{"id":148,"date":"2023-07-27T11:27:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T16:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/?p=148"},"modified":"2023-07-27T11:27:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T16:27:50","slug":"week-two-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/2023\/07\/27\/week-two-wrap-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Week Two Wrap-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As our second week comes to an end, most of us agree that exploring San Sebasti\u00e1n and the Basque Country have been nothing short of surreal.\u00a0 The freedom to navigate the city on our own has definitely instilled a feeling of self-confidence and satisfaction in us.\u00a0 Many times, we\u2019ve encountered situations that seem overwhelming and daunting at first, but, with time, I think all of us have discovered that we are more than capable of making mature decisions, even in a place with a culture different from that of our own.\u00a0 That being said, here are some highlights from session 2\u2019s last two weeks in the Basque Country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunset in San Sebastian on Pintxo Pote.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0Pintxo Pote (Pronounced P-een-cho) is a promotion in San Sebasti\u00e1n that many bars and restaurants (specifically in the Gros neighborhood) take part in every Thursday night.\u00a0 Typically, a bar will offer a pintxo and a drink for one unit price, typically around only two euros!\u00a0 This popular event often attracts many customers, and it was not uncommon for us to see massive crowds in line at a bar streaming out into the street.\u00a0 Oftentimes, it can be a challenge to find the right bar to stay, because we don\u2019t want to sacrifice quality for speed.\u00a0 Bars with better pintxos will be busier, and therefore the longer the wait.\u00a0 That being said, there is a certain charm to the crowded bars during Pintxo Pote.\u00a0 Everyone is having a good time and enjoying good food, and it is truly a unique atmosphere.\u00a0 Pintxo Pote is a great opportunity to socialize with friends and enjoy some delicious Basque cuisine, and it has quickly become one of our favorite parts of life in San Sebasti\u00e1n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sam and I try our hand at Salsa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During our second week of classes at Lacunza, several of us heard about a salsa dancing class being taught.\u00a0 While I\u2019m not one to typically put myself out there (choreographically speaking) I didn\u2019t want to miss this opportunity.\u00a0 The class took place at a bar near our residence, and it was easy to get to.\u00a0 Inside, it was hot and crowded. There were plenty of young people, but also plenty of older folks too which I thought was really cool.\u00a0 The class was fast paced and challenging, and it was difficult to keep up.\u00a0 Thankfully, doing it with friends helped to make the whole experience much more approachable.\u00a0 As my friend Sam Hargett puts it, \u201cSalsa is a very rhythmic art form, and it was great to experience a dance that so many people enjoy but that is also so intricate\u201d. We learned a dance move called the \u2018suzie\u2019, which involves a type of criss-cross pattern with the feet, leading with the left foot moving to the right, then the right foot moving to the left.\u00a0 This quickly became a favorite for many of us even when we moved on to partner work.\u00a0 While we certainly are not professional Salsa dancers now, it was a great experience to put ourselves outside of our comfort zone and try something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘Charmartin’ train station in Madrid, Spain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the weekend fast approaches, many of us plan to travel elsewhere in Spain: a group of us to Madrid, and a group of us to Barcelona.\u00a0 While it is a great privilege to visit areas of Spain outside the Basque country, it also comes with a set of challenges.\u00a0 For most of us, this was our first time attempting to book a trip by ourselves, let alone in another country.\u00a0 Attempting to find the best way to get there became an obvious challenge.\u00a0 In America, flying is usually the expectation when traveling a longer distance, but in Spain, their public transportation infrastructure is so successful that we had many affordable and efficient options for traveling. Besides flying, there were many rail and bus services that were accessible to us. We decided to travel by train, although flying would have been only marginally more expensive. We used the Spanish rail network \u2018Renfe\u2019 to book our tickets and we were happy to discover that their website was very user friendly.\u00a0 The only thing more difficult about traveling in Spain is the increased number of options compared to the United States, but this is something I think we could all quickly get used to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0The past couple weeks have certainly flown by, and it\u2019s hard to think we only have one more week to go.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly been an amazing experience to try new foods and gain new experiences, growing more accustomed to the various nuances of the Basque cuisine and culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As our second week comes to an end, most of us agree that exploring San Sebasti\u00e1n and the Basque Country have been nothing short of surreal.\u00a0 The freedom to navigate the city on our own has definitely instilled a feeling … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1377,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}