Biarritz

The best part about being in northern Spain is that France is just a short bus ride away! This past weekend, Sophie, her sister, another friend and I took the bus to Biarritz, France. It is a small city in the Basque Country of France. There are 4 regions of the Basque country in Spain and 3 in France. The weather started out nice, but ended up rainy (not a surprise here!). We had fun despite the weather. The day featured a trip to the aquarium, the chocolate museum and two cafes. As everyone knows, the best part of France is eating, so we made sure to spend most of our day doing that. The city itself is located on the water so the views were amazing!

 A view from the coast of Biarritz.

 Café number 1: Chocolate filled croissant and chocolate eclair (shared of course!).

            Our day in France wouldn’t have been complete without seeing a Frenchman twisting his mustache (just like the movies!) while driving his car. We also barely made our bus back. It turns out we were at the wrong bus stop. We lucked out that the bus drove by and we were able to flag it down. We almost had an even bigger French adventure! It was a great day overall and definitely something worth seeing!

            Lurdes and Kepa continue to teach me more and more about the Basque and Spanish cultures. Today Kepa made a traditional meal for Carnaval (celebration before lent). It was meat that was cooked in gravy with homemade mashed potatoes. I also tried white asparagus for the first time. It was different from green asparagus but very good! For dessert, we had something similar to French toast. It is bread that is soaked in milk and cinnamon overnight and then the next day is covered in egg and cinnamon and fried in olive oil. It was definitely my favorite part!  The food overall has been delicious and healthy. Kepa is very into healthy eating. Lunch each day is something that he makes the night before and leaves out for me in the morning. The schedule is as follows:

Monday: lentils

Tuesday: Soup

Wednesday: rice

Thursday: Chickpeas

Friday: pasta

It is such a luxury having a homemade lunch everyday. They didn’t believe me when I said a typical lunch for me is a sandwich. Lunch is such an important meal for them that a sandwich would never suffice.

 Friday's lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce, oregano and zucchini.

A view from the kitchen window! Notice the lemon tree on the right!

            Lurdes has been concerned about the weather here. She has made it her responsibility to make sure I am properly bundled up before I leave the house. She gave me a coat to wear the other day, which has been nice because it has been very cold and windy. The other day she couldn’t believe that I didn’t have gloves. About an hour later she was handing me fingerless gloves she had knitted. She had pulled out her knitting needles and old yarn and made these gloves in less than an hour. I was like that was fast and she looked at me and was like “it is all about recycling, mi hija (my daughter).” Not only do I love them, but it really made me feel like a part of the family! 

Fingerless gloves. I was talented enough to take a picture of me wearing them so you can just imagine it!

This week looks to be a relaxing week since we only have two days of class. Hope everyone is doing well!

Besos,

Erin