My 21st Birthday!

This past weekend was my 21st birthday! It is funny to think about, but in the US, someone's 21st birthday is a really big deal because then they can drink legally and go out to bars. However, in Spain we can all already drink legally and one's 21st birthday means that lots of things get more expensive because we don't get the youth discounts anymore.

I considered Paris my birthday present but still did a little celebrating here. I hadn't really mentioned it to my host family much because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but I mentioned it at lunch and Maria's son and Maria both got very excited for me. Maria said that we would celebrate that night when Pilar, her daughter, got home. Dinner is usually small and I can ask Maria to make something for me but usually just do something on my own. But tonight she made chicken Mexican fajitas which she had made before and were absolutely delicious. Better than some I've had in the US before. I think it is the salsa she has and the very fresh veggies and her use of spices.

She also gave me a little gift which is a silver necklace with the Tibetan symbol for peace on it. It is very pretty and that was very cool. Then after she brought out a cake she had bought for me from the bakery and dessert shop near by that had candles with the numbers 2 and 1 on it. It was in the shape of a flower and had lots of different layers and different types of chocolate. They sang me Happy Birthday in Spanish, and I was surprised, although I shouldn't have been, that the words were different than the English version just translated into Spanish. Her daughter was also very excited for my and gave me lots of birthday wishes.

Then Thursday night I went out with some friends to dinner. I decided not to on Wednesday because most of us had class early the next morning. I met up with Rachel, Emma, Kevin and Jaja and we headed to Peggy Sue's American Diner which I had seen before and seemed like it would be really fun to try. There were only people at 2 of the tables when we got there and so I was really surprised when she asked if we had a reservation. It was on a back street and a little hard to find, and a Thursday night, but I guess they were all booked up starting at 9:30.

A disappointment but we headed out to find somewhere else. There was an Indian restaurant near by that looked good so we went in. All the people working there were Indian and it had a really cool ambiance. We ended up sharing 4 dishes and naan and rice among the 5 of us and it was delicious! The food in Spain isn't spicy at all (they mention how spicy something is when it doesn't seem spicy to me at all) so it was really nice to get more strong flavors and spices for a night.

In Spain everything is a lot more relaxed and they take their time at meal. And they don't bring you the check- you have to ask for it. Therefore we got to just hang out for a long time just talking and enjoying the food and it was a great night and a lot of fun.

Harry Potter also comes out on Friday, so with some other friends from the school, we bought tickets for Friday at 00:20. One would think that this means 12:20 am on Friday, but I guess here it actually means 12:20 am on Saturday. I went to the theatre at midnight to meet up with people there and get my ticket from Charlie who had bought four online. However, I didn't know at that time that it was for the next night because the last I heard was that we were going to meet at the theatre.

I called them and they were all somewhere else so I took the metro and met up with them (Audrey, Thea, Sophie, Brinna, Charlie, and Ross) and found them at a jazz club where we had to pay a 6 euro entrance fee but it came with a free beer. So my first drink as a 21 year old was a beer in a really cool jazz club. The funny thing to me though was that I didn't realize that it was my first drink of legal US age until about half way through. We stayed there until just before the metro closed at 1:30 just hanging out, relaxing and having fun.

Paris! 11/14

Today was our last day in Paris, but we still fit in a lot. We started out early by going to the Louvre. I was really excited about going there but Laura doesn't really like museums but felt like it was a place she had to go when she was in Paris.

We started out together heading first to the Mona Lisa. It is interesting how some pieces of art get so famous and if someone didn't know what it was they might not look twice at it. I remember hearing at one point too that the man who it was painted for refused to pay for it because he didn't like it and now it is one of the most famous paintings of all times. There was a false wall in front of it and barriers keeping the many people away from it at a distance but it was still really cool to get to see.

After that we wandered around and saw a bunch of French paintings. One of the really big differences for me between the Louvre and the Prado is that almost all of the paintings I saw here were of a very large size and with more similarities, and the Prado has a lot more paintings of different sizes and varieties. It could also be that I didn't get to see as much of the Louvre so didn't see those parts.

