A European Adventure!

Some things never change and other times everything changes. Unfortunately, my travel plans seem to always change. Another beautiful May day was lost to recalculating (thank you Kathy and Mindy, I was well versed in recalculating!) and in late breaking news, a beautiful June day is about to be lost as well. As I write this from the plane on the way to the US, I am told that I will have about 30 minutes to get through customs in New York and onto my second plane. The plot continues…

Back tracking a bit, France was great but like all good things it came to an end. I boarded my train and was whisked into the land of beer, chocolate and waffles (aka Brussels) to meet Alex. Brussels, although not the most happening of cities, still had a lot to offer. We happened upon a free jazz festival, a large number of waffles and a great outdoor restaurant with the best food of the trip. We had shrimp croquettes and grilled fish with aioli. It was simple, but fresh and delicious. The outdoor atmosphere really added to the food. 

                               A Belgian waffle with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce!

                                    Drinking Belgian beer!! 

Positano in southern Italy was up next. After arriving a day late, we were blown away by the beauty of it all. It featured 1,500 stairs from our hotel to the city (yes, I did indeed struggle the whole way!), fresh food and a beautiful view of the Italian coastline. What more could we ask for?!

                                       A view of Positano from our hotel

Our final stop was in Rome. It definitely surpassed my expectations!  Since I only had two days and Alex has a whole summer, we sprinted through the city. We saw all of the top 12 sights including the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain and the Vatican.

                                                  The Trevi Fountain

It is hard to imagine that I am sitting on an airplane on the way back to the United States. I can’t quite grasp the idea that my semester abroad is over. There are so many emotions. It opened my eyes, changed my thoughts and challenged me more than I ever expected. I am so happy to have been let in on the little secret that is the Basque Country. There are no words to describe the richness of their culture and their passion for continuing their traditions. The Basque Country is a great example for the rest of us. I am already looking forward to my return to Europe and especially San Sebastián.

Besos,

Erin

PS I somehow managed to make my connection to Indy. It looks like some things stay the same after all!

Onward to France!

          The whirlwind continues. After our goodbye in San Sebastián, the adventures began in France. Sarah and I went to Marseille to visit one of Sarah’s friends. We had a great time visiting small towns nearby. The best was a picnic along the Mediterranean in a town called Cassis and a mountain top view of the town.

                                              Our picnic spot in Cassis

                                                        A view of Cassis from above

            After two days, we had to continue our journey and moved to Paris. Since Sarah is the Paris expert, she dragged me through the city (and I gladly followed!). We saw (basically) everything and I mean everything. We had a great first lunch in the city to celebrate our arrival and also fit in lots of time for pastries. One afternoon, we went to Sarah’s favorite cheese shop (yes, I have only eaten cheese since then!) and then had drinks with her host mom. It was great getting to visit some of Sarah’s favorite hangouts. At the suggestion of her host mom, we went to a museum that had realistic human sculptures. It was amazing. The sculptures looked so real that if you didn’t know, you would think that they were real.

                                                    Zucchini Lasagna from our first Paris lunch

                                                     Trying to enjoy the rain!

                                                                    Luxembourg Gardens

            Unfortunately, our time together went too quickly and Sarah had to return to New York leaving me to conquer Paris alone. I am proud to say that I never got lost and only occasionally acted like a dumb American! I visited quite a few museums including the Grand Palais where there was an exhibit called Dynamo. It is hard to explain so here is the link to the museum! http://www.grandpalais.fr/en/event/dynamo

            To end my time in Paris, I was lucky enough to meet up with some cousins that arrived my last evening. We had a wonderfully relaxing dinner and I got to hear all about their travels through England. It is great when travel plans work out like that. It was a great way to spend my last night in Paris!

To all the Healey’s reading this, enjoy race weekend! I will be thinking about you! I am praying for sun!!

Besos,

Erin 

San Sebastián!!

