Near-death experience

Ok, I guess it wasn't a legitimate near-death experience, but it sure felt like it at the time.

Last week Sunday, I was on the metro with three friends coming home from the Athletic Bilbao soccer game (we won!) when all of the sudden we started smelling what seemed like chemical gas. We commented on it, but didn't really think much of it until some Spaniards started freaking out. A few just got up and ran through the metro, others were coughing as smoke started coming from who knows where and some people were pressing emergency buttons. Ben just told us to keep walking to the front of the metro (we were originally in the very last car) and thank god that all of the cars are connected....if not, I don't know what would have happened. I was coughing from the smoke and honestly thought that I was either going to pass out or that a bomb was going to go off any second. Luckily, neither of those things happened. The front of the metro was smoke-free and we soon came to the next stop. We ran off, security ran on and the conductor walked back there as well. Eventually they must have fixed it because the metro took off again, but we figured we'd just wait for the next one. Now it feels like a dream or something that didn't really happen, but it was so scary at the time! 

Alright, I know I still have to blog about my trip to London and Paris, and I will soon!

Madrid, Toledo and Last Weekend...finally

So about two weeks ago I went on a weekend trip to Madrid and Toledo and just haven't gotten around to writing about it. Now that I'm sitting in my hotel in London, I suppose I'll catch up a little haha.

On Sept. 24th we left Bilbao by bus at 8 in the morning, suffered through a 5 hour bus ride, and finally arrived in Madrid. This was a trip through my program, so all the students went, chaperoned by two professors (one being Francisco, who's amazing). When we got to Madrid our first stop was Palacio Real. I was gorgeous and had way too many rooms. The royal family no longer lives there because the King said that when he ordered hot soup, it was never hot by the time it finally got to him. From the Palace we went to the Royal Armory. I can see how it would be cool for someone who's interested in that sort of thing, but I'm sorry, I don't care about guns, swords and armor. So we walked through, but didn't stay. And finally, we made our way to the Madrid Cathedral. It was pretty, but I honestly think Barcelona's Cathedral was much prettier.

From here we made our way to Plaza Mayor and on to Puerta del Sol. Both were very cool, but I don't really have much to say about them....After this, my friend Molly and I went off to do some shopping and we found some awesome deals! I bought a pair of shoes for 3 euros that turned out to be the most comfortable shoes ever.

That night, a big group of us went to Kapital, a seven story nightclub in downtown Madrid. We read in an old guidebook that it was free before a certain time so we rushed to get there before that time....but it was an OLD guidebook and we had to pay 18 euros to get in (which included one drink). It was so worth it. Each floor was different, decorated differently, played different music...it was awesome. We danced until 3:30 when we decided to go get McDonalds, but once we got there, it was closed. So depressing. So we just took a cab back to the hotel, where the cabdriver took off with my friends 50 euros. Also very depressing. But still a good night haha.

The next morning we woke up early and took the bus to Toledo. It was a gorgeous city! Definitely not someplace I would ever want to live, and maybe not even visit again, but I'm so glad I saw it at least once. It was absolutely beautiful. We had a guided tour throughout the city and throughout the Toledo Cathedral, but the tour guide was awful. She went 2 hours over our allotted time and we were all bored out of our minds. I would have enjoyed everything a lot more if I would have been able to go at my own pace. I really hate guided tours. Later we ate lunch and went back to Madrid, where we siesta-ed and got ready to go out again. Unfortunately, I got really sick after dinner and tried to go out, but had to turn around and go back to the hotel to try to sleep it off. Bad night.

Then, Sunday morning, I was feeling better so we went to Museo del Prado and took another guided tour. This one was much better, but I still dislike them. After a few hours at the museum, we ate a quick lunch and headed back to Bilbao. I started to feel sick again after lunch and suffered through the 5 hour bus ride, but I survived. Luckily we watched "El Bosque", which was really The Village and that took my mind off the fact that I wasn't feeling well.

It was a really fun weekend, but it wasn't nearly as busy as our weekend in Barcelona. And although Kapital definitely won over the clubs we visited in Barcelona, I think I prefer Barcelona.

Then, for another quick update, last weekend was quite eventful as well.

Thursday night we went to our first Erasmus party, which are parties in different clubs around Bilbao every Thursday for all the international students from all over the world. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, I wore a skirt so I gave my keys to my guy friend to put in his pockets. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should've known this was a stupid idea. And of course, he decided to leave before I did and took my keys with him. Luckily I got a ride home from my friend and called my host mom to let me in. I was a littler nervous about how she'd react, but she couldn't have cared less hahaha. The next day I met up with my friend and got my keys back and everything was fine :)

Friday night we went out with Jon Franco to a bar in a bad part of town. So, we all took a taxi together, which Jon paid for. Awesome. Then, at the bar, Jon bought us drinks. Awesome. Then some friends and I moved on to a park to just chill and Jon Franco and company caught up to us later. It was so much fun. And because I made friends with some Bilbao natives, they were able to drive me home again that night so I didn't have to take a cab.

Saturday during the day, I went to the beach with Selma, Ben, Holly, Austin, Jake and Murphy. It was such a good time. On October 2nd I was laying out on the beach in the sun in Spain. I love my life :)

Saturday night we just went to Casco Viejo to celebrate two of my friends' birthdays. We hung out in the plaza until around 2 when they decided to go to a club and I decided to go home.

It was the most exhausting weekend so far in Spain. Thursday and Friday night combined I got a total of 8 hours of sleep and Saturday I got a good 10, but it still wasn't enough. On Sunday, I didn't leave my room except to eat. I just napped and did homework and facebooked all day. Although it was the most exhausting, it was also one of the best. I absolutely love Bilbao. And the more I get to know the people, get to know my way around, etc, the more I feel truly at home. I honestly never want to leave. And...maybe I won't ;)

Alright, off to do some homework so I can enjoy another day in London tomorrow. I'll update soon about this trip!

Love <3

I actually like dogs here. They are so well trained, it's ridiculous.

They don't even put their dogs on leashes. In America, we put our kids on leashes.

Moros y cristianos

I'm still not used to the lack of "politically correct" language here. Everyone, including my family and professors, has told me that certain gestures or words aren't considered racist here, just descriptive. For example, when talking about an asian person, it is common to pull on the corners of your eyes to get the point across. A common saying is "enganar como un chino" which means to trick someone like a chinese person. I don't think people even know the meaning of homosexual because they just say gays. Also, the n-word is acceptable and used often...not something I'm particularly comfortable with, but I guess it's just cultural differences.
So on Thursday, Carmen (my host mom) made this awesome lunch with black beans and white rice. As we were eating she told me that this dish was called "moros y cristianos" which, if its not already obvious, means moors and christians in english. Then she went on to say that the reason its called this is because the black beans refer to the moors and the white rice refers to the good christians. I laughed so hard I almost died.
The weird thing is that this isn't an issue here. There's little to no problem with discrimination and what I've described and we would consider racist language isn't considered racist at all. And i'm still not at all used to it hahaha.