An overdue blog-post-marathon! (Feb. 14 - Feb.20)

Monday February 14: It's Valentine's Day! Yay! My letter made it to the United States, which I was super excited about. It was also a girl's birthday so everyone made plans to go out for drinks that night at Oso Blanco. It was going to be a good night but during dinner while eating, I started getting really nauseous. After dinner, I felt so sick so I didn't end up going out that night with the group of girls.

Tuesday Feb. 15: I woke up VERY sick to my stomach. I went to class and after not feeling so well, I decided I needed to go to the pharmacy to get some medicine because I simply did not feel good. It's tough to be sick here...even semi sick like I was. You can go to the pharmacy and get whatever but you don't get mom. I was pretty upset and my host family thought I didn't like the food but I just simply could not eat!

Friday Feb. 18: Today was a beautiful day in Segovia and I was feeling somewhat better so Teah and I decided to go for a walk to explore some of Segovia we hadn't seen yet. We went down by the river Clamores where there's a really nice running/walking path and if I had brought running shoes, I would totally run there but I didn't. :( But we walk and try to find the Jewish cemetery. We end up walking and finding a hill where there's a spot to take pictures of Alcazar! It was absolutely breathtaking! (And exhausting to walk up there but totally worth it!) After climbing the first hill, we walk to a hill next to it which was actually where the Jewish cemetery was. It was so neat to see the crypts and body shaped holes in the ground where the Jews were buried before being kicked out of Spain in 1492. We read about the Jewish neighborhoods and decided to walk across and try to walk the burial path backwards. When we reached the door in the city wall where they would carry the bodies, there was a lot of construction so we didn't get to walk all of the way up there but where we did get to, we found bones! Just like chilling...on the ground! I thought it was the COOLEST and sort of creepiest thing ever! There was the slaughterhouse there in the Jewish neighborhood back in the day so they were probably animal bones but still! They were old and very cool to find! After our adventure, we went home for lunch and then took a nap. Then after that, we decided to seek out this study room that is specifically dedicated for studying. They are rooms funded by the government for students here since obviously students can't study in the library! So to get there we walk through the Segovia cemetery and took this dangerous footpath down the hill but we ended up exactly where we needed to be! We found the study room and it literally was a room of tables. That's it. And it was so quiet I sort of wanted to band my head against the table because I'm the type of person that needs music or background noise to do homework or else I'll go insane. So we stayed there for a while and got some homework done, ventured to hang out at the aqueduct with some other girls before going home for dinner and going to bed.

Saturday Feb. 19: This morning, a group of us walked to the Segovia Museum in the rain! The rain part was not so fun but the Segovia Museum was free and somewhat interesting. I didn't see anything fantastic but it was neat to see how the aqueduct worked and was built and different artifacts that have been dug up from cultures here from hundreds of years ago. Other than that, Saturday was a pretty chill day. We wanted to go to Cafe Colonial for internet but both of them were packed so we went to this restaurant called Las Gallinas which was sort of neat and different. We spent some time there drinking cafe con leche, eating free tapas, and watching a Real Madrid soccer game on TV with the locals! :)

Sunday Feb. 20: This morning we got up early to walk to church at the monastery. This was a long walk and we didn't know exactly how to get there. We took this side street that had green tarps up for construction or something. Obviously, this was to keep people out but there was no sign so I convinced the people I was with to continue with this road. Then we reach another green tarp. This time, there was a sign and all I read was the first sentence saying the road was cut. I found a way around the green barricade and continued walking! Then we reach an entire long line of green barricades in front of the monastery and had to squeeze between this fence and a large rock to get past. Then I turn around and see the signs that say "NO TRESPASSING" I was convinced that these signs weren't on the other barricades but the girls I'm with informed me that they were but hey, we got to church right?! So we trespassed to go to church...it was quite the adventure! So we get to the monastery and read that it has been there since the 15th century (approx. 300 or so years before our country was even founded!) I was so impressed. We were able to view the inside before mass then were let into the church for mass at 12. The church was really neat! It was freezing though because of all of the rock used to build it and the lack of heating. So we froze during mass but the Gregorian chants that they still use were pretty neat! All of the brothers at this monastery are really old and I was honestly afraid one of them might pass while we were there at mass! They were all coughing something awful! And not to mention, the presiding priest kept messing up the prayers and everyone in the church was confused as to what to say during the Profession of Faith and everything. Very interesting but listening to the homily, I learned a lot about acts of love and forgiveness! I listened carefully to get something out of it! :) After mass, to get feeling back in our frozen feet, we walked along the River Clamores again, back to the part of town where we live. After lunch, we watched 2 movies in Spanish which is always fun! Then wanted to go out to Valor for churros and chocolate but it was PACKED! So we just went to the aqueduct bar for chocolate...which wasn't nearly as good by itself! It's so thick and rich, I couldn't finish it all. But it was a pretty good day anyway, got a shower, a head start on my paper, and went to bed at a decent time.

