This morning, we had another day to sleep in and catch up on some sleep, but for some reason, even though I am getting more sleep, I am getting more and more tired. I think the lack of sleep from the beginning of the trip is catching up to me. We met Saioa at 9:25 to walk to our surprise! We got a native breakfast treat, churros and chocolate. It was delicious. From there, we walked to a morning market that was taking place where the festival in the city was, and I bought a cute bracelet for my girlfriend. After we finished shopping at those booths, we took the metro down to the old town to check out the big flea market they had. It was great, lots of cool vendors, and I ended up picking up a Spanish comic book for my dad, who is a comic book collector.

After we finished up at the flea market, we hopped back on the metro to get to the funicular. At the entrance of the funicular, there was a Basque dancing festival, which was fascinating to see the culture and deep-rooted history come out this morning. Then, we got on the funicular, which was just like the incline in Pittsburgh. It is fascinating to see more and more similarities between Bilbao and Pittsburgh. We got to the top of the mountain and had a few minutes to enjoy a gorgeous view before having our halfway recap of the trip.

I really enjoyed the reflection. It was intellectually stimulating and allowed me to think about what I have learned so far and the best parts of Basque culture. The socialist system works really well here; however, we talked about how there might be major drawbacks if the U.S. implemented something similar due to the infrastructure. We finished the conversation and headed down the funicular to find some lunch, but ran into some unfortunate weather issues with the rain. It literally started pouring.

We ended up walking back to the hotel and ate lunch at the burger place next to the hotel. It was okay but after I really wanted gelato so I asked everyone if they wanted to go with me, but no one did. So I went by myself. I don’t regret anything.

After my gelato trip, I went back to the room and took a nap. That night we went out to have a great dinner for Eloise’s birthday. After that, we went back to the hotel and got some much-needed sleep. I’m so excited for what tomorrow has to offer!