Futbol y Francia

So I realized I basically only blog about my vacations on the weekend. So here's what goes on during the week. Every Monday night we get together with the boys in the ward and play soccer. It started with just two or three guys and slowly has turned into tons! Even full grown men come to play sometimes. I'm not the least bit good, but it's fun anyway! I love yelling things like, "aqui, aqui!" or "GOOOOL!" I get pretty into it, no matter how awful I am.  

Then this Wednesday, I went to a Real Madrid game! I bought my jersey and everything, so it looks like I'm a Real Madrid fan from now on! Before the game, me and Ali went in to Retiro Park and rented a row boat to paddle around the pond. So the guy helping us out of the boat saw my jersey and full on picked me up and threatened to throw me in the lake for being a Madrid fan! It was all just a joke, but it was still scary! He was so little I was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold me and drop me into the lake!

 So they played Moscow, and man are Russians mean! We somehow got stuck on the same metro as a big group of them. There were literally hundreds of them. I was squished up against a corner with fat, sweaty, smelly, drunk Russians invading way too much of my personal space and chanting and just being loud and obnoxious. I was literally on the verge of tears. It was one of the scarier things that has happened since I've been here. Luckily, this group of Polish men show up, speaking zero English, but somehow manage to say, "We will help you." It was the sweetest thing in the whole world. One of them even found a Real Madrid scarf on the ground and gave it to me. Once we got to the game it was a completely different atmosphere. We sat in a group of Madrid fans so it was so much fun! We were of course the loud squeally screaming American girls, but it didn't even matter! We painted our faces and everything, but turns out no one does that in Spain. We got some great looks from that one! But all in all, it was absolutely incredible!

So you would think this week was already sufficiently wonderful, but it has only just begun! Thursday we left for our trip to Northern Spain. We started in a little town called Burgos. We toured, of course, a cathedral. And then we had a picnic by the side of the river. Just super relaxing and the weather here has been great, so it was just what I needed! We kept driving into Bilbao, where we saw the Guggenheim, Bilbao. This building seriously blows my mind. It should be in Dr. Seuss land or something! The inside wasn't anything too spectacular, the greatest part was playing hide and seek in this maze exhibit. In some ways I think I've grown up a ton here, but in others pretty sure I've regressed back to a child!

The next day, I woke up and toured the peace museum in Guernica. We've been learning about Picasso's painting and this history behind it, so this was a lot cooler to me than any other museum. Honestly, I teared up a little just seeing what all of these innocent people went through. For part of it, we were taken into a 1930's style apartment and listened to a woman tell of everyday life in Guernica the bombing. Then the lights turned off and we could hear the sounds of the bombing. I know it wasn't real, but I could feel my heart racing and still felt inexplicably scared.

After the museum, our directors gave us four options. 1. Go to the nearest McDonald's and eat unlimited french fries 2. Memorize lines from Don Quixote 3. Tour the claimed most forgettable cathedral in Europe. 4. DRIVE UP TO FRANCE FOR PASTRIES! Obviously the first three were a joke, but it was a great way to present our amazing surprise. So that's right, I've officially been to France! We went up to Biarritz, France. It's a coast city in the very south of France. We went to a world renowned pastry shop and ate french pastries. I got a chocolate mousse cup dome and a raspberry pistachio cream tart. It was so insanely rich, but equally delicious! After we went and hung out on the beach for a while and then walked up and down the coast saying "bonjour" to everyone we passed. I was only in France for a couple of hours, but it was awesome! OH also turns out a little part of it was called Centerville, France. I got my little slice of home clear across the world!

That night we drove back into San Sebastian, Spain. We rode an old-fashioned double decker carousel. It was absolutely adorable. We walked along the beach again and got some great Italian food. I feel like there are days in life that are just undeniably perfect. Nothing in the whole world could have ruined this day! On our ride home, we stopped in Santa Domingo and heard a Gregorian Monk chant. Apparently they like have best-seller CD's and stuff. Who knew? It was pretty interesting to hear. Then we went to a slot canyon trail and took a mini hike for a bit. I really don't understand sometimes how I got to be so lucky!