at night, just like a giant family. We ran into a few mishaps, including (but not limited to) getting attacked by the incoming tide at one point, but overall it was an amazing weekend. The most difficult part was talking to the locals at the cafés and the grocery store because even though they're just over the Spanish/French border, they barely speak Spanish at all. We ended up with a dependable system of communication consisting of the five or six French words we knew, a smattering of Spanglish, and a whole lot of gestures and pointing. The trip back was also a little difficult to arrange because the bus from St. Jean de Luz to the hub at San Sebastián doesn't run on Sundays. We had to take taxis to the nearest airport (Biarritz), catch a bus from the airport to San Sebastián, and quickly connect to our final bus from San Sebastián to Bilbao. Even though it seemed like a never-ending journey, it was empowering to struggle with figurative road blocks and ultimately prevail.

You have my full permission to reprint this on a postcard.

Even the less than put-together appearance of the
subject of the photo can't detract from the breathtaking view.

 This week has flown by. I have two more classes tomorrow and then I'm out for the weekend! I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already, but four-day school weeks mean three-day weekends, so I'm basically  weekending half the time I'm here. Don't worry though, I'm making the most of it. My two regular university classes (European Law and International Trade Law) are going to be difficult because even though they're taught in English, the classes seem to be part of a predetermined track for students wishing to study law. The professor of International Trade Law keeps referencing all these regulations and conventions that I've never heard of, but she knows some of us haven't taken Private International Law and International Organizations, so I think I'll be just fine.

This weekend we're going on an overnight excursion to Pamplona and Logroño. Pamplona is the site of the Running of the Bulls every July, so it will be exciting to see where that happens. Also, to my family and friends reading this, I'm making good use of all my Spanish-themed presents: my dictionaries, Spanish history book, phrasebooks, camera, knitting materials, and kind monetary donations have all proven invaluable. I can't wait to see you all again, tell you about my adventures, and hear about yours!

I can say with confidence that I've adjusted well to my life abroad. I've fallen into a comfortable routine, going to school, studying, visiting libraries and cafés, and spending time with my host family. The next obstacle will be making Spanish and other European friends in my regular university classes. While I was hoping to join a political group like the Young Democrats here, I don't think they have any clubs of that sort. With that in mind, I think I'll join a group like Amnesty International and see where that takes me. I convinced myself that the hardest part of the trip would be the first two weeks; I figured within a fortnight, I'd know enough of the Spanish language and customs to get by on my own without embarrassing myself. It actually took a month, but here I am, alive and well.


Tenaciously,

Sarah