As part of our degree the entire masters program went on a 24 hour trip to Bilbao. For me it had been my first time exploring city outside of Madrid in Spain and therefore I was very excited. We took a bus up north and arrived four short hours later.
Bilbao was very pretty and I wish we had more chances to explore the city but our schedule was very packed (as the university likes to do; read more about this in my Miami posts). After we arrived, we quickly checked into our Airbnb, got changed and rushed out the door to make it to the stadium as we had tickets to see a LaLiga match between Athletic Club Bilbao and Osasuna. On the way we stopped at a small restaurant to eat some typical Basque tapas called pintos.
After meeting up with the rest of our program we walked to the stadium and enjoyed the sunshine.
The match was incredible! the atmosphere was very different to the Bernabéu, there was a penalty kick and even a red card. Bilbao managed to win the match despite the referee making it a very hard battle for them, which the home crowd thoroughly applauded.
The match ended right as a summer storm built up and we left the stadium in pouring rain. We took the tram home and ended up finding an amazing pizzeria, where we picked up food, walked home to eat and simply fall into bed after a very long day.
The next morning we couldn’t sleep in for long because we had more plans scheduled. We got to have an exclusive insight into Athletic Club Bilbao’s philosophy and way of operating by getting a tour of their training facilities and having tedtalks with their communications department. It was extremely insightful as Athletic Club Bilbao is very particular in who they let onto the pitch in their jerseys: only players that have ties to the Basque region can play for the club. Because of this they are a huge driving factor in regional youth clubs and have a very good track record of players staying with the club for their entire career. The Club felt incredibly authentic and open; everyone was very welcoming to us and seemed very happy to share their experiences with us. They seemed thrilled that we were taking such a big interest in them and showed us their interest in return, which felt very nice. They took us very seriously; not as students but future colleagues and people in the industry.
After the morning at the training facilities we hopped back on the bus that took us back to the stadium for a quick stadium and museum tour. This further educated us on the long and impressive history of the Club. Our tour guide was very lovely and knew so much and shared with us that she was a student too. She had expected us to be little children so she was very surprised when a bunch of adults in their twenties showed up. She shared very private memories of the club as well which really helped us see how much this team means to the people of Bilbao and the Basque region.
Sadly that concluded our time in the city and we drove back to Madrid. Of course we made the best of the bus ride but we were all sad to leave and return back to our regular day-to-day.
