I arrived on Saturday after a long
day of travel. I took some time to explore a bit and found exactly what I was
expecting, the most gorgeous city imaginable. Even though it was cloudy, I was
speechless as I approached the beach. It is so incredibly beautiful, it just
doesn’t compare to Indiana! I spent the most of the next few days going for
long walks on the beach. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the view.
Last night, I moved into my new
home for the next five months. I am living with a teacher who is probably in her
fifties, Garbine, and her twenty year old daughter (I am not sure how to spell
her name because I couldn’t understand it!). I haven’t seen much of the
daughter because she has finals this week but she seems very friendly in the
few minutes that I have talked with her. I am hoping that she will show me
around a bit! Garbine is friendly although not quite as loving as Mercedes, my
host mother from Ciudad Real. I have my own room that has a nice table for
homework and luckily I have tons of closet space. It is also only a five-minute
walk to campus, which is very nice. One of the first things that Garbine said
to me was ‘you are an American through and through’ because I had so much
luggage. It was pretty funny! They have had about six students before me but I
am the first Midwesterner. I am trying to make a good name for the Midwest!
More to come on that subject…
Today we went on a walking tour of
the city. It is amazing how much history there is for such a small city. There
are about 180,000 people in San Sebastián and about 30% speak Basque. My family
speaks Basque so I can’t always understand them. I keep laughing to myself that
they are probably making fun of me…but I am sure it is better this way! I don’t
have any pictures from the tour today because we had the worst weather. It was
very rainy and windy. I spent the entire day drenched, but it was worth it for
the tour. Garbine is trying to get me to buy rain boots but I am putting it off
in hopes of nicer weather! I do have a few pictures from my first afternoon. It
is cloudy in the pictures but you can still see how beautiful it is. The
pictures are of La Concha, which is the main beach. There are occasional
surfers although they mostly go to another beach that is about 20 minutes away.
On top of the mountain is a statue of Jesus. It was a fortress during the World Wars.
Spanish has not been too much of a
problem for me so far. My biggest problem was when Garbine picked me up. I
couldn’t understand a word she said because I was so nervous. Now I understand
most of what she says except for the occasional word. It is so much easier this
time because I have more confidence and a larger vocabulary. I haven’t had
problems in shops either and I even successfully bought myself a cell phone. All of
the orientation has been in English so I haven’t had lots of Spanish during the
day. I am looking forward to classes tomorrow where I will be able to use more
Spanish.
Hope everything is going well there. I will write again
soon.
Besos,
Erin
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