¡Viva Pamplona!

1 de enero, 2 de febrero, 3 de marzo, 4 de abril, 5 de mayo, 6 de junio, 7 de julio San Fermín!
A Pamplona hemos de ir por la fiesta, por la fiesta
A Pamplona hemos de ir y un buen botín!

The night before Pamplona my host mom sang me that song and again in the morning before I left. It's a famous San Fermín song to celebrate the festival. Yesterday we left for Pamplona at 5:00am (I got up at 3:45) and got there around 7:15. Right when we got there we headed straight for the stadium where we would wait to see the entrance of the bulls (el encierro). It was nice to not have to worry about being in any danger. We watched the actual running of the bulls on a big screen in the stadium, then got to see them come in a long with all of the runners. I couldn't believe how many people participated. Once the bulls entered the stadium they were all taken somewhere else except for one. The last bull stayed in the ring and all of the participants had to dodge the running bull. It's kind of hard to explain. Definitely an experience I will never forget. It's tradition to get chocolate con churros after el encierro so of course we did that. The churros were unbelievebly delicious. The chocolate was good too, but it was pretty much like a melted candy bar. A little bit too sweet.

It was so neat seeing so many people wearing all white with red belts and scarves (traditional San Fermín costume). Lucky for me we were there when everyone was passed out or in their hotels sleeping so there weren't too many people in the streets. When the festival starts on July 7th it's pretty much non stop drinking for the entire week (I tasted the traditional kalimotxo beverage which is wine mixed with coca-cola) The streets were filled with trash and it didn't smell too good either. It's still cool to say I've been to Pamplona/San Fermín festival though.

After that we got to spend a couple hours in San Sebastian which is a beautiful port city with a gorgeous beach. We didn't get a chance to spend time on the beach because it was cloudy and breezy. We walked around and got to see all of the old buildings and stores. It's such a beautiful city I really want to go back and spend some more time there.

Everyone will be happy to know that I have tried fish here! It was kind of unavoidable, so I expected it. My host mother made me eat fish the other night even though she knows I don't like it. She told me I have to eat fish at least once a week (yuck!). The next day we had fish for lunch in San Sebastian. That fish wasn't as bad, so I ate half of it. Hopefully I won't have to eat it for awhile though!

Tomorrow I'm going on an optional "excursion" (I don't think we're going far) with native Spanish speaking students so I can practice my Spanish speaking skills. Saturday is another excursion so I'll let you know how that goes!

¡Hasta Luego!