Then we split up because I am more interested in paintings but Laura wanted to see more of the sculptures. I saw some Italian paintings and a few Spanish paintings and then headed over to the area of Napoleon's Apartments. That was very impressive and very grandiose and lavishy decorated with a lot of details and gold covering absolutely all of it.

There are four floors and three large wings in the museum. After being there for just 2 hours, going through getting a general view without stopping to look closely at many paintings I only saw a third of it. I would have been happy to stay for a lot longer but we didn't have that much time today. After that we headed out and walked across the river to find the Luxembourg Gardens. It is the largest public park in Paris with a palace next to it and was very pretty. It is a place that would be absolutely amazing in the spring or when more flowers are blooming and the trees have leaves. I'm still a fan of the Parque de Retiro in Madrid though and it is a lot larger and better for running.

Then we headed back toward the hostel. It was very disappointing that almost all the shops were closed on Sunday too like Madrid but then when we were on a street behind our hostel where we hadn't been before we suddenly found all the people. We had stumbled upon streets filled with all the little boutiques Paris is famous for. I don't really understand stores like that because they have just one of each thing. If you like something do you have to hope that the one thing they have is in your size or do they have more in the back? All of the clothes were very stylish and I really enjoyed going through all the stores, but the 400 euro price tags for a t-shirt just made me laugh. I'm sure as soon as I walked in they knew that I wasn't the type of person who would be buying stuff there.

We took the metro back to the airport, and it is a lot less clear here and not as easy to use like the one in Madrid. It was difficult to figure out how to get to where we wanted to go, and we actually ended up on a metro and got almost all the way to the airport at the north end of Paris when we were trying to go to the airport at the south end. That was a little bit scary being that far away and having a plane to catch, but some people on the metro helped us and we got headed in the right direction. Their signage is really bad. We got to the airport and got our boarding passes, went through security and got to the gate just as they were starting to board. We left the hostel with lots of extra time and I'm really glad that we did.

Overall it was a great time in Paris for my 21st birthday and I'm so glad that I went!

Paris! 11/13

Today was our big monument day. We got up early, had breakfast in the hostel, and then walked along the river Seine to the Eiffel Tower. The receptionist guessed that it would take about an hour to walk there but it was probably closer to an hour and a half. We could have taken the metro, but I like walking through places I'm visiting because then we got to see so much more and get more of a feel for the city. We could see it at one point off in the distance and then it slowly got larger and larger as we got glimpses of it through the buildings. It is an amazing structure just so big and grand and an icon in the world.

I really wanted to do a four hour bike tour of Paris that was recommended to me by old tour guides in my hostel in Cadiz, but it goes until some point in November and with the cold and rainy weather forecast for today they weren't there so I didn't get to do it. We did however take the stairs up to the second level of the Eiffel tower and walk around there and see the views. They are actually better from the second level than the top because we are closer to the monuments and it was really cool to look out onto the city in all different directions. As you can see it was rainy and overcast the whole time we were there without any sun, but Paris was still a great city despite that.

From there we walked up the road some more and onto a different one to head to the Arc de Triumph. This I remembered seeing too but it was still very impressive to me. So large with lots of different sculptures and decorations. We didn't go up it but took the tunnel under to road to get to the base of it and the inside was really interesting too but I really like the large flag blowing in the wind under the arch.

The we walked down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées which is a very famous and large street with expensive shops and car dealerships on each side. We went in a few stores along there, way out of my price range, and went in Ladurée the place famous for macarons in Paris. We didn't get anything there because of the long line and likely very high prices, but I did get a macaroon later in the day at a fancy chocolate store. I had never had one before and didn't really know what to expect but it was delicious! Three of four different layers and a fudgy frosting type center and an egg-shell like crust.

The road took us back into more of the heart of the city and into the really expensive stores that we didn't even try to go in and just did more window shopping. After that we split up with Laura doing some more shopping and going back to the hostel to work on a paper. I was going to go to the Orsay Museum that we passed earlier in the day but then felt like walking around and exploring more. It was raining lightly and almost everyone was using umbrellas, but being from the northwest with my raincoat and already being a little bit wet it didn't bother me at all.

