it was a very unusual thanksgiving surrounded by friends and teachers instead of family. after a long day of school and an english lesson with carla, it was time to celebrate thanksgiving. we all sat down for a “traditional” thanksgiving dinner followed by dessert, made by the american teachers, at the historical center. it didn’t feel much like the american holiday, but it was fun nonetheless.

taking our education beyond zaragoza, the alumnos were divided into three different groups traveling to extremadura, país vasco, and madrid. i was a part of the political and journalism group headed to madrid. we spent five hectic days visiting a magazine publisher, newspaper printing press, senate, congress, museums and so much more. i spent every evening walking the city with friends and sprinting down gran vía to meet curfew.

to celebrate the end of the first quarter, we spent friday visiting loarre and bolea. the first part of our excursion was in bolea, huesca visiting la colegiata de santa maría la mayor. la colegiata is a beautiful, gothic collegiate church that was constructed in 1571. next we ventured to a fortress, castillo de loarre. built during the 11th and 12th centuries, it was of strategic importance due to its position on the frontier between christian and muslim lands. it was our first trip during which we were required to only speak spanish, well that was the plan anyway.

what better way to celebrate the finish of a long week than to take a trip to the pyrenees mountains. rushing home after school on friday, my host family and i set out for a weekend in seira, a small pueblo in the mountains. we packed up clothes, hiking gear and lots of food, and we were off. after a two and half hour drive we had arrived in a quiet town that was occupied by the same families lines that had first settled the pueblo. the night we arrived we spent a few hours searching for firewood to use for the barbecue i had been hearing about for the past week. we made a night out of cooking our dinner and finally sat down to eat at 10:30pm. the next day we woke up “early” at 10:00am and set off on our first hike, but not before taking a pitstop at another pueblo, el run. what was supposed to be a two hour and forty five minute hike took us nearly five hours. we picked mushrooms and apples, took lots of pictures, and stopped for a picnic. my host parents, who do not speak any english, were trying to learn sayings, which lead to lots of laughs and jokes. we got home in time for a quick siesta before we had to start preparing to barbecue again, a process that was slightly different than flipping a switch as we do in the u.s., but fun none the less. sunday we were up and out for another hike, this time slightly shorter. my host dad couldn’t stop telling us that we were late and had to hurry up. we barbecued one last time, they really enjoy using the barbecue if it wasn’t obvious, cleaned the house, and eventually ventured home. it was a really special and surreal weekend.

 

after a very short three day week of school, we were once again released into the city to celebrate pilares. the square was filled daily with hundreds of people, ranging from babies to grandparents, celebrating at concerts, dance performances, and everything in-between. the city truly came alive, and for five days it never slept. on saturday (october 11th) a few other sya students and i woke up at 6am to go watch las vaquillas. we showed up just in time to find out that all the tickets had been sold, but we were lucky enough to receive free tickets from a peña, a group of families/friends that have a special color and symbol. the spaniards participating in the bull fight had stayed up all night drinking and by 8am had reached a point of complete exhaustion mixed with just enough liquid courage to think it was a good idea to tease bulls. the stadium was packed and there was so much cheering you couldn’t hear yourself think. there were ambulances waiting outside the stadium to help carry out anyone injured, they were no novices.

sunday was the official day of pilar, which included la ofrenda de flores, several jota dances, and people everywhere. thousands of flowers were stacked in a pyramidal structure as an offering to the virgin of pilar. people waited in line for hours, dressed in the traditional clothing of aragón, to give their flowers, and, of course, there was a parade touring the city.

 

saturday night marked the official beginning of the fiestas del pilar. the entire city of zaragoza lined the streets to parade into la plaza del pilar. everyone joined in on the singing of “canto a la libertad”, the national anthem of aragón, which was followed by a fireworks show. it was very special to be able to participate in such an event with so many people. the fiestas will continue through monday, with different concerts and events each day. it’s like nothing i’ve ever experienced in the states.

 

yesterday our advisories were divided into three groups to spend the day in three different cities. my group was the first to leave, meeting at school at 7:15am. we spent the day in navarra walking a small fraction of the camino de santiago from cirauqui to estella, a path the extends from France all the way to Galicia. 9 miles and 4 hours later the journey was over and we were ready for a shower and bed, well right after we visited a monastery and drove two and a half hours home.

i spent the weekend in navarra visiting the two pueblos my host parents grew up in. we slept over friday and saturday in my host dad’s parent’s house, who are straight out of a movie. we spent saturday morning in el campo picking apples, grapes, and figs. we returned for la comida and sergio and i watched a girl’s soccer game in the afternoon. sunday was another eventful day beginning with a scenic walk around the pueblo lagarra, followed by a visit to cristina’s pueblo puente la reina. there was a big festival in the main plaza, there always seems to be a festival happening somewhere in spain, and the streets were filled with people, food stands, and specialty booths. i was introduced to over 20 people, mostly family members of cristina, and cannot remember a single name. we then visited the special pepper market in puente la reina and headed back to lagarra to eat and pack up for home. another crazy and fun weekend!