And we're off....again

Well, I'm back. After wrapping up an amazing and action-packed Spring quarter at Kellogg (which included living out my dream to be a rock star, meeting the mayor of Helsinki, the best Memorial Day weekend in history, and spending much-valued time with my incredible friends), it's time to hit the road again. I've decided to resurrect this blog, under a slightly different name, at the request of a few fans (Mom, this means you) and friends who like to read anything but current events when they're bored (shout-out to Sarah Tabb). Given I don't have access to a laptop this time to upload photos, it might not be as exciting, but hopefully I'll give those of you who care at least one reason not to do any work this afternoon.

I'm writing now from my tiny little pension in San Sebastian, Spain, where Kellogg friend Abby and I arrived last night to spend a week eating, drinking, and beaching. So far, we've done our job. San Sebastian is a gem. We had originally planned to go spend a week in Croatia, but, after finding it difficult to make the trip work within our allotted seven days, took the recommendation of a few friends, flew into Bilbao, and hitched a bus to San Seb. And we're thrilled we did. The city is fringed by two scenic beaches, La Concha and Zurriola, and set against a backdrop of lush, green mountains. Our hotel is nestled in the quaint Parte Vieja, or Old City, which occupies the peninsula between the two beaches. In addition to being a great city for walking and sightseeing, San Sebastian has an unique (and totally AWESOME) food culture. The streets of the Parte Vieja are lined with bars that serve pintxos, Basque tapas that run the gamut from toasts draped in jamon Iberico to more elaborate dishes like toasted goat cheese with caramelized plum jam and basil oil drizzle, and tiny tarts stuffed with salted local spider crab. The pintxos (Rick Steve's guidebook indicates to the traveler that this is correctly pronounced "PEEN-chos", which Abby and I of course got a huge kick out of) bars are open from 2-4PM, and again from 8-11PM. When the jatetxeas close, the rest of the time in the city is spent drinking vino tinto (local red wine, priced at 1-3 Euro/glass) at outdoor bars, hiking up Monte Urgull to look out over the bay, or taking surfing lessons at Zurriola Beach. I'm in heaven. Plus, I get to use my Spanish. Though Basque is the language of the region (a language that apparently has no roots in any other known spoken tongue..crazy, right?), colloquially, everyone uses Spanish. Therefore, I obviously feel like a total badass because l've not only been able to navigate and order food, I've also had the pleasure of some basic conversation, for example, with our cab driver last night, who waxed poetic about how women can't multi-task. Cute.

This afternoon has been busy wandering the city, eating pintxos, drinking tinto, and watching the parades and outdoor concerts to celebrate the last day of San Fermine, the festival made famous by the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Tonight...same thing. What a life.

Up next in my travels: a few more days in San Sebastian, followed by Tanzania (an excursion up Mount Kilimanjaro), Mozambique (building homes for orphans in Maputo with Habitat for Humanity then diving with whale sharks off of Inhambane), perhaps a safari through Kruger National Park in South Africa, then a three-week stay in Turkey. I can't wait.

Thanks for reading. Again.

PS I warned you before that I wouldn't be able to upload any photos to this blog due to my lack of access to a laptop to download from my camera, but I figured one picture-of-a-picture of delicious snacks consumed this afternoon couldn't hurt anyone...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad from some awesome, fabulous, amazing, dangerous international location

Location:Calle del Puerto,San Sebastián,Spain