My last week in San Sabby...

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So it's Monday morning and I just realized I only have 4 more days of classes and then I have finals...ewww... It will be sad to leave the beautiful beach and my new friends, but I'm ready for a change of scenery. San Sabastian is great, but how any days in a row can you lay on the beach and walk around the same streets? I know I shouldn't complain, but I'm ready to see the rest of Spain!

I have my train tickets and my hostal reservations all confirmed for Granada, and I hope that nothing goes wrong this time! I have a single room at the hostal with my own private bathroom, which will really be nice. But the good thing about the hostal is that there will be other young peope there, so there is a chance I could meet people to walk around with and eat with. I'm looking forward to going by myself, I can sleep in and do whatever I want to do, but eating alone every meal could get a little boring. I've been researching Granada and there is soo much to do there, including seeing La Alhambra, which is a castle among many other building that is left from when the Arabs had control over Andalucia (Southern Spain).

This past week has been very busy for me and the weather has been fabulous, so I've been to the beach several times. I'm finally starting to get brown! On Friday, I took the day off from class, because we are allowed to miss one class, and I went to Bilbao. It is about an hour west of here and it has the Guggenheim Museum there. It was amazing to see, the art inside was "interesting", it was a lot of modern art, that either I am not sophisticated enough for or it is something a kindergartner could do? you choose? But the architecture of the building itself is amazing and my favorite part was the statue of a dog outside of it. And this just isn't any ordinary statue, it is made of FLOWERS! It is so beautiful to look at and it is youthful and fun. All art can't be too serious.

This Saturday was the Festival of San Juan. This is something I would love to bring back to the States. It occurs every year around the first day of summer, the longest day of the year. Once it finally gets dark, people all around the city make bonfires to celebrate. This tradition dates back to the origanl Basques who lived here. As I think I've mentioned before, they had a pagan-type religion that revolved around the harvest and the land. When Isabel and Ferdinand were trying to make everyone Catholic, they knew that people would still stick with their traditions, so they simply renamed this ritual the festival of San Juan (some Spanish Saint). Sooo... anyways, people are supposed to throw anything they do not need or want anymore into the fire, so signify starting over fresh.

Nowadays, people either say out loud, or write lists of things they want to forget, things they would like to change about themselves, etc... For example, one of mine was to not be so cynical anymore. It was very cool though, all the bonfires were going on the beach and my friends and I had our very own fire. It was pretty small, but we all threw out lists into the fire and then you jump over the fire, to symbolize th starting over. I really liked it and we don't have anything like that in the States. I guess the closest thing we have is making New Year's resolutions, but that isn't nearly as cool!

Well time for me to head to class and get my learn on.... I'm so glad class is almost done. But I have really learned a lot of Spanish here and I'm going to try very hard to continue to work at it, so I don't lose all this hard work and effort. Hopefully I will have more time in Granada to write my blogs, I haven't been as motivated lately!

I miss everyone and can't wait until Rachel and Dad get here! I promise to cook everyone Spanish food when I get back!

¡Muchos Besos!

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Comments

[Aunt Sheila & Uncle Dave]

Happy Birthday
Hi sweetie! We have enjoyed your 'adventures' so much. You could write a book! Just hoping you would check your entries and get the Happy Birthday greeting on time. Guess you'll celebrate "Spanish-style'. Hope it's great. Enjoy the rest of your time and take care. xoxo