I put away my map and just wandered wherever I wanted to go and wherever seemed interesting. There were some building with light decorations flashing on and off on the sides and it was just really calm, relaxing and fun to go around exploring the city on my own.

I wandered upon the Opera House by chance all lit up during the night and that was a really cool surprise. I saw it as I looked down a street and then realized how grand and elegant it was so doubled back to get a better look.

Later I started heading back to the hotel to meet up with Laura again. I decided to take a road parallel to the main one so I could see a part of the city I hadn't seen before. This however did not work because the roads aren't in a regular pattern or system so I ended up quite a bit off. The people I asked who worked in the stores couldn't really point to where they were on my map but I eventually found my way back. One of the streets I ended up on was pedestrian only and lined with little stores, restaurants, and some places that I'm pretty sure were strip clubs.

I did some work when I got back to the hostel and then went to bed early at 11 pm. Yesterday we went to bed at 10. It is kind of funny to me that we go to bed on weekend trips so much earlier than we do in Madrid, but it's good because then we can get up and start our days earlier.

Paris! 11/12

This past weekend I took a trip to Paris with my friend Laura from school here and it was tons of fun! My 21st birthday is also on November 17 so I considered it my birthday present to myself and from my parents. Our flight left at 8:15 am, but the metro doesn't open until 6 am here and it takes an hour to get to the airport on the metro from my house. Taking the metro would have been cutting the timing a little too close but fortunately I found a train from the station near my house that gets to a metro station closer to the airport at 6:04 getting me there early enough. It took me a little longer in the morning to get ready than I thought it would and I ended up running to the station and getting to the platform exactly at the same time as the train. What luck.

After we got to Paris we took the metro to a station near our hostel and walked there. It was located right in the center very close to Notre Dame. We dropped off out bags in the room and then started doing the Rick Steves walking tour and got through about half of it until we just stared exploring more on our own. It started at Notre Dame and then wandered around the Latin Quarter and old part of the city. I think the old parts of cities are my favorite for the small pedestrian roads and all the fun stuff that can be found there.

At Notre Dame I remembered being there when I was 10 on our first big family trip but it was still really cool to see it again. Especially since I've started taking my art history class I feel like I can understand it and appreciate it a lot more along with knowing a lot better what I'm looking at. The inside seemed new to me though, not remembering it, and really big old churches just impress me so much. There were lots of arches and art and stained glass. I would love to go to a service there, and I think that is something I want to do in Spain while I am here- go to a church service in a big cathedral.

The tour brought us to places like the Deportation Memorial, which was closed, the Latin quarter which had a bunch of book stores and cute little shops, Sainte-Chapelle, a cathedral of glass that is said to be amazing but had a long line and an 8 euro entrance fee, and then an old metro entrance that looks very spooky and a flower market. From there we just wandered around in the streets and explored on our own also seeing the very interesting exterior of the modern art museum only finding out later what it was.

Laura and I definitely have different styles of traveling. I'm a lot more into the museums and sights and learning all about what I'm seeing and the history of the city while she was more interested in going shopping after checking off the 3 big things she felt like she had to see. After exploring the old area of the city we did some shopping on a street near the hostel. She had a goal of at least needing to get something from Paris, but I was the one who ended up finding and buying a dress in H&M. It is a store in the US too and Madrid, so I'm just hoping that they have different clothes for different countries so it can feel a little more special having a dress from Paris. I was a lot less excited about going shopping there too because all of the stores around there they also have in Madrid.

Then we headed back to the hostel and were able to check into our room. It was a simple little room with 2 twin beds, a shower and sink, a window that looked out onto a road below and the back of a church, and the toilet just across the hall. They didn't however have towels to use for a deposit like every other hostel I've stayed in so showering was a bit more difficult, wet and cold after. We looked at maps and guide books to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our time there and then took a nap since both of us had gotten up so early and then dressed up a little bit to go our for our nice birthday dinner in Paris.