An overdue blog-post-marathon! (Feb. 11 - Feb.13)

Okay so, I have a list of things on my ipod that I need to write about so I'm sorry if this post isn't as detailed and fun as the others. As you can see from my recent photo posts, 2 weeks ago, I ventured to Toledo at 7:20 a.m. with the entire KIIS group on a private bus! The ride was great and I was excited to see Toledo again! After a random bus stop at a random souvenir shop, we finally made it. Turns out, a city first populated a little after the Stone Age, nothing's changed in 3 years! :D Same gorgeous views as before. After our bus tour, and walking around a bit (including the best cup of cafe con leche I've had since being here) we had time to explore on our own. First stop, McDonald's. Yes, yes, I know...terribly American of us, right?! But some people wanted ice cream since it was such a nice day! McFlurries it was! Though to my and Caitlin's disappointment, no Sprite. What McDonald's doesn't have Sprite?! THIS ONE! So after our McDonald's trip, we ventured to a free museum that had tons of tapestries, ceramics, as well as a really neat garden with mosaics that I loved. If this museum was in Segovia, I would go there just to sit and think. It was so amazingly peaceful! Of course it probably helped that it was an absolutely gorgeous day! But sometimes here, I just wish I had a place of my own. A place I could go when I was having a rough day or to write for this thing. (Which sorry by the way if some of this gets sappy and deep...I was feeling philosophical this morning when I wrote some of this. It happens!) So after the museum, we went in search of some traditional Toledo jewelry which is called Damasquino. I bought some earrings since I didn't get anything last time I was there. Then I ventured over to a clothing store and fell in love with a jacket that I had to have! So I bought it! :) So after our jerk of a bus driver made us wait half an hour for him, we got back on our bus and headed back to Segovia.

Saturday,February 12, my roommate and I decide to be productive and go to the library to do some homework. Well, apparently you're not allowed to do your homework in the public library here or bring anything of your own into the library at all...we were kicked out of a computer room and told to go to the second floor. We went to the second floor, and couldn't bring anything of our own in there. So dumb! What is a library for?! So we were a little perturbed and left. What helps to relieve stress better than shopping, right?! A little retail therapy was in store. Therefore, I went and finally bought the souvenir I had been eying for my sister. I'm so excited to give it to her! I just know she'll love it! I saw them and immediately thought...RACHAEL! YAY! After purchasing that, I went to this 2 euro store and bought some knock off perfume and nail polish to give me something to do that night! I just found the perfume hilarious because it's called "Dulce and Donna: Night Blue" and was supposed to smell like "Dulce and Gabonna: Light Blue" It just cracked me up, plus I needed some smell good stuff so I splurged! After the mini shopping spree, some other girls and myself decide to go get bus tickets for Sunday in Madrid! Inma told us to get tickets for 9 but the busses were at 8:30 and 9:30 so we held off on buying the bus tickets and made our way to Cafe Colonial for some internet. By this time, I was already a little frustrated because I told people I'd be online at a certain time, then we did the bus station thing and then we had to wait at the cafe for the code to the internet for like a year and a half! (Okay...SLIGHT exaggeration...) but yeah! We waited forever but we finally got our orders taken!

