So I have been living in San Sebastian for two weeks now, and it has been a great experience! School is going well and I have my first midterm on wednesday where I will have to write an essay about my family and also ace a few multiple choice questions. It may sound pretty easy, but when you haven't taken spanish in about 6 years, describing the weather outside is even difficult. HACE FRIO! yo y my companeros tienen FRIO!! But as you can see my spanish is improving. I can definetly speak a whole lot more Spanish then when I first arrived in this city. So google translate that and see where it gets you! haha. Speaking Spanish is getting easier and easier, but I am impatient and I CANNOT wait for the day where it just flows out of my mouth as if I were speaking English. I have been set up with an intercambio, which is another student who speaks spanish and wants to practice their English. I help them with their English and they help me with my Spanish. I have not met with her yet but her name is Monica and I am hoping that we will get along great. This past weekend I also made a little intercambio friend of my own who I met outside a bar. Yes, okay sounds a little sketchy but it is fully safe I swear. and DISCLAIMER: I am not going to fall in love with this guy so for all of you who swear that I am finding my soulmate here, you are wrong! haha. His name is Uribe, and I was with my roommates and other friends from studying abroad out side a bar we frequent on Friday night and we were all speaking English. I said something about thinking that these Spanish guys in front of us could understand us, and this one guy (Uribe) nodded. I started laughing and came up and introduced my self and he proceeded to tell me that he can speak English but feels embarrassed because he's not that good at it. It was a good feeling hearing this because I am terrible with my Spanish so I hate to speak it too! He hung out with us for the rest of the night and he practiced his english and I practiced my spanish! He was very friendly and graduated from the university that I am currently attending here in San Seb. He is 24 years old and we exchanged numbers so we both can work on our new languages! It was nice to make a new friend and he and his others Spanish friends got a long very well with all of us. Can't wait to hang out with them again. It is also a good feeling knowing that my first week here was pretty rough but I must not sound like too much of a loser if I am able to make friends even with a little bit of a language barrier! haha my optimism has come back to me! HOORAY!
As for this title, I thought I would catch you up on what has been going on these days here in San Sebastian. First we shall start with the Festival de San Sebastian which I briefly mentioned before but will now completely clue you in on. Last Wednesday night was what is equivalent to Mardi Gras/ Independence Day here in San Sebastian. So at midnight all the citizens of San Sebastian dress up in either chef's outfits or drummer outfits to represent the common people and the Spanish armies of the time when St. San Sebastian fought for the towns independence from France I believe. They all march throughout the city playing several different drum songs, and the entire town drinks in celebration and participates. We even bought ourselves a cheap little drum and brought it out with us to join in on the fun. The streets were PACKED. Literally so crowded that the only thing it reminds me of is like New Years Eve in Time Square. No joke! it was insane but so much fun. We were with a bunch of other study abroad friends and had a lot of fun dancing and drinking!. My roommates and I ended up at the discotec on the beach which was amazing and so much fun that we have decided that we must go back there! It was a great festival, and the next day was devoted to all of the children from the different schools marching with their drums and in their little outfits. You could hear the sound of drumming all over the city all day long. It was amazing! I feel that I would like to take this custom back with me and on 4th of July march around the streets drumming. Whose with me? any takers? haha think about it! I truly assure you a good time!
And now for the Sideria. Okay so in the Basque Country, Siderias are very famous for their fantastic arrays of alcoholic cider as well a their food. On Friday, a bunch of us decided to go to one, and so the bartender, Oscar, at the bar we frequent chartered a bus for us and and made reservations at one of the Siderias here on the outskirts of town. Of course Oscar came with us too, and he is a feisty one and so loud and cray. He is awesome to hang out with. There were about 40 of us (all study abroad students) and we spent the night drinking different types of cider and spending time with everyone. The cider comes out of these massive barrels from a little spout and you tip your cup at the bottom near the floor and follow it up from the bottom to the top of the spout to get the cider in your cup, and it is DELICIOUS!. All the workers there were so friendly and joined in on the fun too and drank cider with us. We were there for hours and were served five courses of food. In these five courses I learned two things:
1). The Spanish prefer there steak basically still alive. The meat was so rare that I am prety sure it does not meat US FDA preparation laws but they absolutely love it super rare here. Oscar and the other bartenders that came with us were eating the steak like it was nothing. Myself, being a well done kind of girl, was brave enough to try it and shocked at the taste. It was good but lets just say I don't prefer my meet completely RED!
2). A custom here is cracking walnuts with your forehead. Yes, it sounds weird but I am not kidding. For dinner we were served a delicious cheese dish and walnuts which we were designated to crack with our heads through a napkin. I FAILED! I tried and tried and tried and I have no proof of my success but I do have a sore spot and a bump on my forehead which I find a little funny but Mama Kuska did not. Sorry Mom, but when in Spain you must do as the Spanish do. However, I guess I need a little more walnut practice!
The Sideria overall was a great experience and afterward we all went back to Oscar's bar which is called Buga and had a few drinks. It was a great time and another weekend that I truly enjoyed living here in Spain. I know that there are many more to come and a lot more friends to be made. I love it here, and I am so glad that I am able to share all of it with you all back home via this blog. I miss you all and I hope that you are all having a great time in Chico, Salinas, Sacramento or where ever you may be! Again this is only the beginning of my adventure here so I hope you guys are prepared for more updates and more stories to be told!
Buenas Suerte!
Much Love,
The Koose
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