We asked the receptionist for a recommendation nearby and she pointed us to a place a short walk away. I was surprised by how much more difficult it is here not being able to speak French especially being used to communicating so easily in Spain. I had no idea what most of the stuff on the menu was and so chose the option for the two course dinner with limited selections and then just went with what the waiter recommended. Definitely a good choice. The first plate was a tomato tart that had a bunch of rosemary and other vegetables, herbs and flavors that all went together so well.

The second plate was steak au poivre which was equally as delicious. It was a cute little restaurant and we were sitting next to a big window looking out on the street so it was almost equivalent to sitting outside and being able to watch life on the street go by, just without the cold. Dinner was a lot of fun and definitely a great place to go for my 21st birthday.

My Art Teacher

So I can't find much online about my art professor Alfredo Ramón who is the painter. Both him and his manager Linda, who teaches the Prado part of the class, are older and don't do much with computers, much less have emails. However, the other day in class Linda told us that Alfredo has paintings in the Smithsonian, The Reina Sophia in Madrid, a few paintings in a museum in San Sebastian and a few other places that I didn't have time to write down. I looked online to find out more information on him and only found this article (in Spanish) that I put through google translator:

Ramon Alfredo exposed from his last morning nostalgic paintings of Madrid

MADRID, 14 (EUROPA PRESS)

The painter Ramón Alfredo has an exposition from tomorrow until 19 November, a selection of his latest paintings at the Cultural Center Despernada Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid). Ramon was born in La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia), is considered one of Madrid's most popular artists, their old stands and facades of their shops, taverns and corners.

Disciple of Vázquez Díaz, Chicarro, Joaquin Valverde, Ramón Stolz and Lafuente Ferrari, Alfredo Ramón reflected in his paintings an atmosphere full of nostalgia, if it is something of demands, which helps you understand your particular vision of this city.

Experienced artist, has traveled worldwide and taught students from various universities of America, the essence of classic and modern Spain through her paintings, which are admired in private collections and exhibitions throughout his very long career professional.

When he himself describes as "portraits" of the paintings that makes an old facade or carpentry is extinct because it is seeing in them the spirit of everyday life, of beauty, of the anonymous and, ultimately, endearing than having Madrid.

"I pine Real Madrid is a 'vulgar', does not interest me or the monumental and emphatic visions of a big city. I am interested in the landscape of the street," says the artist.

*and an update- when we went out for tapas with Linda we asked her how much Alfredo's art costs and she said that it starts at 880 euros and goes up from there but if students buy something they can do it in an installment program. With the exchange rate how it is right now that is over $1,200. Wow.

Cádiz to visit Theresa! nov 5-6

This past weekend I went to Cadiz to visit Theresa. She is a really really good friend from high school and we have known each other since 5th grade when we started orchestra together. We have definitely been orchestra buddies throughout the years. We had talked about visiting each other because we would both be studying in Spain at the same time and I'm so glad that we made it work!

I decided to take the 8 hour bus there and back instead of the 5 hour train because it was a lot cheaper. 32 euros instead of 150. They have busses that leave at midnight and get in at 8 am so that is what I decided to do and luckily was able to sleep the whole way on both. There were some stops before Cadiz and I accidentally got off in Jerez because I couldn't understand the accent of the guy next to me (it is a lot stronger in southern Spain) but asked the bus driver right before he left and luckily got back on just in time.

Cadiz is sort of just a point that sicks out really far into the water and the town is on the bulb on the tip. The hostel wasn't ready for me when I got there that early and Theresa had class until 2, so I found a really pretty park and sat there doing homework for many hours. That was really good though because I had a lot of reading to do for my anthropology class and had to read it a lot more closely because it is my turn to present in class next time.

I wandered around in small city just a little bit to take a break and ate my lunch while waiting for Theresa. It is a very cute place and quite small. Almost all of the streets are pedestrian only because it is so old and the few streets (except for the main ones that only go through parts on the sides) that can have cars are only wide enough for one and don't have many. I can easily see why Theresa loves it so much and doesn't want to leave, it just feels so comfortable and welcoming with an old world charm.