Sunday February 13: Sunday morning, I get up early to go to the rastro in Madrid which is basically a huge flea market where you can buy EVERYTHING (literally from dogs and birds to art and clothes) cheaply! We get to the bus station and after Inma realizes her mistake, we go to the cafe in the bus station and she buys us all coffee! I was so grateful for that at 9 a.m.! It was glorious! So we board our bus and I just have one tip of advice for the public bus system of Spain: don't advertise your busses as a Wi-Fi spot if you really don't have internet! :) Please and thank you! Haha :) But the bus ride was good along with the metro to the rastro! There were TONS of people there! Literally! And knowing me, you know I have a fear of large crowds! It was absolutely ridiculous! I have never seen so many people in one place! After hanging out at the rastro for long enough, we decide to go to the bus station to buy our Barcelona tickets since the internet won't let us. We get on a metro line on the way to the bus station, and there's a huge puddle of puke in the middle of the metro car. Talk about disgusting! I guess that's the sign of a good night?! EWW! but we make it to the bus station to buy tickets! Barcelona: officially booked! After that, we board the metro again to go to the Retiro Park in Madrid to eat lunch outside before going to the Prado Museum. That was super nice despite the not-so-pretty weather. The Prado was super nice but after already having been there and spending 3 hours there, I was ready to go! We got kicked out because apparently closing at 8 means closing at 7:50 which is how a lot of places operate around here: closing time is always about 15 minutes before the listed schedule time. But on the way back to the bus station to head back to Segovia, we pass the Royal Palace and see a bunch of police. We were super confused as to what was going on. There were police and tons of people and big lights and then we see a sign for the Goyas! Which are basically Spain's Oscars! That was really neat to walk past! (Though we didn't see any famous people) So after that, we made it back to Segovia and had another week of school in one of the coldest parts of Spain!

TOLEDO photos!

TOLEDO

The most DELICIOUS cafe con leche!!

Synagogue Santa Maria la Blanca

Caitlin, Teah, and I

Me and Toledo

Me with Cervantes

Some free art museum that I wish was in Segovia because it was the most tranquil place to hang out!

Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? Here's a few thousand for ya!

SANTA ÁGUEDA WEEKEND IN ZAMARRAMALA

BURNING OF PELELE (effigy of man)

Yeah, I live here...no big deal...

Pictures!! because I don't want to write now

ALCÁZAR

TOWER & VIEW

AQUEDUCT

FÚTBOL SALA (SUB-19 LEAGUE)

CLIMBING "THE MOUNTAIN" AND WALKING HOME

SOCIALIST SIGN

Updates!

So an update on food, the most exciting thing I've eaten lately is this: GALLO FISH

Probably the ugliest fish, I've ever seen! And not a lot of meat for all of the work I had to do to eat it! SICK!

What else? I was chatting with my mom the other day on skype and forgot the English word for umbrella. All I could think of was paraguas which sounds nothing like umbrella so the word just wasn't coming to mind at all!

Other than a new pair of amazing european shoes (that were 15 euro!!) nothing has really been too exciting! Just class and eating and sleeping!

This weekend however, I am going to Toledo all day on Friday to view the cathedral, a synagogue, and many other things! Then Saturday, I will more than likely be hanging out at the library due to the 800 questions I was given today in my culture class. I understand going to Toledo is a culturally enriching experience but you've just ruined that experience for me. So Saturday is research day..and Cafe Colonial for some cafe con leche and skype time/ homework via internet! Then Sunday, I'm off to Madrid in the morning for el Rastro. Which is a huge market of over 1000 booths of super cheap things! Everything from cats and birds to art and clothes. I'm pretty excited about that! (Despite the high possibility of being robbed at this thing) Then after the Rastro, we might venture over to the Prado for some free museum time after 6! I'm sure I'll update after this weekend!

:D hope everything is going well in the States! :D Miss you all!

February 6

Today was a gorgeous day! Nearly 60 degrees in February? YES PLEASE! So we met Natalia in the Plaza at 10:30 and walked about 45 minutes (with entirely too many layers of clothes on for this weather) to a town called Zamarramala where the Santa Agueda festival was taking place. Here there was a parade, food (but my senora packed me 2 sandwhiches haha) lots of dancing, and a mass (which had awesome music!) The festival lasted until about 3 after the burning of Pelele (an effigy of a man) and so then we headed back to Segovia which was downhill past a 13th century church, then up a HUGE hill again! When we reached the top of the hill near Alcazar, we sat on this wall in the sun for like 30 minutes. It was great! Then we headed back to the Plaza Mayor after stopping past a few souvenir shops. THen we saw 3 girls with ice cream and immediately we all HAD to have some! So we went in the store, but we didn't really want to pay that much so we went to the supermarket which was obviously closed, because it's Sunday. Then to another ice cream shop which is in the tourism district so it was even more expensive than the first (and with a long line of Parisian 20 year old soccer players...), so we finally settled for a .90 euro ice cream bar at a nearby sweet shop. We enjoyed our ice cream on a bench next to the aqueduct and "people watched" for another 30 minutes or so when we started to get cold so we went home. Teah and I were a little hungry when we got home and no one was there so we looked through the cupboards and found JIF peanut butter and our animal cracker- like cookies so we ate that and it was DELICIOUS! So we had a snack and watched the end of "Little Black Book" in Spanish, I took a shower, did some homework, and talked to Teah some until Ises and Silvia returned home. We ate, watched some TV and now time for bed!

