March 17, 2010
2 months!! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written anything. Things have been pretty chaotic. I had finals this week for my seven classes: Culture, Literature, Oral Expression, Art, Geography, Grammar, and History. All in 3 days- I’ve been studying since last week, I was so focused I hadn’t swam since today. But now that finals are over, I can really relax, especially since a group of us are going away this weekend. We’re going to see Las Fallas in Valencia where basically all where people construct these gigantic figurines out of paper, wood, and carton in comic/ironic characters. On the 19th of March, they set it all on fire with fireworks except one. They save on doll/figurine called a “ninot” to put in a museum. I’m really excited-this is the only place where they do something as crazy as this in the world.
Our intercambios with Alejandro get to be a lot of fun. Once we got on the topic of scrubs because since he’s a vet, he wears them-but boring ones. Kaitlyn and I went to his work once to ask him a question and everyone had the same boring blue ones one, so I could understand where he was coming from. He had found a business on the internet that sells really fun scrubs in Michigan so once we spent a while looking at those. They had animals, cartoons-Alejandro loves cartoons so to him, there were “muy guay.” It was fun to look at and then we looked at the site of the business he works for -http://www.centroveterinariozorrilla.com/ and the white little dog that is on the shown on the menu is Alejandro’s dog, Hugo. He’s so cute and very hyper. I would want a dog like him.
One time for desert before he came, we had these green apples from a store-Mercadillo and Belen said they were horrible, but I said I liked them. The thing is I liked them because they had that artificial green apple taste like in candy-I mean they weren’t the best apples I’ve ever had and I would have liked to eat something more natural tasting but for that time, I didn’t mind them. So Belen just couldn’t believe that-often she can’t believe some of the things I say or do (they’re not bad-just different and American style) and she told Alejandro about my ridiculousness so that was a good laugh.
The last time we had an intercambio with him we were talking about areas in the US and the south because we were talking about alligators and crocodiles (he likes unique animals) and asked if people in the US had alligators for pets. We replied that rednecks probably did. Confused at our American slang, he asked about it and what areas people lived in the US to be called rednecks. As always, it was a good time.
A couple of Sundays ago, I got a surprise visit from my friend Jennifer who was in my Spanish Pronunciation and Phonetics class last semester. She is also studying abroad but in France because she’s a double major with the two languages. I knew she was coming to Valladolid that weekend but I really didn’t know why. All I kept thinking was, why Valladolid? It’s a neat city with a lot of history, but it’s only worth about a day’s visit.
We had talked on facebook about it, I told her my cell number but I still didn’t know what exactly was going on for that weekend. So come Sunday, Kaitlyn and I were watching a Spanish movie on TV and we were both really tired so we fell asleep watching it. At some point I was awoken from someone buzzing in from downstairs. And it’s such an obnoxious noise-just a loud buzz so being awoken all of a sudden wasn’t so nice and Gabbi will normally bark loud and a lot if he hears someone at the door. Being drowsy, Belen told me someone was there for me and I was just confused. Getting up in my sweats for the day, I walked sleepily towards the door. I looked through the peephole because I thought maybe it was Samantha from school since she lives the closet near by but it wasn’t. Instead it was Jennifer.
When I opened it I was already even more confused because she came with another student. All I could think of was how many were there and about how tired I was. The other student was Jeff who was also from Eau Claire and visiting another student at the school, Charlie. For Jennifer and Jeff, it was their spring break and both were staying with Charlie’s brother Michael who lives here in Valladolid. We spent the afternoon showing them a bit more of Valladolid. We went to this place near my house and the place where I workout called Parque Sol. He had to climb a hill that was somewhat equal to the hill we have to walk up to go to the dorms and McPhee in Eau Claire. I had never been to Parque Sol before so that was really neat for me to see it. It overlooked the city and the sun was starting to set. We also stopped for sweets at the newsstands and went to the sweet shop. The sweets were these gummy type sticks that were had a filling-they were the same ones we had in Cadiz. There were really good except for these black colored ones we tried that tasted like black licorice. They weren’t very good at all, but the filling inside helped the taste, a lot.
We showed them the Orchestra/ brand new arts center in Valladolid- I went there a while for a concert-it was really good and the acoustics were amazing though I was sitting in the ‘nosebleed’ section. And also the futbol stadium which is right next to the arts center. Jennifer and Jeff had never had churros con chocolate before so I suggested we get them. We went to a place that I like to go to-and actually the first place I had ever had churros con chocolate also in plaza mayor called Banque or Banoque…something like that. The food was good as always and it was a fun time hanging out. While we were there, Charlie’s brother Michael joined us and we all went to mass. It was the first time I had been to the church and I liked the service so much more compared to the one I had been going to. The church that I went to was dark and cold inside with hard wooden benches and high ceiling-almost a cathedral but not really but it was definitely ‘romantico’ style. And at this church there was no singing at all and everything had an echo-it would be hard to understand the mass in Spanish or in English.
But at the church we went to, I liked it so much better. There was light inside, stained glass windows, overall beautiful decoration, I really liked the service and the priest more. And there is singing! It reminded me somewhat of the songs we sing at Navigators-A Christian group on campus that I’m a part of so I really liked it. I told my friend Kristin about it and we’ve been going there on Sunday nights. After church, we went out for tapas or appetizers and they were really good.
The following Friday, there was an Intercambio at the school so that we could meet other Spanish students at the University. There we met a group of friends, Laura, Marta, and Danny. Turns out that Danny (who is originally from Malaga in the south) knows how to break dance, and he knows how to do it really well. So he invited us to go to his “work” the next day where he teaches kids how to break dance. So we went to watch and Danny even taught Adam S., Kristin, and I some dance moves. I joined later on but learned a little bit and it was really fun but so much harder than it looks which is good because for the couple of minutes, it was a good workout.
The following Saturday we went to Salamanca which is only about an hour a way from Valladolid. I really loved it there! We got to see the University and the famous church that has both the Gothic and Romantic style. There is a tradition with the school that if you are able to find a sculpture of a frog on top of a skull on the entrance, you will have good luck or something. I was able to find it right a way but that is because I cheated a little bit. Past students of Eau Claire had told me where it was but it still took me a while to find it.
That day for lunch my host mom had made me a sandwich with just cheese and cucumbers-she said it was very “English” as in Britain. Though it was different it was really very good.
When we go on excursions we, 2 to 3 teachers will go along and it is always my art teacher Ivan, my history teacher Agustin, and my geography/European Union teacher Alfredo. I like all of my teachers but Ivan can be really funny so we usually join his group. Once in a while Ivan and Agustin would joke around with each other to see who could move their group a long the further and what not. When we got to the church, they combined our two groups to talk and share the load of information. It was a good time.
In churches, they will have a bit of a person or their belonging for people to pray to because the person was someone important or considered a martyr. At the church in Salamanca the had the hand and a bit of the arm of someone who fought in the Spanish Civil War. It was interesting but a little weird to think that people would pray to a decayed hand.
At one point we were in a courtyard of the school and Ivan was talking to us all about the architecture around us when Adam S. walked on the grass. The thing is there was a sign on the ground that said , “no pisar.”-don’t step. It was just really funny but something Adam would do. To make it better Ivan joked that they would kill him for stepping on the grass. The group that I hang out with is a lot of fun and during our break from the city tour we went to go see the Roman bridge. On our way we came across a statue of this guy appearing as if he is concentrating on something very hard. We all stopped to take pictures with it-individual and group in different poses.