After a semester in San Sebastián, there are tons of memories and far too many to describe in a short blog. Here is a quick recap of the highlights:

1.     I would like to start by giving a shout out to my umbrella. You have been my best friend the last few months, I can’t imagine going anywhere without you. Thank you for lasting through all the rain and hail and saving me 10 euro on a new one. I am sorry to say that you are getting left behind…

2.     Food, food, food. I have honestly eaten the best food of my life here. From the fresh fish to the gourmet salads to the torrijas (Basque French Toast). I know that my cooking will never match Kepa’s but my new goal is to try! Thank you Kepa for enlightening me and making me even more of a foodie (Sorry Mom and Dad, the standard has been set pretty high!)!

3.     Thank you to all of the people that came (and are coming) to visit this semester. I can’t imagine what the semester would have been like without you! I learned so much: recalculating and wine production. They are all valuable life lessons. I loved playing tour guide so thanks for pretending like you were interested!

4.     I am going to miss sitting in café’s for hours drinking tea and eating pastries with friends. I genuinely think we had some of our best moments in La Tahona. Let’s be honest, there is always room (and time!) for a chocolate muffin!

5.     I will miss running through the city. There is nothing that I love more than being stared at for wearing shorts in 30 degree weather (stupid American that only brought shorts!).You just can’t beat a run along the river or out to the wind combs. 

6.     I applaud the busses of San Sebastián for making me comfortable on public transportation. I remember my first trip on the bus, it was the most nerve-wracking thing and now I hop on the bus without thinking twice. I have really mastered the public transport and (don’t tell anyone) but I actually like it!

7.     To the terrace, I looked at you longingly every day and I only got to enjoy your greatness a handful of times. I will miss my Saturday and Sunday siestas on the hammock and long family dinners. I will be back to enjoy your greatness!

8.     I know I haven’t talked about the wind combs at all because they were my little kept secret but I am letting the cat out of the bag. Visiting the wind combs was one of my favorite activities. They are just so peaceful with the waves crashing over the rocks. I loved running there when I didn’t feel like running because it gave me time to think (and also an excuse to walk…there were cobblestones…too risky!).

9.     A time spent in San Sebastián wouldn’t be complete without pintxos. I have to say that I have become quite skilled at standing and eating, a skill I never thought would be so necessary in my life! There is nothing more fun than spending a night bar hopping looking for great pintxos. 

10. Without a doubt, the best part of the semester was spending time with Lurdes and Kepa. I have no words to describe the impact they have had on me, in my way of thinking and my way of life. I know that our relationship will continue and that the teary goodbye was only just the beginning of a long and loving relationship. I can’t say how lucky I was that I ended up with them. They took a good semester and made it great! Lurdes asked me the other day what made me want to move in with them after only having met them for 5 minutes. I told her it was her smile and the sense of family that I got from them. The best decision I made was going off that gut feeling because I got more than a host family, I became part of a Basque family. I could have never dreamed up a more perfect situation. I am already trying to convince them to come to Indiana.

Hasta pronto (see you soon!) San Sebastián, it's been great! Now of to France...

Last Weekend in San Sebastián!

Well, dinner was a success! I managed to make everything without any breakage, fire alarms or burns. I converted Kepa into a lover of peanut butter and a believer in roasted vegetables. What more could I ask for? Before dinner, the three of us headed to a few bars for Dantza Pote where a semi-professional dance company performed a piece in different pintxo bars. We followed them to 4 bars and had drinks and pintxos along the way.

To tell you that I have the best host family in the world would be an understatement. They made what could have been an extremely long and boring weekend (when I should have been studying!) into one of pure enjoyment.  We went to a casa rural, an old farmhouse turned into a hotel and restaurant, in the middle of nowhere. We had dinner looking out into the rolling, lush hills of the interior Basque Country. The pictures don’t do it justice.

