Now in EITB news portal they have photo and article about Erasmus student but also the same in a local newspaper. A lot of people recognise us on a street. One day Arwen with Denise (Erasmus student from Holland) were in a gym and one guy came to them and gave a press-cutting with article about us. Besides, Natalie (Erasmus student from Estonia)met a boy, who already knew her because of a newspaper. 

Everybody knows each other in Mondragon, so we are new faces here. It nice to catch attention of others, especially when these others are friendly to you. Basque people are very curious and want to know everything about you and country where you live. They introduce you to their friends and ask to join them. That happens because there not a lot of tourists or foreigners who stay in Arrasate. But some people from Europe come to visit caves and climb mountains. Our housekeeper is working as a guide in caves, so one day we will go there.

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After my Erasmus adventure last year, I knew I would someday go back to the Basque Country. The climate, the people, the food, the culture, the cities, the beach, … too many reasons not to come back. A training period at EiTB was the ideal solution to explore Euskal Herria some more.

Koen and I said Gipuzkoa goodbye and moved up north to the inner city of Bilbao (Bizkaia) in the Abando district. An opportunity to live the city life style to the fullest, while we are not restricted by long distances and bus lines (our last stay was in Bergara, approx. 50 km from Bilbao). Bilbao itself has enough to offer, as we knew already.

Tastebuds

Our apartment lies in Indautxu, one of the two neighbourhoods of Abando. It is ideally situated in the heart of the city with everything within walking distance.

Abando by night © Wiki

Culturally and gastronomically this is going to be a welcome break from the everyday life back home. My first bite in a pintxo yesterday was a delight for my tastebuds. Don’t get me wrong, Belgium has some great dishes, especially in winter, but the Basques simply take cooking food to another level.

Last time my cultural visits in Bilbao were limited to the unavoidable Guggenheim. This time I’m going look for some alternatives like the Museum of Fine Arts (with a great permanent collection)  or the beautiful Teatro Arriaga. A music concert (Santana 27, Kafé Antzokia) here and there would be nice as well.

The inside of Teatro Arriaga © Astenagusia

¿Que?

My Spanish language skills upgraded from ‘terrible’ to ‘understandable’ which eases social converse and brings with it the opportunity to connect a bit more with locals. But I have still a very long way to go until I can master the language.

Of course the climate is a positive change as well. Although there’s only a small difference of 5°C in comparison to Belgium you notice an immediate shift when you get of the plane. Not exactly Meditarianian but good enough for me.

We’ll see what this city has in store for me…

See you next time!

Agur!

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A summary of this weekend’s gains: the discovery of Kafe Antzokia – one of Bilbao’s coolest music venues, a fun and entertaining Teenagers-concert, an insane revelation named Crystal Fighters – electronic music combined with traditional Basque instruments, and the long-anticipated book The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave.

On Friday, after completing our weekly duties at EiTB, we went to the Deusto quarter to meet Mikel, the guy with whom I’d been staying during my first weekend in Bilbao. That weekend, I had discovered that The Teenagers, a French, London-based electro-pop band, would be playing in Kafe Antzokia on the 23rd of this month. I was really craving a concert, it had been TOO LONG, and I knew that Michael and Niké would feel the same, so they tagged along.

Mikel, Tiina and Sami also joined us, and so it was that on Friday we headed to one of Bilbao’s top alternative music venues. Kafe Antzokia used to be a small theatre, so just the setting itself was enough to make me giggle of happiness.

Niké, Michael, me, Sami and Tiina in front of the stage at Kafe Anzokia. © M. Irastorza

The Bilboloop festival night kicked off with a concert of Tom Boyle. It’s a local band, so I was curious, but unfortunately for them and us, it was a true yawn-fest. My deepest apologies to their fans, but there was no stage presence, no chemistry between the band members and – most importantly – no interesting music.

Second to take the stage were The Teenagers. They greeted the audience with ‘Kaixo!’, so thumbs up for that. Easily accessible but nonetheless good music and a very energetic lead singer, who was mostly standing at literally only a meter away from the crowd, made sure that it was a very successful gig. Especially when people could go on stage during one of the last songs (The Homecoming), all teenage girls went wild.

The Teenagers got everyone on stage during their song The Homecoming. © Sajeh

The biggest surprise of the evening was Crystal Fighters. Usually a five-member group, there were only three of them now, but they created so much noise that it was as if there were a lot more. How best to describe their music… It’s heavy electro combined with traditional Basque instruments (txalaparta) at a high speed pace which resulted in something close to a rave concert. Insanity, but inventive insanity that we are more than willing to embrace and put on our iPods. The fact that some of them are of Basque descent and that they integrate Basque folk in their music makes it even better.

Crystal Fighters, with the guy on the right playing the txalaparta. © Sajeh

We stuck around for the afterparty for a while and then headed back to Mikel’s apartment, where five of us slept in the living room. In total, there were ten people sleeping in the flat that night, which apparently was a record. I feel obligated to mention the hospitality again!

Next day, schoolwork! Yes, that also has to happen (more often than I’m doing now actually, I feel like I’ve used all my spare time in the last two months, and that the next two will be all work and no play!).
I stayed at Mikel’s place to work, pondering about an article that – yes, you’re reading this right – links a Korean movie to the Basque social conduct.

In the evening I searched some book stores for The Death of Bunny Munro, the new Nick Cave novel that I have been dying to read. I eventually found it in the Fnac store, my copy being one of the only two they had. Yay!

I stayed another night in Bilbao, sharing the Belgian chocolate that my grandparents brought. My hosts apparently loved it (how could you not)! Mikel told me about a festival with Basque bands in Arrasate on the 7th of November. We will definitely check that out and it would be a nice opportunity to be the host instead of the guest for once!

Talk soon! Gero arte!

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Today we had our second class of Digital Journalism where we were divided into groups of three to work on a project. We got the assignment to make a comic using pictures we made ourselves.

I was placed in a group with two guys, one of them was absent, but the other one spoke English quite well, so we didn’t have as much communication problems as some of my friends were experiencing. During this hour we had to come up with a script for the comic book. My team partner and I came up with the idea of writing a murder mystery in film-noir style. So we would work with photos in black and white in which I will have to play a murderess, something I will definitely enjoy! We have no idea if it will work, but I am already looking forward to working on it. It’s refreshing to work on something that’s not news-related for a change!

Work at Eitb

Tomorrow we will be working at Eitb for the fourth time, so were getting the hang of it! It’s a really good experience to work there. Before we’ve never done an internship in a real media company, so now we can get a good image of how feels like to work as a real journalist.

Maritxu

After that the weekend begins and we go partying in Mondragon (Arrasate) for Maritxu, a big event where everybody dresses up and parties on the streets. Those are the kinds of parties I like best! Unfortunately we will arrive there quite late, because our bus from Bilbao leaves at 8.30, and it’s a long bus drive. But I don’t really mind, since we will have some time to rest before partying all night long!

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