Eventually we go to the Roman bridge and took more pictures. We cam across some Americans and British who were there because they are teaching English at the schools to kids. Also near the bridge was a kids playing area so we took some really fun photos there of us on the teeter-totters and what not. All was going well until Adam acted up again. There are small holes on the sides of the bridge to drain the water when it rains and Adam was trying to throw a rock into it from a ways away. He ended up throwing it a bit too hard and over the wall. Next thing we knew an angry Spanish man and his girlfriend/wife was looking over the edge of the wall. Adam didn’t hit him but the man said that he almost did and instead of Adam explaining it, Ken started to so then the man thought that Ken had threw it. We weren’t sure what to do and we wanted to avoid conflict so we just waited below until they passed by. Meanwhile Kara and I started to take pictures of the trees around us simply because we didn’t know what else to do. The couple eventually walked by and all was well.
For my Literature class we had been learning about the story of Lazarillo de Tormes (de Tormes because he was born near theTormes river in Salamanca) and within the book, the author writes about realistic places and so near the Roman bridge there was a statue of Lazarillo with one of his owners, el Ciego or the blind-man.
Our Portugal Trip-Lisbon
Kristin, Lynsey, Alli, and I in Lisbon, Portugal
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Stand watching from the steady shore with light swimming right across your face
February 27, 2010
The next day the weather was soooooo much better. We got up-ate our breakfast including even more pasta! We made sooo much of it. I also had my yogurt/shake drink, more yogurt and Magdalena muffins. After this and packing up we headed to the ferry to head to Cadiz for the day. When we got to the ferry they told us the ferry wasn’t running-probably because it was Monday and there was really no use in using it, so we took the bus instead. While we waited for about an hour or so, we talked to some ladies from Ireland who were there on vacation. They were very nice and had been to North Carolina for Christmas and told us how much they loved America J. While we waited, it rained a little bit but not for very long.
When we got to Cadiz we bought more of the delicious 2-foot long cream filled taffy. Then we went to look at the ocean again, it was so beautiful and the waves were huge, every once in a while-though we were separated from the ocean by a brick wall and the rocks below, the ocean spray was able to come over the top of the wall…some of us weren’t able to stay dry for very long. Afterwards we headed towards the Cathedral but it cost quite a bit to go inside and we had seen enough Cathedrals and decided it wasn’t really worth going in and paying.
A group wanted to go to the tallest building in Cadiz where you would be able to see all of the city from above in Panoramic form and that was quite a bit too so a group of us decided not to go and just wait. For the rest of the day we continued to walk around and explore the city…my lunch consisted of more bread and another yogurt drink which was really good…so much better than the ‘strawberry milk’ I had before. We came across a beautiful park with a pond for ducks-kind of like in Campo Grande- and a ‘cave area’ with a wonderful and you could walk across the top. It was a really beautiful park with huge shrubbery trimmed into shapes of spirals and what looked like gum drops. We also came across a group of cats. Ken decided to start petting one and it followed us around of a while. I love cats-but I would never pet one in a park-probably had rabies…
Afterwards we came across two giant trees that most of been about a hundred years old…their branches were so long that the city placed columns before the branches to support them. We all decided to climb the trees and take picture- it was really fun. I don’t think I’ve climbed a tree like that since I was little and use to climb the crab apple tree in front of my house. By this point, our sunny day was becoming quite cloudy and a little more windy. Next we went to an old building built in the 1500s are so that might have been part of a castle or some fortress. The stairs were made of shells and there were look out areas to place canons. But while we were there it looked like it was used for exhibits-they had rooms with artwork. From here we saw another castle…all the way out in the middle of the ocean! There was a stone walkway to get there and we all decided to walk out onto it.
By this point, the waves were still crashing, but they weren’t bad. The walkway was about 100 feet long to the castle. We were up pretty high with rocks along the side to keep back the waves, but they would still crash and come up onto the walkway. The trick was to time out when you would walk/run and when you would stop and wait for the waves to pass. A little bit onto the walkway we saw a group of boys running back as a wave come up onto the walkway and soaked them. I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen to me but at that point I really didn’t care. I just wanted to make it to the other side with my group-and try to stay as dry as possible.
Once in a while I would have to wait for a wave to pass and other times I would realize that a huge wave was coming and would have to run for it. I could feel the salt in my hair, skin, and even clothes. Just felt like a big mess. I was able to stay pretty dry on our way there…some people in our group got more soaked than me and I was one of the first people to make it to the other side along with Adam B. It was pretty sweet to see how far we had walked out into the ocean from the shore. Maybe being a swimmer and always being around water, I didn’t find it nearly as exciting compared to other people but it was still really exciting.
On the way back I wasn’t quite as careful about the waves and as I was coming back I saw one coming and tried to run but it hit me from behind before I could get very far. It mainly just got the back of my legs so it wasn’t that bad. We would need to take a bus to the air port soon so we started to head back. We walked along the same wall as we did that morning that overlooks the ocean and the view was so beautiful. The sky was still a little dark but the sun’s rays were shining through the clouds over the ocean while sea gulls flew in the air. We stayed and watched the sky and waves for a good ten minutes or so. That day was probably my favorite out of the whole trip. Just to see how beautiful nature can be.
The next day the weather was soooooo much better. We got up-ate our breakfast including even more pasta! We made sooo much of it. I also had my yogurt/shake drink, more yogurt and Magdalena muffins. After this and packing up we headed to the ferry to head to Cadiz for the day. When we got to the ferry they told us the ferry wasn’t running-probably because it was Monday and there was really no use in using it, so we took the bus instead. While we waited for about an hour or so, we talked to some ladies from Ireland who were there on vacation. They were very nice and had been to North Carolina for Christmas and told us how much they loved America J. While we waited, it rained a little bit but not for very long.
When we got to Cadiz we bought more of the delicious 2-foot long cream filled taffy. Then we went to look at the ocean again, it was so beautiful and the waves were huge, every once in a while-though we were separated from the ocean by a brick wall and the rocks below, the ocean spray was able to come over the top of the wall…some of us weren’t able to stay dry for very long. Afterwards we headed towards the Cathedral but it cost quite a bit to go inside and we had seen enough Cathedrals and decided it wasn’t really worth going in and paying.
A group wanted to go to the tallest building in Cadiz where you would be able to see all of the city from above in Panoramic form and that was quite a bit too so a group of us decided not to go and just wait. For the rest of the day we continued to walk around and explore the city…my lunch consisted of more bread and another yogurt drink which was really good…so much better than the ‘strawberry milk’ I had before. We came across a beautiful park with a pond for ducks-kind of like in Campo Grande- and a ‘cave area’ with a wonderful and you could walk across the top. It was a really beautiful park with huge shrubbery trimmed into shapes of spirals and what looked like gum drops. We also came across a group of cats. Ken decided to start petting one and it followed us around of a while. I love cats-but I would never pet one in a park-probably had rabies…
Afterwards we came across two giant trees that most of been about a hundred years old…their branches were so long that the city placed columns before the branches to support them. We all decided to climb the trees and take picture- it was really fun. I don’t think I’ve climbed a tree like that since I was little and use to climb the crab apple tree in front of my house. By this point, our sunny day was becoming quite cloudy and a little more windy. Next we went to an old building built in the 1500s are so that might have been part of a castle or some fortress. The stairs were made of shells and there were look out areas to place canons. But while we were there it looked like it was used for exhibits-they had rooms with artwork. From here we saw another castle…all the way out in the middle of the ocean! There was a stone walkway to get there and we all decided to walk out onto it.
