Bilbao, Spain

Borja takes me to the center of Bilbao by the cleanest subway I've yet seen. Duesto University, where Borja studied and taught, is sandwiched between large hills and the new Gugenheim. We spend a while looking around the campus. The halls are quiet since it's the grueling exam week for students. The campus buildings are beautiful, and look surprisingly new for being 100 years old. The campus is more centralized than the average American University. Most classes are held in one huge building.

On the subway, we hear a few students griping about one of their classes. Apparently, it is considered insulting to assign homework in most Spanish universities. This makes quite a contrast with University of Chicago, where certain professors are known to give three or four homeworks a week. ;)



The old quarter of Bilbao is exceptionally clean and pretty. It's amazing how the all the buildings keep a consistent look. Shops and restaurants line the narrow streets. We stop at a coffee shop to try another Spanish custom, mid-afternoon snacks over coffee. I order a couple small, tasty sandwiches. One has a raw, cured meat called jamon serrano; the other has raw sardines.

Here are the pictures.