Oh and apparently if you eat kiwis, you're having stomach problems. I told Ises I really like kiwis and so she bought some for us. And when Ises told Silvia that we had kiwis, she asked if I was okay. I'm fine, I just like kiwis! So they're good for the stomach apparently! Anyway, no Super Bowl for me tonight! Just bed!

February 5

Today was a much needed lazy day! I woke up at like 11 or 12, ate breakfast, got ready, read some homework in the park because it was such a beautiful day (then was kicked out of said park..), then returned home for lunch with my senora's son and family from Madrid, then took a nap for 2 hours, woke up, read some more homework, went to church (which was awesome), ate the best churros, then walked around the city and returned home for dinner which was pizza. Today was a great day. Except we passed 4 people from our program today that were going to use the internet at the cafe and I was a little jealous to be honest. I really wanted to use it and talk to someone today, anyone! But it's alright, exploring was good too! But now it's midnight and after sleeping the day away, I'm SO tired again!

February 4

I feel like all I write about is what I eat while I'm here so here's an adventure story for you. TOday I woke up to shower at 8. I don't know why, on a Friday, we decided to meet so early but I had to be ready to go by 9:45. So I go in the dining room and tell my senora "Buenos dias" and she starts yelling at Silvia if she needs to use the bathroom before I go in and hog it all. A few minutes later, she tells me I can go in there so I do and take a quick, sort of cols, awful because it woke me up too much, shower. So yeah. Good start. SO I get ready to go eat and we leave to meet people. Then we walk to the other side of town to Alcazar for a tour and to go up to the tower. I used one of Caitlin's student IDs to get a discounted price! :) But after the tour (which I got nothing out of) and many photos (my favorite is one of me with a knight is shining armor) we sat in the sun some in the courtyard then went up to the tower (which was beautiful and perfect and no photo can even capture the beautiful view from up there!) The stairs were very scary and small and made me very dizzy but that part was totally worth it, whereas the tour I could have done without. Then after Alcazar and poking our heads in a couple stores, we headed our separate ways for lunch. After lunch with the family, we met back up (along with some more people) and decided to go to a free indoor soccer game (Sub-19 league..but it was still a pretty big deal!) but little did we know it was super far and we had to stop for directions like 5 times! But finally we found it and while the gym smelled like sweaty boys, it was sort of fun to watch! (Though I'd still like to go to a pro game even though everyone here things they're too expensive..I think it'd be the absolute greatest!) Then after that, we decide to climb this mountain behind the gym, and the view was wonderful! We could see the cathedral from up there so we decide to take a different route home..BIG MISTAKE!
We walked all the way to the other end of the city again (this time from a hilltop) through mud and thorns and big hill drop offs that Lucas had to help us down! Then after that, we walked back to the aqueduct, found some other people in our group, saw a traditional parade, music, and dance of Santa Agueda, found el Oso Blanco (where we will be going later tonight) then returned home. Maybe for a nap. So after eating dinner, we went out to El Oso Blanco despite how tired I was. That was fun. Pretty much our whole group had the basement to ourselves to talk about the program and try some Sangria at the same time. This was good but we all didn't stay too long because we were all so tired!

It's mentally and physically exhausting to be here. We walk all day, every day and you have to listen so intently to everything because obviously Spanish isn't our first language.

February 3

Today's been a pretty good day. Went to class, tried to look up how to get soccer tickets to a Real Madrid game, walked around the cutest market that's in the plaza every Thursday morning, walked to Alcazar again, and then home for an authentic Castellano meal. Then I took a much needed nap for 30 mins in front of the heater then returned to class. Class went well but was LONG! THen we just hung out at the Center and I Skyped with Becca and Wynn which was lovely! Then we found a tiny supermarket that had tons of cheap stuff which was nice. It had fruit and shampoo and food and tons of things! (Just not clothes like you would find at a Wal*Mart in the States...never clothes and food in the same place!) Along with a very drunk guy which was pretty funny to see. Then we walked to the cafe Colonial for a cafe con leche and some more internet. Then home for dinner and some TV. I wanted to shower but my senora said it was too late and it would disturb the lady beneath us so I have to wake up at 8 tomorrow to shower. And thank goodness, senora's doing laundry tomorrow! I mean, I have plenty to wear, I just feel like wearing it so many times is getting old. So that's pretty much it!