By this point, the waves were still crashing, but they weren’t bad. The walkway was about 100 feet long to the castle. We were up pretty high with rocks along the side to keep back the waves, but they would still crash and come up onto the walkway. The trick was to time out when you would walk/run and when you would stop and wait for the waves to pass. A little bit onto the walkway we saw a group of boys running back as a wave come up onto the walkway and soaked them. I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen to me but at that point I really didn’t care. I just wanted to make it to the other side with my group-and try to stay as dry as possible.
Once in a while I would have to wait for a wave to pass and other times I would realize that a huge wave was coming and would have to run for it. I could feel the salt in my hair, skin, and even clothes. Just felt like a big mess. I was able to stay pretty dry on our way there…some people in our group got more soaked than me and I was one of the first people to make it to the other side along with Adam B. It was pretty sweet to see how far we had walked out into the ocean from the shore. Maybe being a swimmer and always being around water, I didn’t find it nearly as exciting compared to other people but it was still really exciting.
On the way back I wasn’t quite as careful about the waves and as I was coming back I saw one coming and tried to run but it hit me from behind before I could get very far. It mainly just got the back of my legs so it wasn’t that bad. We would need to take a bus to the air port soon so we started to head back. We walked along the same wall as we did that morning that overlooks the ocean and the view was so beautiful. The sky was still a little dark but the sun’s rays were shining through the clouds over the ocean while sea gulls flew in the air. We stayed and watched the sky and waves for a good ten minutes or so. That day was probably my favorite out of the whole trip. Just to see how beautiful nature can be.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Carnaval and Cadiz
February 21, 2010
I was able to sleep somewhat on the bus trip from Granada to Cadiz. I was a little glad that our bus had arrived an hour late because we could only check into our hotel around 12 pm so when we arrived, we wouldn’t have so much time to kill as we did before. However, at 7 am, the bus stopped. At first I thought it was just to have a break, drop some people off. But it wasn’t for that, it was so that they could clean/mop the floor of the bus. None of us were very happy to leave the warm bus to go outside so that they could clean it.
We arrived in Cadiz around 10 am. My initial thought is that we would try to find our way to our hotel which was not on Cadiz, but on Santa Maria. Instead we relaxed and went to the beach. It was a very beautiful day. The sun was out, it was a little cloudy but really nice. We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then started to think about how to get to our hotel. As we walked through the city we saw people with costumes on from men dressing up like women to space cadets like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. We also saw an assortment of sweets as we walked around. There was one stand that had chocolate-covered apples, candy-coated apples, pieces of fresh coconut, and these long sugar-creamed filled taffy that were at least 2 feet in length.
To get to our hotel, we took a ferry across the bay to Santa Maria from Cadiz. The trip was only about 30 minutes long and it was still sunny out so it was pretty warm on the ferry. Once we got to the other side, there was a huge crowd waiting to get on the ferry to get to Cadiz for Carnaval. From there, we had to walk about 45 minutes to our hotel. It was Sunday and on this day of the week everything is closed, except places to eat. So we started looking around at places to eat later on in the day. We saw an assortment of different restaurants that looked really good. So far that morning all I had to eat was the taffy and the rest of my potato chips from the night before.
We eventally got to our hotel and it was so nice. It was actually a resort with a four star rating that we only had to pay like 16 euro per night. They also had a spa there which is probably what they mad most of their money off of. Our room was apartment style with a big kitchen, two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen-pots, pans, dinnerware, glasses, oven, refrigerator, toaster, microwave-everything we would need to make a meal for all of us. Another good part- we didn’t have to wash the dishes at all!
Once we got there we got settled and some people took naps but I couldn’t so I just watched the winter Olympics in German on the television instead-that’s right we had channels in German on our TV. I didn’t really pick up on any new words but it was interesting. After settling down we went out to find some food. We found a nice little café halfway between our hotel and the port. I had the number two, which was chicken, French fries, two eggs sunny side up, and these tater tot type of food that is fried and stuffed with items such as meat, cheese, or/and potato. They’re so good! We also got bread to eat with the eggs and these tiny little breadsticks which were called something like ‘picos’ which are really typical in Andalucia. The meal was a little pricey- 5.50 euro but that’s a pretty good meal at a cheap price for most restaurants here. After getting some good food in our tummies we headed back for Cadiz to enjoy some of the festivities. We arrived just in time for a parade that was fun to watch. I reminded me of floats during Oktoberfest but ten times better with much more color and lights-as colorful as Mardi Gras in US would be I suppose. The parade was actually kind of short. I really enjoyed all of the costumes though, they were so creative and most times the theme didn’t have a purpose but to be fun. One float was a tribute to Michael Jackson and all of the people were dressed up like zombies from the Thriller music video.
After the parade we walked around a bit an came across the Cathedral in Cadiz. It was pretty but would have been better if there wasn’t a stage in front of it for music and garbage all around from the people. The last ferry was going to leave at 10ish or so and therefore we couldn’t stay out there for everything so we decided to start the head back. When we arrived at the ferry gate, some workers asked to see our returning ticket, which we hadn’t bought. Oops. They told us we could got back to Santa Maria either by the bus or train so opted to take the bus. We ended up having to wait around for more than an hour for it and met some interesting people. There was a group there from Australia so we talked with them a bit and saw a group of people dressed up like Waldo from Where’s Waldo.
Our bus finally came but it took them forever to get it all set up. One worker was organizing the change on the bus with the other worker, they switched driving spots and then for a while they had the wrong sign up for the destination and after 10 minutes they realized their mistake and we were finally on our way back to the hotel.
When we got back, we all started to watch the movie- The Shawshank Redemption which was good but I was one of the few to turn in early. I hadn’t taken a nap that day and sleeping on a bus half of the night-the other half staying up so that no one doesn’t take our stuff doesn’t really help.
The next day was just miserable. It rained all day. We needed food so we went to Super Sol and bought spaghetti to make for lunch and dinner-we even had enough left over to eat some for breakfast the next day. For myself I had also bought some yogurt to eat for breakfast, a strawberry yogurt drink that turned out to be like strawberry milk and therefore wasn’t that great. With Ken and Adam B. I split the cost for some bread at a small bread store. Lunch was so filling and even better- it was really cheap compared to going out to eat again.
While we were at the store, it was sunny out and the walk back to the hotel was really nice with the sun but by the time we had gotten done with lunch it was pouring outside again. This happened on and off. At some point we decided to go to the beach when it was nice out but on our walk it started pouring again so most of us headed back. We decided to watch Unbreakable on a computer and that was good. Later on we all played Family Feud…so even though we were stuck inside most of the time because of the rain, we were all still able to have a fun time.
I was able to sleep somewhat on the bus trip from Granada to Cadiz. I was a little glad that our bus had arrived an hour late because we could only check into our hotel around 12 pm so when we arrived, we wouldn’t have so much time to kill as we did before. However, at 7 am, the bus stopped. At first I thought it was just to have a break, drop some people off. But it wasn’t for that, it was so that they could clean/mop the floor of the bus. None of us were very happy to leave the warm bus to go outside so that they could clean it.
