I'm falling behind on my posts...

I am having trouble finding enough hours in the day to remember to write/post to my blog. The past two weeks have been pretty packed: Cormac came to visit, we took our first 3 credit Spanish course start to finish, had an exam, and have done some traveling. Here's the rest of orientation week:

WEDNESDAY

We had orientation this morning. All of the international students were expected to meet at 10:15 for an orientation about the administrative workings of Universidad de Cantabria (UC) but since we won't be sitting in on regular classes in my program we didn’t have to attend the first session. Instead we all met in the front hall of the international building to sign wireless internet contract forms for the university.  A very flustered Gonzalo (program director) then corralled us up to the Study Abroad Office to get our student IDs. We had a little issue because some people's passport pictures had not successfully made it to the office and therefore these people didn't have IDs (which are needed to access the computer labs on campus).

Next was a walking tour which covered pretty much everything we had already seen on our own. We did get to see the cafeteria which serves beer (to help prepare you for especially hard exams) and traditional Spanish dishes. Our tour guide had a long braided rat tail which I found immensely distracting.  

When we finally came back in from the cold wind, we were taken to a sort of welcoming hall. It was full of tables with tapas and waiters passing around drinks.  All the ERASMUS (European study abroad students) were there so we got to mingle with people from all over the world and speak a little Spanish, too.  We almost immediately identified the very handsome Australians that were in attendance who's voices made your insides melt like butter. We talked to them for quite a while about surfing, pop culture, and politics (common themes of conversation here).  All of us were then split into two groups and loaded on to buses for a city tour.

Our first stop on the tour was the Palace, which is usually off limits to us. As soon as we got off the bus to take pictures a hail storm started. We all ran for cover to the buses and the palace welcome hall. Needless to say I didn’t have much interest in taking pictures or walking around in the hail storm so I didn't see much of anything. As soon as we got back on the busses to leave, the hail let up.

Our next stop was a memorial overlooking the ocean. The memorial was built to commemorate hundreds (?) of people who were thrown over the cliffs during the civil war. It was raining again by the time we got there so I didn't take any pictures but hurried into the café for some coffee and a croissant.

Usually I would not have minded this type of tour, we got to get off the bus fairly often. However, we had a really annoying guide on board who spoke so fast (her audience was all international students whose second language (may some day) be Spanish) and spoke constantly. I had no idea where we were going or the significance of any of the sites minus what the students had learned from random sources (such as host families) in the city. It didn’t take long to figure out that the conclusion to our day was a boat tour of the harbor.

Normally I would love the idea of getting on a boat to see beautiful beaches and pristine blue waters. Unfortunately the water was incredibly rough and sea sickness was a certain end to the ride. The waters were so bad that we didn’t actually get to do the tour, we just sort of rode in a large circle around the part of Santander I have already walked countless times. Most of us headed up to the top deck (open air) to watch the passing shores. It was pretty chilly up stairs and soon began to rain. Everyone then took cover in the enclosed area on the main deck, a very steamy and sticky place to be. Not long after the oxygen supply diminished did I begin to get queasy. I sucked it up as long as possible and then took refuge back outside (in only a slight drizzle) where I could breath. Steven also went out to keep my company and to "hold my hair" if needed. Thankfully this was an offer I didn't have to take him up on.

Back on land again we left the other international students and split into smaller groups to run errands. Several of us went in pursuit of cell phone minutes and then met up with a larger group who were eating chocolate con churros (a common late afternoon snack). The churros were really good and the chocolate was divine. I was picturing a cup of hot chocolate and was surprised to instead receive a glass of hot chocolate pudding (really thick and sickeningly sweet). When the churros had run out I went to Café Vega to use the internet for a bit before heading home for dinner.

After dinner I went to the Celtic tavern to meet up with the group and some international students. We watched a futbol match between Spain and England. Around half time we left the Celtic for a place called Tempo (where a lot more international students were) which is a bar/club. As usual I was one of the first to get tired and head home around 1:00.

