You better not wake me up at 2 am cuz I'm not doing that with you

Carnaval.It's this big fun festival before Lent. Yeah, Mardi Gras is just Tuesday, and this is a full weekend. So most of my friends here went to islands and places where it was warm. I ended up going to Marburg, Germany to visit the one and only Stephanie Tesch. I say it was a fair choice. And as any travel story on this blog goes, it's not without travel issues. Ready for this?!

So I leave Friday during the day- as in... I skip classes. Whatever, so I get on my bus. No big deal. Haven't traveled to Madrid before... let alone by myself, but it was fine. I get to the airport, ask someone where to go for Ryanair and I'm on my way. I'm there MUCH too early. My flight isn't even up on the screen, so I buy a Cosmo to kill some time. I got bored of killing time. That really shouldn't come as much of a surprise. My boredom led to wandering around and stumbling across my gate! What luck. I decide to pop a squat and attack Harry Potter y la Cámara de Secretos. I'm there for a long time, and I mean a LONG time. The flight before mine had been boarding for what seemed like hours, so I decided to go check the big screen again, look for my flight and.... it's been moved. Okay, I say to myself, I have plenty of time. I did, too. I walk down there. The screen says Frankfurt, all is well. I get up to get in line to start boarding and the screen changes to Santiago! Not cool, Ryanair, not cool. So I go back to the big screens, and it says that Frankfurt is leaving from the gate where I just was. Determined to find out the truth, I return to ask the employee who has no idea what is going on. Typical. Back to the screen for me, to find out that my flight has been moved back to the gate where I was. Everyone dashes there like crazy and lo and behold, the flight from before is still boarding. Little weird, but we all wait while across the room a sign shows up with Frankfurt on it. There is a mad dash to be first in line. I'm thinking, FINALLY. Then an employee comes up to tell us that our flight isn't leaving from that gate. We're leaving from the original one. Yes, of course we are. Another stampede ensues and then we can finally start boarding. By this time, however, I have made a friend from Madrid... originally from the States. She was studying there, and now living there. Whatever. We were flight buddies up to the airport- we even got some beer together while we waited for our buses to bring us to the train station. Which is another little fiasco in itself.

Inside, the schedule told me that my bus would leave promptly at 6 pm. So my new friend and I are drinking our aforementioned beer whilst waiting until about 5:30. I've already bought my ticket, but I decide to head on outside to wait. There are a smattering of people, and new friend and I part ways. Unfortunately for me, I find out that the bus doesn't leave at 6.... it left at 5:30, a mere few moments before I leave. This is already really crappy because our flight got us there a little after the 4 something bus left, so now I have to wait again.... until 7 to leave. Can you believe it? It was horrible. On the plus side, I made another friend. This one was from Cataluña, a region in Spain. She's learning English and we talked until the next bus came while we got some food. It was a little hectic, but finally we got on our bus and made our way to the train station where my dearest Steph was waiting for me. From that point there was still more transportation to get from Frankfurt to Marburg in which we caught up a little on each others' lives and I recounted my lovely little airport tale.

If you couldn't already guess, we got in a little late, so my first night in Germany was pretty chill. Steph brought me over to one of the many Doner restaurants (which we also have in Spain, but with much fewer selection) to grab some real food to bring back to her apartment. I was pretty wiped since I had to get up before the buttcrack of dawn. (I forgot to mention that, but my bus to get to Madrid left at 6 am.... what crap). We basically ate our food and chatted before turning in a little early, but it was fine. After all that transportation drama I needed a little break.

The next day was our explore Marburg day. We went into town to check out some of the shops. The street looked like Diagon Alley, and I pretty much adored it. Yes, Harry Potter truly is everywhere. Anyway, the little street adventure was fun. There were tons of little shops with just random and cute things. There was also a comic book store with Spiderman in front hanging from a wire. (Fun fact! Spiderman in Spanish is still Spiderman; however it is pronounced Spee-derman.) Oh, and a gummy shop! Seriously, nothing but gummies in it. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't purchase any. What on earth was I thinking? Our wanderings then brought us to the grocery store to get some toilet paper. Exciting stuff, I know. Although, I did buy some very good chocolate. Then it was back to chill at the apartment a little bit before our excursions for the night.


After some viewing of 500 Days of Summer and Cosmo reading, we went back out on the town. This time we were meeting up with two of Steph's friends: Carissa and Christina. We were going to out go to eat with them, but Steph said I needed some Auuflauf (which I can't spell, and that was my poor attempt), and I agreed. They went to a salad place and I got some yummy baked pasta dish with some German beer. SUCCESS! Then once our nice little dinner was done, we went back to the dorms in order to make our masks for Carnaval the next day. It resulted in massive amounts of glitter everywhere. I feel a little bad for Christina. She probably has some in her lungs now. It was a lot of fun, though, and I got to meet a couple more of Steph's German friends before we went out for the night. We didn't stay out too long because unbeknownst to us, the club was Raggae dance hall. Needless to say, we could only watch the potheads dance so long before we decided it best to head on home. After all, we did have to get up kind of early in order to make our way out to Cologne for the Carnaval festivities.

This day is a blur in my memory, plus I didn't take many pictures, so I really have no idea what happened in what order. I remember a long train ride with beautiful German country side and a silly porter man that was really friendly. In Cologne, there were lots of crazies everywhere. People were dressed up as almost anything imaginable, and most of the men were dressed like women, Cologne being the gay capitol of Germany and all. Anyway, we watched the parade for a while before meeting up with Christina's friend who is studying there. He's a real German, and he showed us around all day. It was a big wander-fest that led to some McDonald's and a completely packed metro. Good times over all. We were really only there a few hours before we had to get back on the train to Marburg, but whatever. It happens. I honestly felt like I used the trip to really get down all modes of transportation- especially in Germany. Coming back was also more fun, because this time everyone was drunk. They weren't even that young, either. It was like my parents and their friends after a few too many drinks on Halloween. I loved it.

