Hola, buenas! I have been in San Sebastian now for 3 full days. I still feel nervous that I'm going to wake up any second and realize that this city couldn't possibly be real!
This is funny - In Spanish, the word 'sierra' means 'saw' or 'close'. For this reason, my host and her boyfriend have given me the nickname Eli! haha. They came up with this by taking the first three letters of my middle name, Elizabeth Ann. Everyone here calls me Eli, even the people at my school. And I actually really like it. (Although I think I'd like to go back to Sierra when I get home.)
San Sebastian is very small and is basicall broken up into two different parts: the "old part" and the "new part". Yesterday I took a tour of the old part of the city. As we were walking through the streets, I felt like I was on the set of a movie. There is such an interesting contrast between the old buildings and the modern things inside them. I don't know if you've seen it, but I almost feel like i'm in the movie "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". I don't know, something about the architecture or something.
Anyways, the pace of life here is very calm. I love it. It's on the coast so there are a lot of surfers walking around with their wet suits and surf boards. (I might even give surfing a try! But no promises!) Since the town is pretty small, a lot of the people know each other. My host owns a cafe very close to the center of the town. There are tons of really yummy pastries and the coffee is really good! I never drink coffee at home but this morning, I had 2 lattes!
Today was my second day of Spanish classes. All of the other students in my class are German! It is difficult to understand them because they speak Spanish with a German accent! Yesterday I didn't really understand anything they were saying, it was really bad. Today, it was much easier. Hopefully that means i'm getting used to it. Maybe tomorrow I won't have any trouble at all....? (Probably wishful thinking, but I'll keep you updated.) Even though it's difficult to speak Spanish with the German students, I am constantly using the language and I can't believe how much better I have gotten already! It's exciting!
The people here in San Sebastian are very fashionable! There are so many cute shops and walking to and from school is torture! It's like i'm forced to window shop! There is a certain style here that I guess I would compare to what we would call "emo" in the U.S. But here, apparently it's trendy, or "scene" to have a mullet....! It's so funny! In Washington, when you see people with mullets, they usually aren't the most trendy people....But here, the people with the mullets are the fashionable ones! So don't be surprised if I come home in June with a trendy mullet in an attempt to bring the fad to Seattle! ;)
Every street in San Sebastian is a one way street. In theory, this makes it very easy to cross the streets, right?? WRONG! It is so confusing for some reason. I just can't bring myself to believe that I only ever have to look one way! And as a result, crossing the streets here is even more scary than it is at home! But lets be honest, I've never been very brave when it comes to crossing the street.... Travel to a foreign country by myself?? No problem! But someone better hold my hand when I cross the street!
Tomorrow I am going on a "Pinxtos", or tapas, tour! I am really excited because San Sebastian is known for it's cuisine and they are famous for their pinxtos! :)
besitos y abrazos,
Sierra
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