THURSDAY

I woke up at the unGodly hour of 6:45 to take a shower and get ready to go to the Universidad. I made my usual breakfast (two pieces of toast with peach jelly, hot chocolate, and two cookie wafers) and took a cold and quick shower. I was running late so I left without making my bed (when I got home it had been made for me and the room had been straightened up… I felt bad and kind of weirded out that my stuff had been moved). I met the tunnel crowd (those of us who live on the harbor side of the tunnel to the Universidad) and hiked up the hill in the rain to school.

We got there at 8:30 on the dot as instructed. We then stood around starring at each other waiting for the busses to arrive. I was made fun of for poor choice in shoes (ballet flats) because we were supposed to be going to the Picos de Europa (snow covered mountains) which I had someone completely missed in getting dressed that morning...  In true Spanish nature we didn’t actually pull out of the lot until 9:15 or later. I sat next to Jordan and planned on sleeping for the duration of the hour long ride to the town of Comillas. Instead Jordan and I talked pretty much the whole ride.  Even if we hadn't been talking, the annoying guide from the day before was back (and well rested apparently) giving long winded explanations of every blade of grass we passed along the way at an unnecessary volume.

When we finally got to Comillas, none of us really knew the significance of the castle and cathedral we were looking at (other than the sheer antiquity of the buildings). The architecture was actually really cool and the mosses (vividly colored) covering the buildings added a lot of character to the stone carvings. We all walked around and took pictures, avoiding the really slippery slime covering the cement pavers. One girl wiped out pretty hard but I missed it.

When all the photos had been taken, we were instructed to go back down the hill to coffee shops. Our group was pretty tired off coffee so we opted to play on the awesome playground we found instead. It was pretty comical to see a group of ten "adults" as excited as we were to be swinging. I fell really hard on one of the wooden plank/ramps which made it seem all the more like my childhood. No longer spying any international students trickling past us, we decided to head for the buses . While standing in the rain waiting, the students who had home stay packed picnics shared their sandwiches with us. Steven had an awesome ham and cheese on regular sandwich bread (it's usually served on rock hard baguette).

The Castle stone work

The church

On the bus once more, we headed for our main event: Los Picos de Europa 

(the peaks of

 Europe). I managed to get an hour or so of pretzel twisted slumber in. When I woke up I was surrounded on both sides by large rock faces unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. The mountains here are absolutely unreal. Sprinkled all across the faces are deep caves (some of which show clear signs of human presence) and fast moving water falls (snow melt). The bus kept honking as we went around each hairpin turn in order to let oncoming traffic know our position (this made me feel safe, really it did). On the right side of the bus a river with small but fast rapids ran less than ten feet from the edge of the road (no guard rails). None of these factors were really involved in waking me up from my nap though, the really obnoxious tour guide had decided to start explaining what a typical Spanish meal would look like (because we hadn't been eating them for a week). 

Jordan gives a tour of the picos from the bus window

All of us sat in awe of the scenery, hoping they would let us out to explore in the unreal terrain. Unfortunately we pulled into a second desolate town to eat bagged lunches and stare at one another.  We got off  the bus in the tourist town of Petos. As we got off we were all handed a bright green tote with our lunches in them. We didn't just get one sandwich in our lunch, we got two monsters on semi-soft baguettes. I got one tuna fish and one salami. Becca got one churizzo (red sausage) and one bacon (basically ham jerky only sketchy looking). It seemed kind of random what each of us ended up with, but no one was overly thrilled with any of their selections. I ate my salami sandwich and decided to part ways with the tuna.  

Steven, Becca, and I really wanted to get back to the rock faces we had passed on the bus rather than walk around the cobblestone tourist trap in which we had landed. We settled for climbing the small rolling mountains surrounding the town instead and set out to find any sort of trail that would allow us to do so. The first trail we opted for wasn't really a trail. It was someone's field that we just decided to walk through (along the fences). The field was full of thorns and let us to barbed wire fences which none of us decided was worth climbing. Disappointed we all turned back in pursuit of a more legal option. We walked down the road but saw no signs of trails ahead (we did see a cool hiker statue though). Our second choice was to walk along a service road of a grape farm. Our only obstacle was the raging river which ran all through the town (and we of course were on the wrong side). Not willing to wade the waters, we turned back towards town determined to find a way across.

