24 febrero

This Wednesday Clem turned twenty years old. This was her first birthday away from home, but I think that it was a good one. Her three best friends here showed up at the flat at 12 am to bring in the birthday with cake and candles. Clem’s mom had sent a huge box of goodies for here birthday as well, with expensive champagne from France. The cake was two small cakes covered with melted chocolate and sugar cookies stuck over it and decorated with candies. It was supposed to be a house and the candies represented the four friends. We all ate together in the living room and watched as Clem opened the champagne, spilling it on the floor as it gushed forth from the bottle. I didn’t like the taste of the champagne, but it is exciting. Her friends are so good to her; I hope that by the end of my time here that I have friends like that as well.

This Saturday I toured the city by foot with Suyoun, an exchange student from South Korea. We walked and took lots of pictures. We also explored the other side of the river and the old walls of the city. I don’t like the neighborhoods as much on the other side of the river, but there are some old churches and the river is picturesque at the points where there is not litter. Part of our walk took us close to a mountain, and I could see a old stone building on the side of the mountain. A building means that there is a road. Sometime I want to walk up the mountain with my backpack and a lunch and explore what is there. We ate lunch in a bar on the other side of the river, some tapas and dessert. Tapas are like snacks to eat while drinking. However, I just had café con leche (coffee, milk, and for me three cubes of sugar). It’s a less expensive way to sample the food here and kind of fun too. Each bar has different tapas, though there are some more typical to the area. I also found a Protestant church, which I am going to attend tomorrow. I’m not sure how long the walk is though, perhaps more than 30 minutes, so I’m going to take the bus.