Wow. OMG!!! I saw Coldplay!!!!! And it was AWESOMEEEEEEEEE. Words can´t fully explain how COOOOOL it was. Wow. I´m still BUZZZZZING like a fridge from it.
IT
WAS
FAN-F*N-TASTIC
Background information: I love Coldplay. I discovered they were playing in San Sebastián (1 hour bus ride away) 5 months ago. I bought 4 tickets to Coldplay 5 months ago. I have been waiting for this night for 5 months. Well, longer if you consider how long i´ve loved Coldplay for. In short, I LOVE COLDPLAY. I bought 4 tickets so that other friends that I would make from USAC could come with me, and when people found out i had Coldplay tickets, I all of a sudden had a lot more friends!!!!! I had bought them for 40€ ($NZ70) each, and scalpers on the internet were selling tickets for over €100. So I was VERY lucky to get tickets.
Before leaving for Spain in July, I had two days marked in my diary as sacred days. 31st of August, and 25th of November. Coldplay has won out over La Tomatina Festival. Coldplay are AWESOME.
ok, so the concert. well, what more can i say? the best concert of my life. one of the best nights of my life. met 3 cool Spanish guys at our hostel in San Sebastián who were going to the concert, so me, alisha, madelyn and lindsay were gifted with thier presence at the concert, and had a fantastic time. We drank kalimotxo before the concert, and during, but enough to get a buzz going, we wanted to remember the concert of course!!! (well, and i have a lot of concert video so that is cooler!).
the venue was in a velódromo (i´ve forgotten how to spell it in english so i´ll leave it as that - its where you cycle round and round inside on a professional track), and it was nearly packed. the vibe from the crowd was sooooooooo good. everyone was having a fantastic time, and nothing went wrong.
when the band came on stage it was like a jet was taking off, we all went nuts!!!! and the entire band are really good live, chris martin, lead singer, even spoke to the crowd in very broken spanish, and when he spoke basque, i´m sure it was equally as broken. but wow, it was soooo cool. he and all of them are really really talented.
the lighting was spectactular, and the screen behind them was awesome, and i just will never be able to recreate the night. wow, it was cool. they were on stage for 1.5 hours, and chris martin even ran into the crowd to sing part of a song. it was so energetic and full of power. at one stage he grabbed a phone from someone in the crowd and sang into the phone. that would have been soooo cool for the person on the other end!
i had promised to call people from the concert, and trust me, i damn well tried, but a) my phone is in a vodafone store being repaired, and b) none of my 3 friends could get coverage. so that was dissappointing, sorry guys.
after the concert we went out of course!!!!! many bars, many drinks, many crazy people we met. had breakfast and coffee at 6am, and finally crawled into bed at 730am. IT WAS FREEZING in our hostel, the heating had broken. i curled up in a ball for the morning, while alisha and madelyn left early. a very late checkout at 1230 for me and lindsay(we were lucky we didn´t get charged for the next day), and us, very very hungover walked around san sebastián eating whatever we wanted, then caught the bus back. shower and sleep was on the menu, and i slept for 15 hours.
Current mental state: delerious - a mixture of tiredness (still) and elation.
Current physical state: 2 semi sprained ankles, sore calves, back is holding up ok, cold feet.
Current general state: VERY HAPPY, the concert was worth the pain.
COLDPLAY
Thanksgiving
The Guggenheim
Delicious Donostia
We all travelled by bus to Bayonne and Biarritz in France, about half an hour from the Spain-France border, and enjoyed a walking tour in Bayonne (home of chocolate in Europe - i bought cinnamon flavoured chocolate which was quite nice (yeah i ate it all, sorry, none for home!)), and enjoyed a beer in the pub in Biarritz. Speaking French didn´t really happen, we spoke in spanglish. The beer we bought tho was quite expensive - 5€ ($9.50NZ) for a 750ml bottle.
Then all of us (there are about 40-50) travelled back to Donostia - which is San Sebastián in Basque language & also where my flatmate Eva is from - where we stayed in a very luxurious hotel for the night. well, for the few hours of sleep that we got!!!!
went out for dinner with christina and lindsay, and as you can see in the photo, i had something very very interesting indeed. horrible texture, but was edible. we ate right next to the cathedral, then out to partyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! met two guys from san sebastián who were really cool (josu and enrique), then went to another bar where we hung out with a large bunch of frenchies (we spoke spanish with them, not english, and certianly not french) until the end of the night at about 3 or 4. the walk home was definately enjoyable, lots of fun in the playground!!!!
next morning, what a hangover indeed. ouchie. but it was a relaxing day - went to the aquarium which was quite cool, I LOVED the jellyfish. fascinating. then, being me, i went shopping!!! yay!!!! lunch was a very interesting event, never have i eaten clams, and i found them very enjoyable ineed :)
the bus home after this was quite quiet, and then had chinese with andréa, ashley and lindsay, and then wow - straight to bed - for 14 hours!!!!
yesterday, sunday, i didn´t do too much, went for a walk, chilled out, very relaxed. my back is getting much better, which i am very very happy about!!!!!!
well. thats my update! ciao for now!!!
my trip was AWESOME. very cool. i enjoyed it A LOTTTTTTTTT.
