Getxo (“get’-cho”) is the suburb of Bilbao where Amy, Tom, Ellen and I are not apartment-hunting, preferring to look instead in Bilbao, city of 400.000 and a former steel-mill and shipbuilding center. Elegant residential seaside Getxo, pop. 80,000, is where most if not all of my North American students will be living, 20 minutes away by light rail from the University of the Basque Country in downtown Bilbao. Having lived in elegant seaside San Sebastián, pop. 186,000, I wanted a more urban experience, and fortunately my wife and friends agree with me, which is not always the case.
When I taught and lived in San Sebastián five years ago, I used to take the bus (an hour) or light rail (2.5 hours but madly scenic) to Bilbao for a shot of Big City, to shop or just wander along the Rio Nervion from the old city, el Casco Viejo, towards the Guggenheim and el Puppy.
My friend and colleague Phil Boardman once told me his packing philosophy: lay out everything you think you’ll need, and then take half of it. Phil advised that method, I think, in the context of two- or three-week visits to London. Five months is a stay of a different dimension, but the last thing I want to do is lug a barrel and a half of personal possessions through airports, customs, metro stations, and bus depots. So I’m scowling at my lists and trying to imagine life without a clean shirt every day, wearing the same six pairs of socks.
I’ll be landing in Madrid two weeks from tonight and taking the first-class ALSA bus to Bilbao. That’s the bus with a cabin attendant, free beer and sandwiches, newspapers, a movie, and copies of El País with which to while away the five-hour ride. I know — it’s an hour flight that wouldn’t cost a whole lot more than that class of bus service, but I’m not in a hurry and look forward to the rolling panorama of cold central plateau landscape, snowy sierra, Rioja, and finally the long green descent into coastal Basque country. It will be my ¡hola! to the next five months.
hipperthanthou 