Carnaval

So we basically suck at blogging this past week, but if you knew how nice the weather was this week you would totally understand! Anyways, last weekend we went to Hendaye, France with a few other USACers and participated in “Carnaval.” It was a blast. We took the train there and walked until we found the meeting place. Once we figured out they spoke Spanish we figured out what we were supposed to do. They dressed all of us up in different outfits and then we walked to a big meeting square and basically watched all of the floats that were in front of us go by then we started walking. All in all the actual parade was two hours long with stops along the way to watch other floats sing and dance. Tara, Michael (a fellow USAC student) and I all wore big heads. And when we say big, we mean big. They were huge and we had to have a chest guard to keep them secured to our bodies as well as really strong shoulders. After the first 45 minutes it was really hard to keep them on but obviously we made it through the whole parade. We could partly see through the mouth of the head but it was really difficult to get the perfect angle that wasn’t painful to your shoulders but where you could still see where you were going. Once it was over we went back and took off our costumes. It felt so nice to have the giant heads off! Since we were starving we went to one of the few places that was open with a few other USACers and ordered some personal pizzas.  We didn't know they were going to take them out of a freezer box sitting right next to us and microwave them one by one. They tasted awful and were smaller than a normal personal pizza. And yet they still cost 8 euros along with a water. But despite the food it was a really awesome experience and here are a couple pictures to show the greatness of it all….

Sunday had great weather and Tara, Michael and I went on a four hour walk. Up and around the small mountain thing we have near our house, then to the other side of the city and beach, then back down to the middle of the city and soccer stadium up hills and through side streets before finally retreating back to our apartment for bible study. Dannae brought us McDonalds French fries and we are embarrassed to say they were gone rather quickly… The whole week was beautiful weather and we walked to and from school almost every day. Our roommate Dylan bought rollerblades so I went on a blade/run with her one morning and it was super fun. Tara has been sick the past few weeks so she finally went to the doctor and got some medicine that makes her lungs itch, as well as make her feel a lot better! It was one of our friends birthday this week so we got to celebrate with him by making a cake and taking an extra-long break in class. Pinxto Pote this week was also just too much fun. Friday was spent window shopping before taking an extra-long nap then going to an AMAZING Italian restaurant with some friends. After retreating home with gelato we spent the night giving ourselves facials and watching tv. The boys are in Paris for the weekend, so it is an all-girls all weekend movie extravaganza. This week includes a presentation, a midterm and next Friday, a trip to Barcelona for the weekend. Now that you’re all caught up we will try to be better about keeping up with our exciting lives here in beautiful San Sebastian!