I also attended an event for Lurdes’s work. It was an awards presentation for a series of contests that her work had offered. It was in the Victorio Eugenia, which is the theater in town. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand a word of it seeing as it was in Basque, but I wanted to go to see the theater and experience another local event. It was a great time! I can clearly see that the next language I need to learn is Basque!

I will leave you with this picture (and no, it is not from the internet!). The sun came out and it is amazing what happens to this city!

Besos,

Erin

Hondarribia

In the midst of a weekend full of eating and taking siestas on the terrace, I needed to get out and explore. I took a trip to the town of Hondarribia. It is about 30 minutes away from San Sebastián and is across the water from France. There is a nice walk along the water with a port on one side and France on the other. It was quite a unique experience to be walking in Spain and looking at France. My friend, Monica, and I spent the morning exploring the city. It was a small town but there was something old around every corner. We stumbled upon a walled part of the city as well as lots of statues. The city is also known for having a paradore, which is an old castle that has been turned into a five-star hotel. We were only able to see the lobby, but it was quite elegant. I was really impressed with the amount of things to see in the town. To top it all off, we had beautiful weather which added to the charm of the city.

                                                    Sitting in Spain and looking at France (to the right)

                                             A fountain with the cathedral in the background

I also attended a talk by a Bertsolari, a person who sings verses in Basque. The verses are improvised, have to follow a certain tune and rhyme. They are given a topic and then have up to a minute to think about the topic before singing the verse. There is nothing similar in the United States, but the closest thing is rap. There are Bertsolari contests and it is very popular in the Basque Country. Kepa and Lurdes listen to the verses all of the time. I can’t understand them, but I enjoy watching their reactions. After the talk, there was a boat ride in the bay. The water was very choppy, but it was nice to see the city from a new angle.

                                 Sophie, Monica and me on the boat! 

Although I don’t have any food pictures for the week, I was still eating well! Among other things, we had rabbit paella and fresh lamb from Lurdes’s family farm. I never cease to be amazed by food that is put in front of me. Tomorrow night we are having an American dinner complaints of yours truly. I must say I have never been so nervous to make dinner in my life! Kepa is a hard chef to follow in the kitchen!

Besos,

Erin  

Burgos!

Another big food filled weekend has passed. What can I say, I love food! This weekend I went with my program to Burgos, which is about 3 hours south of here. It is known for having one of the three largest cathedrals in Spain (the other two are Toledo and Sevilla). It was quite impressive. We also explored an archaeological site and a museum about evolution. We saw bones that were around 500,000 years old (It was hard to imagine how old that is!)

                                                        Cathedral in Burgos 

                                             

On Saturday, we walked 11.5km of the Camino de Santiago. It is a trail that starts in varying places and ends in Santiago de Compostela in north western Spain. People do it for various reasons but it draws people from all over the world. I loved seeing people from varying cultures, exchanging a few Spanish words with them and watching them continue on their journey. It was a very gorgeous and peaceful walk as the trees were covered with snow.

                                                               Camino de Santiago

                                       Sign indicating the Camino de Santiago  

Sunday’s festivities are a semester highlight for me. I was invited to Kepa’s hometown to celebrate his mom’s birthday. It is a small town with about 7,000 inhabitants. There were 14 of us altogether and after a few bars, we ended up at a restaurant for lunch. The amount of food put in front of me was unthinkable, but oh so delicious. I tried a fried cow tongue and all I can say is that it was excellent. I was also faced with my first whole fish. Luckily, I was sharing it with Lurdes and she was equally as intimidated. Kepa (fortunately!) nicely filleted it for us and artistically displayed it on our plates. We would have been in trouble without him. The lunch lasted about three and a half hours (If you are a Healey and are reading this, it rivaled a Healey gathering in length!). It was so nice to be part of such a family event. Before coming to San Sebastián, I always imagined myself at such a gathering experiencing the true Basque culture. The day was a dream come true!

