Continuing with my Lent practice by posting a second photo of the day. In light of Valentine's day, I wanted to post something somewhat-festive. This is a photo from an "International Love" mini-festival at the top of the Campus Center. The best part...free food!
International Love
Today is Ash Wednesday, which also means it's the first day of Lent. For Lent I usually give up something, but this year I decided to take up something instead. Well, two things: exercise daily and take at least one photo a day. This will be good in helping me to shoot more. Since I can't find my USB cord, I probably won't be posting photos every day, but I will be taking them. To kick this off, I decided to take a photo of the USC Catholic Center in light of Ash Wednesday.
USC Catholic Center
I went to Tijuana last weekend with my class for a "food tour." Words cannot describe how awesome the experience was, so here are some pictures.
I finally got to updating my travel log after a semester abroad and a day trip to Tijuana for my class. Each continent has a different color. I remember that a year ago, this map was virtually empty. Now it's slowly filling up; that makes me happy.
Last thursday I went to La Casita Mexicana with my friend for an assignment for our Spanish class. It was probably the best restaurant experience I've had in my life. Great food. Great people. And a great environment. This photo is from La Tiendita, a store full of lot of trinkets and other goodies run by the same owners that's located right next to the restaurant. Click here if you speak Spanish and want to read my blog entry about the restaurant.
Los muertos en La Tiendita
I'm starting a "photo of the day" series on my blog mostly as a motivation to practice my shooting at keep up this blog. I probably won't post a photo every single do, but hope to do so pretty often. This photo is a few days late, but it is still precious. :)
Photo of the Day August 17: reunited with my little cousin (for now) after months of being apart.
Yes. I have, yet again, a new home for my blog. This time it's on Squarespace! And I intend to keep it this way for a very long time. I imported my blog from Posterous so there may be formatting errors on some posts. And depending on how ambitious/lazy I am, I may or may not fix that.
Welcome.
Barcelona. A city with "pizazz." A city full of rich and interesting history. A city of sun and fun. The city that I almost didn't go to.
Fortunately, I went there last weekend. And it turns out that the city that I expected to like the least became one of my favorites.
I made a video documenting some of my biking-adventures throughout the city. The video is a bit silly, but nonetheless it was fun to ride my back and film at the same time.
Sunday I took a day-trip to Santander, and I have to say, although the city itself was beautiful, one of the highlights of my day was the bus ride there. At first I was upset because our original bus was sold out so we had to take a "supra" bus (instead of the normal one) and let me just say...that extra six euros went a long way. Here are some of the perks:
What I am trying to say is, this bus experience was too good for me to not blog about it. A wise friend once told me, "Sometimes it's better to just pay a little more." In this case, they were right.
Agur.
In the U.S., I hear the same health lecture from everyone. Eat right. Exercise daily. Stay fit. Blah blah blah. But during my time here in Spain, it seemed to me that the idea of health consciousness has been nonexistant.
Then I realized why.
The other day I noticed that on average I walk about 5-6 miles a day. At home I hardly walk more than 1 mile. In my classes we've had several discussions on the lack of gym culture here in comparison to that of the United States. But the reality is...they don't need one here. If you're walking everywhere, how much "exercise" do you really need in order to stay normally fit?
I like that I've become so accustomed to walking, and this has me wondering if I will bring this habit of walking with me back to California. Actually, I have picked up quite a few habits here -- such as using only cash and jwalking -- that may or may not come with me back to the States. These habits may not seem big or life-changing, but they are the tangible evidences that I've actually taken something back from this experience.
So, what will be my first sign of change in Los Angeles? Walking to Ralph's instead of driving.
There's my random thought for the day.
Una playa en the bay of Vizcaya.
According to various web sources, only 1 percent of US college students study abroad. I am the 1 percent.
Today is April 16, and that means in exactly one month it will be my last day here in Spain. It hurt a little just typing that. But I know at some point I have to realize that my time is running out...