More Photos for you!

February 2, 2011

Had my 2 classes today. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Bought envelopes so I can write letters to those back home!! I bought them in the cutest little art shop too! It was awesome! My stomach has been making the LOUDEST noises today! It's gross really! I don't think I'll ever get used to the food here. I got to Skype with Mitchell and my dad today which was AWESOME!! and I'm going to bed because I'm exhausted! Oh! And we found the BEST chocolate shop that we hope to revisit this weekend l! It's so close and DELICIOUS! that's all! =]

February 1, 2011

Second day of class! Today was good! I arrived to class a little later than I would like but it was all good. My first class is literature and I think this class will be a little difficult but good. Natalia is really nice so I won't be too embarrassed to talk in this class. I wanted to take the art workshop after that but only 5 people can go at a time. But now on Thursday afternoons I take this class for 2 hours and make all kinds of neat things! All for 40 euros. But when I couldn't get in the first time I just went in the evening but in the afternoon, Teah and I explored the city and it was beautiful! We found Alcázar (a huge gorgeous castle here that was once also a prison) this was seriously the BEST view! After a super long walk (and buying 30 stamps to go with the 10 that I already had to send a letter to the US)we returned home for lunch with the whole family. Again, very loud but I like to listen to them. We ate veggies(artichokes and cabbage)carne asada,salad, and rabbit. I tried no rabbit this first opportunity. After lunch, I went to my room and read some and wished I was asleep instead then went back to class. My second class of the day was culture of Spain and I think this class will be very interrupt considering we're here and observe many of the customs, art, and buildings. After this class, I went to take that art workshop with the cutest artist ever named Jesus. I liked this a lot. We made relief prints of Che Guevarra. The process was very neat and I'm glad I went! After this class we returned home to eat dinner (I tried rabbit this time) we also ate fried eggs and more vegetables. Then we watched a tv show like cribs and now I have homework to do! YAY! I need to sleep more but it's different with the time change! I'm trying though! Hasta mañana!!

I'm here!

January 31

It's the last day of January and the first day of class! I'm excited to finally have a schedule and not be stuck in the house so much! And I'm excited to have internet (I know I shouldn't depend on it so much but it's my only option for communication really) So...today I woke up after the best night's sleep! It was wonderful! I got dressed, brushed my teeth, drank my always delicious hot chocolate and went to school. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the place where I have school and it's a little uphill so it's just like I'm at WKU! :) My first class was the History of Spanish Art and I liked it very much! My teacher is nice and funny and I'm excited to learn about art...yet again by Spanish artists but I'm most excited to learn about the architecture that I see everyday on my way to class. After class, I went with Emily and Betsy to buy my text book for the art class. After that, we returned to the Center and I sent some of my friends facebook messages and checked my email. That was nice. After the second class of the day (that I'm not in) let's out, we return home for lunch. My senora's extended family eats with us for lunch every day of the work week. It gets loud and 7 people at a tiny table is interesting. After lunch, I went to my room to do some homework for the next class. We walked to class and sat in yet another hour and 40 minute class. This one was a little confusing. The teacher is nice but is not clear on what the homework is for the next class. After this class, I Skyped with mom and Mitchell which was super exciting. I didn't want to leave when I had to! Anyway, after this me and 4 other girls went in search of churros and chocolate! We found some and thought they were a tad expensive, they were delicious! After that we went home ate dinner, watched some spanish TV and then went to bed!