River with moss covered trees

At the edge of town there was a visitors center which Becca and I ducked into to use the bathroom. They had a really cool 3D topographic map of the Picos with all of the hiking trails labeled. Clearly there were several trials starting on the outskirts of town that we could choose from, if we could only find them. Steven went out to search for a way across the river while we used the bathroom.

When we walked outside Steven had found a bridge leading out of town: success! We went over the bridge and climbed a retaining wall into what appeared to be uncultivated land. As we

 ascended the freshly rain sodden, steep, thorn infested hillside (in my ballerina flats) we began to notice signs of homeless inhabitants along our path. Ignoring the small shacks we continued up and away. As we reached our first particularly challenging obstacle (another stone retaining wall) along the way, cat calls and whistles began floating up towards us. Unsure of whether the noise was telling us that we were in danger, on private property, or just in admiration of Becca and I having our butts high in the air for all to see, we quickly headed in to some thick brush. As we climbed my feet began to curse me for not wearing the proper attire. I was having a lot of trouble not sliding back down the mountain and only found traction when thorns were prying their way into the soles of my feet. It was unpleasant to say the least. This was not going to stop me from see the view that was sure to await us at the top.

Ten minutes into our climb we came across a trail which, had we found first, would have saved us approximately nine minutes of climbing. Laughing, we kept hiking. Each time we came to a retaining wall Steven would figure out the best way up and then pull Becca and I up behind him. This continued until we decided we should turn around to leave time to get back down (a task we were all dreading). Our highest point was just beyond the first tree line, a great spot to take pictures of the town and the surrounding mountains.

View from the top of our hike

As it turned out, going down was much easier than expected and we were to the bottom in a matter of minutes. We had to run through a field (furnished with a windowless shack containing a seemingly ferocious canine) and scale back down a retaining wa

ll to get back in town. Proud of our adventure we headed back to the bus (with filthy shoes and muddy toes).

Bridge back over the river after our hike

Jordan and I talked the whole way back to Santander. I stayed awake the whole time and got to take in the amazing scenery (and take pictures) a second time. When we got back to the school I walked down to the beach with Nate and Sabrina for a minute or so before heading home to pass out for the night. I didn't make it past 10:00 before I was out cold in my warm bed.

FRIDAY

Well rested I again got up and made my breakfast, showered, and met the tunnel people for a second day of site seeing. With a full night of sleep under my belt I was optimistic that today's adventure would greatly overshadow the day before: WRONG!

We met at the school at 8:30 and loaded the buses once more. This time I sat with Steven who was equally annoyed when the tour guide started her yammering in Spanish. Luckily the ride wasn’t as long so we didn’t have to be subjected to her voice for too long. 

I was pretty excited for our first stop: the replica of some of the oldest cave paintings known to man. The real caves have been closed for preservation reasons so we all knew that we weren't going to see the authentic paintings going into our excursion. We were all pretty disappointed to find that we wouldn’t be going in to any caves at all (I had pictured fake paintings in a real cave). Instead we toured an ultra modern museum explaining the excavation and sociological findings of the caves. We started our tour with a hilariously bad video showing the progression of the caves through a period of 10,000 years or so. The "acting" was awful, even if I couldn't understand Spanish cave-speak, I knew that they had said something ultra lame. After the video we got to tour the "caves" which consisted of fake rock walls with paintings and holographic people. The rock was less realistic than the rock wall at NC State which was pretty sad.

When we were done with the museum we all loaded on the bus and went down a hill (could have just walked…) to a new cobble stone tourist town! We quickly figured out the guided tour wasn't for us and ducked into "The Hamburger Plaza" for some coffee. Steven played the video slots (extremely common, the slots, not Steven playing) and doubled his money. When the group finished their tour we all got on the buses and went home to Santander.

Julia had packed me a lunch because she assumed we would be gone for lunch (I tried heartily to tell her other wise but eventually gave up and let her pack it). The weather was gorgeous so when we got home I walked to the harbor and sat on a bench to bask in the sun while eating my Spanish tortilla (egg and potato omelet). I took some pictures of the boats and the tidal arches before heading home for siesta. I spent the rest of my afternoon at the internet café and walking around the city.

