All twelve of us ISA students donned ourselves in white and red prior to boarding the bus - white and red are the officially accepted colors of Sanfermines (think bull fights.) My outfit: a white strapless dress that I bought at Express over two years ago,( in which I convinced myself I already got my money’s worth in case of random sprays of sangria,) a red across the body purse, a red bracelet and an official red Pamplona scarf to be tied around my neck upon arrival.
The ride went surprisingly quickly, despite the wild butterflies in my stomach thanks to unnecessary anxiety and overwhelming excitement.
We entered the city of Pamplona on narrow cobble-stoned streets, always a thrill when trapped inside a bus that seems to be exactly the same width as the old streets. Being a small town, people are able to walk pretty much everywhere, so even from my bus window I noticed herds of white and red walking in every direction.
Getting of the bus we had authorities shouting at us to quickly exit the platform and enter the escalator line; the fire work spectacular would be starting in 5 minutes. Couldn’t ask for a better welcome!
The fire work show was the best I have EVER seen. It lasted for a reallyyyy long time, once you were awestruck by what seemed like the finale, another gleam of gold and red lit up the sky. Amazing!! You can not imagine the amount of people lining the streets. People of ALL ages were there, every single one of them wearing white and red. The city put Maryland’s “black out” football game to shame. I’ve never seen more people in one location before let alone that many people all wearing the same color!!!
The rest of the night comprised of meeting up with the other dozen or so ISA students who took an earlier bus, walking the streets, buying bottles of sangria, partying, laughing, eating and taking pictures whilst fighting the urge to fall sleep before the running commenced at 8AM! Mission accomplished. We stayed up the entire night and staked out a great spot to stand, too far to touch a bull, but close enough to see them!
Some of my friends ran, I simply spectated. Although now that I see them unscathed and exhilarated, I kind of wish I ran too. But only kind of -- the end of the run leads the bulls and the runners into the bull fighting stadium where the majority of runners are injured; we saw multiple stretchers being carried away from the ring. No thanks. (And you’re welcome, Mom.)
The run only lasted about 2-3 minutes, and our bus didn’t leave for Barcelona until 10:00 so we killed time by getting a breakfast bocadilla and some cold water.
The bus ride back was 8 and a half hours due to an hour and a half lay over in Zaragoza. It went by quickly, thank gosh, because I slept for almost every minute of it!
Despite my exhaustion, I am really happy that I can say I experienced this ridiculously outrageous festival that I could never even imagine happening in the US. I am SO glad I went, although I don’t think you’ll catch me returning anytime soon!
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