what a lovely weekend!

this weekend was just fabulous! did lots of fun things and had great weather, so it was great!

On friday I went to La Rioja to meet up with my parents. It's the wine region in spain and produces lots of great wines. It was incredible going there. Since it's fall, all the leaves on the vineyards were orange/red and so the landscape was absolutely incredible. On friday we at lunch at the winery designed by Frank Gary, the same architect as the Guggenheim. It was absolutely beautiful and the food was delicious! Then we went to this winery called Bodega Fabulista. It's a traditional winery and was very beautiful, but the guide and wine wasn't all that great. Saturday we slept in, then went to a modern winery called Bodega Baigorri (bodega means winery...). This winery had the most incredible views of the vineyards and all the wine was delicious, so a better experience than the day before.

Then we headed back to Bilbao and our next mission was getting futbol tickets for Saturday night's game, and it was a success! My dad and I figured out where to get them and so my parents, my friend alyssa and I all went to the game. It was SOOOOO much fun! The chants, the pride, the flags, the excitement - everything I expected. Plus, #24, Javi Martinez, is incredibly beautiful. haha. Athletic de Bilbao beat Athletic de Madrid 1-0 (and Javi scored our goal!).

Then my parents headed home and Alyssa and I went to Casco Viejo to meet up with some friends for Halloween. We ended up getting separated from them though, and so just headed back to Areeta to go to our favorite bar, La Tortuga. We were there til about 4 and then wandered home.

Oh and! Since being here, we have heard people talk about this door in my town. All the food places normally close around midnight, so drunk food is hard to come by... haha. and alyssa and I have looked for it, and last night we finally found it! It's this little blue door with no sign or anything. And you knock on it, and there is a guy there who has all this food he makes for all the drunkies! Let me tell you, those ham and cheese sandwiches were amazing at 4:15 in the morning!!

Today I showed my parents around my town and then had a nice long lunch with Carmen and her sister. They head home tomorrow, and this week probably won't be too enjoyable... I have a group paper due in this one class on Thursday and we aren't even close to finishing it, so most of the week will be spent doing that.

I'll write again soon!