After 3 weeks of being in paradise, San Sebastian is
starting to feel like home. I am finally all settled in to my apartment, have
reliable internet and have started classes. I absolutely love the city and have
enjoyed every minute spent here; however, I promise that I will never take wireless
internet or Target for granted again. I could have never anticipated the number
of challenges I have faced in the past few weeks from seemingly simple tasks. It all began the very first day that I arrived
in San Sebastian with my friend Kendall. Unable to move into our apartment
until the following week, we were staying in a dormitory on the outskirts of
the city. Anxious to see the gorgeous beaches and Oceanside that initially
attracted us to San Sebastian, we decided that we would attempt to figure out
the bus system. Walking to the bus stop, we both felt fairly confident that our
experience with Spanish would be enough to get us to the beach. However, we
seemed to have forgotten that Basque, not Spanish, is the dominant language in
San Sebastian. Although everyone speaks Spanish in addition to Basque, the
people of San Sebastian boast Basque pride and choose to write all of their
city signs and, as we quickly found out, bus schedules in Basque. Needless to say, our 5
minute bus ride to the beach ended up being a 45 minute tour of every possible
place in San Sebastian beside the beach with the bus driver making a special
detour to Oceanside for us after noticing we had not gotten off after a
complete cycle of stops. Despite our frustration and slight embarrassment as
sticking out as “those Americans” all of our worries were set aside once we saw
the absolutely beautiful beach and city center.
Our next major “American” moment came the day that we moved
into our apartment. Although our apartment is much bigger and nicer than most
of our friends’, San Sebastian is an old city and not very updated on its
power sources. Anxious to get everything set up in our apartment, we quickly plugged
things into just about every single outlet and instantly found ourselves in darkness. In less than
20 minutes of living in our apartment we had already blown our fuse. Using our
cell phones as flashlights, we searched and searched for the fuse box but had
no luck. We quickly concluded that it was time to meet the neighbors and
wandered up to the floor above us and tried our best to explain to the man that
answered his door what had happened. After what seemed like ten minutes of our
broken Spanish and many hand gestures, he finally understood what we were
trying to say and came down to our apartment and switched the power back on for
us, shaking his head at the 6 huge suitcases that were still sitting in our
hallway.
Me and my roommates- Kendall (from Richmond) and Laura (from Sweden) moving into our apartment
Despite the frustration from the many obstacles (believe me, there were many more), the helpless moments have made me realize how friendly the people
of San Sebastian are and makes me even more confident that I chose the perfect
place to spend my four months abroad.
Having spent 22 days in San Sebastian, and having traveled
to two different countries, I am still convinced that San Sebastian is the most
beautiful city I have ever seen. It is located in northeastern Spain, on the
Bay of Biscay and only about 20 minutes from the French Border. It is in the
Basque region, and I have come to learn of both the pride and conflict that
comes from the people who live in this region of Spain. When you meet someone
who is from San Sebastian, instead of telling you that they are Spanish, they
will tell you that they are Basque. And although all speak both Spanish and
Basque, many of the menus, city signs and street language is Basque. Much of
the older generation still believes that the Basque region (which consist of
northern Spain and part of southwestern France) should not be part of Spain,
but rather its own country. Although there is no violent conflict, it is
apparent that the Basque think of themselves as separate from Spain. After
spending time in Seville, in the southern region of Andalucía, Spain, last
summer, I have already seen many contrasts from the North to the South. Southern
Spain is home to the many Spanish “stereotypes”- bullfights, sangria, churros,
and Flamenco dancing, where as only the Sangria can be found here in San
Sebastian. However what it might lack in typical “Spanish culture”, the city
makes up for it in food and wine. The culinary capital of Spain and located
right on the water, San Sebastian has by far the best food of any city that I
have ever visited. “Pintxos”, the Basque name for Tapas are very popular and
the hundreds of Pinxtos Bars are packed with both tourists and natives on any
given night. Although an incredibly overwhelmed experience at first, I have
come to love Pinxtos Bars and am surprised that the concept has not been better
introduced in the States. Basically, how the bars work are that there are all
of these big plates of small finger foods (kind of like appetizers) laid out
all along the bar and there is usually an additional menu as well. You work
your way up to the bar and grab a Pinxto or order from the menu and you just
pay as you go. At first, the atmosphere really stressed me out; it is loud,
people are pushing you, there is no where to sit down, and you have no idea
what ingredients are in each dish. However, once I tried a few of the dishes
and got the system down, I began to enjoy the laid back atmosphere and ability
to chose exactly what, and how much you want.
The fishing port in the city center
Our favorite Pinxtos restaurant!
Not only does San Sebastian have amazing food, kind people
and interesting culture, but it located right on the beach... really, what more could you ask for? There are two
main beaches, one that is protected by the bay and one that is the “surfing
beach”. San Sebastian is a big surfing destination for many Europeans and
Australians and my apartment is less than a 2 minute walk away from the surfing
beach. Calm enough to swim in, but big enough waves for surfers, this is
definitely my favorite beach of the two. On the few stormy days we have had,
the ocean has been packed with surfers which is so entertaining to watch.
So I guess that covers everything besides the whole reason that I am
here… classes. After having a week to “try out” classes I started my first
official classes today. I am studying at the University of Deusto which is the
private University in San Sebastian. There are two different inner schools; the
business school, which I am attending, and the tourism and communications
school. I am taking all business classes, and although I was hoping to take at
least one class in Spanish, my schedule would not allow me to take any Spanish
classes so all of my classes are in English. However, there is a large mix of students
in all of my classes, both of Spanish students and other exchange students from
many different countries. Although I would love to be able to just lay on the
beach every day, I am looking forward to classes starting and getting to see
all of the different opinions and viewpoints that the diverse group of students
bring. When I first learned that my apartment was a 20 minute walk from school, I immediately looked up the bus routes, thinking that compared to my maximum 10 minute trek to the other side of campus at Richmond, 20 minutes was just way too far. However, after my first walk to school, I knew that the 20 minute walk would be one of the most enjoyable parts of my day. Not only is my apartment a block away from the beach, it is also a block away from the large river that divides the city of San Sebastian. To get to school I follow the river the whole way and get to pass all of the beautiful bridges and buildings along the water. Definitely added motivation for me to get up to go to school in the morning!
So, as I'm sure you can tell by now- I am already in love with San Sebastian and having an awesome time so far!
No comments:
Post a Comment