In el pais Vasco :) sorry AHP3

Sooooooo I am on my first solo adventure! Classes at UPV start february 6th so I decided to do some travelssss this week! And yes this entire post will be a AHP. thats what happens when you play shit head at a hostel with 3 aussies and 2 other americans with your own bottle of wine. but i will try to keep it on lock so i can share my itinerary.

So last night (i think? yeah monday night idk what day it is right now)  i boarded my first over night bus (NOT TRAIN SORRY I SUCK ON FB) to bilbao! this was of course after i went to some tapas bar with the erasmus students where we totally got ripped off for the baby amounts of paella... 3 UROS for like a child´s portion... but the beer and sangria were cheap thank god. so i think my dinner consisted of bur, sangria, and then a baby amount of paella. so i was feeling good on my way to the bus statio :) gotta be consistent with the last two weeks of my life.

 So yeah i got to my bus station (not stop) about 20 before it was suppose to leave (23 55). i was like the smartest and got a window seat so i could sleep so comfy--so i thought! before i get into that our bus driver was like the funniest. over the intercom he was like "some rules: for the health of everyone, don´t take off your shoes. if you ever end up feeling uncomfortable, chat with a group of passangers because i don´t want a procession of people saying they are hot and then cold. come to an agreement and then i will at least pretend i try to fix it so we will all be happy..." so i was like out within 5 minutes of leaving the station cuz i was kind of buzzing but not enough to wanna like run around. then i woke up at like 130 and was melting. literally the sides of the bus were emitting heats from hell... luckily i woke up like right before we were having a break where we got to nom on some foodz. blah blah blah fell asleep again cuz they made the bus comfortably cold and then soon enough i woke up and was in the north of spain in bilbao at 730am! yeah maybe not the best night of sleep but it´s not like i have been sleeping much these past weeks anyways...

so i decided to head to Guggenheim first thing to figure out where it was and what time it opened at. it is a muuuust see in Bilbao so why not. When I finally got ther (like thirty minutes later because I am half retarded with sense of direction) I realized it didn´t open until 10. But i first went to Guggenheim to take some pictures. Sunrise made for some pretty ones :)  

 I got some noms at some random cafe. I loveeee bocadillos. You get like two mini sandwiches on a baquette and a coffee for less than 4 bucks thanksss I won´t be hungry till much laterrrr. I ended up going to the musuem like riiiight when it opened. Spent three hours there... And I am pretty sure I have a new favorite contempory piece of art. It´s by Jenny Holzer in 1997 titled Installation of Bilbao (yeah not that creative whatevr). I literally spent at LEAST half an hour watching it to write down all the lines that were shown on the LED screen. It was to promote support for AIDS awareness. But idk there was something about it.


Well after my entire morning at Guggenheim I decided to explore some. I was searching for something called Casco Viejo since my google maps on my phone put it as a particular... I was walking around this beautiful area looking for something (so I thought) that was Casco Viejo.  Nope. This area is just the old part. Not a particular building or market or anything. It´s fine though cuz I took enough picutres regardless.

I even found this nifty little Basque Museum. It was like 1.50 euros so I decided to go in. I can´t say I really learned anything about hte Basque culture... but they like Carnival! And they dress up a lot and have shepards and fishers..

So after that I decided to head on out. I am not quite sure why my travel book said that Bilbao could be seen in less than a day. It is SUCH a pretty city and the old part is beauuutiful. But my time is limited an I have plenty of cities to hit. Thanks to Teeeej, found out that there were buses that left every half hour to San Sebastian (the second most important city of the Basque country). Got on the 4 o clock bus and passed out immediately. Overnight bus was as restful as I had originally thought. My phone died on my ride to San Sebastian so when I arrived I had to sketch into a super fancy bar to charge my phone... I think the fact that I only had my school backpack made it less obvious that I was just squatting to use their electricity. Once I had enough to use my google maps to find my hostel (thanks Dennis for finding it for me) I walked towards Olga´s Place, the hostel that was suppose to be a mere 1.9km away. The weather was kind of shitty though.. like 7 degrees celcius (idk like 40s f?) and it was raining. As I was walking through I really wanted to stop and take picture, but it was cold and I was exhausted and feeling gross... took one though!

