Hicimos el surf...

So the international student group at Navarra organized a little surf trip to Biarritz, in the south of France.  It's actually really close to us--only about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from Pamplona.  For 25 euros, we got 2 hours of surf instruction, gear, and a bus ticket.  Pretty good deal, I think.  Someone was kind enough to take a pic of all of us...pretty small but still pretty cool!

Despite the fact that it was an absolutely terrible day weather-

wise (cold and rainy), it was a blast.  The waves were huge because the weather was bad, but that made it even more fun.  Mostly everyone spent most of their time on their stomachs, anyways...I only got up on my feet for about 2 seconds.  But hey, at least I got up.  

After changing out of our wetsuits, we walked along the coast and took a little tour of Biarritz.  It would be great to go back sometime 

when the weather is nice....Biarritz is a beautiful little town.  

Bar-tha-lona!

Seeing as it was Labor Day here in Spain last Friday, we took a little weekend trip to Barcelona.  We lucked out majorly, seeing as how the weather was absolutely beautiful.  We got in late Friday afternoon, so we just walked around Las Ramblas, which is the main strip with lots of street performers and vendors.  It's also apparently the #1 place in Europe to get robbed, but thankfully that didn't happen to us!  We took a little walk down to the boardwalk and then grabbed some dinner before heading back to our hostel.  

Saturday was gorgeous weather--we got up early and went to La Sagrada Fami

lia, which is a huge cathedral designed by Gaudi.  It's been under construction since 1898 and apparently isn't scheduled to be done until 2026.  It was pretty cool, because every part of the church was designed after some part of nature (tree trunks, flowers, formulas, etc).  Gaudí was quite the intelligent man.  We also walked to Hospital de La Santa Creu, which is Europe's 2nd-oldest functioning hospital and basically looks like a cross between a gingerbread house and Taj Mahals.  Really a cool place.  

From there, we thought it might be a good idea to walk to Park Guell, also designed by Gaudi.  Little did we know that it would be about an hour walk, uphill all the way.  So we definitely got our exercise in for the day.  It was worth it, though; the park was beautiful.  And, it holds the largest park bench in the world...so we can officially say we sat on it. 

Best part of the day was still to come...we went to the beach for a few hours.  Leslie and I got in, despite the fact it was absolutely freezing.  But hey, we can say we swam in the Mediterranean!

Probably my favorite part was the guy balancing a tray of 30+ donuts on his head while dancing, singing, and playing the triangle.  He really looked like he was loving life.  

Luck would also have it that the Picasso Museum is free on the first Sunday of the month, so we went there before heading home on Sunday.  Definitely worth the wait in line, because it was an impressive collection that really delved into his life.  

Claire comes to visit...and Mallorca

Claire Schlafly came to visit from London...she missed her flight to Barcelona so the only part of Spain she saw was Pamplona.  I think we showed her a good time...we explored Casco Viejo (old town), went out for pintxos, and hung out in the Ciudadela (the weather was warm for the first time in awhile!)

On Sunday we left for Mallorca.  After almost missing our bus, we made it to Madrid alive and flew to Mallorca.  Mallorca was absolutely gorgeous--the weather was wonderful and our hostel ended up bein

g like a hotel.  And you can't beat the fact that it was only 30 meters from the beach.  We hit the beach immediately after getting into Mallorca and then stopped off at a Mexican restaurant for strawberry margaritas as soon as it started getting too windy.  Monday morning was a bit rainy, so we went into the heart of Palma and explored.  Saw a beautiful cathedral and got a taste of what the actual city is like.  And, miraculously, it cleared up, so we took the bus back to our hostel and went straight to the beach!  This trip was really relaxing, because it was the first one I've taken that hasn't been all about seeing all the touristy sights--our only priority was the beach!