Ahh… it is Sunday meaning the end of a very long week. It has basically been raining all day so far, but that’s okay because Sunday tends to be “recovery day”. This past week my friends and I went so many places and did so many things that I can’t even believe that it all happened in just one week!
First, CIDE (my program) took us to the incredibly famous Guggenheim Museum that stands right across the river from my university. The Guggenheim was INSANE. I’ve never really been a huge fan of art museums. I never understood the artists true meaning of what they were painting or sculpting or anything. I just don’t have that artistic mindset. However, the Guggenheim was absolutely amazing. It was all modern art and it all had to pertain to something going on in the world today. There was one room with just one artists work in it, and all of his work was made out of trash. He would find things in the trash and then construct art with them to show how much we waste. It was incredible.
There were many other rooms that I found fascinating, but there were two pieces of work that I liked the most. Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the pieces of artists since we weren’t allowed to take pictures :( The first I think was actually called “Milk” but I could be wrong. It was made out of entirely pink yarn to resemble a grocery store. However, the actual scene was of a grocery store bombing that took place by a suicide bomber who was a 16 year old girl. The shelves were knocked over and there were just piles of yarn in places, I thought to represent people, as well as yarn hanging from the ceiling to represent the actual explosion. It was really cool. I wish I could have taken a picture.
My second favorite was a cage. It was just a cage built out of incredibly strong, razor sharp wire. I think (if I remember correctly) it was the same wire that Hitler used in his concentration camps. The artist was going to make the cage larger, but he was not allowed to get anymore of the wire after a certain point. The piece was really interesting and I really liked it.
Another famous piece of work is actually outside of the Guggenheim. It is called “Puppy.” “Puppy” is a giant dog made entirely out of flowers. You probably think I mean just an oversized dog, but no, I’m talking massive…

Cool, right? Well anyways… some friends and I decided we wanted to go to the beach and spend some time in the neighboring city of Getxo (the “tx” in the basque language makes a “ch” sound… so it would sound more like Getcho in English). Unfortunately, the day we went decided to be cloudy :( We had fun anyway though. The water is beautiful, as well as the scenery. I snapped a few photos to show everyone.
This is the view from the beach where we were all sitting:

A view of the marina:

As we were walking back to the metro, we passed these random, HUGE, booeys in the shape of heads:

Getxo was really fun and its incredibly beautiful. People there are incredibly carefree and nice. I’m hoping the weather doesn’t get cold anytime soon so we can make another day trip back there with some nice weather!
In between all of these trips, I have actually been going to school! Woo! I’m taking six classes, which include: business Spanish, Spanish composition, Europe in the world, international financial systems, economy of the EU, and transatlantic relations: the EU and the US. I really like all of my classes. Europe in the world is probably going to be my hardest class, mostly because it’s taught entirely in Spanish and I don’t exactly know all the terms to talk about politics and the economy. Other than that though, I really like the class and all my other classes. Except that I have class til 7pm everyday. Womp.
We, meaning basically the entire CIDE program, all went out this past weekend. It was incredibly fun and I am still loving the nightlife here. It’s also pretty funny when other people just see this massive group of people walking into a bar. On Saturday, four of my friends and I took a day trip to San Sebastian. San Sebastian is amazing. It’s beautiful, historic, and has so many things to do and see. It’s about an hour away from Bilbao so we all took a bus. We got to see some amazing sights, including a famous church, the ayuntamiento (city hall), the beach, a famous castle, and some incredible views from atop a mountain. The most amazing of these was definitely our trip up a mountain. On top of this mountain is the famous Castillo de Santa Cruz de la Mota. This is a castle that was built a very, very long time ago that has incredibly views from the city. Apart from that, it has a famous, large statue on top of it. It was a pretty gloomy day when we went, but being with good friends and in a beautiful city makes the day much more beautiful. It still shocks me that the cities here can be so magnificent even in the worst of weather. Some pictures of our trip to San Sebastian:
Famous, gothic style church:

Ayuntamiento (city hall, where a wedding had just taken place):

Beach:

Marina (check out how blue the water is):

Castillo de Santa Cruz de la Mota (it was really foggy, sorry):

The rest are photos from our journey up the mountain to the castle. They are all pictures of the city from where we were:



The last one is from almost the top. It would be my luck that my camera battery would die when we were almost to the top. So unfortunately I don’t have any of those pictures. However, when I get some of those AMAZING pictures from my friends I will be sure to post them on here.
All in all, I’m having an amazing time here still. I am really, really homesick but I know that will pass. I do wish my entire family were here to share this experience with me, but I know I will be seeing them soon enough. I love and miss everyone back home but this experience has been incredible so far and I’m excited to have more months ahead! Next weekend the CIDE program heads to Madrid and Toledo. Expect lots more pictures in that post! Now it is time for lunch and to begin homework. Adios! :)