Pintxos, pintxos, and more pintxos!

Overlooking beautiful San Sebastián

 This weekend I ventured north to San Sebastián in Pais Vasco. I was familiar with Pais Vasco from my Spanish class last semester when we learned about ETA, a nationalist terrorist group in Spain. Being that this was the only thing I knew about the region, I was a bit nervous. But my host dad Nando is from Pais Vasco and he could not say enough good things about the region. Plus everyone said the food was phenomenal in San Sebastian so I had to go!

My roommates and I left Friday morning and arrived in beautiful San Sebastian mid afternoon. We wandered to the ocean and sat on top of a giant wall on the edge of the ocean for 45 minutes just taking it all in.

Later that night we returned to the hostel, made some new German friends, and went to try the famous San Sebastian food! We went to a restaurant that served all variations of mejillones, or mussels. Stephanie and I tried 2 different kinds and they were both delicious, although one involved so much onion I might as well have taken a bit out of an onion as if it were an apple. We sidled up to the bar, ordered our mejillones, and ate them right then and there. The restaurants in San Sebastian rarely have tables or waiters. When we finished our mussels we took the shell and tossed them on the floor. It was a very different dining experience but it was so fun!

After our ride to the top of the mountain on the funicular

The next day it was a bit rainy but we went out to see the sights of San Sebastián and decided to ride a funicular to the top of the mountain in the bay. At the top they have all sorts of carnival rides and stupid things that parents can be suckered into buying at the top which I found amusing. I guess you can put anything on top of a mountain! That afternoon we had a traditional pintxos experience. Pintxos (pronounced "peench-o's") are like tapas, or appetizers, but on steroids. They are also served at the bar. We had no idea what we were ordering but we pointed to what looked good and ate it!! It was the most delicious lunch I have had in Spain and invloved some sort of tortilla española, a meatball, and a ham and cheese ball. If you ever have the chance to travel to San Sebastián and taste pintxos I highly recommend it! At night, pintxos bars would be full and people would spill over into the streets. It was really cool to take part in such a different eating custom.

Harbor

 Most beach cities are built around the beach and tourism. While San Sebastian is physically built around a city, the social customs revolve around the food and the beach seems to be an afterthought. We asked one of the workers at our hotel to suggest things to do at night and she told us that people from San Sebastian worry first about the food. Only once they have been to multiple pintxos bars will they begin to talk about what to do afterward. Definitely a culture I could get used to!

It is hard coming back to reality (is this reality?) after a weekend of adventures. Midterms begin this week which means it is time to buckle down before my big trip to Italy this weekend.

Y ahora, algo en español sobre la cultura de San Sebastián. La diferencia mas distinta en la ciudad es el uso de la lengua vasca. Es muy diferente de español y no puedo entender vasco. En mi opinión es interesante que las partes de España hablan formas diferentes. Quiero saber los raizes de cada lengua y las razones para las diferencias. Mi parte favorita de San Sebastián es el pintxo. Es obvio que es rico pero a la misma vez el pintxo es una razon para reunir con sus amigos. Cada noche en los calles habia mucha gente charlando y bebiendo y disfrutando su comida. Es una manera de comer mucho mas cómoda, nadie se sienta en los restaurantes y no hay meseros. Pero es divertido y un poco mas verdad porque el foco es la comida.

Otra cosa que note es la preponderancia de ETA en el graffiti y los avisos. Obviamente ETA tiene una presencia fuerte en la sociedad. Yo se algunas cosas sobre ETA porque he estudiado la organización en mi clase de español el semestre pasado. Es un grupo nacionalista y terrorista y quieren ser parte separado de España. Puedo ver que hay diferencias grandes entre País Vasco y España pero en mi opinión los dos tienen muchas semejanzas también. Los políticos de una región extraña son difícil entender especialmente cuando no se la historia. Quiero aprender mas sobre las tensiones con ETA en mi semestre aqui, voy a tener unas semanas para discutir los problemas en mi clase de sociología mas tarde en el semestre.