 So I got to where my hostel was SUPPOSE to be. But no, apparently they moved across the street. So I went and rang for the "pension" on the street. I got buzzed in and went to the door inside the building and rang there. for like half an hour. and knocked... even ate an entire baguette of bread. WHY would you let me in the building but not the room???? I was like super frustrated. It was like almost 7pm at this point, one hour after the time i reserved that I would be there. PLUUUUS my phone was dead so that was handy... I decided to get out of the building and go to a cafe across the road to drink some coffee and charge my phone. They told me about another hostel that was at the next corner so after my phone had some energy (phone dying seems to be a common theme...) I went over and rang. OH SNAP. It was OLGAS!

After a shower and a bed secured I was my happy self again :) Played this game called shit head with 3 aussies and two americans ONE IS FROM ATLANTA AND WORKS FOR KING OF POPS!!! Wtf small world....

noooow headed to a local pub TTYL PEEPS

Let me introduce you to my friends

It´s funny we have only been in Gandia spain with the Spanish Intensive course for less than two weeks and honestly after the first three days, everyone has more or less found a group that they always go out with. If you have been looking through my pictures at all you see that it tends to be the same like 12 people. SO I decided I would introduce you to them instead of having to refer to them as the Slovenian girl or Austrian boy etc.

This is Jean-Luc (22). The only other American I hang out with. Well he is actually from Quebec Canada (OHEMGEE I HAVE A CANADIAN FRIEND!) unfortunately he doesn´t have the Robin-esque accent with oat and aboat seeing he speaks french. He does however have a thick french accent which makes me chuckle. This kid is literally the most ridiculous person I have met. I live on the 9th floor of the apartment building and he lives on the second. I can hear him from my room 7 floors up perfectly. So it´s great because I always know when we are hanging out. He is SO loud but I mean this in the best way. It´s fine we are best friends, it has already been declared. But he can never take a normal picture and loves to do photo bombs. He also enjoys a variety of drinking games like this one with beer bottles, and hand games (you know, like the one where you increase by 1 each time) and sitting on people´s lap and yelling MAHOOOOU and slamming the door as loud as he can as well as waking up Mats and picking flowers for Justina when drunk.

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 The one on the left is Pelle (23), one of the two Swedish guys. He always initiaites waking up Mats (the other Swedish guy) every single night. Either he himself wakes Mats up or pushes someone in Mats room or puts things on Mats etc. I also spent about an hour attempting to explain to him what sororities and fraternities were and how they work. What he got out of it: ¨so you guys are a religious sect for popular girls that party.¨ errrr I guess it is as close as we will get for now. We tend to get into like philosophical conversations like happiness, religion, or cultural stuff.






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The one on the right is Felipe (22) from Mexico. I am actually not quite sure how he got involved with our group. He isn´t exactly an Eramus student because he isn´t taking the Spanish intensive course. He is the only other person I have met that already speaks Spanish, but like I said isn´t taking the classes. We met him at the welcome dinner and he sat in our area. He is going to be working in a hospital in Gandia this semester (only one other than Justina that is not going to Valencia) but now he always comes to the social events with us and can actually dance salsa and merengue so we teach the europeans how to at the bars when we go out and cook


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This is Chris (24). He is from Austria. I find him HILARIOUS and I can´t even explain why. Maybe it´s because he speaks like the Terminator? We tend to have the most random discussions for extended amounts of time. So the night before our welcome dinner he was the one that poured me a triple shot of vodka which I was under the impression that I had to take all at once. After I did, he told me that I had proven myself worthy and am now an honorary European seeing that I can hold my alcohol. He has been trying to take Jean-Luc´s spot as my best friend so we will see what happens except I am pretty sure I have seen him more in his boxers than fully clothed. Also whenever we take pictures, at least one is of him kissing me on the cheek. The first time, I look disgusted in the picture. I am working on liking it better haha

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This one is Mats the fourth room mate (of Pelle, Jean Luc, and Chris) and also Swedish. He is one of the more calm ones of our little group. It´s funny because he tends to sleep the earliest (unless there is tequilaaa) or  of all of us and so when the rest of us come back at 2 or 3 or 4 etc, Pelle and Jean-Luc and Chris ALWAYS wake him up and for some reason he puts up with it. Me and him went to Valencia yesterday and chatted lots. Learned tons about Sweden as well as Swedish music (he would be like, you know this song?- No Mats, I don´t know Swedish music... What about this one? -Mats, I literally know NO music from Sweden.) So one of the first days he told us about what feeders are, like people that get like turned on by feeding their partner and watching them get fat yeah yeah weird shit. I tend to eat with the boys a lot so somehow I am the one that gets fed and he is my main "feeder." Sounds weird but it´s actually really funny. They have already cooked for me steak, pitapanna, and mexican... My goal weight is 500 lbs.

