yo "estoy" español, español, español, español.

I'm alive!  I survived a busy weekend - but it wasn't as hectic as I thought it'd be.  Transportation went pretty much as smoothly as possible and we did (almost) everything we planned to do :)

Day 23: SAN SEBASTIÁN

Cher and I hopped on the 6.5 hour train ride from BCN to San Sebastián early in the morning.  It wasn't too bad at all!  Plus there were awesome views (like the one above) and I just slept a lot.  We arrived by 1pm and walked around until we found Stella!  So glad we were able to find one another.  The day consisted of walking around the town, eating pinxtos/tapas, shopping, and laying on La Concha beach.  It was really relaxing, although not the best weather to be in San Sebastián.  Everyone was super nice there though, and the town was very clean.  They also don't lie when they say there's tons of tapas to eat (a pretty good deal too!), yum yum.

We ate more tapas for dinner, then headed to Pamplona by bus.  It took around an hour just to get on a bus, due to 1) overbooking 2) crowds of tipsy youngsters all ready to party up all night for San Fermín.  But we finally got on one and arrived in our strange little hostel 5 km outside of Pamplona.  Still, it was a super clean place!  We pushed our twin beds together to make a king size :)

Day 24: PAMPLONA / BILBAO

The bus station in Pamplona at 7 in the morning.

We got up a little TOO late to catch el encierro, or bull run.  We got there by 7 something, but we were kind of lost and it was wayyyy too crowded to find our way around.  We finally made it to the end of the bull run route at the stadium, but it was almost 8:00am already.  We knew we wouldn't see them when we heard the cannons go off within seconds, and another within another few seconds.  Crowds were crazy wild.  At least I was able to recognize when the bulls passed by my location - I heard yells, stomps, and a loud flood of people cross, but only for a few seconds.

The rest of the time was spent getting harassed and picked on by the Spaniards because we were a group of three vulnerable Asian girls.  It was the most annoying thing in the world, especially because I can barely take the constant stares I get around Europe.  I mean, being different is fine - I usually don't mind that much.  But being approached by EVERY SINGLE MAN/GROUP OF MEN and hearing the words "ni hao", "konichiwa", "china", "yellow", "guapa", etc.  50+ times was just not my idea of fun.  I had to swat some away and ignore almost all of them.  At that moment I really just wanted to throw them in the middle of Asia and see how they feel.  I know they were all drunk messes, but it was still no excuse for such extreme behavior.  This was actually the reason why I lack photos from Pamplona.  I was quite disgusted by the town.  I know it's an old tradition and it's all for fun, but seriously, people just cross the line.  I don't know; maybe being completely wasted on the streets, stepping in urine mixed with beer mixed with mystery water mixed with throw up (and probably some bull waste) just isn't my thing.  Nevertheless it was an experience.. I just wish I had planned the trip better so I would at least see a bull :(.

Anyway, we were able to meet up with studio folks!  After that, the day was much better.  The drunken men had knocked out (most of them somewhere in public) and we all went to eat and relax.  The city clean-up team is amazing..areas that were completely trashed looked completely normal again within the hour.  Families came out to enjoy the day.  It was really cute to see everyone participating and dressing up in white and red, even little babies, grandparents, and dogs!  Pamplona is actually a very beautiful city when it's calm.  We all just siesta-ed on the grass and wandered streets until it was time for our bus to Bilbao.

Bilbao is a wonderful place.  Yeah, there's not much to do, but I just loved the atmosphere.  It's calm, people are friendly, and the Guggenheim is there (or maybe I was just extremely relieved from leaving Pamplona)!  We checked in at our amazing find of a hotel (thanks Stella!) and showered from our hectic day.  Then we headed out to check out the old town for dinner.  Afterwards, we took pictures at the Zubizuri pedestrian bridge (so much more intriguing in person than in arch150..) and of course Gehry's Guggenheim!  I think I took way too many.  Here's a few:

We went to the park next to the museum and played like little kids too.  Such a fun night.

Day 25: BILBAO / BCN

The Goog by day.  Too bad it was cloudy. : /We headed back to Barcelona on a 7.5 hour bus ride.. When we arrived, España and the Netherlands were still playing in double overtime.  Right as I was stepping off the bus, people began honking, cheering, and I already knew we had made the goal.  So Cher and I ran to the nearest bar to watch the last five minutes.  And then we just stood there not knowing what to do.. because we chose the perfect country to be in at the perfect time.  So then we HAD to check out the crowds at the main plazas.. Exhausted, we met up with other interns (with our weekend bags) to celebrate our win in the WORLD CUP. :)
Olé, olé olé olé!
Plazas and metros were flooded with red and yellow jerseys and flags.   Streets were also flooded.. with Estrella Damms.  Only in Spain.
Check out the rest of the pics from my trip on flickr :)
Day 26:RECOVERY DAY.  Work.  Siesta.  Plus getting used to the Barcelona heat again.  haha, "heat".  It's not even that bad here.. but I'm not sleeping with sheets and still sweating.
Day 27:Work.  I'm kind of feeling more useful there!Tonight, several of us went to eat  *drumroll*.. SUSHI!  It was decent.. but way overpriced.  I could've eaten at Yoshi's for a better value.  Sigh.. oh well.  I REALLY needed something Asian, and everything Asian here is either way overpriced, bad, or just wrong.  I must try Wok to Walk..recommended by the Natalies.  Check out the tiniest piece of nigiri for the hungriest man ever:

I JUST CAN'T GET OVER HOW SMALL THAT THING WAS FOR THREE EURO HAHAHAAHA.  I'm so sorry Robert.
Anyway.  We had a good time.  Donny and I headed deeper in to Gràcia for some munchies after.  Found the bEST gelato everrrr (in Spain, at least) in Plaza de la Revolució de Septembre del 1868.  Must remember that name.  I'm for sure going back!  Then we found a small bar that had a jukebox that played music for free!  Cool beans.  Then I walked home, and I spent way too much time writing this overly-detailed blog.  I hope this entertained you, wherever you are. :)
This weekend was realllllly fun, but I'm kinda glad I'm back in Barcelona.  Never thought I'd feel more comfortable here..
More to come.  I must blog more often and stop loading entries like this.