The Second Day

Waking up today and snarfing down an orange real quick, I proceeded downstairs and met up with Scott and Sarah. We then walked a la Universidad para nuestro examen de Español. 

Yeah I bombed that.

But afterwards we went through our first orientation, and learned lots of useful info from an adorably shy program director. After sitting two hours in a freezing cold room listening to her speak for around 2 1/2 hours, she took us to lunch, where we were able to mingle with the other study abroad students and I could introduce myself to the really cute girl who sat a row down from me. The three course lunch was well made, with my grilled beef fried on olive oil leaving me confused as to how this could be food for a University. After mingling with another group for a while (because the cute girl was at another table, of course) Sarah, Scott, and I walked away with two new friends: Jake and Kyle. 

Jake does ROTC down at Ole Miss, and Kyle is from California. They are pretty cool guys who never learned how to drink and speak quietly. 

Anyways, after lunch we were taken on a tour of the city, where we explored Bilbao with our Housing Director (who of course remembered me as the guy who was allergic to nuts and is Scott's friend, and that if I had let her know we could have lived together-damn) and saw many different sections of the city. After dying of dehydration throughout the 100 degree fahrenheit day, we went into a little candy shop and got bottles of water half the length of my arm. 

           

We then returned to our favorite tapas bar, and said hello to our new friend Llorena (I think). She is a sassy blond waitress who doesn't speak a lick of English and winks and laughs whenever we attempt our Español. I plan on telling her our nickname for her tomorrow: rubiosa.

At this point, we wasted a good hour trying to communicate with cell phone salesmen to get pay as you go phones in order to stay in contact. After some haggling and the kindness of a bilingual lady next to me, I was finally able to put 60 euros down and walk away with a phone that had enough minutes to last me the rest of my trip. 

Afterwards, we went to our little Spanish supermarket and got vegetables and pasta, and had a “family dinner” at Scott’s still abandoned and internet free apartment. After sharing drinks and pasta, Jake, Kyle, and Sarah went out to a bar while Scott and I swung by my place in order to give much needed calls to our family.

Tomorrow we go to the beach. In Spain. What have I done to deserve this.