I'm Here!

 Hola queridos!

A view from one of the flights

So my journey began in Portland.  My parents took me to the airport, and with teary eyes waved goodbye to me as I passed through security.  My first flight went well, I sat by a beautiful lady from Brazil who works as a money investor and also runs triathlons.  The flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was easy as well, albeit a bit longer, and lots of German being spoken all around me.  I sat next to a nice old man from Germany who was visiting Chicago for business, and spoke a little tiny bit of English.  I called my mom from the airport in Frankfurt and told her that I was the only person in the entire airport wearing Nikes... which was probably the truth!  My final flight was only a couple of hours, from Frankfurt to Bilbao, Spain, and I slept the entire flight.  I don't even remember the takeoff!

The next thing I know, I was in Spain!  With sleepy eyes, I left the plane to find my bags. (An attractive young attendant helped me find the correct baggage claim.  I must have looked foreign, because he spoke to me in broken English.)  After picking them up from the baggage claim, I went to find the bus.  I ran into a girl close to my age from Mexico (who came here for her last year of medical school), who was also looking for the bus to take us to the bus station, and together we found the correct bus (1.3 euros, about $2) and made it to the station.  At the station, I bought my ticket (7 euros, if I remember correctly) and was waiting for the bus when I ran into another girl from the program named Kelsey.  It was such a relief to find someone familiar!  As we chatted in English, I saw a few people staring at us (especially this one little boy... you'd think he'd never seen someone speak English before!).

On the bus, I sat next to an elderly lady whom i told that Kelsey and I had come to study Spanish.  She then went on to tell me a little bit about the history of Spain, and told me about how in the 1500s, there was this political man who spoke several languages - French, German, Spanish and English.  She said that according to the stories about him, he used English to speak about business, French to speak to las damas (women), German to speak to his horses, and Spanish to speak to Dios (to God).  It was great to be speaking in Spanish, and the accent isn't that bad!  After a bus ride of about 1.5 hours, I arrived in Santander.  I climbed in a cab and gave him Conchi's address.  The cab driver was a super nice guy, who chatted it up with me all the way to Conchi's.  He told me that there were a lot of discotecas (clubs) near where I was living, and told me to make sure I studied rather than go dancing all the time!

Finally, I was home.  I lugged my bags up to the 4th floor and knocked on the door.  Conchi was there with a hug and a kiss, and little Ramon was there to greet me as well.  Ramon is the son of Conchi's nephew, and he visits often.

Little Ramon.  Isn't he a doll?

Conchi gave me a quick tour of the house, including showing me where all the light switches are.  She then made me something to eat, which was an omlette with tuna and some crackers.  Ramon sat on her lap and she talked to me while I ate, asking about my flights and complimenting me on my Spanish.  Conchi explained to me as well that her mother lives her too, but explained to me that she is sick, and if I understood correctly, suffered a stroke last January.  She stays in her bed 100% of the time, and when Conchi's not here, there are ladies here to take care of her.  She reminds me a lot of the way my Grandpa Ed was, in the sense that when she speaks, she usually just speaks of things she knows really well, but probably isn't exactly conscious of who she's talking to.  For example, if you ask her where she's from, she'll tell you it exactly, that she's from Veracruz (a state in Mexico), and she can even tell you her address from her childhood, but not much else.  I've said hello to her, but I'm not sure how much she understands.

Here's a few pictures of my room:

My desk

The closet

The bed

 And here is a picture of the view from my room:

The streets are lovely here, all the buildings green and yellow and red, and often having balconies with planter boxes and clothes out to dry.  There will be more pictures of the city coming later.

This is the family room, from the doorway of my room.  Ramon was watching Dora La Exploradora this morning.

Conchi explained to me last night that they would be leaving for a wedding today, and wouldn't return until evening.  She made me lunch and left it in the kitchen to reheat.  This morning, everyone came here to get ready for the wedding.  I met Ramon's dad, Jose Luis, Conchi's daughter, Beatriz, and also the groom (whose name I don't remember).  I was unpacking my things, and Ramon came in to visit me.  He was climbing all over my bags and asking me all sorts of questions, like to whom belonged the baggage, if I had games he could play on my computer, and if he could have a piece of gum.  Conchi kept telling him to leave me alone, but I told her that I didn't mind.  According to Conchi, he loves to talk, loves to sing, and loves to dance, and because of these things, I will never be bored here. =)  I then FINALLY showered and made plans with other girls from the program in Santander to meet up.

Here's a photo of Ramon and I that I took on my webcam.  He's waving hello to the camera. =)

Here's the lunch that Conchi left for me - meatballs, bread, a dish which looked and tasted like cooked green beans in a tomato sauce, and a peach.  It was really tasty!

I headed out on the streets to meet up with Marissa at La Plaza de los Remedios.  An elderly man leaving the same apartment building as I held the door open for me, and helped point me in the right direction for the plaza.  There were people all over the streets, and I walked past many little shops with fruit and bread - I've heard that people buy their bread daily here.  It suddenly started to drizzle, then rain pretty hard, and all I had on was a sweater!  One old man pointed me in the direction to buy an umbrella.  Haha.  After making a few wrong turns, and asking a few more people for directions, I started to get the hang of making my way around town.  I found the plaza, but no Marissa... we must've gotten lost in translation.  I waited for a few minutes, then headed back to Conchi's apartment.  On the way, I stopped at a little market and bought some bodywash, since I didn't bring any with me.  Here's some pictures of the city I took on my walk:

Looking down the street I live... the street is a little one-way street.

And this is looking back the other way on the street I live.

A little piece of green between two buildings... a rare sight!

I thought this was entertaining... =)

Look at all the planters! =)

I found a patch of green in the city... Again, a rare sight!  There were a few seagulls flying up above me... It reminded me that I'm close to the ocean!

I guess that's all for now!  I'm going to meet up with my group at a plaza near the beach in a couple hours to meet our on-site event coordinator... I'm sure we'll get the rundown of everything we need to know there.

Until next time!  Hasta luego!