The pool was a success!

After class on Friday, armed with my bikini, towel, cap (lent to me from the ever wonderful Irene) and bocadillo (sandwich -- made by mommy B), I was ready to take on the public pool. Apparently the cap is necessary for hygiene purposes, however, living in a country where showering is less frequent, I'm not so sure hair should be the biggest hygiene concern... to each their own. After the pool we drank a few cervezas con límon and tried to plan the perviously mentioned trip to San Sebastian.

This trip turned out to be a bust in quite a few ways. First, this week was their festival, so any and all hotel rooms, hostels or park benches were already reserved by those who plan much more in advance than we do. Secondly, I had previously thought that I was visiting San Sebastian with my family on Sunday, only to realize once we were on the road that were in fact headed to Santander. Unfortunately this is one of my many conversation break downs I've experienced since landing. Either way a beach is a beach and I was rather content on Sunday... more on that later.

Friday evening we ventured out with the locals to experience some night life. We started at a tapas bar and then went to meet up with some locals (a "brother" of one of the WMU boys and his friends). We walked into a rather shady looking house that smelled of mildew and was tastefully decorated by a group of teenage boys, and we joked that this was how the movie Hostel began. Turns out we were in what is called a Locale. (Things to keep in mind: #1 apartments and houses in Spain are very small, thus there is very little space to just hang #2 it's common to live with your parents until your 30 here) Alas, this was a place like the basements of so many friends houses back home that these boys collectively rent to have a place to have a beer and hang out without their moms all up in their business while their home on summer break. We spent an hour or so hanging out there before heading out to a bar. I may or may not have mentioned that the majority of the bars in the area are located right outside my window, making it an easy walk home but a rough night of sleep. These bars are open until waaaay later than I can stay up, so at 2:00 when everyone else ventured to their next wateringhole, I crossed the plaza and climbed into bed.

At noon thirty on Saturday, I uncovered myself from my cocoon of blankets to join the rest of the world. I ate breakfast and ventured out to meet my dear friend Monica for a coffee. 

yummmmm!

We moseyed around and did a little more shopping (why are all of the cutest clothes so darn cheap right now!?!?!) before heading home for some lunch. Saturday evening we had a field trip planned to visit the city of Oña and see their community play of how the monastery came to be. With another packed dinner from my mommy, I ventured to the bus stop with my fellow students. Once on the bus, we made a pitstop at a small town called Briviesca where there were lots of old buildings and people in matching outfits. It was the day of their fiesta, so each group of friends wears the same clothes to represent their amgios. Verrry strange for an outsider to see without being warned of all the matching. We finally made it to Oña, where we were given free time to have drinks and snacks before the play started. The play was held in a magnificent church full of gold everything. It summed up the story of how and why the monastery was built and all of the wars, conflicts and deaths it took to get there. We were briefed on the story the day before, however, we were all very confused at the end of the play when some random man without a shirt on appeared and was lifted on a platform above the rest of the cast... no one knew where he came from, who he was or why he did not feel the need to wear a shirt. 

Sunday arrived, which meant family beach day for me! Unfortunately it wasn't very sunny, but we still managed to play in the Atlantic a little bit. My mom and I drove up to Isla (small city outside of Santander.. comparable to a South Haven) to see her mom, sister, niece, nephew and my sister Irene (she had taken a bus a fews days before to spend some time with them). We arrived, I met the crew, then we walked all around the city. The beach is very strange, as the tides change very quickly. At one time in the day there is a huuuge beach with tons of room to frolic and and play, and a few hours later, all that is left is a strip of sand that is 50 meters. We spent some time at the beach napping, playing beach tennis and splashing in the water. I got killed by my 6 year old "cousin" Jorge in a mean game of beach tennis. Later, he and his sister Maria taught me everrrything I ever wanted to know about fútbol. They have books with collectible stickers of all of the fútbol players, coaches and team symbols, and filled me in on the stats of each player of their favorite team, Real Madrid. They take this stuff super serious! Later, the Barcelona v Madrid game came on and these precious little kids morphed into monsters, SHOUTING at the players on the tv. Pure madness. We left late and had a long car ride home filled with several attempts at sleeping.

Today (monday) was a lazy day. Some religious holiday = no school. I woke up around 1:00 (a very early wake up after being awake til 5:00 thanks to the bottle throwing drunkards outside my window) and ate cereal and did a little research on travel plans for upcoming weekends and out big 10 day break, before heading down to the river to lay out for an hour before lunch. 

It's no Pine Lake, but it will suffice.

 I met one of the fellas here for a stroll around town, though it was rather uneventful with most of the shops and restaurants being closed for the holiday. We did manage to find an open candy store to buy Magnum ice cream bars (we have a commercial for the back in the states starring Rachel Bilson) which were crazy yummy. After more walking we found a bread and sweets shop that was open and ventured in. 

I chose cheesecake and Aaron selected the danish. All and all a healthy day.