Brussels

We needed 1 bus, 1 taxi, 1 airplane, 5 trains, 2 metro rides, and 21 hours and we made it to Brussels.  Not exactly what we had planned but we avoided paying for a hostel for one night.  Yesterday morning at 11:00 we caught a four hour bus to the Santander, Spain airport. A two hour flight put us in Dusseldorf, Germany at 7:30 p.m..  We were cutting it close for time for the last series of trains to Brussels so we flagged down a taxi and rode 45 minutes through Germany to catch our first train in Venlo. Than took our first train from Venlo to another station in Germany.  Switched trains there and wounded up in Holand.  Europe has a 5 day "carnival" very similar to Halloween where people dress up, drink heavily, and crowd the streets.  We did not know this until we were surrounded by clowns, army men, and flamingo dancers.  One train transfer in Holand and our next train was to Llegue, Belgium.  We had ten minutes at this station to confirm our travel route and realized that the times were not matching up to be able to catch the last train from Llegue to Brussels. I stepped on the train hoping to find somebody who could speak English well enough to help us out.  This is where we met Elijah (no idea how to spell this one).  During our train ride to Llegue he helped to inform us that we had indeed missed the last train to Brussels and would have to wait in Llegue until 4:45 a.m. He extended his apartment to us if we would like to rest.  Apprehensively, we joined him for a beer and than went to his apartment and met his room mate Miguel, whom was from Spain but currently working in Holand.  Bo, Dave, and I could not have met two nicer guys.  They both spoke very good English and were excited about an opportunity to practice.  While at their apartment they made us coffee, grilled some potatoes & onions and chopped up tomatoes.  We spent four hours at their place talking and learning and afterwards they walked us back to the train station.  They opened up their house to us, made us food, and stayed up until 4:30 in the morning when they both had work the next day.  They said they will try to meet us in Amsterdam or hopefully later in the semester in San Sebastian.  We took the 4:45 a.m. train to Brussels, found our way around the metro, and met with Dave's high school buddy at 7:00 in the morning without sleep and only Valentine's day candy to keep us going.  We took a small nap and should be heading out to grab some lunch shortly.  It would have been nice to sleep in a bed last night but I don't think I would have had it any other way.  We made a couple of friends and arrived safely at our final destination, all for one night of Belgium beer.  

Gipuzkoa y mi proxima viaje

 Last Friday the majority of the USAC students went to our first excursion to the city of Gipuzkoa, which is situated in the Pyrenees mountains, and we visited a 15th century Basque farm house. During the semester we will go on two different excursions where we spend an entire day and visit important cites.  It was interesting to see the layout of a house that has been around for 500 years.  The families supported themselves by planting vegetables, tending sheep, and brewing Sidra (hard cider).  The entire house is built around an apple press that consumes more than two floors.  They make enough Sidra during the months of January - April to last the entire year.  

On Thursday I am leaving for my first trip.  My room mate Dave, my friend Bo, and myself leave for Brussels, Belgium.  We fly into Santander, Germany and catch a bus to Brussels.  While in Brussels we plan on having some original belgium waffles.  We have also read up on a bar that offers the top 5 beers from a world beer competition.  From what I have heard so far, the city is beautiful and the night life is a lot of fun.  We will be staying in Brussels for two nights and Saturday afternoon we are catching a train to Amsterdam, Netherlands.  The three of us are meeting up with 6 other students that are headed there.  On Saturday night we have plans to scalp tickets for a band called Kings of Leon.  I have attempted to find tickets for this band in Barcelona and Madrid but with no prevail.  Hopefully I will have better luck with the foolish travelers of Amsterdam.  A few things that are planned for Amsterdam are: Heineken brewery tour, the house of Anne Frank, and the Van Gogh Museum.  Of course there is the Red Light District where prostitution is legal.......  Our return flight is Tuesday morning and I will only have two days until I leave for London.  

I had my first big mistake with my pronunciation of Español.  To make it short, a few friends and myself were at a bar.  I intended to order a draft beer from the female waitress.  The spanish word for any type of draft beer is "caña".  What I intended to say was "me gustaría una caña" (I would like a draft beer), but what I said was "me gustaría una coña".  Coña (with an O) is a slang term for the baby maker of the female anatomy.  So the look I received after I asked the female waitress for her vagina was not what I expected.  At first I did not understand why she just stared at me, so I said it again, and in the process of repeating what I said I realized what I had actually asked for.  My bad....I had a male bartender the rest of the night.

I will report back either during our trip or when we return.

I am not real sure why the first paragraph of the last post became a link.  If you click on any word of the first paragraph it shows a close up of one of the pictures.  I don't know why it is like that but it is kind of sweet.  

Hasta luego!

This past weekend was the first time that we had consecutive days with nice weather.  On Saturday the temperature was around 70 degrees and it felt great to be outside with a light jacket on. Sunday was about the same but with a little more wind and the sun was trying to hide behind the clouds.  I was able to take full advantage of the nice weather and spent both days outside.  On Saturday afternoon my roommate Dave and I went on a hike to the "Jesus statue". The statue is located at the peak of the mountain that separates the two beaches.  The hiking paths wrap around the hill all the way to the top where you are able to view the entire city. While ascending up the mountain there are paths that lead to graves and old battle stations.  The top and bottom pictures were both taken from the base of the statue at the highest point of our hike.  It was a beautiful site  to witness and will be a place that I look forward to revisiting because one trip will not suffice.

The other picture that I posted (middle) was taken on a bridge during our walk downtown on Saturday night. From left to right.... Alex (roommate), Me, Bo, and Dave (roommate)

On Sunday, the four of us went on quite the journey.  We went on another hike to a completely different mountain that over looked the entire city.  I don't want to give details about this until I am able to put up pictures so that you can visualize our view.  The initial hike took an hour or so to get to the point that we were trying to reach and than while at that point we spent a couple of more hours either gazing towards the sea or finding new vantage points for a quick snap shot.  I took roughly 50 pictures during the hike and would have taken even more if the battery to my camera did not run out.  If a quantity of pictures taken can represent how spectacular something is....50 would not be enough.  

Rain was not too far away after a perfect weekend of weather.  It rained for the majority of the day today (Monday) and has been fairly chilly.  However, it did not discourage the surfers that were recently excited by this glimpse of nice weather.  Somewhere between 10 to 30 surfers have occupied the water at any given time during the past few days.

We bought internet last Tuesday.  One problem though, it will not be installed for 3-4 weeks after purchase. So any time in the next 3 weeks I will get a text message that will notify me when they will be setting it up.