Primera Semana

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Wow, crazy to say that I've already been here for a week! So far we have had one day that it wasn't rainy all day, which was today. The weather has been so crazy! Even the locals say so much rain is unusual. Anyway, enough about the weather.

I have met some awesome people here! All USAC participants so far, but I am hoping to make friends with some locals...if I can get my Spanish better haha. Classes started on Wednesday and I am very excited to continue them, I have a great Spanish professor and a CRAZY professor for my Consumer Behavior class; my friend Rupert describes him has having a demon inside of him! Basically all of the USAC staff is great, on Friday they took us out to coffee after class and talked to us about how we are doing and about some of the awesome things to do around the Bilbao/Gexto area.

My friend Remiro showed me the mall today and some other little shops, the thing I didn't know about Spain is that they only have sales twice a year: January and July. So when rebajas come around stores are crazy! I have also done a lot of walking around in Bilbao and Gexto, the cafes are amazing! I have also experienced the night life which is SO crazy to me. Last night there was a party at the Guggenhiem (called Art After Dark) which ended at one o'clock, a ticket to this event also included free entry to a club called Fever which everyone went to after Art After Dark; we were there until 6:00 am which is when the metro opened again. Holy cow I was SO tired and ready to go home around three in the morning, but no one (including me) wanted to pay for a cab back lol. It also surprises me how much leniency there is with alcohol, when we got off the metro going to the club there were kids everywhere openly drinking at the enterance of the metro. I was certainly not expecting it so it surprised me a lot, but I guess it's pretty normal here.

My host family is great, I still have trouble understanding them with everything and have to have them repeat and slow down when they talk to me but each day I feel a little better with my understanding and speaking abilities. My host mom keeps telling me that in a month or two I'm going to be yapping her ears off! I hope she's right. =]

I think that's about it, but if you have any certain things you want to ask about or talk about feel free to message me on FB or shoot me an email! =]

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Photos

West Side
West Side is an American bar that has Euro drinks on Tues/Thurs so it is very popular. The bartender is very nice and speaks English. This was the first time I went out in Spain!

Wind!
The beach is about a ten minute walk away from my homestay. A friend and I walked down on Wednesday after class to explore, but it was very cold and VERY windy so it didn't last long.

Algorta, Gexto
This is a picture of Algorta, the place where I live! It is taken from the running trail that I will be using a lot this semester.