Video by Sergio Barreiro

This weekend, I have traveled to Logroño and Bilbao with the Tufts-Skidmore Spain program. When I sat down in December to plan some travel within Spain, I did not have any cities in northern Spain. It was really cool to have the opportunity to travel to a part of Spain that I otherwise would not have visited. In this blog, I’ll tell you a little about what I did this weekend on the trip!

We arrived to the meeting location to hop on the bus towards our first stop, Logroño. When we got on the bus, my friends and I discovered that there was an open circle table with seats at the back of the bus. We immediately sat in the back and watched a movie on our way to Logroño. After a few hours on the bus, it was great to arrive in Logroño. In Perspectives this past week, Alicia recommended that we try pinchos on Calle Laurel. The food we ate on Calle Laurel was so tasty! Later, we went to a vineyard to learn about the winemaking process and to do some wine tasting. At the second tasting, we got to make our own bottle of wine! Upon returning to the hotel, my girlfriends and I went to the International Women’s Day March. It was really special to walk with women of all ages to protest for women’s rights. In Spain, International Women’s Day is celebrated by a women’s strike, which means that women don’t go to work, shop or do their responsibilities at the home.

Before heading out to Bilbao the following day, we did a small walking tour of Camino de Santiago. Sergio got us super excited by engaging us in a group chant of “grupo de Luis”. It was a lovely morning and I enjoyed pointing out the arrows on our route. Then, we headed to Bilbao. A few friends and I had lunch at a rooftop close to the hotel before we went to the Jai Alai excursion. Jai Alai is a sport where the players wear a special mitt that is used to sling a ball against the wall. After watching a game, the players taught us how to play. The arm swing is unique to the sport, and after trying it, I think my shoulder is more suited for volleyball. Afterwards, my friends and I hung out in a hotel room before heading to get some pinchos for dinner. On our last day, we visited the Guggenheim museum. The art was fantastic, and I decided to copy one of the sculptures for my sketchbook homework this week!

All in all, this was a great weekend – thank you Tufts-Skidmore Spain for a wonderful trip!