Protest!
anyway. so, first of all. our bus wasn´t able to get into the university grounds, we got dropped off at the roundabout and a walk up the driveway was what we needed to do. well, there was a big line of people yelling and screaming with white masks on holding banners. they were quite intimidating. also there were sirens and whistles and it was eerie. nothing could get in or out.
so i got to class, had my test, and then we hear sirens and whistles and all kinds of carry on from down below (the photo is taken from my class), and while i didn´t get a photo of the demonstrators, i got the aftermath. and i went down and witnessed what they were doing.
we now have a paintspilled floor, rubbish everywhere, stink bombs were let off aparantly, and the dumbest thing is that there is now graffiti all over the walls, lifts, floor, you name it - its graffitied with slogans. the stench was horrible. i saw someone graffitying even - broad daylight. crazy. so the place is a bit of a mess.
no police presence.
the security guards just talked on thier walkie talkies.
noone seemed to complain.
because its normal.
insane. anyway, they were protesting because (i´ve heard two reasons):
a) the government needs to regulate the degrees with the rest of europe, and this means the standard needs to be brought up, which means the students have to do more work.
b) they are going to take out the social studies part of university, so that means literature, philosophy etc will not be taught anymore at this university.
so there it is. an interesting morning. my other two tests today went well, and now i´m about to go back to bed and rest my poor back :(
tomorrow i visit france! well, jussst inside the border. this is a USAC programme trip, all paid for! we stay in a hotel in San Sebastián and everything!
Hasta luego, i´ll have lotsa photos after the weekend :)
80´s Party
Lots of people were dressed up and it was a lot of fun indeeeeeed. it was beth´s 21st (a big big thing in the states of course with the drinking age being 21) hence the 80´s theme.
in just that night alone i took 228 photos. how insane is that. i think the camera was glued to my hand. sooo many photos. its funny seing people getting drunker and drunker in the photos as the night progresses.
good times!
hungover saturday, back not too bad considering the beating it got :)
had dinner at a really really good italian restaurant with jackie beth mike markel gema and markels friend who i always forget his name. mmmm lasagne was goooood.
sunday was a relaxing day, didn´t really do too much apart from lie down all day. back seemed good.
monday was a good day, nothing to complain about really. good sweet and sour dinner at a chinese restaurant with linday and ashley. mmmm then icecream.
tuesday... well... back spasms, lightning flashes of pain.... not a good day. stayed in bed for 90% of the day. got up only to get food, go toilet, and then giuseppe took me to the doctor who told me exactly what i already knew - ibuprofene, rest, heat on my back. its a muscular thing which is dumb. but i had telepizza! (the rival to pizza hut - and willoughby, telepizzas pizzas are better).
and then there is today. uni then internet cafe, so far :)
enjoy the photos. remember that there are 217 others sitting on my camera that i had to sort through!
General Life
Things that have happened:
# Leonor was born, she is the crown princess of Spain, and is 2nd in line to the throne. The press has been going crazy with happiness.
# Did you know: The press isn´t allowed to talk badly of the royal family.
# I am addicted to sausages, they are like sizzlers but better with yummy gooey cheese.
# Its getting colder here, 10º in the morning when I get on the 8am bus to uni.
# I didn´t go to uni on tuesday or wednesday, and was sent home on thursday because of my back. Its out. And here´s the funny thing, nothing caused it to go out. I was doing things normally as usual. I may have sat on a couch awkwardly for a few hours, but thats normal. So yeah. Sore back. Better today tho thankfully :)
# I get slightly nervous getting into the elevator in our building when there are 3 people in it. I´m not a claustraphobic person, its just that Eva, Ashley AND Giuseppe have all been stuck in the elevator for an hour - in 3 seperate incidents - for having too much weight in the lift. So i know its my turn next......
# I heard David Beckham speak in spanish on the news the otherday - and he sounds like a little boy! Its not his tough cool image at all hehehehe.
# I am now in level 4 in spanish (there are 4 levels)
# I am not sure if i want to live with a family next semester, i´m having way to much fun making my own decisions and choices and not having to worry about being here or there at a certain time. And i´m having fun cooking for myself (see note number 3) and coming home at odd hours in the morning. And having friends over! In a family i would have to ask permission etc etc, and i most certianly would not be allowed my boyfriend over. So i´m almost set on living with students again, tho i´d move to Algorta, 4 metro stops away.
# Me gusta mucho hablar en castellano. (I like to speak in Spanish).
# In Burger King, the drinks coming in sizes medium, large, and gigantic.
# The television comercials here are much more entertaining than in NZ. Much more humour is used.
# I have caught myself out occasionaly saying things with a harsh r - the american way. for example instead of saying caa for car, i´d say carrrr. hmmm, hard to explain.
