Pamplona is full of my two favorite things: dogs and babies. The city is so family oriented, and there's a lot of interaction between people of all ages. Look into any bar at 6pm and you'll see teens right along side 75 year olds (who, by the way, are enjoying a beer and a cigarette). Every evening after siesta, usually between 6-8 there is a "paseo" or stroll. This is the time when the city is most alive and bubbling with activity. Children run around in the avenues seemingly without supervision. It's just that safe. It's a very common site to see a young couple pushing a stroller and walking a dog, and I'm also noticing lots of elderly couples moving slower, but still in the middle of things. You would think the Westminster Dog Show was in Pamplona because I have seen more breeds that I ever knew existed, and all are well groomed and friendly. A lot of times the dogs are wearing raincoats as Pamplona is usually rainy, although we've had good weather lately. Dogs as well as people dress to the nines, all of the time, complete with fur coats and hats. The only exception to this is the age group of about 15-21. The Spanish highschoolers and college student usually have multiple piercings, sagging pants (including the girls, which I find very strange), short choppy hair for girls and long messy hair for boys, and usually a ticked-off look on their faces. Don't worry guys I'm not gonna come back with a whole in any body parts (lip ring? no?). Needless to say my classmates are intimidating, and they know it. For instance, yesterday in my literature class the teacher broke us up into small groups for discussion. One boy announced to the class that the Americans (an American boy Bill and I were in the same group with this kid) didn't know anything and he wanted to switch groups. The teacher seemed to think this was a logical request, and the class felt sorry for the poor boy who got stuck talking in slow Spanish to the foreigners. That's the only time I have felt especially socially awkward, and you all know I don't embarrass easily. Today, however, the boy tried to make amends, or at least I think so. After class we got on the same bus to come home, and it was empty. He could have chosen any seat but instead chose the only seat on the bus that directly faced me. So we're sitting directly across from each other, but he didn't initiate conversation until I was about to get off, and he said something along the lines "I'm looking forward to working with you in class." So I said thank you and got off at my stop, confused. Tomorrow I'm off to Barcelona and I CAN'T WAIT!! I'll be sure to let y'all know how it goes.

Viajes por Pamplona...

Sorry if I've been out of touch for the past couple of days...on Saturday my laptop charger exploded...so I have been without my computer. Tomorrow I'm going to try to find another one, but unfortunately there aren't stores as convenient as Wal Mart or Best Buy. Everything here is on a smaller scale. For instance, little tiendas have only have a little selection and then one or two of whatever item you're looking for. Restuarants are pretty much the same way, not so much a restaurant as a little cafe of every corner (literally). This weekend was a busy one, with a costume party and Carnaval. I'm guessing Carnaval is probably where Mardi Gras' history comes from but no one seems to really know what we're celebrating. I saw some pretty outrageous costumes and it was really interesting to see Pamplona come alive in such a different and fun way. On Saturday I went to several clubs with my friends, and for me the most exciting part of the night was when I saw a line of people waiting to get into a club--at 4 a.m. Only during Carnaval is it THAT wild, but it was fun. I of course was heading home at this point because my American body needs more sleep than these Europeans. Tonight I cooked Mexican food for my roommate Louise(who's become a really great friend), and now Ivan is letting me use his laptop while he helps his girlfriend move into our piso. Kinda sudden news, but it doesn't matter to me since it doesn't really affect me, only in that I have to pay less for utilities. Always a good thing, especially since I have altogether stopped converting dollars to euros in my head, but I remember the currency drop when I check my bank statement. For the most part Pamplona is a really livable city with good prices and a great atmosphere. I'm trying to plan a trip to Barcelona to go see Jill, who will be there from France with some of her classmates. Next weekend for sure I am going to Madrid for the weekend on an excursion planned by the university. Flying into Madrid in early February, it looked like a desert I didn't want to visit, but I think I got a bad view as the airport is outside of the city. It is, afterall, the capital and largest city in Spain. Plus I need a weekend away from my noisy neighbors, who I'm convinced have a gym in their piso, because someone is constantly doing jumping jacks above my room. They may also have a music school, because yesterday someone was playing a very bad, out of tune version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on a recorder. WHO even has a recorder outside of 2nd grade music teachers? If it weren't for my sound machine I would probably have lots of sleepless nights, but fortunately I sleep like a baby. I'm off to do that now, love to you all.

