People-First Tourism Lab Blog

Normally in Bilbao, it’s dreary and it rains almost every day. For the past few weeks, it’s been sunny and when it rains, it drizzles, unlike the downpours back in Raleigh. Bilbao is in the north of Spain, in a region called the Basque country. There are two parts of the city that is split by the river: the old town (Casco Viejo) and the new town. The old town has narrow, pedestrian streets where people can get packed together on weekends and at peak hours of the night. The new town has more space for cars to drive easily and it looks a lot more modern than the old town. The first week I was here, a local festival was happening: Aste Nagusia, which lasts for nine days starting the Saturday after August 15th. Surprisingly, the moment I stepped in my new apartment for the next four months, I met my roommates and they dragged me to the festivities not two hours later. The city was packed with people near the river and around the city centers, with several different stages hosting...

I am in RDU airport, about to board a flight to Bilbao, Spain where I will live for a few months with the goal to expand my worldviews and to be more career-ready. It’s 6 o’clock in the morning and my eyes are bloodshot with sleep I didn’t get because the adrenaline kept me up last night. My anticipation is reflected in my feet that can’t keep still on the carpeted airport floor and my appetite seems to be the last thing I want to satiate. As I reflect on my journey during the last few years, it is intriguing to see how some decisions led me here. During my time at NC State I remember continuously thinking that I wanted to get myself somewhere beyond the brick-filled grounds of the NC State campus. The university was always able to propel my curiosity forward and nurse my hunger for new adventures - even if just over the railroad tracks at the arboretum - and the encouragement permitted me to take my studies beyond the backyards of Raleigh.   Going abroad wasn...