There are lights in Christmas shapes hanging above most of the streets now too but I've only seen them turned on during the night on one street. When I finally met up with Theresa around 4 (she had to go home for lunch) after checking into my hostel we just wandered around in the streets talking and catching up. We stopped by the giant cathedral in the middle of the old part and saw some other very pretty churches. There are a lot of them here. She says about 30. We saw some of her friends from the UW program and then headed to the beach. Cadiz is definitely a vacation place for people in Spain and Europe because it is so far south and stays warm a lot longer.

We just hung out there talking for a long time and watched the sun set over the ocean. This may be the first time that I've seen the sun set over the Atlantic and it took me a while to realize that since I've always seen it over the Pacific.

Then it was starting to get cold so we headed back into town and got churros and chocolate. Theresa has been here for almost as long as I have, but hadn't had them yet! Well, I've only had them twice and they were both at the very beginning of my time here. They were delicious, and one thing I really like about Spain is that you can sit at a cafe for as long as you want if you order something and no one is going to think twice about it, bring you the check, or ask you to leave. Because they don't invite people over to their houses to socialize, going out is how they do it here. We definitely took advantage of that staying there a long time just chatting about everything and catching up.

Then Theresa headed back to her house to take a shower before we went out for the night and I headed back to my hostel. The hostel is really cool. Great location right in the middle of the old town with very clean and bright rooms and a terrace and bar on the top floor with 2 computers and free wifi. I ended up hanging out with people on the terrace. Two guys from England, one guy from Scotland and one guy from Germany who was mostly on his laptop. It was a lot of fun and we talked about traveling, the different education systems and a bunch of other stuff. Theresa came and hung out there with us too when she got back. We shared some wine and then all of us headed out for the night.

According to the people from the UW program Cadiz is known for its beach and nightlife. We were hanging out with people from the hostel for a while. The group had grown by quite a bit with other people from other parts of Europe, and then we ran into a group of people from Theresa's program and ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night. It was very chill and a lot more low key than in Madrid. We went to a few bars then clubs and it was a lot of fun. I ended up heading back early to my hostel at 3:30 and got a text from Theresa at 5 in the morning asking if we could meet up a bit later because she needed more sleep.

In the morning I had the free breakfast of white bread (toast) with margarine and jam then checked out. Then I headed back to the terrace to do some more work while I waited. I got tired of doing that so left my bag behind the desk and headed out to explore. I ended up at the market which had a lot of sea food. I love being in a place so close to the ocean where the sea food is so fresh and plentiful! That will be one of the sad things about going back to Reed where we don't have fish very often and if we do it is bland and dry.

I met up with Theresa there and we wandered around some more. She showed me where her school is, right next to the park where I was studying the day before and then she showed me her favorite bakery next to the school where she got a piece of cake. A German bakery in Spain but I don't think that she knew that. We pretty much saw the rest of the city going to different plazas and around the edge. Cadiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Iberian Peninsula and possibly the oldest in all of southwestern Europe. It was one of the most fortified, and being surrounded on 3 sides by ocean and a narrow bit of land going back to the mainland it still has quite a bit of its original walls and towers.

Later in the day we walked out on this really long walkway out to a little fortress that was unfortunately closed to the public because they are fixing it up. It was a really warm day getting up to 75 degrees so it was really nice to sit in the sun with a light breeze looking back at the city hanging out watching an old man fishing and people jumping off the wall into the water. If I hadn't checked out of the hostel and left my bag we probably would have gone to the beach.

Another part of the day we were hanging out in a little plaza and it was just full of locals at cafes and I think a little kid birthday party going on. There were kids playing soccer and running around and having tons of fun and it was the cutest thing! Theresa took a video on her camera. All the little kids seemed so dressed up and cute to me.

After that she showed me La Punta, which means the point, which is an area out on a point where all the clubs are. It is the only place where people can drink legally outside because it is more on a dock and not actually on land. There was a whole row of clubs next to each other and she told me that they don't open until 3 in the morning. People start going out about midnight and don't head to the clubs until 3 or later. Cadiz is definitely a party city. We sat there and watched the sunset over the city before taking pictures on the giant square rocks put there to break up the waves and heading back to the city.