  Food photo of the week: Raspberry sorbet with creme and chocolate shavings at lunch in Burgos

                                         Nothing is more beautiful than San Sebastián on a (very rare!) sunny day!

                              

Besos,

Erin 

Food and Wine!

Food and wine. What more can be said? My parents and their friends came to visit and we had a week centered around (yes, you guessed it) food and wine. In between all of the eating and drinking, we managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing as well.

                                                    Salmon with dill aioli 

             There was the obligatory day in San Sebastián when I got to show off some of my favorite spots and another day in France. I also successfully fit in a quick morning in Bilbao at the Guggenheim Museum with them before heading back for class (I even managed to get scolded by a German lady on the bus who didn’t speak English or Spanish, but that is another story!)

                                                        The Guggenheim in Bilbao

                              Dog sculpture covered in flowers outside of the Guggenheim.

            The highlight of the week was our weekend spent in La Rioja (the wine region of Spain), six wineries, 2 days. I have never eaten so much in my life, but it was worth every bite! Each winery consisted of a tour and wine tasting. It was interesting to learn about the wine making process, it is way more complicated then I ever imagined. One of the highlights for me was doing an olive oil tasting at one of the wineries. I got to try a couple of great olive oils and even got my parents to join in.

                                                    Wine tasting in a vineyard in La Rioja

                                                            A view from LaGuardia in La Rioja

            The week wouldn’t have been complete without Mom and Dad having dinner with Lurdes and Kepa. Kepa made us a fabulous dinner and I had the job of translating. It kept me busy, but it was great to have all four of them around the same table. It was strange having my Spain life and real life integrate, but I was glad that everyone got to meet and spend some time together.

                                             Lurdes, Kepa and me at our family dinner!

Besos,

Erin  

Reconnecting and...Recalculating!

England was filled with new places and familiar faces! I stayed with friends in Henley on Thames and used their house as home base for all of my day trip adventures.

            Two of the days were spent with a friend from home. I visited him in Oxford (where he goes to school) and then we met up in Bath. In Oxford, I got to see the university and a lot of the countryside. It was a beautiful town. Bath was filled with more tourist attractions. We managed to fit in the Roman Baths, the Cathedral and a few other museums. It was great to catch up and explore some new places!

                                                  One of the many libraries in Oxford.

                                                           The Roman Baths

            On Easter, I spent the day in Henley. I enjoyed some traditional English food like lamb with mint sauce, hot crossed buns and a traditional sponge cake. Being the foodie that I am, I loved all of it! The day wouldn’t have been complete without a walk along the Thames River. Henley is known for hosting the Henley Royal Regatta every summer. Although I didn’t get to see the regatta, there were teams out practicing. Later in the day, we watched the Oxford versus Cambridge boat race on TV. A very important race and Oxford came out as the winner!

                                                               The Thames River

            My final day in England was spent in London with my friend, Rachel, from Edinburgh. It had been about four years since we had seen each other so our day was spent wandering around the city catching up. We walked by the Tower Bridge and over to Covent Gardens. Our walk was rewarded with mint tea and scones. Later in the evening, I was met by more friends and saw some of the typical London sights.

                                                    Rachel and me in front of the Tower Bridge

                                                                  Big Ben!

                                                            Obligatory food photo: scone with creme and jelly

                                                             The London Eye

            To end Spring break, I was (of course) forced to “recalculate” on the way home. Halfway to the London airport by train, it was announced that the train tracks had cracked and that the train was going out of service. With less than 2 hours before my flight, I managed to hop in a taxi and make it to my gate 5 minutes before it was supposed to close. The day wouldn’t have been complete without extra excitement! I was very happy to make it home and be welcomed with a shower, clean sheets, good company and a homemade dinner. Nothing beats the home life after two weeks of recalculating!

Besos,

Erin  

Recalculating!

