The return of San seb!

The sun is starting to shine! This weekend was quite a busy one, and the sunshine made it all worth it. The individual days of the weekend sort of all smushed together so I'm going to do my best to recount everything that happened.

Friday:

Friday class was a struggle quite honestly, I did not want to go and I simply could not bring myself to get up early. However, I have discovered that if I sit up really really fast in bed then I get a quick rush of adrenaline that forces me out of bed. Once class was over, I honestly wasn't sure what to do with myself, all of my friends were traveling or had other plans. Since coming to Bilbao, I have discovered I am very rarely by myself and almost always with one other person or a group. So as I sat there after class on Friday I was slightly caught off guard by the uncertainty of the rest of my day. I've always been an very independent person and so this feeling of uncertainty was relatively new. After sitting for a few minutes, it dawned on me that I absolutely had to do a solo adventure to somewhere new in Bilbao (that wasn't food). With this thought in my mind, I set off towards a fine arts museum! I'm going to be honest, I personally thought the art was exquisite and definitely superior to the Guggenheim. Walking around I discovered murals, portraits and a very interesting African art exhibit. The museum was relatively small, yet I found myself staring at the art for a relatively long time. Feeling content I headed to the market to get some snacks and my favorite drink of all time: kalimotxo. It was still light outside and I realized that I rarely take a night to myself to watch tv, relax and actually not look at my phone or do hw, and so I did all of the above.

Saturday:

Saturday morning I slept in and then met a friend from NAU at the train station, as he had just headed over from Madrid. I attempted to give him the best tour I could think of for Bilbao, which was hard because on an overcast day everything looks a little drab. We stopped by the Guggenheim, the city center and a few other places in the city. At night my other friend from class met up with us and we had some delicious sushi as I taught them how to play kings corner. The day flew by and before I knew it, the sun had set. After everyone had left, I was sitting in my pjs studying for my midterm exam (which happened to be on Monday, and I would just like to know why she chose a Monday out of all the days), I spontaneously ended up deciding to go to the club with some of my friends who were still in Bilbao. Running around I quickly got ready while they headed over to my apartment. Again, I taught them kings corner and we chatted about our excitement for the club and surfing class that was coming up. Around midnight we hopped on the metro and headed over to the club. Quite honestly, I am still not used to going out at midnight and I think it's admirable that the Spanish people can go out at 1am or 2 am and get back home at 6am. Overall, the club was really cool and it had two different rooms that you could listen to different music in. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment and again I taught more of them how to play kings corner (I should honestly start a kings corner card game club). Finally, I headed to bed around 6am.

Sunday

My slumber was very short and sweet, and I almost threw my phone across the room when my alarm went off at 10:00. Using that burst of adrenaline I ran around and grabbed cereal, as I had to make my bus at 11am to San Sebastián! San Sebastián is about an hour away and it is such a nice bus ride, and allows me to get out of Bilbao for a quick day trip. I met up with my NAU friend and the rest of the group as we rushed to the bus. Let's just say that some who went out to the club did not make it in time. I managed to try to sleep on the bus ride and before I knew it we were there! Our tour guide (my friend in San Sebastián) met us at coffee and we started our trekk across town. When I say trekk, I really mean it. In total I think I walked 12 miles for the entirety of Sunday from 12am-8:45pm. We saw so many beautiful sites that included unforgettable views. Each time I passed the beach I got more and more tempted to jump in because the sun was shining and the water looked crystal clear. Overall we ended up seeing:

1. A massive statue of Jesus at a fortress on Monte Urgull

2. Parque de atracciones Monte igueldo - which we took the fernicular up to and then proceeded to wander around and look at the super cute children's rides

3. La concha beach

Interestingly enough, although this list is small, it took quite a long time because the statue and the parque de atracciones were on complete opposite ends of the beach. Walking that distance was super relaxing even though it did feel like a longer distance. For dinner/lunch I caved and had chicken fingers but only because they were calling my name. I have noticed that when I travel places my hunger shifts and I usually am not as hungry when I am moving around a bunch. The day concluded with a gorgeous beach sunset view, as we watched some of the other USAC students jump into the waves.

Overall, the weekend did blur together, but the on the go mentality was 100% worth it. The sun in San Sebastián was absolutely amazing and I enjoyed showing my friend from NAU around the cities. My brain currently is a bit muddle because of lack of sleep, so once I remember more detail I will add to the blog!

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