We arrived in Cadiz around 10 am. My initial thought is that we would try to find our way to our hotel which was not on Cadiz, but on Santa Maria. Instead we relaxed and went to the beach. It was a very beautiful day. The sun was out, it was a little cloudy but really nice. We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then started to think about how to get to our hotel. As we walked through the city we saw people with costumes on from men dressing up like women to space cadets like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. We also saw an assortment of sweets as we walked around. There was one stand that had chocolate-covered apples, candy-coated apples, pieces of fresh coconut, and these long sugar-creamed filled taffy that were at least 2 feet in length.
To get to our hotel, we took a ferry across the bay to Santa Maria from Cadiz. The trip was only about 30 minutes long and it was still sunny out so it was pretty warm on the ferry. Once we got to the other side, there was a huge crowd waiting to get on the ferry to get to Cadiz for Carnaval. From there, we had to walk about 45 minutes to our hotel. It was Sunday and on this day of the week everything is closed, except places to eat. So we started looking around at places to eat later on in the day. We saw an assortment of different restaurants that looked really good. So far that morning all I had to eat was the taffy and the rest of my potato chips from the night before.
We eventally got to our hotel and it was so nice. It was actually a resort with a four star rating that we only had to pay like 16 euro per night. They also had a spa there which is probably what they mad most of their money off of. Our room was apartment style with a big kitchen, two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen-pots, pans, dinnerware, glasses, oven, refrigerator, toaster, microwave-everything we would need to make a meal for all of us. Another good part- we didn’t have to wash the dishes at all!
Once we got there we got settled and some people took naps but I couldn’t so I just watched the winter Olympics in German on the television instead-that’s right we had channels in German on our TV. I didn’t really pick up on any new words but it was interesting. After settling down we went out to find some food. We found a nice little café halfway between our hotel and the port. I had the number two, which was chicken, French fries, two eggs sunny side up, and these tater tot type of food that is fried and stuffed with items such as meat, cheese, or/and potato. They’re so good! We also got bread to eat with the eggs and these tiny little breadsticks which were called something like ‘picos’ which are really typical in Andalucia. The meal was a little pricey- 5.50 euro but that’s a pretty good meal at a cheap price for most restaurants here. After getting some good food in our tummies we headed back for Cadiz to enjoy some of the festivities. We arrived just in time for a parade that was fun to watch. I reminded me of floats during Oktoberfest but ten times better with much more color and lights-as colorful as Mardi Gras in US would be I suppose. The parade was actually kind of short. I really enjoyed all of the costumes though, they were so creative and most times the theme didn’t have a purpose but to be fun. One float was a tribute to Michael Jackson and all of the people were dressed up like zombies from the Thriller music video.
After the parade we walked around a bit an came across the Cathedral in Cadiz. It was pretty but would have been better if there wasn’t a stage in front of it for music and garbage all around from the people. The last ferry was going to leave at 10ish or so and therefore we couldn’t stay out there for everything so we decided to start the head back. When we arrived at the ferry gate, some workers asked to see our returning ticket, which we hadn’t bought. Oops. They told us we could got back to Santa Maria either by the bus or train so opted to take the bus. We ended up having to wait around for more than an hour for it and met some interesting people. There was a group there from Australia so we talked with them a bit and saw a group of people dressed up like Waldo from Where’s Waldo.
Our bus finally came but it took them forever to get it all set up. One worker was organizing the change on the bus with the other worker, they switched driving spots and then for a while they had the wrong sign up for the destination and after 10 minutes they realized their mistake and we were finally on our way back to the hotel.
When we got back, we all started to watch the movie- The Shawshank Redemption which was good but I was one of the few to turn in early. I hadn’t taken a nap that day and sleeping on a bus half of the night-the other half staying up so that no one doesn’t take our stuff doesn’t really help.
The next day was just miserable. It rained all day. We needed food so we went to Super Sol and bought spaghetti to make for lunch and dinner-we even had enough left over to eat some for breakfast the next day. For myself I had also bought some yogurt to eat for breakfast, a strawberry yogurt drink that turned out to be like strawberry milk and therefore wasn’t that great. With Ken and Adam B. I split the cost for some bread at a small bread store. Lunch was so filling and even better- it was really cheap compared to going out to eat again.
While we were at the store, it was sunny out and the walk back to the hotel was really nice with the sun but by the time we had gotten done with lunch it was pouring outside again. This happened on and off. At some point we decided to go to the beach when it was nice out but on our walk it started pouring again so most of us headed back. We decided to watch Unbreakable on a computer and that was good. Later on we all played Family Feud…so even though we were stuck inside most of the time because of the rain, we were all still able to have a fun time.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
"You took me southwards on a plane And showed me Spain or somewhere"
February 7, 2010
Yesterday our group from Eau Claire had another excursion to areas around Valladolid. We saw a church-Real Convento De Santa Clara de Tordesillas- built in the 1400s, a Castle, and a Museum on Roman Ruins. My favorites were between the monastery and the Castle. The Roman Ruins were ok but I was expecting to see something better.
I really liked the monastery because of all of the artifacts there were inside including some very old pianos that were very tiny and had painted decorations on it such as flowers. There also once were paintings on the walls but because of old age they were slightly fading but I still thought there were really net because it showed how ancient the place really was. We weren’t allowed to take pictures so I only got some from the outside but bought postcards for myself of pictures taken inside. I really liked seeing the place where they held mass. It was so beautiful. It was decorated with gold and within it were shapes such as stars and characters from the bible. It was also decorated with scarlet and in a room off to the side were some beautiful statues.
This happened a while ago, but on a bus ride home, we stopped outside of a school where there was a huge crowd. I could see some students dancing over the top of the heads of the parents and could hear music. I listened really closely to the music playing and at first thought it was song with lyrics in Spanish but the more I listened I realized it was “Someday” by Rob Thomas. That’s one of my favorite songs and by one of my favorite musicians so I was really excited to hear it all the way over here in Spain. It really made my day.
Speaking of buses. This past Thursday, February 11th, Kaitlyn and I were taking the bus to school as usual when we forgot to press the button to stop the bus for our connecting bus stop. We both stood by the door expecting the bus driver to open it for us, but he didn’t. Normally someone else almost always presses the button so we don’t really have to worry about it. But that day, we had to. The bus continued to the next stop where we got off and decided to walk to the last stop. Well, the walking soon turned into running towards the bus stop as we saw another bus approaching the bus stop. Unfortunately that bus left without us. Not wanting to wait for another bus, we decided to walk the rest of the way to school. It wasn’t bad, only took about 20 minutes and we were really early as usual.
This past weekend, we left with six other students to go to Granada and Cadiz for five days. It was Carnaval on Monday and Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Cadiz is one of the major cities to celebrate Carnaval. We left Friday February 12th at 6 am for Madrid where we took an airplane to Granada. Even though we were down South, it was still freezing cold. The whole weekend it was raining along with snow the first day in Granada it was so weird. To stay warm a group of us decided to eat at a little tavern/restaurant for food. One of the guys with us Ken and I decided to got a lasagna dish and Kara and Adam S. decided to try baked potatoes- one with four cheeses on it and another with a creamy sauce and mushrooms. It was so good and really hit the spot. Afterwards we did a little shopping and stopped at an Arabian store. The moors/arabs used to live in Spain for I believe 8 centuries so there were many stores with items from places including India. At one of the stores the owner spoke 5 languages and was really nice. I bought a bright turquoise round box with a lot of beautiful detail for 7 euro. I really like it and was happy with my purchase until we went to the store next door and found the same box for only 3 euro. When I bought my 7 euro box I saw it being worth 7 euro so I was ok with my purchase. After this we went to a cafeteria for a desert. I bought something familiar to flan with kiwi on top. It could have used more sugar but was still good. The other three got cheese cake and we all decided that US cheese cake is much better. We also bought hot chocolate that was sooo good. It had a bit of a dark chocolate taste to it which I loved with the weather we were having that day with all of the rain it really hit the spot!