After dinner our group met up for a night on the town. We tried going back to the Loft, a bar we found our first few nights here, but it was full of families eating dinner still. There was a camera crew right outside the Loft obviously awaiting someone important's arrival. A really tall black woman walked out of the bar next door wearing nothing but a jersey knit dress (no undergarments, clearly) who was quickly surrounded by flashing cameras. We had no idea who this woman was but we were told she was somehow connected to the royal family. Someone in the group guessed high school musical, but I don’t think Disney allows enhancements like this woman was sporting. We eventually trickled into a bar across the square and had a beer (which came with a free lollipop?). After the drinks were finished we headed to Tempo to meet the international crowd again.

We were some of the first to arrive to Tempo, well before happy hour began (12:30-1:30). Once happy hour hit the bar filled up quickly with people and smoke alike. I didn't really care for either so I was glad to go home early again.

SATURDAY

Sabrina sent me a text message around 10:00 inquiring about our departure to Somo. I rolled over, rather unenthusiastically and checked the map for any signs of a boat launch to Somo. Much to my surprise there was a site clearly labeled (so surprising I double checked my dictionary to make sure I had translated the map properly). I texted back Sabrina and the rest of our group a departure time of 11:30. I then got myself out of bed and ate my usual breakfast (toast with peach jelly and hot chocolate). I told Julia I would not be home for dinner and walked out the door into beautiful weather.

We were all greatly deceived when told to pack for rain. Thankfully, thus far we have had three or four days of rain, maximum. The girl I ran into at the embassy in DC when I was getting my visa told me that when she was in Santander for a semester she only got two days without rain. While the weather is beautiful and I cannot complain about the sunshine, I did not really pack a wardrobe suitable to this many days of consecutive warmth. When February ends and the temperatures start climbing, I may have to invest in some cheap t-shirts to get me through! I have also found my choices of footwear to be subpar. My black boots I got for Christmas have a little bit of a wedge heel so they are uncomfortable to wear during our three hour strolls around town and my feet swell so much that they don’t fit into my flats comfortably by the end of a long walk, either (thanks Forbes family genes). Sabrina and I have decided to hunt for some flat boots this week to ease this issue.

The group met and got our tickets with great ease at the boat launch. A round trip ticket to Somo is only 3.40 Euros, pretty good for a thirty minute boat ride. Our mission in Somo was to figure out where the cheapest place to rent a wetsuit and surf board is. We were all confident until we stepped off of the boat into a deserted tourist town (we should have seen this coming after our orientation excursions). 

Despite this small flaw, we found a nice restaurant to sit and eat sandwiches. Our waitress was really nice and patient and tried to teach us some new food vocabulary. We were so comfortable (it was kind of chilly this day so being inside was a much warmer alternative) inside that we ordered chocolate con churros (hot chocolate pudding with a side of fried dough and sugar). At the end of our meal we asked our friendly waitress what there was to do in Somo. Her reply, "go to Santander". When we told her that was where we had just come from she told us: "well go back!". Amused we paid our bill and headed for the beach to at least take a glimpse of Santander from across the bay.

The beach was even colder than the streets of Somo. All the surf shops along the beach were boarded up for the winter, mission not accomplished. The girls all walked out on the beach for some pictures and then we were all satisfied to go home.

Me, Carly, and Sabrina on the beach at Somo

Back in Santander I took a long siesta before meeting back with Sabrina for shoe shopping in the afternoon. We wandered the streets of Santander for hours popping in and out of probably fifty stores with no luck. Our criteria was (seemingly) simple: flat, mid-calf, neutral color. One of the last stores we tried had boots we both fell in love with (and at an awesome price) but of course, they were out of our sizes. Disgruntled (which is a hard mood to put always bubbly Sabrina in), we gave up and went home.

I went to café Vega to call home and talk to Cormac for a bit. Cormac bought plane tickets to Santander for the next week!! An AWESOME Valentine's day surprise!!