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So all of those boys live on the second floor across from the four girls that I normally hang out with. Chris was like (in his germa accent) ¨yeu we oll hang out since we live on da same floor but yeu are random living all the way up on 9th.¨ Very true. I met the girls on the second floor the first day so that is how I got lumped with them I suppose.

Justina (21) and is from Lithuania. I actually met her and Neva (next person) the first night. I had just gotten there and they told me they were going to the cafe on the corner so I joined them and since then we literally do everything together. Justina is like my inspiration for working on my no teeth smile... So I will be working on that without looking like an idiot. She is like the best with making this cute face that can manipulate you into doing almost anything. For example one time, like the only time ever, I wanted to go to sleep early. Literally for like ten minutes she was like,"Vamos, pleease Camilaaa, bonitaaa, come, drink, oh coooome on." The boys always tease her telling her she gets mad all the time. Unfortunately Justina is staying in Gandia for the semester because the classes she is taking are not offered in Valencia.

One of the first things Neva told me: ¨Oh, your name means that large desert animal with the humps in my languae.¨ So yes apparently Camila means camel in Slovenian. Anyways, they both are just as obnoxious as I with taking pictures so it works out very well. I have to work on my no teeth smile without looking like an idiot.... This picture describes her prety well. She LOVES being in pictures and taking pictures (like more than me, so that´s saying a lot), vodka, and going out especially dancing (see why we get a long so well??). Neva is coming to Valencia and we are actually thinking about rooming together.She really like the way I speak spanish because it is softer than how the Spaniards speak so they make me speak to them in Spanish even though they tend to respond to me in English.



Their third room mate is Laresa (22) from German (the blonde one with the thick rimmed glasses on the left). She is the quieter of the group and the boys love to tease her because she tends to be the more shy one. But its funny because she´s like a hidden bad ass. As Justina says, "It´s always the person that you least suspect it!" I did get her to sing Brittney Spears Oops I did it again when we out to Valadero tuesday night for Kareoke :)

Recap of this Weekend

What started out as such a serene day... (this is the view from my balcony)

 Ended like this............ so, a perfect day.

Yes as predicted in my previous sotally tober post, I did not make it to the discoteca.... But then again only 4 people of mah friends did. Sorryyyy that´s what happens when you start at 7pm with a taco party and then take out the wine rack... OH so, I don´t know if I have said this before, but in slovenian my name apparently means camel. So it was only appropriate that I wore the bra.. Tequila then vodka for the win. We were all feeling good by 8pm...

I had spent the afternoon in Gandia city to go shopping and FINALLY get a phone (so you should probably get Whatsapp so I can talk to you all the time.) It was nice to get some time by myself to explore a city. Love my friends too much but wandering by yourself is sometimes fun :)

 But yes so Felipe is Mexican and he cooked for us. A shit ton. And it was DELICIOUS.

Its really funny because Mats is normally a pretty calm guy (tall blonde guy in the picture on the right) but little did we know he was the biggest tequila man ever. We would be eating our dinner and then he was like OKAY SHOT TIME. So we did them out the mini teacups. So they were huge. And we like couldn´t find limes or something so we had cut a shit ton of lemons. And then the wine bra came out. Slash I guess on. My friends were like amazed by this creation. The stupid yet awesome shit the United States creates. But for the health and safety of me and my friends, that will only be taken out on special occasions.

I think these pictures kind of explain the night. Along with me or one of my friends yelling about my ¨booze boobs¨ and Mats, Pelle, or Chris screaming QUIERES MAMAR!? to everybody that walked by.

tequila teacups.

yes that is a boob next to my face. actually a boob magnet. the random shit we buy....

