Nearing the End

 Monday, June 25th
With only two days remaining of my study abroad, I thought I'd use today to do some activities in Bilbao that I either found comforting or that drew my curiosity. Every morning on the metro ride to school, I would glance out the window, and when passing through the Aiboa train stop, I would notice giant letters engraved into the greenery of the hill across the way that read "Artea." I had recently found out that this was a major shopping mall in Bilbao. Considering I needed to purchase a few more gifts for people (including myself, especially given my weakness for European brands such as H&M), I thought it would be a great day to see what the locals buy and wear. The journey to the mall was not an easy or even predictable one. The mall is situated at the top of a small mountain, surrounded by a highway, and easily accessible only to cars and avid hikers. After climbing my way up (which in itself offered some great views of Bilbao), I eventually found the entrance to the Artea Mall.

View of the Artea shopping center from Aiboa

View of Bilbao on the hike to Artea

No mall is complete without a McDonalds

After purchasing 90 euros worth of clothes from the "ever young" Spanish company called Pull & Bear (which I can now say is my new favorite brand name, though with no store locations in the U.S) and a miniature Spain-EuroCup football from Forum Sport, I returned to my homestay to take a siesta before going out with friends. Skipping a few hours to around 6:30pm, Kaitlin and I wanted to show Nick and Morgan to the fancy pintxos at La Vina. Luckily for me, I would take this opportunity to try the dishes that I didn't get to order the first time around with Tim. I ended up ordering "Tapa Carrillera" (a sort of braised beef and potato stew) and "Tapa Mozzarella" (a fresh salad served with a tangy vinaigrette and a fresh mozzarella cheese blob). Although less unique than the ones I got before, they were still pretty delicious. I decided to return home early for dinner so that I could spend what little time I had left with my host family.

Savory beef and potato stew

Fresh mozzarella and pine nut salad