# Everyone´s english is deteriorating here. We struggle to form correct sentences, and as you can probably see, my spelling has also gone to crap. Its not because we don´t speak english here, because (unfortunately) amongst american friends we mostly do, but its just that we don´t care to correct ourselves. Some other theories include: every spanish word we learn kicks out an english word, every spanish gramatical structure we learn kills brain cells, and every spanish swear word we learn makes us look cooler. heheheh.
# I am going out to an 80´s party tonight. (Beth is turning 21)I am taking care of my back. I am a carefull person.
# 10€ goes to the person who figures out a) which country, b) which city, c) which building, d) which wall, the graffiti comes from.
I Don´t Know What To Call This One
ok. sorry for crap image. taken from my phone last night. another cool weekend, chilled on thursday doing homework with lindsay, movies on friday until 5am, and then partying it up last night!
i went to a sidraría in guernika (a cider house) with nate, kyle, beth, madeline, monique, jackie and mike, had delicious food (chorizo (sausageish), tortilla de bacalao (omlettish cod), steak, and looootttssss of cider. yummy cider that we poured ourself from the huge barrel. it had a tap. very cool! bussed back and then went out partying with the same people and gemas friends (gema is the spanish flatmate of jackie and beth). they all went home so i partied with beth and markel and his friends (alex is the one kind of in the photo). got home at 730! fun!!!!!!
hungover now. and you know what is good for hangovers? spanish tortilla made by stuart (evas boyfriend) (its a potato omelette - the tortilla, not stuart), wine, italian coffee, and lemon liquor. mmmmmmm.
and now i am sitting in the internet cafe. about to study. looking forward to our usac trip to the fringe of france in 2 weekends, then the coldplay concert the weekend after, then cam is coming to live with me for a while the weekend after! lots to look forward to!!!!!!!!!!!!! i´m having a blast, and its gonna keep continuing!!!!! hooraaaaahhhh!!!
ha. a prime example of spanish culture. in the internet cafe i´m in, they just opened up a bottle of champagne and gave out drinks to everyone in here!!!! i´m not too sure what the occasion is. so ontop of my hangover, mmmmmm champagne.
Germany in Autumn Rocks
Well. I am still very very happy. for 3 reasons.
the most recent first: giuseppe had his parents over from italy last night, and a few of his friends who speak italian, so there were 6 of us a the dinner table. delicious dinner - pasta, prawns and muscles cooked by giuseppes mum. although that made me happy, it was the fact that i could understand a large proportion of the converstation, IN ITALIAN, just based on what i know in Spanish. how happy would that make someone feel - to understand a language you´ve never studied!!!!
ok. now, germany, the 2nd reason. cheap flights from santander (1.5 hours from bilbao) means travelling is a must - $55nz dollars to fly to germany (31€) - that is insane.
so we flew into frankfurt, stayed there for 3 nights in a hotel, very nice comfy beds and our own rooms - very different to hostels i´ve been staying in in the past!!! the 1st day we walked around a lot, the river as fannnnnntastic, and the old quater, and just wow, the scenery of all the different leaf colours was breathtaking. i felt like i was truley in europe, especially with bikes lining the pavements, typical european houses everywhere, pomme chips (chips in a cone smothered in tomato sauce and mayonaise), and i even managed to understand basic things because of dutch. crazy - that made me happy like the italian situation also. very happy.
the next day we met with leni, who is a friend of jarons who was an exchange student in the usa but lives in mannheim, so she visited us in frankfurt and we walked around a lot more, even playing frisbee in the huge park in frankfurt which i really really liked, it was fab!!!! remember how i like gardens and walking around in them? i was in heaven here, the trees were just amazing. we didn´t ´go out´ as such, but had a beer and chilled at the hotel (getting a noise complaint along the way from the front desk!).
sunday was a magical day. we went to mannheim for a wee while (1.5 hours away by train), but the highlight of the day was heidelburg, a town with a castle on its hill, and wow, with the setting sun it was really really really ... i´m running out of adjectives to describe how beautiful everything was. everything was just a dream, seriously breathtaking. you need to see the photos to grab a slight understanding of it .. it doesn´t convey the real beauty tho. wow it was cool. had yummmmmy sauerkraut, nürnberg sausages and püree potato and a beer of course, and i was even more in heaven. alllllll the food i had in germany was soooo good. i have definatley put on weight, i ate everything in sight bcause it was soooo good. plus it reminded me of home i guess (marzipan, speculaas etc).
we came home yesterday after a lot of travel - 1.75 hours on bus to airport, 1 hour waiting, 2 hours flying, .5 hours waiting, .25 hours on bus to bus station in santander, 1 hour waiting, 1.5 hours on bus to bilbao, .40 hours on metro back home to Las Arenas. (9 hours all up)
so that was my trip extremely quickly summed up.
unfortunately i have a 10 page essay and presentation due tomorrow on the european monetary system... so i had better start it ......
happy halloween everybody!!! p.s. now the time difference between spain and nz is 12 hours, we put our clocks back the other day - much to all of our surprise - we turned up to find that the train we thought we had missed wasn´t going to leave for some time :)
besos!!!