Well today is Dia de Todos Los Santos or All Saints' Day but it's not as big here as it is in Mexico. The locals do go to the cemeteries and put flowers on the graves but there is no like big fiestas or anything like in Mexico. Also, everything is closed on All Saints Day including grocery stores. However, its a sunday as well and everything is always closed on sundays here, so its not too different then normal. There are also traditional sweets that they eat on All Saints' Day called Huesos de Santo (literally "saints bones"). These are cylindrical treats, made of marzipan, and filled with a custard made of egg yolk. They also sometimes come with chocolate filling although traditionally they were just the egg custard filling. They really do look like ... read more

Today we had our first excursion with the whole USAC group and it was a really cool trip. We left at like 8:30 in the morning and drove across the border into the French Basque area where we took like a cable car / train thing to the top of one of the pyrenees mountains. It was chilly but the view was absolutely amazing and there were horses and cattle just roaming around randomly which were fun to pet and stuff. We then left that area and went to a place and took a hike across the French border back into Spain and to the basque village of Zugarramurdi where we ate lunch at this restaurant. The food was amazing! We had lamb chops and salad with bread and then gelato for dessert. It was absolutely ... read more

Today was a full fun-filled day. Meghan, Laura, Erin, Mia, and me decided to get up and walk part of the Camino de Santiago to a small town named Orio. It was over a ten mile hike to get there from San Sebastian. The Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. Santiago) is a pilgramage that for hundreds of years Christians have hiked to get to the Cathedral of Santiago Compostela in Galicia in Northwestern Spain. According to tradition, this is where the remains of the apostle St. James are buried. The Camino de Santiago has many routes, most from France through Northern Spain. However, technically any trail that leads to the Cathedral of Santiago Compostela is a route and thus part of the walk. Today many people walk the Camino de Santiago for non-religious reasons ... read more

So it's been a pretty uneventful weekend this weekend. We didn't go anywhere or do anything super exciting, but we did go out to Parte Vieja and hang out at night and of course we also did group breakfast at Kayla and Danielles on Saturday morning. Last night was a really fun night though. We went out to the Parte Vieja and we went to this bar called Tas Tas which we normally avoid like the plague since its like a "travelers bar" and the only people there really are english speaking people and we like to go to real basque bars. But we went there because they had a cheap drink special going on where you got two beers for 3 euro, which is extra cheap. Normally, a beer costs about 2.50 - 3 euros ... read more

Wow what an amazing and eventful weekend! I dont even know where to start! We decided to go to Barcelona this past weekend and it was absolutely amazing. We left on friday around 3:30 and it took a seven hour bus ride to get there. Mia and me took a cab to our hostel, (the other people with us said they had wanted to sleep in a park) and !hen we arrived, we checked into the hostel, and found out we were sharing a room with twelve German men! They were all having a huge party in our room when we got there, so we put our stuff down, and went to go meet up with the rest of the group. They were very nice but its a little nerveracking staying in a room with twelve ... read more