One lovely day in Donostia

Oke, I'm not being chronologic now but I just felt I had to tell something about Donostia(or San Sebastian). This weekend actually started with a thursday night party with my friends from Donostia that live in Arrasate. After a long night out, we regrouped for lunch and a horror movie to contemplate on the who, what, where and why. This resulted in an invitation for me to come to Donostia with them for a day. Well, Arrasate isn't the liveliest of all places on Friday, especially compared to Donostia. So we took the bus, slept like baby's and ended up having dinner with friends of them.

During and after the dinner, I found out that most people spoke some English. The level wasn't always enough for a proper conversation but a few of them were really good. Anyway, I'm the foreigner so I should be speaking Spanish or Euskera to them, whenever my five Spanish classes I had, allow me to.

We had a relatively quiet night because of Thursday's party, but it was satisfying. Meeting new people is what this Erasmus thing is all about in my opinion, and it were good people too! We died on the couch around four after a movie and woke up in another sunny October day. Well, at those days I envy people who live in Donostia even more. It's great just to wander around, hit one of the pintxo bars and have a walk on the beach. And that's what we did on Saturday.

We tried our first pintxo in a suburbian bar that's supposed to have the best pate. And it probably was! Together with some cider(I'm nearly getting good at the pouring!) it was a good start of the day! Cider and pintxo's were the key word for the rest of the afternoon. I tried cod, Iberico ham, gamba's, differtent cheeses, tuna and patatas bravas. O yeah, and some cider:-)

My time in Donostia finished after a walk in the old harbour, while the sun was going down.. You can really fall in love with a city on such days!

Traditional party in Gernika

After a good Basque weekend, pinxto's and cider in Donostia and walking in the mountains near Gasteiz, it just had to be extended. Luckily I happened to be invited by my classmate Gotzon to come to a local party in Gernika, which was supposed to be really good. So, I thought, "why not go and see?" The day started early, because the best part of the day would be the big market, where people from all over the Basque Country(including Navarra and the French Basque Country) come and sell own grown farm products such as fruits, vegetables, cheese, cider and txakoli.

The bus trip from Arrasate was interresting, I had to take three different busses to get there, but I had a great conversation in the bus with a guy who interpreted my question to speak slower wrong, he just spoke louder..

In Gernika, I went strolling over the market, and what they said was true. It was a pretty sight to see all these stands with farmers selling their own growings. The best stands for me were the sheep cheese stands, they always had something to taste, or they sold a pintxo for a Euro. I wanted to buy everything but after a big piece of bread, some chestnuts and sheep cheese, my backpack was full, but even that was bearable. I took a cider and another pitxo, while struggling trough the crowd, praying for the rain to wait a few more minutes.

Wel, it didn't, the 100.000 people that were in Gernika had to find shelter somewhere. So the streets turned in to a sea of umbrellas, too bad for the farmers, cause there was still plenty of cider to be poored.

But where there's a will.. while many people went into the bars to continue the good times and some more Basque music there, others faced the rain and rewarded themselves with a talo, a corn tortilla, usually filled with chorizo. This whole fair went on the whole day, with as a climax the voting for the best sheep cheese. The lucky winner sold his for 4000 Euro's!

After the fair, the festivities continued in the many bars the town has. I felt a great Basque spirit in the town, this was my first encounter with a friends group that actually speaks Euskera together. Even I managed to use my very very limited Basque, ordering drinks or while pretending to be a local. Besides the laughs I got, they really appreciate it when a foreigner at least bothers to speak a little Basque. I spent a joyfull night with Gotzon and his friends, visiting bars, meeting people, eating talo and drinking a cider or a less traditional Heineken. Now I really believe this is the best day to enjoy Gernika!



Still wonder where that damn tree is..

Introduction

Dear reader,

From now on I'm gonna be keeping a blog on this page about my personal experiences in the Basque Country. I've been living here since the end of August because of the Erasmus program I'm following. Our university is located close to Arrasate-Mondragon, where we live. Because we study journalism, we also work at the big media station in the Basque Country, EITB, for the internet pages in English. Hopefully you will enjoy reading on my impressions!

Tieme