January 30, 2011

Today is Sunday and after sleeping in and being late meeting Caitlin and Emily, I ate breakfast which was hot chocolate and cookies (like animal crackers) After breakfast, Teah and I met Caitlin and Emily and left to walk around the city. It was snowy though and got miserable with wet shoes and socks. We took pictures of many different things and everywhere you look, belongs on a postcard. Here, on Sundays everything is closed and I'm glad someone in the world observes a day of rest. Instead of working. the people go to church (and every 10 feet there is a church) The streets smell of incense on Sundays which is sort of neat and there are church bells ringing constantly. Segovia has a very small town feel. After walking around in the very wet snow, we decide to go back to our houses and relax and get warm. Teah and I ate lunch which was meat with vegetable sauce of some sort and some fried potatoes. After lunch, we watched 2 English movies in Spanish and I showered which was heavenly. After the second movie, I decide to start reading some of tomorrow's homework and it makes me a bit nervous. It might be a stressful week but Monday-Thursday I have the same schedule everyday which is a class from 10-11:40 and then 5-6:40. [Which is you'd like a conversion to Eastern Standard time, 4-5:40 a.m. and 12-1:40 p.m.] But anyway, my schedule is good, I just hope the classes are too! So after homework, we ate dinner [I totally didn't want to eat again. I actually thought our lunch was dinner] But we ate a little hot dog in a bun thing and then Isis came out with a huge pot of green stew. I'm generally not a picky eater but not even Dr. Seuss who wrote about green eggs and ham would have been inspired by this stuff! It had fish and potatoes and eggs in it. The flavor was alright so I ate some anyway. Then after dinner we watched some show for teens that Silvia wanted to watch. It was interesting and I like watching TV in Spanish. I feel like I learn some. I am sort of quiet here and want to become more confident in my Spanish speaking abilities. I'm so tired here! Is it bad that I already made a countdown in my assignment book? 80 some more days is intimidating but I know it will go by semi quickly. I'm excited to go back to Madrid for a weekend or two. And who knows where the longer weekends will take me?! It's exciting and I hope it goes by fast because I want to share with everyone! Anyway, sorry for the long posts. I'm sure there'll be many more lengthy ones to come! Enjoy! =]

January 29, 2011

Today we explored Madrid! I love it but before I start that story, I have to tell you how I arrived there: Since I don’t have a roommate yet, I planned on meeting Caitlin and Emily at the aqueduct at 8:40 so we could walk to the bus station together. After getting scared half to death by my alarm at 8 a.m. I decide to sleep for an extra 10 minutes. [They were glorious too!] So now it’s 8:10 and my senora comes in my room and opens the doors that block out light and begins to tell me that I am late. [And if you know me, I do not like to be late...but occasionally it happen. And this was NOT something I wanted to be late for!] So I get up, get ready, drink the best hot chocolate I think I’ve ever had for breakfast, and get ready to head out the door. So now it’s 8:30 and my senora is still telling me that I’ll be late. So I put my coat on and she rushes me out the door, I look at my phone and it says 8:46. Panic starts to set in so I literally begin running down the streets of Spain [even though I basically live next to the aqueduct] So I get there and Caitlin and Emily are nowhere in sight. Now I wanted to cry. I was very confused because the day before my senora wanted to make sure I knew where I was going and told me a different direction than the directors of the program. This is why I wanted someone to walk with...but they weren’t there. So while my heart is racing and I have just a little over 10 minutes to get to the bus station, I call Emily and she doesn’t answer. So I’m about to have a heart attack from this point and I’m spinning in circles trying to decide which direction to go and while I’m pulling out my map, Emily calls me back and says they’re almost to the aqueduct. A sigh of relief! So I met up with them, walked to the bust station, found our group, and hopped on a bus to Madird. The bus ride to Madrid was good! I sat next to Sabrina and got to know her during the hour we were on the bus. When we arrived at the huge bus station/metro depot, we all got off the bus and began walking around Madrid. We saw the gardens of the royal palace and the palace itself (but not inside), the Plaza de Espana with a large statue of Don Quixote and Santo Pancha (for such an important plaza name, the plaza is quite ugly), the cathedral (but only from afar), and then we made our way to the Plaza del Sol. This is sort of the hub of Madrid with tons of shops as well as people. After a quick look at htis plaza (along with all of the strangely dressed people in Disney costumes or full body paint) we head to the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor is very pretty and is probably my favorite to be in. I can’t wait until it gets warm and we can eat in a restaurant outside in the plaza and I hope spring comes SOON! So after a few minutes here, we reach the fanct post office. (You probably don’t know what I’m talking about but I don’t know the official name, don’t worry, I have pictures) Anyway, this is where the group split and half went to see the Prado Museum and half went to explore and shop. You may be surprised to know I chose shopping...I mean, we have many weekends to go see the Prado, and after 6 it’s FREE! So we walked around in crowded stores until 1:15 when we had to meet at the Plaza del Sol for lunch. Lunch was...interesting. We could choose 2 plates from a list of 8 at this hole in the wall restaurant. (It had a cigarette dispenser which was cool. I know we used these in the US back in the day, so that was kinda crazy. Smoking in Spain is HUGE! But Spaniards are no longer allowed to smoke inside stores and restaurants anymore! This is a big thing here because everyone smokes...starting at the age of 13 or so. It’s shocking to me to see how fuel and environmentally conscious they are but not so conscious about lung health...sorry for the long side note) But I ordered paella for lunch with a cute little Coke bottle. The paella was delicious! (Despite the fact that it had entire chicken wings in it and a crawfish staring back at me...) After the paella, I ate flavorless chicken and fries that were also not the greatest. And for dessert, a Spanish orange! (I’ve eaten tons of those since being here!) So after our meal, the waiter took our picture 8 times to put on the website (I guess having Americans in your restaurant makes you more prestigious) Then we walk outside and decide what to do next. A group of us decide to shop some more and possible go the the Prado after 6. So we had 3 hours to waste and 11 people to keep track of which was difficult. So as time passes, we realize we’re exhausted and so we began our journey to catch the next bus to Segovia which was at 7:30. On the bus ride back, I realize how tired I was because I couldn’t keep my eyes open! But we made it back and found the right stop and went back to our houses with plans to meet at 10 for internet and drinks.