The next day in Granada, our day was much better for weather but it still rained. We all went to the Alhambra, which was absolutely beautiful. It has been one of my favorite places so far. The Alhambra is “is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.”-(Thank you Wikipedia.) The detail in each wall was amazing and the garden-even in “winter” was spectacular. Author Washington Irving lived there for a while and even wrote Tales of the Alhambra and they had his items on display. Iriving also wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Wrinkle.” If there’s one place people have to see, it’s The Alhambra. As Adam S. said many times during the trip about everything, “There are no words to describe it. I can’t think of anything that would give it justice to describe it.”
After our stay at The Alhambra, we went to the same Cafeteria for some more hot chocolate to get warmed up. As it grew dark, we walked around a bit more and stopped at a park near a flowing river that had a very strong current due to the weather. That nigh or I should say the next morning, we had a bus to take at 3 in the morning so we had to buy some food. We stopped at a food shop and I bought a really good strawberry banana yogurt smoothie drink, chocolate to eat at midnight since it would be February 14th/Valentine’s Day, and potato chips. I also had some turkey and bread/hamburger buns that Adam B. and I bought to make sandwiches throughout the day.
Our night at the bus station went pretty well. We were able to stay inside the whole time (In Valladolid, they close the station at a certain time at night but you can wait in the “Bus Stop” restaurant) which was really nice. We started off by staying on the lower ground by the doors but it was so cold that we decided to go upstairs where it was warmer. Throughout the night some people slept, stayed up or rested their eyes. I wanted to stay up till we got on the bus so I rested my eyes once in awhile. I was glad quite a few of us stayed up because we had a couple of visitors. We came a cross a young couple from California, a guy that wanted money for a bus to Madrid but we didn’t trust him so we said ‘no.’ and then a guy taking the buses that gave some of us chocolate. They said the candy bar was fine but I wouldn’t have taken it from him…I might have taken it to be nice but then throw it a way later. But it was Valentine’s Day so maybe the guy was just being nice?
Earlier in the day we were at the bus station to make sure we knew where it was before night fall and so that Ken could buy another bus ticket-he had lost his because a group bought tickets from a receipt and they were basically receipts-very easy to make a mistake and throw it away. While there a guy with a German accent and a brand new black eye asked us if we spoke English. When we told him ‘yes’ he said something in Spanish about the police and we were guessing he wanted our help to get the police-hence the black eye but we really couldn’t understand him so we just shook our heads and he left. Honestly- with the way he was looking, I was very hesitant to help him out if the person(s) who hurt him were nearby.
Our bus was suppose to arrive at 3 am, it didn’t come till 4 am. I was glad when it finally came because then I would be able to sleep on our way to Cadiz.
Yesterday our group from Eau Claire had another excursion to areas around Valladolid. We saw a church-Real Convento De Santa Clara de Tordesillas- built in the 1400s, a Castle, and a Museum on Roman Ruins. My favorites were between the monastery and the Castle. The Roman Ruins were ok but I was expecting to see something better.
I really liked the monastery because of all of the artifacts there were inside including some very old pianos that were very tiny and had painted decorations on it such as flowers. There also once were paintings on the walls but because of old age they were slightly fading but I still thought there were really net because it showed how ancient the place really was. We weren’t allowed to take pictures so I only got some from the outside but bought postcards for myself of pictures taken inside. I really liked seeing the place where they held mass. It was so beautiful. It was decorated with gold and within it were shapes such as stars and characters from the bible. It was also decorated with scarlet and in a room off to the side were some beautiful statues.
This happened a while ago, but on a bus ride home, we stopped outside of a school where there was a huge crowd. I could see some students dancing over the top of the heads of the parents and could hear music. I listened really closely to the music playing and at first thought it was song with lyrics in Spanish but the more I listened I realized it was “Someday” by Rob Thomas. That’s one of my favorite songs and by one of my favorite musicians so I was really excited to hear it all the way over here in Spain. It really made my day.
Speaking of buses. This past Thursday, February 11th, Kaitlyn and I were taking the bus to school as usual when we forgot to press the button to stop the bus for our connecting bus stop. We both stood by the door expecting the bus driver to open it for us, but he didn’t. Normally someone else almost always presses the button so we don’t really have to worry about it. But that day, we had to. The bus continued to the next stop where we got off and decided to walk to the last stop. Well, the walking soon turned into running towards the bus stop as we saw another bus approaching the bus stop. Unfortunately that bus left without us. Not wanting to wait for another bus, we decided to walk the rest of the way to school. It wasn’t bad, only took about 20 minutes and we were really early as usual.
This past weekend, we left with six other students to go to Granada and Cadiz for five days. It was Carnaval on Monday and Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Cadiz is one of the major cities to celebrate Carnaval. We left Friday February 12th at 6 am for Madrid where we took an airplane to Granada. Even though we were down South, it was still freezing cold. The whole weekend it was raining along with snow the first day in Granada it was so weird. To stay warm a group of us decided to eat at a little tavern/restaurant for food. One of the guys with us Ken and I decided to got a lasagna dish and Kara and Adam S. decided to try baked potatoes- one with four cheeses on it and another with a creamy sauce and mushrooms. It was so good and really hit the spot. Afterwards we did a little shopping and stopped at an Arabian store. The moors/arabs used to live in Spain for I believe 8 centuries so there were many stores with items from places including India. At one of the stores the owner spoke 5 languages and was really nice. I bought a bright turquoise round box with a lot of beautiful detail for 7 euro. I really like it and was happy with my purchase until we went to the store next door and found the same box for only 3 euro. When I bought my 7 euro box I saw it being worth 7 euro so I was ok with my purchase. After this we went to a cafeteria for a desert. I bought something familiar to flan with kiwi on top. It could have used more sugar but was still good. The other three got cheese cake and we all decided that US cheese cake is much better. We also bought hot chocolate that was sooo good. It had a bit of a dark chocolate taste to it which I loved with the weather we were having that day with all of the rain it really hit the spot!
The next day in Granada, our day was much better for weather but it still rained. We all went to the Alhambra, which was absolutely beautiful. It has been one of my favorite places so far. The Alhambra is “is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.”-(Thank you Wikipedia.) The detail in each wall was amazing and the garden-even in “winter” was spectacular. Author Washington Irving lived there for a while and even wrote Tales of the Alhambra and they had his items on display. Iriving also wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Wrinkle.” If there’s one place people have to see, it’s The Alhambra. As Adam S. said many times during the trip about everything, “There are no words to describe it. I can’t think of anything that would give it justice to describe it.”
After our stay at The Alhambra, we went to the same Cafeteria for some more hot chocolate to get warmed up. As it grew dark, we walked around a bit more and stopped at a park near a flowing river that had a very strong current due to the weather. That nigh or I should say the next morning, we had a bus to take at 3 in the morning so we had to buy some food. We stopped at a food shop and I bought a really good strawberry banana yogurt smoothie drink, chocolate to eat at midnight since it would be February 14th/Valentine’s Day, and potato chips. I also had some turkey and bread/hamburger buns that Adam B. and I bought to make sandwiches throughout the day.
