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.