New Beginnings

el 8 de marzo de 2009

I've been here a week. It really did fly by. I like it though. But let's start back in Santander.

Saturday night I was packed, ready to go, and was apparently hosting a party. Cory had been gone a couple days and the night before I was told that I would, not should, but would be hosting a beirut party at my house Saturday night. Not needing an excuse to play beer pong, I agreed and so people trickled in slowly but surely and we played into the night before heading out to the bars. I must say, it was a really good send off. There were a lot of people that showed up that I hadn't seen in a couple weeks that I was glad I could say goodbye to, namely Alex and Karl. We were all being loud and crazy and it reminded me of good house parties back home.

Sunday morning I woke up in a haze, skipped breakfast, and threw my shit together. Maxime, Amanda and I eventually rolled out the door, and met George on the bus and Jenn at the bus station. We boarded the bus, and I spent the next three hours sleeping, being woken up by the bus stewardess (the only available bus was the Super, so yes we had a stewardess) and otherwise trying not to feel like shit. The shitty feeling was a mixture of things... but mostly beer and smoke. We arrived and walked to my house, which took a little over a half hour considering we had all of my shit with us. We dropped off my stuff, unpacked a bit, walked around the city, had some coffee and pinxos, and otherwise just chilled out. The cold weather drove us back to the house where we hung out while I unpacked a little. We eventually left to head towards the bus station and train station so that they could go home and I could get my commuter pass. We said our goodbyes and I began the walk back towards the house.

I was nervous. Really nervous. I wasn't homesick, I wasn't emotionally wrecked, I just really didn't know what to expect and I was more than anything just hoping that my roommates would "accept" me. I quickly found that there was no need. When I arrived, I put some stuff away in my room and got settled a bit. It was about 8 I guess, and so I just mosied out into the TV room where a couple of them were chilling and sat down. I kind of quietly just hung out and eventually, very slowly, creeped into the conversation through a series of questions like "what're you watching?" and also having people ask me small questions. Everyone decided they were hungry and mosied into the kitchen. This is the part where I got nervous because I didn't want to just show up and eat their food. However, I mosied into the kitchen with them and just hung out on the sidelines. Conversation eventually rolled and I was slowly incorporated into the group. I kind of kept quiet just speaking when spoken to or asking questions just to remind people I was there. Carlos ended up making a pesto pasta and 2 pizzas from scratch. It was amazing. I quickly confirmed that everyone in the house was a) really nice and b) really laid back. I was welcomed very quickly and I liked that a lot. One of the things that helped the most was that Enrique got home once after we had moved into the kitchen. He was the one who showed me the house and we had spoken before so it was sort of a familiar face. Anyways, dinner was lovely but I eventually retired because I'm up at 6am to catch a train to work. Harsh.

Work is great. It's a small company, totally 5 employees. There's Juan Carlos who's the director, then us 4 young guns. My three coworkers are Spanish, 2 guys one girl, all really chill and welcoming, and the girl (Ohiana) and one of the guys (Alberto) live in San Sebastian. Ohiana actually lives on my street which was funny to find out. Anyways, they're all really nice and welcomed me with open arms. My typical day is:

6am awake
7am showered, eaten, at train station
8ish arrive at Beasain train stop where my job is. wait for coworkers to get off train and walk to work.
9am coffee break
12:30p lunch break. first dish, second dish, bread, drink, desert... all for 2 euro. More than enthused.
1pm return to office
1:05p coffee break
4:30ish leave work.

I get home around 6ish, although this week Alberto had been driving to work and gave Ohiana and I a ride home. Anyways, I normally cook myself something to eat because I can't wait until the 10am Spanish dinner time lest I starve. Monday after work I spent buying food, and Tuesday after work I spent buying sheets and a pillow. I spent two nights under one blanket, in a hoody using my jacket as a pillow. The night I got a pillow I don't think the Apocalypse could have woken me up. ALSO... Monday morning I had cold water in the shower and couldn't figure out how to make the coffee maker work (it's a percolator and I wasn't accustomed). It was a shit morning. Since, things have improved greatly.

