La Rioja

I have so much to tell about, but I think I will have to break it up into two posts.
On Saturday, we had our first excursion with my class and went to a few different places to learn about the area of Spain we are in, called Alava, and wine culture. We visited two different prehistoric monuments called Dolmens. They are rock structures built sometime around 4,000 BC that were supposedly used as shelters. They are kinda one of those unsolved mysteries, cause the rocks are so big and the mountains are pretty far away, so no one knows exactly how the structures were built and how the rocks got there. We also went to a small museum called La Hoya, which means "hole in the ground" in Spanish, and learned about the history of the ancient people who lived in the area.
Then we went to a city called Laguardia where we toured a winery, La Bodega de la Fabulista (The Winery of the Story Teller) and got to taste a couple different wines. It was really interesting to learn about the different fermentation processes and how the wine is made. At this particular winery they still squish the grapes by stepping on them...what a cool job! Our professor also taught us a bit about the trading and investing processes of the wine world. Laguardia was a beautiful town with small skinny streets that are only walk-able; the town is mostly restricted for cars. We got lucky that it was a sunny, beautiful day and we could see wine fields and mountains all around.
At the end of the day we went to Labastida, a historic city with a beautiful cathedral and cobblestone streets. Elley and I wandered around for a bit and found some cute pathways and lots of little benches to look out at the wine fields. It was the most beautiful place I think I've ever been! I completely feel in love with the Spanish wine fields and my pictures just do not do it justice. It was an amazing place and really the word majestic describes it perfectly. Everything was so old and had more history than I could ever imagine. We went to the top of one of the hills and the panorama of mountains and fields was breath-taking. I had to pinch myself several times to make sure it wasn't a dream! It was just like I was looking at a beautiful postcard, but it was right in front of me and so much more amazing than I ever imagined. It was a place that doesn't exist in the US because it was the mixture of the history, culture and natural beauty that made it special.
Here are some pictures of our great day and I will write later about our trip to Bilbao yesterday.

Chao!!


Elley enjoying the view in Labastida


Elley and me


Laguardia


Grapes!


El Dolmen

La Huelga General

I don't know how many of you heard about the strikes/protests that happened in Europe this week, but in Vitoria, on Wednesday, there was a "huelga general" or a general protest. It sounds kind of funny to have a general strike/protest, like what?, you're gonna go with something to complain about and just hope someone else feels the same way about it? ha. Well, that was what I thought when I first heard about it, but really Europeans had a reason to shout out to their governments. The debt crisis in Spain and in Europe has caused many people to lose their jobs or have forced pay-cuts, just like in America, and now the governments are trying to cut public spending in order to reduce debt, so obviously people aren't happy. That's the skinny of the matter and about at much as I understand, but if you want to find out more about it read this article.
The reason I bring up the protests is because on Wednesday nearly all of my classes were canceled and not really prior to class, the professors just didn't show up to class and most of the students knew not to show up that day. Apparently in the past protesting as disrupted classes and many professors have learned that it's not worth the effort to have class. I also found interesting, the difference between Europeans and Americans when it comes to these matters. I mean, I know the governments work differently, but the US is going through the same economic crisis and yet it's still seen as taboo to protest about what the government is doing. In Europe, it's almost expected that people should protest, to show the government that they are not being represented well; there were signs for the protest all over the town and school last week. Elley questioned if it was really going to do anything if people here protested and who knows if it will make a difference, but it definitely made the news all over Europe.
In other happenings of the week, yesterday Elley and I toured la Catedral de la Virgen Blanca or the Cathedral of Saint Maria. We weren't allowed to take any pictures cause the cathedral is undergoing restoration and is closed to the public, unless you take a tour. The cathedral is gorgeous, even with all the construction going on inside, it's just amazing how people in the 1200's could have such precision and create detailed sculptures with their resources. Dremel tools didn't exist! The restoration is very interesting though, the columns and arches are all being reinforced because when they were built the builders didn't understand how to create structures to resist gravity and natural forces. Also, there is an archeological investigation going on in the underground portion of the cathedral where they discovered a huge storage space...storage of bodies apparently. I think it's kind of like a crypt, but the archeologists haven't identified all of the bodies yet, so they think some of them could be people who died building the cathedral. I would really like see the cathedral after the restoration is finished, but it won't be for a couple years...good reason to come back, I guess!

A few more interesting things I've noted are: there are no clocks around here, literally not a clock in any store, restaurant or classroom. Needless to say, I bought a watch yesterday and for only £2!
There aren't screens on the windows. Maybe that's just a Colorado thing, but there isn't a need here anyway, there aren't many bugs!
Maybe one of the more interesting things I've noticed, came about from a conversation today. In one of my classes there is a Russian girl and she was asking Elley and I where were are from and when we said Colorado, she said she knew where that was because she had to take an American History class in Russia. I just thought it was interesting that people from other countries learn about America and are even required to take a class about our history. I know the US has been very innovative and a "superpower" for quite some time, but now China is coming into more power and I know that it would not fly for a Chinese history class to be required in American schools. So why is it that other countries learn about us? But we don't learn about them?...

