It’s been awhile since I’ve last written, so I’ll try to play catch up. About two Saturdays ago, after helping us fix a rather large flight problem (we had accidentally booked tickets to the wrong city…no worries, it was fixed!), my friend Stephanie’s (Pennsylvania) host mother, Begoña, took Steph, Monica (California) and I out for lunch. We went to an awesome restaurant in center city Burgos and I can honestly say it was some of the best food I have ever tasted. The sangria was fresh and the food was arranged on the plates very nicely. Afterwards, Begoña took us around the city and told us about the different sections and their histories.
On Sunday, a bunch of Italian Erasmus (an Erasmus is an international student) students put together a going-away dinner at our friend Letizia’s house for my roommates, Natascia and Valentina, as they were returning to Italy the next day. There were about 12 of us—seven Italians, four Spaniards and myself. Everyone was so energetic and full of life, and it was so much fun to be with such loud, exciting people. Natascia’s cousins were there, and because they didn’t know Spanish, the Italians spoke in their own language. I loved listening to the Italian being yelled around the room and was happy to be able to pick out words that were similar to Spanish. I am amazed at how similar the two languages are, because if I listened closely enough I could understand the conversations.
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| From left: Valentina, Natascia and Thais (Brazil) |
On Wednesday, I left for Germany with my friends Monica and Laura (Pennsylvania). Monica’s boyfriend, Dominik, plays professional basketball for a team called “Phoenix” in Hagen, Germany. He lives in an apartment in downtown Hagen with his teammate, Malte (Germany). They are both a lot of fun and some of the funniest people I have met in Europe so far. I felt very welcome in their home and immediately felt like I knew them my whole life!
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| From left: Monica and Laura |
On Thursday, Monica, Laura and I spent the day checking out the city while the guys were at basketball practice and decided to make dinner for them to thank them for letting us into their home. We made a salad, tortellini with pesto and chicken and garlic bread.
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| The dinner we made for Malte (left) and Dominik (right) |
Afterwards, we all went to a dance club called “Funpark”…it was definitely fun. It turns out that Monica is just as crazy as I am and we had an awesome time dancing and goofing off. I suppose that our hot moves attracted the attention of one of Dominik’s teammates, so he came over and commented on how ridiculous we looked, saying, “With those moves you’re doing, I’m surprised you two aren’t doing push-ups or jumping jacks!” Of course I responded by saying that I would be more than happy to do push-ups on the dance floor. He obviously didn’t know me that well, because he then told me that if I could do 20 push-ups (in the middle of the dance floor) then he would buy me 10 drinks of my choice. I looked at Monica and Laura, and realized I was being challenged. I then looked at my challenger, Chris, and of course took on the test. As I got down on the floor and started the impossible, Monica sensed I needed encouragement and naturally danced around me to cheer me on. Thanks to her dance moves and the growing circle of spectators, I completed the feat…a great moment in my young life.
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| Pumping some iron at Funpark |
Friday was pretty laid-back. We went shopping in the city, and I surprised myself with my German skills. I have taken about three semesters of German, and despite being able to understand what my professors and classmates would say, I never thought that I’d ever be able to use it. However, I knew enough of the language to be able to ask questions and get around the city. After Dominik got out of basketball practice, we all got ready to go out and went to Osnabruck, which is where Dominik’s cousins live. They took us to a dance club that was about a half an hour away and is known to be the largest “hip-hop dance club” in Germany. It was huge, complete with strobe lights and spinning stages. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun.
Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful. Monica and I went to one of Dominik’s basketball games and it was a lot of fun to see him play. He is definitely one of the best players on the team! On Monday we went to Köln to see the cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful. I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to build, and I always wonder why we can’t construct such beautiful buildings now. We weren’t able to spend much time in Köln, but we had a good time checking out the city and playing tourists for the day.
After about six days in Germany, we came back to Burgos. We had a great time there and now we are trying to plan more trips to see more of Europe! I am so happy to have met such great people that I get along with so well.
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