The project I'm working on at Ibaia (Ibaia Energies SL, renewable energy projects) deals with mini-wind turbines. We're developing our own, and I'm essentially picking up where the last IEP student here left off. Ohiana has been working on the project for a little over a month since she got there. So since the project was already started, I had to catch up. As such, I spent the first three days reading. Readings lots of things. Like Blade Element Theory and Momentum Theory and some Australian guy's thesis paper and all sorts of crap. She had the blade development pretty much on lock down so Thursday I started reading about tower design. I also marked myself as a true engineer: I was eager to put MATLAB on my computer and actually felt happier once it was there. Oh boy. Anyways, I'm interested in the project and the BEST part is that Juan Carlos keeps asking me about what kind of water projects I've worked on. I have a feeling that in a couple weeks time, maybe a month of two he might cut me loose from the wind project, or at least put it on the back burner, and start a water project. Sweet!!! Thursday morning we had a meeting between him, Ohiana, and I about the wind project. We went in, he sat me down and this conversation ensued (in Spanish mind you):

JC: So you've read up on the project a bit?
Me: Yes, I read the summary you gave me, and I've been reading that thesis paper that Ohiana sent me and some other documents.
JC: Great. So, you understand pretty much where we want to go with this?
Me: Yes I would say so.
JC: Great.... How can you help?
Me: ... ... uuuuhhhh I study fluids?

I was NOT expecting that question, and totally should have been. Oops. But anyways I talked to him about projects I had done at URI and the like and eventually he seemed content. Sweet. I mean, it was all really laid back anyways but I was just caught a bit off guard. The funny part was not a half an hour later he calls me into his office and says "Hey, look at this. They're hosting a Water Energy Expo in Bilbao. We're gonna go. It's in April. Interested?" To which I replied "Heck yea!" and got giddy. It was cool.

So needless to say I've been enjoying myself. Work is good, the housemates are really chill, and I'm starting to feel more comfortable around everyone. I will say this though: I had some dead time yesterday afternoon and watched a movie. I finished a movie this morning when I woke up that I had fallen asleep to last night. Both times, at the end of the movie I really wanted to walk out of my room and talk about said movies... with my friends. My American friends. The ones from back home. This was the only inkling of home sick that's really hit. (Well, that cold shower experience almost broke me down, but I'm pretty sure that would get anyone). So there's that. But tonight I'm cooking up some Chili for the house some we'll see how that goes. I'm just looking for all the interaction I can get. Last night helped a lot. We had a house party and there was lots of cooking, drinking, photo taking, being silly. It was great.

The other cool thing that happened this week was going to the Cidraria. This is just like a brew house or wine vineyard, except with Cider, which here has alcohol in it. I went with the people from work. Not the young people mind you. Not the three 23 year olds I work with. Everyone from my building. Them, my boss, his boss, all the other coworkers from the floor below. (Quick explanation: CAF is a company that builds trains. We are a small R&D company under them. We are located on the second floor of one of their R&D buildings in the compound). So the Cider-y was f'ing amazing. Mainly because we just sat around, drank, and ate the most delicious food ever. They brought out this salty, barbecued steak that is making my mouth water right now. It was SO good. The drinking of Cidra is special in that it's done in shots. The low alcohol content makes it okay to drink lots of shots, but the way it works is they cork these huge, 7 foot in diameter bottles and shoot the Cider out from the barrel. The reason is it's supposed to fizzle and mix in the glass. So you stand about 5 feet away, catch it in your glass and then drink it. It's not only fun, but hilarious. And one of my coworkers, knowing I was the new American, every time they went up to pour she would yell at me to come over and drink. Again: awesome. Someone took pictures, but I don't have them yet. I'll have to download them at work I think.

ALSO Meg and Rissy arrive on Saturday to come visit!! And what's more, if I can find some money I might be going to Barcelona with them to see Bryn, Wood and Mya! I'm so excited to have visitors again.

So in summary, for those that skipped to the bottom for one so as not to have to read the book of an entry that I always write: Move was great, housemates are good. Cold showers suck, work is awesome. Cider is tasty, so is that barbecued steak I ate. I drink with my coworkers, I drink with my housemates. San Sebastian is like a Spanish version of Rhode Island. I still can't wait to be home with all of you.

Saludos!!!
Andrew
San Sebastian, Spain