School...finally

Today I started my first day of real classes with the other students at the university. I don't have class until 1pm each day and no classes on Friday, which is quite nice. When my history class was over today I turned around to ask the other two Americans what they thought. I didn't have too; their faces revealed the exact same thoughts I was having: what have I gotten myself into? Imagine if class was kind of like this: you walk in ten minutes late, take a five minute personal break in the middle of lecture, and then leave ten minutes early. I say that because I got most of the information...but I don't know if what I was missing was uber important or not at all. My defensive move was to try to take notes, whether or not they made sense, if the other students were writing too. So today I think I got the general idea of the 2nd Industrial Revolution, haha. Getting back to class was like journeying back to the real world. Andrew arrived on Thursday in Bilbao and we toured the city and went to the Guggenheim Museum (if you don't know what it looks like, google it). Back here in Pamplona we did more sightseeing and my personal favorite activity, eating. There are two restaurant options, I've noticed. A place with only sandwiches and tortilla de patatas (like of like a potato omelet that's delicious), or a place with a "Menu del Dia" or menu of the day. You get three courses and a bottle of wine for about 13 dollars per person. Not a bad way to do it. I am sick of sandwiches and don't want to see my bank account dwindle so I have been cooking in a lot. My roommates and I cook together, which is fun and nice because I get to learn new words for food. I am about to go on a guide-led tour of the city with my roommate Louise, who hasn't gotten the chance to venture out much since she just arrived a few days ago. There's a masquerade party on Thursday...so be thinking about ideas for my costume...

Whew!

The week just started and I feel so busy already! On Sunday afternoon, Ivan's girlfriend Francesca came over with several of her Italian friends. They are all exchange students in the university. The afternoon was spent watching three Italian girls cook in my kitchen. Normally I would've jumped in, but my kitchen is a bit on the small side (although really big compared to my friends') and there's no way I could've kept up with them. They were everything I imagined Italians in the kitchen to be, over the top with lots of loud talking, gesticulating, and intermittently pushing bread and parmigiano cheese in my mouth. 9 of us ate pasta with tomato sauce and prosciutto that simmered all day, then potato salad of mayo and tuna (kinda weird but good and they were convinced it was an American dish). Everyone spoke Italian but my roommate Adam and I (Ivan speaks a little and understands a lot; he's been learning since he is dating Francesca, an Italian), but Adam understands a lot of Italian. Here is when I was cursing being from the US where we are lucky if we get to learn one other language. Here are these people from all over Europe, casually interchanging between Spanish, English, and Italian. I was able to understand some of the Italian because it is similar to Spanish. Once we all sat down to eat they changed to Spanish so we could all be included in conversation. And by that I mean, I listened while everyone talked. My spanish is pretty good, but damn these people are fluent. We played pictionary after dinner which was good for me because I learned a lot of new vocabulary words. Monday I started the jumpstart language class for foreign students. I am called "foreigner" a lot, so I am going to be using that term a lot less when I get home talking about people who look or talk different than me. Last night I met up with another American girl who has already been here for a semester. Her mom and grandmother were visiting from Walnut, Mississippi and I thought that was really cool. Imagine Nanny at a smoky bar in Spain, ha. Class is from 9:30-3 only this week, but I am with my friends and we have two breaks so it's not bad at all. Today my alarm on my cell phone nor my actual clock went off when it was supposed to. Imagine my thoughts when I got a text message at 9:30 when class is supposed to start from a friend I was supposed to meet for a coffee before class. Needless to say my next purchase will be a watch. I threw on some clothes and was about to leave for class when my new roommate appeared. Her name is Luis and she is from Belgium. She is really cute, and looks like Katie Holmes but is cooler because she isn't possessed by Tom Cruise. She wanted to come to class with me, and we made it 30 minutes late. I thought this might be an issue. Upon my arrival, I realized only half the students were there because apparently attendance is VERY optional. The teacher looked confused when I tried to apologize. I was later advised "You are Erasmus. It doesn't matter what you do." So that's gonna take a little get used to, but definitely a good thing. Today after class Luis and I went shopping and cleaned our apartment. We get along really well so far, so I am happy to have a little more estrogen in the piso. Adam is making us dinner now, some Polish concoction that involves a lot of carrots. On Thursday I am going to pick up Andrew from the airport in Bilbao, which is a 2 hour bus ride away. We'll come back here to Pamplona and he will stay until Monday. I am really happy he's coming, because I get to share with someone how awesome this place is. I wish you were all coming to see me...but until then...besos! (Oh yeah that's another thing...you kiss everyone on both cheeks like all the time) Sorry my posts are so long, y'all know I'm long winded anyway.