Our night at the bus station went pretty well. We were able to stay inside the whole time (In Valladolid, they close the station at a certain time at night but you can wait in the “Bus Stop” restaurant) which was really nice. We started off by staying on the lower ground by the doors but it was so cold that we decided to go upstairs where it was warmer. Throughout the night some people slept, stayed up or rested their eyes. I wanted to stay up till we got on the bus so I rested my eyes once in awhile. I was glad quite a few of us stayed up because we had a couple of visitors. We came a cross a young couple from California, a guy that wanted money for a bus to Madrid but we didn’t trust him so we said ‘no.’ and then a guy taking the buses that gave some of us chocolate. They said the candy bar was fine but I wouldn’t have taken it from him…I might have taken it to be nice but then throw it a way later. But it was Valentine’s Day so maybe the guy was just being nice?
Earlier in the day we were at the bus station to make sure we knew where it was before night fall and so that Ken could buy another bus ticket-he had lost his because a group bought tickets from a receipt and they were basically receipts-very easy to make a mistake and throw it away. While there a guy with a German accent and a brand new black eye asked us if we spoke English. When we told him ‘yes’ he said something in Spanish about the police and we were guessing he wanted our help to get the police-hence the black eye but we really couldn’t understand him so we just shook our heads and he left. Honestly- with the way he was looking, I was very hesitant to help him out if the person(s) who hurt him were nearby.
Our bus was suppose to arrive at 3 am, it didn’t come till 4 am. I was glad when it finally came because then I would be able to sleep on our way to Cadiz.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
It's Been A While
School and life in general has been very busy lately...here's a brief overview of stuff that has happened here in Spain.
It has been a very busy week full of intercambios, food, friends, traveling, shopping, and even now-swimming!! I finally got the chance to swim this week. On Monday we had our English Intercambio with Alejandro which was fun as usual. We talked about the region of the US that Kaitlyn and I are from and from there we talked about all the different accents in the US. Accents from the South, from New York-Bronx, Manhattan Island, New Jersey, Boston, even Valley Girl accents from Beverly Hills. At some point, Kaitlyn brought out here laptop for all of us to listen to the different accents. It was joint funny-we saw examples of Boston and New York and watched the trailer for Clueless which takes place in Beverly Hills.
This past week, everywhere I went I saw people I knew from the Intercambio at the school from last Friday. Tuesday while I was working on homework in the cafeteria with Jeff T. (A student from Indiana University in Pennsylvania) I saw a group of people walk by and a guy from Intercambios with super long hair was walking by…then later another guy from intercambios walked in and got a coffee but we were far away from the counter so he didn’t see us. Then, walking back to our house one night, I looked into a restaurent called Café and Te (coffe and tea) and saw a couple that our group from intercambios met after the intercambio for tapas (appetizers). Then, yesterday I ran into my friend Samantha and yet another guy from intercambios named Jose at around 3:40 in the morning. What was I doing at 3:40 on a Saturday morning? Heading to the bus station to go to Bilbao for the day of course. Once again, it’s normal to be up very late in Spain-it is in the US too…but much more common here. So when I met up with Jose and Samantha, I said ‘hola’ and Jose looked at me and said, “..do I know you?” I nodded yes and Jose is very loud, exuberant kind of person so he just exclaimed, “Oh!! Of course I know you!”
The food here has been interesting…last Sunday I had calamari for lunch…but it wasn’t like calamari that has been fried with sauce….this squid was surrounded by its own ink sauce (which was good) with its tentacles and other parts. I did not eat the tentacle part and every once in a while I would get a crunch that was sand. I hope I won’t have this dish again soon.
One food that I really did like was a cream puff we had for desert last Sunday. It was about the size of a baseball or larger with sugar sprinkled on top and cream filling. Yesterday (2-2-10) a group of us went to a sweet shop midway to school where I tried an ocho. A baked good shaped into an 8 por su puesto with a chocolate frosting and peach filling on top. It was so good. After going to the sweet shop we went to their ‘wal-mart’ and I bought notebooks for school and some more sugar doughnuts that I thought were going to be a lot like the ones I had in Puerto Rico when I was there for a swimming training trip. It wasn’t like the doughnuts in PR but it was still pretty good.
One day last week we had a scare with the canary-pet, Javier or as we affectionately call him, Javi. Belen and Kaitlyn and discovered him with his head stuck in the circular opening to his food dish with feathers missing and no movement. They thought he was dead but Kaitlyn noticed that he was moving and in fact still well alive. Why was Javier’s head stuck in his food dish? At first I thought maybe he was just trying to get some food and simply became stuck but what we ended up thinking that the wind from the window had blown him into his food dish.
Last week I was given the opportunity to teach English to children here, which I immediately jumped at the opportunity to do. The next day I called the mom of the girl to talk about teaching but she told me there was another American student. She told me to call her again the following Monday at 5:30 which I did. She told me that between her and another mom there were 5 children to be taught English and after talking with the American student they would call me back about it. Belen and I both agreed that it just seemed so strange-the mom told me they would call me but they haven’t done so yet. If she does not call me back, I’m probably not going to bother with this family and try to find another one.
This past weekend we-Kristin and I went to Bilbao and met up with Adam S. and Kara there. We went to the Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Art Museum. My favorite exhibits were “Puppy” and “Tulips” by Jeff Koons. “Puppy” was a giant statue made out of flowers with an irrigation system inside. “Tulips” were a collection of 6 or so giant colorful “tulips” made out of steel to appear as if they were inflated by air and to appear extremely light when in reality they are extremely heavy. There was also and exhibit by Frank Lloyd Wright who is a native from Wisconsin. I really enjoyed looking at models of his architectures and ideas of architecture. My favorite was his idea of the Mile-High Building which is just an incredible idea- 528 or more floors and the top could be reached within 60 seconds. Another idea was to have giant circular aquariums in a building with not only unique fish but sharks, squids etc…I don’t think the animals would last long though according to the laws of the food chain. Overall it was just cool to see something about someone from Wisconsin all the way over here in Spain. Also it rained there until Kristin and I left for Valladolid. My legs were soaked all day, kind of miserable but worth it.
I’ve been trying to convince Adam S. and Eric that they should start a blog for their dog, Fosky. He is currently 2 months old with a passport. Because he is not 3 months old yet, he is strictly an inside dog and is therefore his potty-training has been horrible. Today, according to Adam S., he peed on the floor and when his host mom called the dog it turned around and started to run down the stairs but slipped on the puddle of pee and fell down the first step really awkwardly. Then Fosky heard Adam start to open the door and hopped back up the step, through the puddle of pee and then he shoved the dog with his leg right back towards the puddle where Fosky slid through it and down the step again. What a mess!
At the moment, a group of us are planning our trip for Semana Santa aka Spring Break. Kristin, Ken, and I will be heading to London and other parts of England the first week and Italy the second week so that we will be there for Easter weekend. In Italy we might meet up with Adam and Kara, and/or possibly Adam B. and Bjorn.