I love Spain. Period. I love it so much that it's hard to express my feelings toward Spain in a single blog post, espcially since my English has deteriorated over the past three months. Spain, and País Vasco specifically, has given me too much. Too much food. Too many photos. Too much rain. Too many opportunities. Too many dreams. I've been on too many flights and have lost too many dollars in exchanging them for euros. And it's all been awesome.
The point is, for lack of a better expression because my English has deteriorated, Bilbao has given me the experience of a lifetime. This has not only been a semester of fun and traveling. This has been a semester of learning, of growing, of discovering, and most of all, of emptying my bank account (just kidding about that last one, but not really). Like the typical American study abroad student, I want to bring back what I've learned to the U.S. And most of all, I want to do whatever I can to help raise that percentage so that it can actually be seen on a pie chart.
I write this post as if I am leaving tomorrow. I still have one more month left of awesome discovery. So I give a virutal toast, to a month of awesomness.
Carnavales. Morocco. Riding camels. Sevilla. Segovia. Madrid. Midpoint of semester. Las Fallas en Valencia. 1 euro pintxos. Library card. Beaches. Good weather. Surfing. San Sebastian.
This is what I have done here in Spain/Europe/Africa since I've last blogged. Yes I know I know, I still have many blog posts and photos to upload. I'll be catching up with that...eventually. But for now (come Friday), Italy and Greece await!
This past weekend we daytripped to Bayonne, a quite little city in the south of France. It was nothing short of amazing. Bayonne is the first city in France to make chocolate, so of course I had a chocolate crepe. It's too hard to pass up having a chocolate crepe in the motherland of crepes and the French motherland of chocolate.
My chocolate crepe in France
Before this trip I never had any interest in going to France, but now I definitely want to go back.
It was the first time I had ever visited a country where I didn't know the language, and I admit, it was difficult...and I was only there for a day! I can't imagine how difficult Italy and Greece will be.
A biker in Bayonne, Basque Country, France
Spain has been good to me this past month. But if there is anything I miss about LA it's the beautiful sun. Don't see much of that here. Bilbao is known for its not-so-perfect weather, but everything else about the city makes up for that.
Note the clouds and gray sky. It's beatiful, but I miss the sun.
Because I have noticed some patterns in the questions my friends ask me about Spain, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a "Spain FAQ" post to act as a "central document" to everyone's questions. This blog post will hopefully expand as more questions arise.
How's Spain?
Spain is wonderful. Bilbao is amazing. The people here are so nice.The more I get to talk to people here and know the area, the more I can see myself living here.
Where do you stay?
I stay in a dorm right next to the university. I have my own room, own bathroom, and a meal plan (that meal plan saves my life). I live on a floor with all Spanish girls; it's awesome.
How's the food there?
The food here is great. Pinxtos and tortillas de patatas are a staple of life. The dorm food could be better, but I still somehow look forward to it before every meal period. The one thing I do miss is hot sauce/spicy foods. Luckily I have found good Chinese, Indian, and Mexican places to get my spicy-food fix when I need it.
Are people surprised when they hear you speak Spanish?
Not really because everyone here speaks Spanish. Haha. So they just assume I do. Also, most people here here usually initiate conversation with me in Spanish because they don't know English. I don't think it would be like that if I were in a more touristy area like Barcelona. Plus, my Spanish is not that great...
Have you seen anywhere else?
Thus far I my adventures have been limited to the Basque Country. I have spent many days explore different areas in Biscay (the province that Bilbao is in), and as I mentioned in my previous blog post, I spent a day in the beautiful San Sebastian. I do have other trips planned in weeks to come. Future destinations: south of France, Madrid, Segovia, Italy, and Greece! Possible (hopefull) destinations: Barcelona, Morocco, Sevilla and other parts of southern Spain. Honestly, though, I love exploring Bilbao and other parts of País Vasco. It's amazing.
This post is a bit overdue. I've been sort of lazy about uploading my photos to the computer. But nevertheless, here it is!
Last week I ventured east to 2016's cultural capital of Europe - San Sebastian. We went there for the Tamborrada de San Sebastián. It's a 24 hour festival with street parties and parades touring the city.