Address

Just in case someone needs it:

Ashley Wright
Calle San Fermin 33 2 Derecha
31004 Pamplona
Spain

Siesta

It's almost 3pm and I just woke up. And yesterday, I woke up after 4pm. Needless to say my sleeping hours are way screwed up. After the big party on Friday night I stayed in last night to finally finish unpacking everything and get my room organized. I got in bed around 2am but couldn't turn my brain off long enough to go to sleep. My new problem: I can't stop thinking in Spanish! This is only a problem when I want and need to go to sleep but instead I'm trying to remind myself of the new words I learned or go over important phrases. Fortunately, the siesta is alive and well here in Spain. From 1-4pm everyday, all of the shops and business close except the hospital/doctor for people to go home or to a bar or restaurant and eat a big lunch and take a nap if the want. It makes total sense considering here we don't eat dinner until ten (however I have been mostly eating in my apartment so I have been eating a little earlier), and for the most part classes don't start until 11. So my biggest task in addition to the actual language is the getting used to the schedule. Yesterday I went to El Corte Ingles, which is a huge department store that's 6 or 7 floors. The have everything you could need, except maybe a car. It was really cool to see that basically everything you could ever want or expect to find in America is in this one store. Like a Macy's on steroids. Today I am going to venture out for the first time without my roommates to see if I can find my way around. There are no street signs and the city is big and beautiful, lots to be distracted by. Adios!

I Made It!

Hello friends and family. First, a little about this blog. I'm hoping to keep y'all updated on the cool stuff I am doing while I am abroad. The name of my blog "Haz todo" means "Do all," and it's used in the Spanish command form. This is sort of my phrase for this semester...to remember to push myself to do things I normally wouldn't, try new things (so far everything is new), etc. You catch my drift. I made it through all of the airports with ease and got to my apartment fairly easily, even though I had 3 massive suitcases and several carry-ons. Two of my roommates, Adam and Ivan, were home when I arrived and carried my bags up the three flights of stairs to our apartment. They cooked me dinner and really made me feel welcome. Adam is from Poland, and is here in law school. Ivan (pronounced E-van) is from Bulgaria and is a graduate student studying engineering. Ivan speaks English with me a little bit but Adam does not, although they both know English if I am really in a pickle (so far that hasn't happened yet). The first night here I walked around the city with Ivan and he pointed out the big landmarks, government buildings (Pamplona is the capitol of Navarra, a Spanish state), and monuments. There's a lot of history in this city and I love every piece of information I can get. I wasn't expecting it to be so beautiful, because every picture in google showed only the running of the bulls (the festival in the summer, called San Fermines). Pamplona has so much more going on here than just that. The setting is picturesque, nestled in a valley surrounded by the Pyrenees Mountains. It is fairly cold, and currently it is snowing. Last night all of the students ran out of the bar and played in the snow together. Last night there was a welcome party for all the Erasmus students. Erasmus is the European exchange student program, but we American students call ourselves Erasmus because we don't have anything else to call ourselves. There are several Americans here, two boys from Tennessee (though neither of them is a typical Southern boy), a boy from Little Rock (though originally from Clarksdale, MS), a girl from Memphis, a girl from North Carolina, a girl from Montana, and a girl from New York. We try to speak mostly Spanish with each other, but sometimes it is nice to have them around to speak English with to give my brain a break from constantly thinking. My mind has been working in overdrive, not just trying to speak, but also trying to comprehend everything-conversations with my roommates, peoples' conversations on the street, or directions on a map. But so far I am doing pretty well with speaking, although there are a lot of basic words I need to learn. For instance, my first day I was eating and wanted a paper towel. I don't know the word for that so I tried to describe what I wanted. Ivan brought me a roll of toilet paper! I was confused, as was he. But it turns out they don't use napkins here and use toilet paper for more things than we do at home. The welcome party was a lot of fun, and Ivan was the DJ. The common drink here is Calimocho, which is a mixture of red wine with Coca Cola. It sounds gross but is actually pretty tasty. I have met a ton of students from a lot of different places-France, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy and Germany to name a few. Hearing their Spanish is interesting because we all such different accents. Yesterday I had orientation at school. My apartment is located between the school and center of the town, about 20 minutes walking from school and 15 minutes walking from the center of town. It's in a very nice location. The school is modern (only 25 years old) and has big screen TVs and computers everywhere. I start class on Monday, and the instruction will be totally in Spanish. A little intimidating to say the least, but I think I will be okay (let's hope!). Today I am going to buy a phone and a hairdryer-two essentials at this point. There is another party tonight (the weekends are non-stop, apparently) for all the Erasmus students. It is nice that there are Erasmus parties because it kind of gives you a group of friends right when you get here, because we're all in the same boat. I'm off to do some more unpacking. I will post pics soon of the city, my piso (apartment), and the parties. Love to all.