We saw some of her UW friends back in the new part of town where we wandered around for a while and in one plaza watched a band play on a stage set up. I think it is part of a youth program going on right now in the city where they sponsor different youth bands from Cadiz to play or different activities for younger people.

After that we headed to Cerveceria 100 Montaditos. I have a lot of friends in Madrid who really love this place but I hadn't been before. They have a list of montaditos (little sandwiches) that range in price from 1 euro to 2. If you buy a montatido then you get a jarra (mug) of beer for only 1 euro. They have tinto de verano (wine with lemonade), wine and some other drinks too. I was surprised but the little sandwiches were absolutely delicious! I expected them to be cheap bar food that people have to buy but they weren't at all.

I caught the number 1 bus to get back to the bus station to catch the bus to Madrid without a problem. I got on the bus, blew up my neck pillow, leaned my seat back, fell asleep, and woke up in Madrid in the morning. It was a really fun trip and so great to get to see Theresa while I was here!

San Sebastian, oct 3-nov 1

(the second half of the Bilbao post has been updated)

The bus was a little late leaving Bilbao so we got in around 4 after lunch time and had a hard time finding somewhere to eat. We slowly made our way from the new town into the old, and ended up at a restaurant that was really good. We both wanted fish, specifically cod, and specialties from the region so we ended up sharing baby squid cooked in its own ink, cod stuffed peppers and another cod dish. All very delicious especially the squid ink.

Then we headed to our hostel. We got there and rang the doorbell but it didn't ring and no one answered. We tried a couple other times, and tried calling the number we had but it didn't work. We asked the guy at the bar across the street if he knew the owner and he said yes but hadn't seen her in a week. Uh oh. We were about to go and try to find another hostel but Emma called one more time and the lady answered and we were let in. We had signed up for a group room with 5 beds but were lucky and got a private room with a full bed instead. It is pretty much this lady's apartment with her husband where they live there too but have changed all the other rooms to rooms with a bunch of bunk beds.

(the street of our hostel in the middle of the day when everyone is taking a siesta)

After that we headed out and walked over the river to explore the east side of town known as Gros where there is the Zurrida Beach which is smaller and always has a lot of surfers. We walked along the promenade which was very pretty as watched as the sky dimmed and lights turned on. Then we wandered back through the town and the streets there. It is a very beautiful town and many people say that it is either the best looking or at least up there.

Around 10 we met up with Sarah (from our program in Madrid) and her friend Emily from high school who has been living in Vienna for 3 years and is going to a music conservatory there. Our hostel is located right in the middle of the old town on the street with the most bars. There aren't really any bars that are just for drinks here, they all have pinxos and then the drinks go along with them. So we met up with them and went pinxos hopping staying a while at one place enjoying a pinxo and a small glass of wine and then heading to the next place. I don't remember how many different places we went to because I'm writing this a while after but it was a lot of fun. I have a class with Sarah but we don't really see each other that much and they are both really cool people and fun to hang out with.

(those glasses aren't all from us- we took over the table when other people left)

Sunday was Halloween but there wasn't really much going on here for it. In the morning we got breakfast at a little cafe and then met up with Sarah and Emily again. San Sebastian has a large crescent shaped beach that it is known for with a large hill on each side of it. The west side hill is a little bit larger with a venicular that takes people up to the top, then the other hill has a fort and a giant Jesus statue at the top. To the east of that hill is the beach we explored yesterday and then the town stops when it runs into some other large hills.

This morning we stared by meeting up in the more modern area and then heading to the Jesus hill. There weren't any paths that went straight up so we meandered around going this way and that until we reached the fort at the top. There was a battery of cannons half way up and great views of the city from all over. San Sebastian is definitely a beautiful city.

After that we followed the promenade along the long and beautiful beach heading toward the other hill. Half way there we stopped to check out the outside of a giant mansion just a little bit up and then continued. This would definitely be an amazing place to be when it is a little bit warmer and you can just relax on the beach and go swimming in the water. Probably why it is the off season now.