 They love Randy too much. I explained to them what it is. For those who are reading and don´t know: My highschool friends were all at one of our housese (Peter) and I think they had been drinking? Idk I wasn´t even there... BUT we decided to take this little plastic dinosaur and pass him around our group of friends, mostly the girls at this point. So Randy travels around with us and is photographed and put up on facebook and tagged since he has an account (you should probably friends him: Randy Melampy).

I told my friends (here in Spain) about it and they all thought it was really cool. So now Randy is like included on some of our random activites. Jean-Luc took him to the bathroom and brought him back wet. I thought he had pissed on him or put him in the bidet... Then he was like, "NON Randy just needed a shower" and proceeded to show me a picture of the little raptor chilling in the shower...

 CAMILAAAA, QUIERO MAMAR!!!!

Chris is actually proposing to me with a beer while drinking from the wine rack. Classy?

Side note: I find it so interesting and fantastic that we are all SUPER comfortable around each other. We have only known each other for ONE WEEK. Crazy.

 We are such a loving group of friends :) slash tequila side affects.

 

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Anyways woke up the next day at 1pm and had to get my ass to Valencia (15 minute bus ride to the train station-- I am like friends with the bus driver cuz I met him when I first got here and he made a comment about how I looked likek I had a fun night. Don´t you love those? You know you are looking your cutest..)

My friends had already gone earlier (they all live on the second floor so sturggles because I live on the ninth) but all good cuz I needed sleep.

We were given the day off to look for pisos (flats) but I didn´t get to Valencia until after 3pm and I decided to hang out with ANNAAA instead! It was great to see her and kind of crazzzy. She goes to tech with me and we ate la comida in Valencia with sangria :) PLUS she did help me sort of figure out where I wanted to live. Actually just called like 5 people today adn will be going to Valencia on Wednesday to look at pisos and hopefully move in! I am such a big girl having to find slash rent slash my own apartment! I will be living with random people but all the apartments for students are in the same area.

I got back from Valencia round 11. Again, it was really nice to be able to walk around and explore a bit by myself. It is CRAZY to me that I will be living in that city for five months. AHHH so greaaat :)

Anyways of course we go out again Saturday night because it is a Saturday night... And this time I was determinedddd to make it to the discoteca!

We went to this bar area in Gandia which kind of reminds me of like downtown Athens. A bunch of pubs and bars all in the same area. We went out at like 1am ish? Yeah we always go out SO late. Still getting use to that.

I got to play mommy with all of my friends which was sort of a struggle. We had to walk from the pub area to the discoteca Eclipse. It probably should of taken about 10 minutes but I wasn´t familiar with the area AND I was attempting to lead 10 very not sober people. They would get distracted by like eeeeverything and just stop and talk to the most random people or climb on things or like go pee in a bush. It was ridiculous but by ridiculous I mean completely fantastic and hilarious.

 I did a good job because ALL of us made it to the disco! Only with like two falls maybe? We got to the diso round 330am or so? And it was like pretty empty. People didn´t start really getting there till like 430am. OH and it was an AMURICA themed party. So lots of American music and they randomly would play like patriotic music.

Discotecas are SO SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO fun. I love to dance so it´s like the greatest. They play a lot of weird music and in all different languages. I have never really been to a dance club in the United States so I can´t really compare to anything (think I went to opera once?). It´s like not sketchy at all, there aren´t really people like creeping. And if anyone does I would just point at one of the boys and be like, uhh yeah mi novio..

I ended up staying there until 630 or 7? And it was PACKED when I left. I don´t know where these people get their energy....

this beer looking thing is Desperado. Beer that has tequila in it and then they put a shot of tequila when they open it. It taste like a margarita. YUM.

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Woke up the next day at 12 and had such a relaxing beach day :)

I got chased and thrown into the ocean about three times.

 

  There must be something about my personality that makes people want to tease me. I tell myself its because they like me but I have noticed it´s a common theme with my circles of friends...

yeah that´s me getting squished by Jean-Luc

They spent about 2 hours making this sand castle... And then destroyed it even before taking a picture.

Once it got cold, I went with Mats and Jean-Luc to walk down the harbor. They were talking about how they had to take pictures of sleeping cats. I thought it was the name of a view or something? Nope. We took a one hour excursion to literally take pictures of sleeping cats...

"I bet if you look under dos rocks, there are hundrids of sleeping catz!"

but it is so pretty here :)