It has been a very busy week full of intercambios, food, friends, traveling, shopping, and even now-swimming!! I finally got the chance to swim this week. On Monday we had our English Intercambio with Alejandro which was fun as usual. We talked about the region of the US that Kaitlyn and I are from and from there we talked about all the different accents in the US. Accents from the South, from New York-Bronx, Manhattan Island, New Jersey, Boston, even Valley Girl accents from Beverly Hills. At some point, Kaitlyn brought out here laptop for all of us to listen to the different accents. It was joint funny-we saw examples of Boston and New York and watched the trailer for Clueless which takes place in Beverly Hills.
This past week, everywhere I went I saw people I knew from the Intercambio at the school from last Friday. Tuesday while I was working on homework in the cafeteria with Jeff T. (A student from Indiana University in Pennsylvania) I saw a group of people walk by and a guy from Intercambios with super long hair was walking by…then later another guy from intercambios walked in and got a coffee but we were far away from the counter so he didn’t see us. Then, walking back to our house one night, I looked into a restaurent called Café and Te (coffe and tea) and saw a couple that our group from intercambios met after the intercambio for tapas (appetizers). Then, yesterday I ran into my friend Samantha and yet another guy from intercambios named Jose at around 3:40 in the morning. What was I doing at 3:40 on a Saturday morning? Heading to the bus station to go to Bilbao for the day of course. Once again, it’s normal to be up very late in Spain-it is in the US too…but much more common here. So when I met up with Jose and Samantha, I said ‘hola’ and Jose looked at me and said, “..do I know you?” I nodded yes and Jose is very loud, exuberant kind of person so he just exclaimed, “Oh!! Of course I know you!”
The food here has been interesting…last Sunday I had calamari for lunch…but it wasn’t like calamari that has been fried with sauce….this squid was surrounded by its own ink sauce (which was good) with its tentacles and other parts. I did not eat the tentacle part and every once in a while I would get a crunch that was sand. I hope I won’t have this dish again soon.
One food that I really did like was a cream puff we had for desert last Sunday. It was about the size of a baseball or larger with sugar sprinkled on top and cream filling. Yesterday (2-2-10) a group of us went to a sweet shop midway to school where I tried an ocho. A baked good shaped into an 8 por su puesto with a chocolate frosting and peach filling on top. It was so good. After going to the sweet shop we went to their ‘wal-mart’ and I bought notebooks for school and some more sugar doughnuts that I thought were going to be a lot like the ones I had in Puerto Rico when I was there for a swimming training trip. It wasn’t like the doughnuts in PR but it was still pretty good.
One day last week we had a scare with the canary-pet, Javier or as we affectionately call him, Javi. Belen and Kaitlyn and discovered him with his head stuck in the circular opening to his food dish with feathers missing and no movement. They thought he was dead but Kaitlyn noticed that he was moving and in fact still well alive. Why was Javier’s head stuck in his food dish? At first I thought maybe he was just trying to get some food and simply became stuck but what we ended up thinking that the wind from the window had blown him into his food dish.
Last week I was given the opportunity to teach English to children here, which I immediately jumped at the opportunity to do. The next day I called the mom of the girl to talk about teaching but she told me there was another American student. She told me to call her again the following Monday at 5:30 which I did. She told me that between her and another mom there were 5 children to be taught English and after talking with the American student they would call me back about it. Belen and I both agreed that it just seemed so strange-the mom told me they would call me but they haven’t done so yet. If she does not call me back, I’m probably not going to bother with this family and try to find another one.
This past weekend we-Kristin and I went to Bilbao and met up with Adam S. and Kara there. We went to the Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Art Museum. My favorite exhibits were “Puppy” and “Tulips” by Jeff Koons. “Puppy” was a giant statue made out of flowers with an irrigation system inside. “Tulips” were a collection of 6 or so giant colorful “tulips” made out of steel to appear as if they were inflated by air and to appear extremely light when in reality they are extremely heavy. There was also and exhibit by Frank Lloyd Wright who is a native from Wisconsin. I really enjoyed looking at models of his architectures and ideas of architecture. My favorite was his idea of the Mile-High Building which is just an incredible idea- 528 or more floors and the top could be reached within 60 seconds. Another idea was to have giant circular aquariums in a building with not only unique fish but sharks, squids etc…I don’t think the animals would last long though according to the laws of the food chain. Overall it was just cool to see something about someone from Wisconsin all the way over here in Spain. Also it rained there until Kristin and I left for Valladolid. My legs were soaked all day, kind of miserable but worth it.
I’ve been trying to convince Adam S. and Eric that they should start a blog for their dog, Fosky. He is currently 2 months old with a passport. Because he is not 3 months old yet, he is strictly an inside dog and is therefore his potty-training has been horrible. Today, according to Adam S., he peed on the floor and when his host mom called the dog it turned around and started to run down the stairs but slipped on the puddle of pee and fell down the first step really awkwardly. Then Fosky heard Adam start to open the door and hopped back up the step, through the puddle of pee and then he shoved the dog with his leg right back towards the puddle where Fosky slid through it and down the step again. What a mess!
At the moment, a group of us are planning our trip for Semana Santa aka Spring Break. Kristin, Ken, and I will be heading to London and other parts of England the first week and Italy the second week so that we will be there for Easter weekend. In Italy we might meet up with Adam and Kara, and/or possibly Adam B. and Bjorn.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
I love Segovia!
January 25, 2010
I really loved Segovia!! What I liked most about it when we got there in the gift shop there was pig stuff everywhere! Some people know this, but I LOVE pigs, especially piglets!!! So I was really excited to see that they had a bunch of stuff in the gift shops and on the street that were related to pigs. I even bought a little stuffed animal pig holding a heart that reads ‘Segovia.’ The reason for so many pigs however is that Segovia is famous for its pig dishes, especially cuchinillos or baby piglets. This, I do not like. But I still got a good souvenir from there for myself so that’s good J.
Our bus left at 9:30 for Segovia and it was only about an hour and a half drive, it went by really fast. And the bus was really nice! It was higher off the ground than the coach buses in the US and these had seat belts too and handles on the back of the chairs, for what…I really don’t know but they were very comfortable!
When we first approached Segovia, our buses stopped right in front of the Aqueduct! It was built by the Romans around 2,000 years ago and there is nothing holding it together except gravity…just rock on top of rock. It was pretty impressive. Our tour guide for the day was my art teacher, Ivan and he told us a story/fable about the Aqueduct. It goes something like this: one girl’s job was to fetch and carry water every day to the village. Tired of this job, she made a deal with the devil to bring the water to the people for her soul. Thus, the devil made the aqueduct and took the girl’s soul as well or something a long these lines.
Ivan also told us a fabled story about these mountains that appear to be in the shape of a women sleeping and it’s called La Mujer Muerta or in English, The Sleeping Lady or The Dead Woman. There are several legends about this mountain but the one Ivan told us was like this: This version recounts the struggles for leadership that were two brothers, sons of the recently deceased head of a tribe living in the then vast plateau. The mother of two, did not want to see this fratricidal struggle, offered his life to the gods in exchange for peace for their children and well kept.. After a big storm, appeared the mother's body as a great mountain, an image which the children recognized and immediately stopped the fight.
Throughout the day, we walked around looking at other historical places. We stopped by a house titled, La Casa de Picos or The House of Peaks, which has 365 peaks sticking out of the house. Houses owned by rich people would have unique patterns on the outside walls of the buildings to distinguish this wealth. We stopped around 12:30 pm to take a break and to eat lunch. Our host-mom had made us a sandwich with scrambled eggs and chorizo, which is a type of sausage and is very, very good. We had this long with a banana, mandarin, and water. It was very good.
