\u201cLike the dead,\u201d he said, \u201c…you will sleep like the dead.\u201d Professor Zabalbeascoa was right. I woke up to my alarm at 7:15, feeling disoriented but alert. I gathered myself and went
downstairs to eat breakfast with everyone.
We were supposed to be at our Spanish classes at 8:45 to have time to be placed at an adequate level. To be great students, we decided to leave breakfast ten minutes earlier than we could have, leaving room for error. What we didn’t realize was how many errors we could possibly make. After finding and unlocking the bikes we were assigned, we walked outside and test rode them. Avery said hers was too tall, so we swapped bikes to test the difference. We decided that they fit us both just right, and being in a rush, we rode off with everyone else.
Even though San Sebastian has implemented bikes into people\u2019s daily commutes, it was still nothing like what I expected it to be. Not having ridden a bike in many years, I started questioning if I ever even learned how to. Balancing in a two-foot-wide lane took practice, especially while watching for pedestrians, cars, and sudden lane changes all at once. We ride off in a single-file line, trusting the line leader who held up their phone for directions. The rest of us had no idea where we were going.
When we finally thought we arrived, we made sure to lock up our bikes like we were told. Unfortunately, when we swapped bikes, we forgot to switch our keys as well. After freaking out for a couple of seconds, I improvised and shared a lock with a classmate. The location did not look welcoming, with a small sign that said Lacunza on a fence. After discovering the entrance and asking around, it seemed to be the wrong Lacunza. Devastated, we were forced to turn around and keep looking.
With every traffic light we passed, there was a good chance we\u2019d lose someone from our line. As the bike lights flicker from yellow to red, I slow down, willing to comply with the rules of the road, while almost everyone else rides right past me, leaving a disgusted look on the pedestrians’ faces. Specifically, I watched them ride through, cutting off a man who was holding some papers, about to smack one of them, screaming \u201crojo.\u201d While I felt proud for sticking to the rules, I had now lost everyone else. I panicked but pulled out my phone to look up the directions, trying to memorize how many streets I needed to pass before stopping again to check for the next turn. Waiting at the last red light, I started realizing how quickly I had handed over the responsibility to everyone else. None of us knew the city, but following the group felt easier than trusting myself.
After many wrong turns, faulty bikes, wrong addresses, and getting lectured by locals for riding on the sidewalk, we finally made it to class\u2026 thirty-five minutes late.
After our classes, we headed out for lunch. Attempting to order in Spanish at the restaurant was humbling as I was quickly shut down after the servers realized that I was not fluent. Feeling disappointed in my long-learned language abilities, I replied to them back in English, as they tried (just as much as I did) to be accommodating.
I ordered mosto, surprised to see that what I originally thought were grapes were two green olives floating on the ice cubes. A little repelled, I took a sip. It tasted like plain grape juice while still smelling like olives. Like everything else that morning, it was unfamiliar enough to unsettle me.
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\u201cLike the dead,\u201d he said, \u201c…you will sleep like the dead.\u201d Professor Zabalbeascoa was right. I woke up to my alarm at 7:15, feeling disoriented but alert. I gathered myself and wentdownstairs to eat breakfast with everyone.We were supposed to … Continue reading