The city is absolutely beautiful. I wish I had taken more photos. It's situated perfectly on the beach and has architecture similar to that of Casco Viejo in Bilbao (will post photos later). The population of the city is about 186,000 and in the summer it doubles. I can see why.
Not the best photo of the beach. It was raining and I was trying not to get my camera wet. I will definitely go back when it gets clearer and take another shot. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be when there is no fog.
San Sebastián definitely lived up to it's 2016 title of European Cultural Capital, as I experienced a bit of a culture shock. The city is undoubetly Basque. Being based in Bilbao, I've been aware that I am in the Basque country, but didn't really feel it until I ventured off to San Sebastián. There were very few signs in Spanish (all signs were in Basque), Basque country posters everywhere, and I actually overheard people casually speaking Basque (a first!)! As I believe I mentioned in my last post, I love being exposed to the two cultures.
First week in Bilbao = success! From eating pinxtos to meeting fellow members of the Trojan Family to singing hard rock karaoke, everything I have done this week has put a smile on my face. I technically haven't even been here for a week yet but since it's Sunday I felt it was an appropriate time to blog. I feel like I've been here for weeks but it's only been a few days..
Bilbao is a city with personality. I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Perhaps as I spend more time here I will be able to forumulate a description of this "personality," but for now all I will say is that I love being in the Basque country and being explosed to two cultures.
One fascinating tidbit about Bilbao is that I believe it tries to fall somewhere between the "historical-looking" city and the "modern" city with its clash of medival and contemporary architecture. I call Bilbao "la ciudad del futuro" because of its arcitecture and infrastructure. It's gorgeous. And the fact that it's surrounded by mountains and divided by a peaceful river has me convinced that I am living in the most beautiful part of Spain.
In other news, as I breifly mentioned before, I have already ran into two members of the Trojan Family in Bilbao. One of them works at the study abroad office at the University of Deusto (where I go to school here), and he got his PhD from SC! The other is a girl about my age who is from Bilbao and studied abroad at SC last year. Cool, huh? I love how the Trojan Family is everywhere.
My friend said I should keep a list or something of all of the people I meet who are connected to SC. I think I might do that.
Time to update my travel log!
Five days from now, I will living in a single dorm in Bilbao. I meant to write a similar "one week left" post, but the pain from my root canal got the best of me (I get to have another one today, yay!). I can't believe after four years of talking this up to friends, stalking travel websites, and browsing through thousands of photos of Spain, it's actually happening. I finally get the opportunity to discover the world. Life is so beautiful right now.
My friend suggested I make a goals list of the things I want to accomplish in Spain. In order to save paper, I've decided to post it on my blog instead!
This list will probably expand as I discover more of Spain. Hasta luego!
Porterville. My home. Those who know me know that I have a love-hate relationship with this city, mostly on the side of hate. It's air polution, dirty lake, and extremely hot weather never did it for me. And the fact that Target acts as the "town center" is just plain sad. Nevertheless, it does have its perks. I like the people. My oldest friends and family are here. I like the open fields. They allowed more time playing outside as a kid rather than watching TV or surfing the net. I like the food. I haven't found a city with better Mexican food. As badly as I always seem to talk about this city, I do appreciate it...I guess. It's my home.
This winter break it's been my quest to find the beauty in my hometown that I've ignored for so long. I've been going on a series of photo adventures to try to find this "beauty," and to also get more comfortable with using manual settings on my DSLR.
In 23 days, I will be off to see the world. Well, Europe....and hopefully northern Africa. Now that I'm in winter break and really have nothing to do until I go, I thought it would be an appropriate time to create a travel log. I'll see this as my first step in documenting my foreign adventures.
And what better way to create a travel log than Google maps! Really, Google, what can't you do?
With its two placemaarks, my current travel log is...mehh. I'm not a well-traveled woman, but this will change soon.
View Ebony's travel log in a larger map
Perhaps if I add in states this log will have a bit more life to it. Ah, too lazy.