After Lunch, a group of us went to this beautiful Cathedral for only 3 euros. I really loved the outside of it as well but in the inside was worth a look at too. It amazes me how tall Cathedrals are. At this one, they had this huge doors like in the Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter that almost reached the ceiling. In some rooms, we couldn’t take pictures because they were full with hanging tapestries that are very old and fragile. If we did take pictures in there, we would be fined 50 euro or 75.75 dollars anyways.
After visiting the Cathedral, we did a little walking and I stopped at a store to buy my pig with the Segovia heart, postcards, and something for my sister. We found an area with a good view of the Alcazar Castle and a beautiful forest landscape and decided to take pictures. Then we stopped at a Café/Bar for some ice cream-I got a lemon-lime freeze pop thing and it was only a euro! Lately in Spain it has been really dreary with rainy, cold, and windy weather but the weather in Segovia was perfect!! It was like early April in Wisconsin! It was especially a really nice surprise because the predicted weather for that day was rain and snow. It did rain a little bit but it wasn’t bad at all.
Our group met back at 3pm then to call to the Alcazar. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney to create the castle that’s always shown at the beginning of the Disney movies. We couldn’t go to all of the rooms in the castle of course but we did get to see a lot of history including the thrones of the king and queen and we got to go up the stairs to the lookout on the castle. The view was AMAZING!!! We wanted to stay up there longer but needed to get going to the buses as well.
The bus ride home was pretty uneventful. I was exhausted mentally and physically from the day so I just decided to tune out everything and listen to my iPod. We got back around 7PM and then had pizza and salad for dinner around 9 PM. After dinner we decided to go out with our usual group to Café La Banque at the Plaza Mayor for some churros and hot chocolate. It hit the spot! The chocolate was not as thick as last time but it was still really good!! The restaurant was really warm and that along with the small of cigarette smoke and being initially tired was making me really sleepy. We stayed and talked for about an hour and a half, called it a night and left for home.
While we were walking back something really weird happened. Kaitlyn and I were waiting for the Green Pedestrian symbol to walk across the street when these two boys around high school age walked across before our ‘go’ light since there were not many cars around. They were walking right towards us so we both tried to move out of the way for them but one of the boys with short curly hair and piercings. But instead of continuing to walk, he stopped right in front of me and said in Spanish, “Do you remember me? Do you remember me?” I told him “no” each time and finally we were able to walk across and he said, “Well…see you later!” It was really weird but I figured either 1) He was drinking 2) He confused me with some other American girl or 3) He just wanted to bug me.
I really loved Segovia!! What I liked most about it when we got there in the gift shop there was pig stuff everywhere! Some people know this, but I LOVE pigs, especially piglets!!! So I was really excited to see that they had a bunch of stuff in the gift shops and on the street that were related to pigs. I even bought a little stuffed animal pig holding a heart that reads ‘Segovia.’ The reason for so many pigs however is that Segovia is famous for its pig dishes, especially cuchinillos or baby piglets. This, I do not like. But I still got a good souvenir from there for myself so that’s good J.
Our bus left at 9:30 for Segovia and it was only about an hour and a half drive, it went by really fast. And the bus was really nice! It was higher off the ground than the coach buses in the US and these had seat belts too and handles on the back of the chairs, for what…I really don’t know but they were very comfortable!
When we first approached Segovia, our buses stopped right in front of the Aqueduct! It was built by the Romans around 2,000 years ago and there is nothing holding it together except gravity…just rock on top of rock. It was pretty impressive. Our tour guide for the day was my art teacher, Ivan and he told us a story/fable about the Aqueduct. It goes something like this: one girl’s job was to fetch and carry water every day to the village. Tired of this job, she made a deal with the devil to bring the water to the people for her soul. Thus, the devil made the aqueduct and took the girl’s soul as well or something a long these lines.
Ivan also told us a fabled story about these mountains that appear to be in the shape of a women sleeping and it’s called La Mujer Muerta or in English, The Sleeping Lady or The Dead Woman. There are several legends about this mountain but the one Ivan told us was like this: This version recounts the struggles for leadership that were two brothers, sons of the recently deceased head of a tribe living in the then vast plateau. The mother of two, did not want to see this fratricidal struggle, offered his life to the gods in exchange for peace for their children and well kept.. After a big storm, appeared the mother's body as a great mountain, an image which the children recognized and immediately stopped the fight.
Throughout the day, we walked around looking at other historical places. We stopped by a house titled, La Casa de Picos or The House of Peaks, which has 365 peaks sticking out of the house. Houses owned by rich people would have unique patterns on the outside walls of the buildings to distinguish this wealth. We stopped around 12:30 pm to take a break and to eat lunch. Our host-mom had made us a sandwich with scrambled eggs and chorizo, which is a type of sausage and is very, very good. We had this long with a banana, mandarin, and water. It was very good.
After Lunch, a group of us went to this beautiful Cathedral for only 3 euros. I really loved the outside of it as well but in the inside was worth a look at too. It amazes me how tall Cathedrals are. At this one, they had this huge doors like in the Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter that almost reached the ceiling. In some rooms, we couldn’t take pictures because they were full with hanging tapestries that are very old and fragile. If we did take pictures in there, we would be fined 50 euro or 75.75 dollars anyways.
After visiting the Cathedral, we did a little walking and I stopped at a store to buy my pig with the Segovia heart, postcards, and something for my sister. We found an area with a good view of the Alcazar Castle and a beautiful forest landscape and decided to take pictures. Then we stopped at a Café/Bar for some ice cream-I got a lemon-lime freeze pop thing and it was only a euro! Lately in Spain it has been really dreary with rainy, cold, and windy weather but the weather in Segovia was perfect!! It was like early April in Wisconsin! It was especially a really nice surprise because the predicted weather for that day was rain and snow. It did rain a little bit but it wasn’t bad at all.
Our group met back at 3pm then to call to the Alcazar. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney to create the castle that’s always shown at the beginning of the Disney movies. We couldn’t go to all of the rooms in the castle of course but we did get to see a lot of history including the thrones of the king and queen and we got to go up the stairs to the lookout on the castle. The view was AMAZING!!! We wanted to stay up there longer but needed to get going to the buses as well.
The bus ride home was pretty uneventful. I was exhausted mentally and physically from the day so I just decided to tune out everything and listen to my iPod. We got back around 7PM and then had pizza and salad for dinner around 9 PM. After dinner we decided to go out with our usual group to Café La Banque at the Plaza Mayor for some churros and hot chocolate. It hit the spot! The chocolate was not as thick as last time but it was still really good!! The restaurant was really warm and that along with the small of cigarette smoke and being initially tired was making me really sleepy. We stayed and talked for about an hour and a half, called it a night and left for home.
While we were walking back something really weird happened. Kaitlyn and I were waiting for the Green Pedestrian symbol to walk across the street when these two boys around high school age walked across before our ‘go’ light since there were not many cars around. They were walking right towards us so we both tried to move out of the way for them but one of the boys with short curly hair and piercings. But instead of continuing to walk, he stopped right in front of me and said in Spanish, “Do you remember me? Do you remember me?” I told him “no” each time and finally we were able to walk across and he said, “Well…see you later!” It was really weird but I figured either 1) He was drinking 2) He confused me with some other American girl or 3) He just wanted to bug me.
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