When we made it to the other side of the beach we took the venicular up the hill which was short but still a lot of fun. Half way up we passed another tram going down using the same track except for a little bit where it separated for them to pass. It was very steep and venicular trams are ones that use gears to bring them up the mountains/hills.

The view from the top was absolutely amazing! The hill didn't look that much higher than the other one from sea level but we could see a lot more. In the picture below you can see an island in the middle, the beach, town and other hill with the Jesus statue. Just on the other side of it is the surfing beach. One of the things that is so beautiful about San Sebastian is the mix of ocean, beach, town and mountains all so close to each other and running into each other.

At the top of the hill there was also this little theme park with a ride with a little boat that goes along a fake river getting different views from the top of the hill. We walked down a beautiful winding road instead of taking the venicular down and then headed back along the beach. Emma and I sat with Sarah and Emily as they ate lunch on the beach, and then headed back to our hostel where the lady who runs it made us free paella for lunch. Not the most authentic because of the use of sticky rice but still very flavorful and delicious. And it saved us 10-15 euros for lunch because it is the largest and most important meal of the day.

So by midday Sunday we had already done most of what there is to do in San Sebastian and since it was a Sunday everything was closed. Except for places to eat, but I mean everything else. Emma and I decided to just wander around and see the town a little bit more. We wandered to the cathedral and saw the outside of that which was very grand and beautiful and ran into Kevin and his parents in a cafe where we went in to get a coffee for Emma. I had no idea that he was going to be there and so we chatted with them for a bit.

We were going to head to a really cool sculpture museum a 20 minute bus ride out of town that my parents said would be cool if we had time, which we had, but when we went to the tourist office to figure out how to get there they told us that it closes at 2:30 on Sundays. Bummer.

There was a really interesting looking building next to the surfing beach that we had seen before that is sort of like giant legos and is illuminated from the inside at night. I looked it up in my guide book and found out that it is a conference center and has art exhibitions. We headed there with nothing else much to do and saw an exhibition about a tradition sport from the area which is kind of like racquetball but one form just uses hands and the other form used curved wicker baskets type things on peoples hands to catch and throw the ball. There was one room with paintings and another had old artifacts and 2 10 minute videos about it.

We ran into Sarah and Emily there, its a small place, and went around with them and then went across the street and each had a glass of wine with some olives since it was still too early for dinner being only 8 pm. After that we went pinxo hopping once again but with more specific places in mind based on recommendations from Kevin and his parents, my guide book, and a handout Emma got from the information office.

We saw Kevin and his parents at the first place. All of the food I ate all night was absolutely delicious, and one of the good things about going from place to place is getting to try the one thing that looks best at that bar. Only a few times two pinxos if the first is incredible and there is something else that looks just as good. I don't remember how many different places we went but Emma and I went to two more places after Sarah and Emily were done because it was out last night there and we just wanted to try a few more since it will probably be our only time there and they are famous for their food. I didn't get a drink at all of the places which isn't how you're supposed to do it, but I'm a student wanting to not spend too much money and still be able to enjoy the food. All night it was raining really hard so we almost ran from place to place in our rain jackets and it was a lot of fun.

Our bus left Monday at 1 pm to head back to Madrid. We were able to be there until Monday because it was a holiday so we didn't have school, but that also meant that everything was closed yet again because it was a holiday. With our bags on our backs after checking out we wandered around the new part of town again going a bit farther out than we had before, and wandering along the river some. In the end we ended up killing time doing homework in a cafe before getting bocadillos for lunch and then heading to the bus.

It is a very beautiful town, it just would have been nice to be able to do more there during the day. The best time to visit San Sebastian would be during warmer weather. They have amazing food during lunch and at night, but there isn't a whole lot to do during the rest of the day so it would be perfect to be there when things are open and be able to do some of that but also be able to relax on the beach and in the water and just hang out. But I'm not complaining. It was a very wonderful trip and I'm so happy that we went. Everything that I've done in Spain so far has just been so amazing and wonderful and I'm so happy and thankful that I'm able to be here and do all of this.