International Fair and Botellon

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It's been quite the hectic last week for myself and the other students in the program. On Friday we finished our two-week intensive course with our final exam that had a lot of content on it. I think everything went over alright and I'm frankly just glad that it is over and I can get to some regular course schedules.

On Friday night Lex, Matt, and myself went out and sat near the river with our feet dangling about 8 feet above the water and drank a beer and just enjoyed the waterfront scenery which was awesome. Walking back we ran into a marching band of sorts that was marching alongside the riverfront. They were very, very good and the music was awesome. Of course I forgot my camera for all of that which is unfortunate.

On Saturday Lex, Brad, myself, and Derek went to a fair they were having a few minutes away from our apartments called the "Festival de las Naciones" (Festival of Nations). They had a market where a bunch of different people were selling things from different countries. I couldn't tell if it was just replica stereotype things or real actual stuff. Since all the vendors were Spaniards. The part I was most interested in was the food (what a surprise!). They had tents set up for different countries and featured 4-7 different foods from those countries as well as some select drinks. Being the midwest-minded person I am I settled on the bratwurst from the Germany stand which was fabulous. Everything was fair-priced so I decided to excersize some fiscal responsibility and not go all-out on 5 euro ($6.50) brats and other pieces of food.

On Saturday night we went out at around 11:30 to a place down by the river called "Torre de Oro) (Tower of Gold). It is a tower that was constructed during the first part of the 13th century which puts it at around 800 years old or so. There were a lot of people doing a "botellon." What means is, instead of going to the clubs and paying for very expensive drinks, a bunch of college-aged people bring their own booze and drinks down near the river and just hang out. There were people with their cars up next to the Tower playing some good music to so it provides a nice cheap alternative for people. I managed to converse with strangers from the U.S., England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, and France all in the same night so that was a pretty cool accomplishment for me.


--Random Spain Fact--
Spain is known as a "going out" culture so rarely are there people in their houses/apartments at night. Every night there are always a bunch of kids playing in the playground/field near my apartment which is something that would never be seen in the U.S. these days. It's also strange walking around at 1-2am and seeing little kids still running around.

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