{"id":78,"date":"2026-06-06T13:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/?p=78"},"modified":"2026-06-07T01:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T06:56:34","slug":"free-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/2026\/06\/06\/free-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My main goal of the day was to travel to Biarritz, France, but instead, my group and I ended up in Hondarribia, Spain, thirty minutes away from our hotel due to public transportation confusion. I will admit I was aggravated at first, but the beautiful views and architecture softened the blow, but what truly made it better was being in a ‘strange’ place with all my friends and us slowly but surely finding our way. I do not know how many cafes\/restaurants we walked up to only to be frozen by the price. After thirty minutes of wandering, we finally saw it: a Mexican restaurant– I do not think I have ever run into an alley so fast. I looked up and down the street and saw nothing but a tiny kabob place at the end of the road. So that is where we ended up. Waking up early, after only getting three hours of sleep, missing 2 buses and 2 stops, resulted in a pretty view and less than a 10-dollar meal at a tiny kabob shop in an ally with a freaky pigeon at my feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mariana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We decided to stroll across the marina and saw locals fishing, dogs lying with their owners, and beautiful boats sailing across the ocean. You could tell the atmosphere compared to San Sebasti\u00e1n was different but in a good way. The atmosphere was calmer and more relaxed. The people did not seem in as much of a rush as from what I have seen in the city. The houses were bright and colorful, displaying individuality and character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We eventually made it back to San Sebasti\u00e1n after a tiny but more bus confusion, but we did as a team, and that is what mattered. I learned that patience is key and that sometimes plans do not work out, and you need to \u2018go with the flow.\u2019 On the way to the first bus stop (that we missed), there was a graffitied message hidden behind the trees and said in bright pink letters to \u201cEnjoy the silence,\u201d which, I will admit, took me a while to understand, but in the quiet town of Hondarribia, I understood the meaning behind it: to not only enjoy the actual silence but take note of the peaceful environment that others call home. Without the artificial sounds of the city, I was able to completely focus on the nature and my time with my new friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Batapl\u00e1n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even though my plans didn\u2019t work out, I know in my heart that no matter where I am, as long as you\u2019re with friends (no matter how recent they are), you can and will have the time of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll never be in Spain at 19 getting lost with a group of people I just met (to whom I now consider my close friends), and therefore, I have no regrets and would do it all over again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The End! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My main goal of the day was to travel to Biarritz, France, but instead, my group and I ended up in Hondarribia, Spain, thirty minutes away from our hotel due to public transportation confusion. I will admit I was aggravated … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1717,"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-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1717"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/san-sebastian2-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}