Tomorrow my excursion class is going to a local winery where we will learn about wine culture and then Sunday, Elley and I are going to meet her roommate, Irantzu, in Bilbao and spend the day seeing parts of the city and going to the ocean. I'm very excited for both and I'm sure I'll write again soon.

Agur!

Short

Not much to report from over the weekend, it's been a few lazy days. Thursday night was a crazy night out and we had a lot of fun! Yesterday and today involved errands and just a lot of walking around the city to people watch and see new places. There's always stuff going on Sundays, so Elley and I went to the Plaza this afternoon and there was some kind of Renaissance festival happening with activities and lots of booths to buy things. It was interesting and even though much of the stuff was overpriced, there was lots of pretty jewelry and such that is very different than what you'd find in the States. Then we were suppose to take a tour of the old cathedral, but we got caught in a pack of people and couldn't make it to the cathedral in time for the tour. Oh well, we are gonna try again on Thursday.
Elley and I booked plane tickets to go to Barcelona on the 7th! We will go for a long weekend, the 7th-11th and I am SO excited! We have a long weekend then because of a holiday and I found some cheap tickets on Ryanair. It's already less than two weeks away!!
I don't have much else to report now. I love and miss everyone back home!!
Chao!

Escuela is in!

Wednesday, wednesday, wednesday! Today was a good day. I had class starting at 9am and didn't stop until about 4pm, five classes back to back...not even time to eat lunch! It was alright though, I mean, I was starving by the time it was all over, but a very productive day. I actually learned some things in my classes today, thank goodness! My professors all seem really nice and I think the classes will be manageable as far as having instruction in Spanish goes. One of the classes I had today I don't think I will go back to, History of Translation, it was really confusing and not very interesting and I don't need it for anything.
So some highlights of my day were that I got put in to the intermediate level of my Spanish course, which I think is good for the conversation aspect, but I definitely already know all of the grammar that we will be learning. Oh well. The cool thing though is that two other Americans from FLC are in that class as well! I know one of them, him and I had a class together last year and then there is a girl who is really nice and I think we will get along well. Both of them had a really hard time with their schedules and finding classes that they thought would be easy enough for them, so I helped them try and figure out the system and recommended the easy classes I am taking. Elley (the girl) said that she went to talk to the international relations people here and they recommended only two classes for her which is hardly enough credits, but she told me about one of the classes, it's a course for foreign students to get a chance to travel around the Basque country...to do touristy things and learn about the history of the area. So we went to the information session today and it seems really great! We go on five "field trips" on different Saturdays, for the whole day and then we just write a paper about out experiences and what we learned. It's so great cause not only will I get to travel to places (and not have to go alone), but our professor will be explaining everything and telling us how they do things here in the Basque country. So stay tuned for updates on my Basque travels! Our first trip is next weekend, the 2nd of October, to a winery that's close to Vitoria.
After classes, I meet with my "madrina", the girl the University set me up with to help me out and show me around. She is really sweet, we went to a cafe and talked for a few hours, we switched speaking between Spanish and English. She said she needed to practice her English cause she hadn't spoken it all summer and I said I needed to practice Spanish, pretty much for the same reason! We compared Spain and the U.S. and she told me about her experience studying abroad in Sweden. I think we will get along well, we seem to have a lot in common and she's really nice.
So this week is turning out nicely so far and tomorrow is Thursday, so you know what that means! Partee!! haha! :)

Tortillas!

Today is the first day of classes here in Vitoria, it's been too long since I've been in school, it feels so strange! But my 9am class for today was cancelled, already. We walked into class and the profa announced that we would just start the class on Wednesday and go over stuff then. Cool! So now I don't have class again until 1:30pm. I think I have my schedule figured out, but the system here is kinda complicated and finding classes to take that don't have time conflicts is really difficult. Seriously, all of the classes are at the same time, how is that suppose to work? And a lot of the classes for the Spanish major are ones that I can't/don't want to take cause they are about learning the different regional languages like Catalan and Galacian. Not that it wouldn't be interesting, just not applicable for me.
So I thought I would write about some other interesting Spanish things, only a few though.
When you go to a restaurant here and order a water or a soda, it's bottled. As in, you can't buy tap water at a restaurant or even ask for it, cause they don't serve anything but bottled. And if you order a coke, they take a 350ml (approx) glass bottle and pour it into a glass for you. There's not a tap for sodas either! I'm not sure about beer, I haven't had one yet and I haven't been observant enough to notice if there is draft beer or not. Most of the beer here is light though, they drink Heineken like Bud Light back home.
Also, the people that do have dogs around here rarely ever have them on leashes. There must not be any leash laws, but as far as I've seen all of the dogs are very well trained and will sit outside of a store patiently for their owner. Most of the dogs are pretty small too, again cause of apartment living.

Oh! Saturday night I ate dinner at Cam and Alba's apartment and we made Spanish tortillas or tortilla de patata. What an awesome meal! If you are envisioning a tortilla made out of flour or corn, think again, this is not South America...wheat and maize are not native here. Spanish tortillas are made out of potatoes (patatas) and are pretty similar to a potato omelette, here's a picture to demonstrate:


They are SOO yummy! I can't wait to make them at home and show everyone how delicious they are!

Here are a few ore pics of Vitoria.
Oh and forget about having a good hair day here, humidity is terrible...

Chao!