I almost feel settled in

As much as I say that my week here has been uneventful, it probably wasn't.

Since last Wednesday, there have been 2 soccer games here in Bilbao. We live pretty close to the stadium where The Athletics play. And yes, all the hype is true: Europeans (especially Spaniards) are crazy for the sport. Of course it's playing in every bar and home with a television and the people on the street momentarily forget their obligation to be the world's fashion trendsetters and wear the trademark red and white stripes everywhere they go. Even the Simpsons here like soccer. (They are obsessed with the Simpsons, it's kinda funny!)I haven't yet been to one because the weather hasn't been the greatest and if I'm going to drop 30 euros (approx $45) on some soccer tickets it better be a kickass day. But some people who went did say that it was awesome. For now, I'll just believe them.

I can't even remember what I did on Friday it was so uneventful. Probably watched some movies on my laptop. Although, now that I really think about it, that day it was monsooning again, but some of us were a little too determined to go shopping. We went to Casco Viejo (the old quarter) to some of the shops around there. We had umbrellas and had to walk in and out of the rain to each individual shop since there wasn't a mall in that area. The cool thing is that they have little bins where you can put your umbrella at the front of the store so that everything doesn't get wet. They also have umbrella bag dispensers. You just put the little guy into the opening into the plastic bag and it tears one off for you. I highly recommend this for more stores in the States. Perhaps they are there but I haven't noticed them. I think I bought one thing on clearance.

The people here are fashionable, but I guess it's not really my style. First of all, they are all rail thin, so they like either really small things or the super-baggy style that just hangs off their slim, rickety frames. And pretty much all of the t-shirts are in English. I'll assume that they know what they mean. Although some kid was wearing a retro 80s tee with some raunchy language all over it. Maybe he was a raunchy kid. I wasn't curious enough to inquire further. But I think someone took a picture of it. For the most part the style is not so much me.... And they really make investments on everyday items. Even stores we knew like H&M were more expensive than in the states. It helps me not buy so much. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Saturday saw a little more shopping action. We went to the nearest mall, Zubiarte. Still had some pretty expensive stuff but I made some small investments of my own. Perhaps they will be in some future posts.

**Downside to shopping in the rain: I currently have a sore throat and may have some kind of flu. At the smallest hint of a cough they tell you to see a doctor, so I'll be doing that tomorrow.

Saturdays are always good days. There is never anything to do for school if there isn't an excursion so we can pretty much lay around all day or make some trips of our own. In the dorm, it's a great day because it's pizza day. The only meal that we really look forward to and enjoy. Every Saturday night, we are the first ones in line like the ravenous little beasts we are. Saturday is also the best night to go out because the metro runs 24 hours. And since you can't go to the clubs before 1am and still be cool the next day, you need some kind of getaway car in the wee hours of the morning. A decent-sized group of us went again to Casco Viejo to the little bars that always have cheapy cheap beers. People were still wearing jerseys and talking about the soccer games. After that we wandered around and found a "club" called Da Vinci. I put "club" in quotations because nobody really dances. If anything, they bob and sway, and we were probably very noticeable with our flailing American arms and seizing legs. They may have thought we were freaks, but I was kinda too busy dancing my ass off to notice. We hear Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas and cheesy 80s tunes at least 5 times a day so at least the music was decent. All in all it was a good time.

We were the last ones standing (well, sitting) at 5 am on the metro

Sunday is also a good day because when you get home from the clubs at 6 am you can sleep all you want.

BUT....

We have many more occupants in the dorm now. The freshman started classes today and so they have moved in. There usually aren't that many people at meals and so when we walked down to dinner and had fewer spots in which to sit and actually had to WAIT IN LINE for food, it was astounding! We pretty much spent the whole dinner in awe of our new guests, looked for cute Spanish guys, and bashed all of the skinny gorgeous girls who were too busy staring back at us to eat. (I'm mostly coping with the staring by staring back and cursing them in the back of my mind.) Oh well, maybe some of them will be nicer than the Spanish brats we have been living with thus far. I'm determined to give it all a chance while I'm here, but I do have my limits.

On a better note, I have booked flights to Barcelona and Munich with small groups of other students. I want to see all of the Gaudí architecture here in Spain and visit some sites of the Holocaust in Germany (Dachau is a short train ride away). Besides those two main attractions there will be plenty more to do, but I'll figure that out a little later.

This weekend we will be going to Madrid and Toledo and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous. Hopefully I'll live through the week and you'll hear all about it!