I got to my house and finally had a roommate! She made it! I was so happy to have her there. I told our senora of our internet plans so she began to make dinner. While Teah and I were eating our plate of vegetables, people began pouring into the house! I was so excited to see more people and young kids too! They were the cutest! So after eating veggies, fried fish, and a little tortilla espanola, Teah and I headed out to meet some people at a local cafe. We thought they had free internet..turns out they didn’t so we walked a ways and found a cafe with delicious cafe con leche! It was fantastic! I was able to communicate with people from home for free finally with I’m hoping to do again soon. So we got back home at 1:30 or so and went to bed.

January 27/ January 28, 2011

The first day in Spain! Needless to say, it was a VERY long day! Our flight left at 6:35 p.m. from Philadelohia and we arrived in Madrid in about 6.5 hrs. Even thought our flights were moved around, finding luggage at 7 a.m. or so wasn’t so bad! And even thought it was a rainy day, we all were grateful to be where we were supposed to. After locating my luggage, which was red but is now mostly black (sorry, Dad) we hopped on a bus and started our hour drive to Segovia. I’m pretty sure we all fell asleep on the bus, Segovia was cold and many areas in Spain got lots of snow today which was a little rare.

After getting off the bus in Segovia, we were greeted by our señoras. I was nervous because I was by myself (my roommate, Teah, is still stuck in Indianapolis) but I survived and she was very welcoming. She asked where I had slept and I told her on the plane so she gave me some water and an orange and let me go to sleep. I was very grateful for this but sleeping wasn’t easy. The room here, that my roommate and I will share is very small and cold. (And with only one outlet...maybe us Americans take out access to electricity for granted...heat too because all we have here are gas space heaters and I’m pretty sure the one is our room isn’t working) Anyway, after my nap, my señora wanted to serve me lunch which was pasta with a tomato sauce and ham as well as a breaded chicken breast. I really wasn’t overly hungry (if you know me well, you know my stomach and I rarely get along) but I ate to tide me over and it really wasn’t bad food either. Then after lunch, we met the entire group by the aqueduct at 5:30. We walked around the city of Segovia. Many 15th century buildings and churches were pointed out to us and we saw where we would be having class (The Center...we call it) Here, we got maps, asked questions, got our class schedule, and just hung out to get in from the rain/snow that was falling from the sky. This part was overwhelming to me, I felt a little lost but now I know that this is normal for the first week or so. Truth is, I do miss home..along with everyone there but I know I’ll get used to it here and have plenty to do. I just have to take it one day at a time and keep an open mind to learn (Thanks, Mom). I am excited to Skype with people next week though and to see some familiar faces. Classes start on Monday and I’m hoping a routine will be excellent for me. I know I’m in good hands and everything will get easier with time. I’m off to Madrid tomorrow with the group so I’m off to bed! [Oh! And if you’re curious about dinner I had boiled potatoes in a bed of entirely too much salt :P and tortilla Francesa, which was basically an omelet with cheese in the middle.]