That night most of the group went to Montreal, a dance club a couple blocks from my flat. We first met in the Plaza de Pombo where the guys in our group surprised all of us with flowers (Valentines Day). It was a really sweet gesture since most of us have boyfriends we didn't get to see. We were all supposed to go out for desert before going "out" but we scratched that plan in an attempt to save money.

At Montreal you pay a "cover charge" and then receive "complimentary drinks". On Valentine's day it was 6 Euros to get in and you got two drink tickets. Inside we all had our two drinks and then hit the dance floor. It was really fun to dance in a European club where men aren't molesting you while using the excuse that they are "grinding". In fact, not a single man tried to grind with any of us. There were the staple ingredient sharks that circled the group of American women all night long asking our male companions whether or not we were interested in going home with anyone, but they never directly spoke to me. I danced with a couple Latinos who twirled me around and made me laugh about my lack of dance skills (they were obviously not as amused and one seemed upset that I wasn't completely seduced as he had planned).

Around 4:30, when our feet hurt so bad we couldn't take any more and the music switched to techno (and the crowd composed mostly of weird old men and Spaniards on ecstasy) we headed out for some sandwiches. I wasn't in bed until after 5:00 and pretty proud of myself that I made it a full night of Spanish style living (though there were still plenty of people wandering the streets and bar hopping at this time).

SUNDAY...THE LAST DAY!

I woke up this morning to an abnormally loud house hold full of voices. Today is Julia's birthday and the whole family is stopping by in droves to wish her well. I felt way too awkward getting out of bed and using the bathroom (it would be considered rude to leave the room in my pajamas but I was still so grungy feeling from last night I hated to put on clean clothes). So instead of sucking it up and being a big girl, I just laid in bed waiting for the noise level to indicate that I was alone in the house.

Birthday card Julia's 11 year old grandaughter left on the door to the apartment

When the coast was clear I came out of my room to find breakfast waiting for me (who knows how long it had been sitting there). I quickly ate and then took a shower before the people started coming back. I felt really really lonely today, probably because it was my first day with absolutely nothing to do. I did discover a wireless internet connection that I can tap into, a very important discovery to make. A rather unfortunate discovery that was made, as well, is that Julia smokes in the house. With nothing to do I caught up a bit in my journal and did some reading. After lunch, which I ate by myself since Julia had gone to visit family, I couldn't take the loneliness any longer and I texted Nate.

Nate let me in on a plan to go see the local futbol team (Racing) play an afternoon match. So at 4:00 I left my empty apartment to meet the group of futbol enthusiasts in Plaza de Pombo. Nate, Steven, Sabrina and I got impatient and took off for a bus headed to the stadium, leaving part of the group in the dust. The bus was packed full of Racing fans (easily identifiable by the team scarf). 

We made it to the stadium in time to buy tickets for 20 Euros and then pop into the fan shop to purchase our own scarves. The security tag (the kind you have to cut out from Old Navy clothes) was still in the vest I wore so I set off the alarm all four times we walked in and out of the shop (which really annoyed the security guard). Nate, Steven, and Sabrina all got matching scarves and then we headed in to find our seats with Carly who had wandered by on our way to the gate. Our seats were pretty bad as we were sitting in a cage like area (you had to look directly through a set of bars to see the field). The game was still fun to watch and the atmosphere was cool. We got tickets in the same row as everyone else in our group which was also nice. Racing won the game (I think… I don't really remember at this point).

The Racing Mascot

After the game Nate, Steven, Nadia, Erin, Sabrina, and I went to Pizza Hut (yes they have one here) to grab a snack. I broke my first promise to myself that I would not be eating at Pizza Hut while in Santander by going (better that it happened sooner rather than later, I suppose). The six of us laughed through an entire meal, only pausing to swallow and breath. For some reason all of us were full of giggles (probably due to the depressing start to the day). At one point I began fanning Nate, for no reason whatsoever other than that I thought he looked hot (he had a sunburn on his face). This really confused Nate and then when the rest of the group caught on to what had just occurred we all busted out laughing. On the bus ride home I laughed out loud to myself thinking about what had transpired over dinner. I went to bed much happier than I had gotten out of it.