Rain, Rain go away, and come back another day

January 22, 2010

I am really sick of the weather, it’s always gloomy here. I keep being told that Valladolid is the city of sun…so far there has only been about 2 or so good days of sun and weather. Last summer in Valladolid it only rained once! Today it was suppose to rain as it always does but it hasn’t yet so far! Here we wash our clothes every week or so and last time I used and indoor clothes line but that is being used. Instead from the second story I hung my clothes outside today on this gloomy day. Back home we have a clothes line, but it’s not so high up where I would be worried about birds hanging out around it or the wind sweeping it all away…but it’s not too windy out so I guess it is not that bad.

This week once again went by so fast! Mainly because it was a little stressful. In February, we have Carnaval or Mardi Gras which means we have Monday and Tuesday off as well! So this week-Kara, Kristin, the two Adams-B and S, Ken, Kaitlyn, Eric, and I got together to plan a 2-city trip to Granada and then Cadiz in Southern Spain. We heard that Cadiz is one of the top Caranaval places in Spain so it should be fun! We were told by Alejandro this week that we’re suppose to dress up in costumes for Carnaval so we’ll have to plan for that…probably just some funky glasses and jewelry…just cheap stuff.

The planning for this trip was quite stressful. We had to plan planes (no trains) and automobiles for transportation and then hotels as well. After a lot of stress with credit cards-some banks failed to remember that some people would be in Europe using their cards, some reached a credit limit or certain amount left in their debit account, and some purchases a normal credit card did not work…for example, my credit card didn’t work to buy a buss ticket but a MASTERCARD Credit card did work.

One night, instead of heading to the school to work on this trip as we had before after class, we went to a pizza place called Pizza Movil or something where they had free Wi-Fi. After ordering some food (I got an Orange Fanta that included juice and then split a mini cream thing with Kristin), we turned on our laptops only to discover that their internet system was down! So even though the food was good, it was kind of a waste for us. Eventually everything got settled out and the 8 of us will be in Granada and then Cadiz for Carnaval!!!

Walking around the city has been so tiring too! So far it’s really only the exercise I’ve been getting so I don’t really mind it that much but once in a while I feel like I’ve pulled something or it just plainly hurts. I’m just have to stretch or something. However, I am working on getting a pass to a gym where they have a pool and Belen and I are planning on swimming on Sunday! The place is only like 20 minutes of walking away from my house too so that will be really nice!

This week there are 3 birthdays amongst the UW-Eau Claire and UW-Steven’s Point students here so to celebrate the owner of Sotabanco bought cakes for the students to eat last night. It was really good, it was vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and a raspberry filling. Tomorrow we have an excursion to Segovia for the day! I’m really excited to go and see more of Spain!