Nothing could have started Spring Break better than having my aunt Mindy and her friend, Kathy, come to Spain. To say we had an exciting journey would be putting it lightly. Our original itinerary was San Sebastián, Lisbon and Madrid. We ended up in San Sebastián, Salamanca, Sevilla, Marbella and Madrid. I am sure you are wondering how this happened and so are we. We decided to live by the word recalculating.

             We started out the week in San Sebastián with beautiful weather and a great dinner. Our real excitement started when we missed our flight to Portugal due to illness. A quick recovery sent us on the road towards Sevilla. Semana Santa (Holy week) was taking place in Sevilla when we arrived. They have the largest celebration in the world, which means lots of processions and absurd amounts of people pouring into the city. No one warned us that there would be massive amounts of people, narrow (and I mean extremely narrow) and windy streets, and processions blocking the roads. Between 2 nights, we spent seven hours trying to get to our hotel. It definitely kept things exciting for us, luckily, we were able to laugh about it and continue recalculating!

 Dinner in San Sebastián: Roasted lamb with a garlic creme sauce

                                                                 Processions in Sevilla

            When we weren’t dodging processions, we were able to fit in some great food, a Flamenco performance and a trip to the Alcazar (an old palace). On the (out of) way to Madrid, we stopped for lunch in the resort town of Marbella. By doing this, we successfully went coast to coast in Spain. Not bad!

                               Kathy, Mindy and me in the Alcazar gardens

                                                                      Marbella!

            After an eventful and fun filled week, Kathy and Mindy headed back to the States and I continued my journey to England…

San Jean Pied de Port!

Another weekend full of food and fun has passed. We are currently in the middle of restaurant week in San Sebastián. This involves certain restaurants offering a price fix menu for 25 euro. Some friends and I decided to take advantage since it is the only chance we had to eat at an expensive restaurant without breaking the bank! We had a 5-course meal, which also included wine and coffee. The first course was ham croquettes followed by a salad of cod and spider crab and, later, seafood paella. The main course was squid with an apple compote and balsamic reduction. Dessert was the Basque version of French toast with Bulgarian yogurt ice cream. Three hours and 5 courses later, I would definitely say it was worth the 25 euro! 

                                                                          Squid!

On Sunday I learned a very important lesson, people from central Indiana aren’t meant to be on winding European roads (although it was worth every second)! Lurdes and Kepa took me on a Basque adventure through the interior of the Basque Country (the Pyrenees). We drove and drove and drove some more and were surrounded by beautiful countryside and little villages. We stopped occasionally for coffee, a pintxo or for me to get some air (yes, I was that person). For lunch we strolled over to France and into the beautiful town of San Jean Pied de Port. It was deserted being it was a Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying a French lunch and exploring the city. On our way back home, we stopped to visit a friend of Lurdes. Her friend and husband built a new house in a tiny village. The house was amazing and definitely not your typical Basque home. Looking at it from the outside it looked old, but inside was quite modern. From the living room you could hear the bells from the necks of the donkeys outside the windows. It was surreal and so peaceful!

                                             A view of the countryside when we stopped for a pintxo!

                Horses on the side of the road in the province of Navarra. Kepa told me I was on a safari!

                                                         San Jean Pied de Port, France

                                   A view of San Jean Pied de Port from an abandoned fort. 

I also got to visit the Caserío (farm house) that Lurdes grew up in. It has been in the family for generations. Her dad was born on the property. I got to see all of the cows and sheep, which made dinner interesting tonight. We had meet from the caserío, aka the cute little cows I met the other day. It is never a dull moment in the culinary world here. Lurdes’s brother also showed me some of the traditional Basque farm instruments. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.  

                                   A well known bridge in Lurdes's hometown.

This will be my last blog for a few weeks. We have Spring Break starting at the end of this week. I am headed to Madrid and an undecided location with my aunt! Then I am headed to London to visit friends! I am sure I will have lots to report when I get back. Hope everyone is doing well!

Besos,

Erin