The next day was me getting up obscenely early to get back to Valladolid. More transportation and some of it on my own- well, most of it. Steph got me to the train station and then I was on my own from there. No difficulties this time. I slept a lot more once I was on the plane, too. I was wiped! Finally got back to home sweet away from home only to find out that my mother had been freaking out for an entire day about my whereabouts. I didn't die, obviously, but she's silly. And that was my Carnaval/German experience.

Don't post that on Facebook; I look like a demon.

This one's short because not much happened between Portugal and Carnaval. We had a weekend in Valladolid. We proceeded to party it up and drink. We also checked out a free photo exhibition from this really famous woman photographer from Germany during WWII. This was the time of some spring break planning and just trying to make it to Carnaval. There was some breaking down and eating of Burger King. Aaaaaaaand..... BREAK!

the crucifiction of ronald mcdonald

Let's play some more catch-up, shall we? I'm also avoiding studying for exams, so lucky for all you story-listeners, I'm a procrastinator. The tale today will be about Portugal. I went to Portugal on Feb 19. I'm very sorry that I continue to suck royally at this blogging thing.

Anyway, our Portugal trip. We decided that we would take an overnight train to Portugal. We went through Renfe, which gave us much grief throughout the process, but whatever. We wanted to take a train, so we did, but only after our master plan. Most of us having difficulties sleeping on transportation decided to hit up the chups bar before our excursion so the alcohol could make us sleepy. Pretty sure it worked. Almost all of us slept- then again it was 3 am when we finally got on the train. I slept. Sorry that there isn't much more to tell of that ordeal.

We got there the next morning, grab the metro to where our hostel should be, go to check in. We can't, so we decide to drop off our bags and check out the ocean/river. It's right where they meet, so I say it's the ocean. We got distracted by a market with a bunch of cool handmade stuff. It was good times. It also became a frequented location for us during that week. This market was also very close to the water. By that time, it was pretty much downpouring and very, very windy. It was still very pretty.

 

first view of portugal

plaza and the view of the ocean

the plaza

the ocean!

So after our rainy adventure, we decided to head on back to the hostel to check in. The man working just laughed at us. We were still an hour early, because our watches were still on Spanish time. So yes, in case you were wondering, Portugal and Spain are NOT in the same time zone. So we had to go back out into the Portuguese streets to find something to do. Somehow we decided it would be a good idea to stay OUT in the rain (although there was an amazing market where I bought the coolest scarf ever) and basically turned into drowned rats before ducking into a restaurant for some much needed gofres (or waffles). It was also at this time when we did some tourist shopping before deciding that the weather was too disgusting and thought it best to go to the aquarium. We had to hop back on the metro (this thing became our best friend, I swear) to get there, and then we still had a ways to walk. It was fun, though. We got to see these cool fountains and just wander until we finally get to the aquarium, which really looks more like some floating science lab. It was built for the world fair when it was there however many years ago. I don't actually need to know this stuff.

Anyway, the aquarium. I really enjoyed it. Not only were there awesome mosaics outside, the inside was pretty amazing. The center was a huge open aquarium filled with a bunch of different kind of fish- like sharks! We kept coming back to this as we moved our way through the different oceans of the world. They had penguins and sea otters! They were absolutely adorable and probably my favorites. I got some videos of them playing in the water. As far as wildlife went, nothing was that out of the ordinary, but it was still a nice break from the gross weather. Also, never saw somewhere themed like that. You go from a room with giant fake glaciers to one filled with a humid mist.


We actually killed a LOT of time in the aquarium, but then after we wanted to go in these gondola/basket things that brought us along the coast. Let me clear this up first, I HATE BEING ENCASED OVER WATER! Yeah, that's like my biggest fear. Some of you may understand my hatred of bridges. It's really not bridges that I'm afraid of; it's being stuck in a car going over a bridge because that car can fall off into the water, I'll be trapped and I will drown and die! Okay, that's a little dramatic, but that was also my sentiment towards these stupid gondolas, and everyone thought it was hilarious to push this fear to the end. I mean, yes, the view was spectacular, but when fear is creeping in the corner like the most magnificent creep of all times, it kinda kills the full WOW factor. I survived it, though.

Once we were done with these shenanigans (including some ice cream buying and puppy playing), we finally got to check into our hostel. About damn time, right? Well, it didn't matter much because we wanted to go out and explore more. There was a castle in Portugal that we wanted to see during the day, and by this time it was night. Lemme explain something about old castles. They are on top of hills. I was sick of hills, so I was kinda not in the mood for going to see a castle at night when we couldn't even get inside. That being said, we split up and Emily Kurmis, Andrea, and I went down to the beach again and had a nice little chill time talking and walking through the (freezing ass cold) water. We waited forever for the adventurous crew to return before meandering our way back into the hostel to get organized for dinner making- YUM!

Steven was our trusty cook once again. I was the shopper helper along with someone else... like I can remember now. I guess that means I should be better with this? Probably. Anyway, we went to the grocery store. Wow... couldn't find like anything we really wanted. Also, in Portugal, not only is the time zone not the same as Spain, neither is the language! It was hard finding the food we needed, but eventually we got it down (and some personal little wine boxes) before we headed back to the hostel, but not without being offered pot like 5 bazillion times (okay... like three times). It was dinner time, then- naturally. The hostel was pretty bustling at that time because there was a dinner that they were putting on. That meant we had to wait for the kitchen, but it also meant we got to mingle and social drink a bit before Steven made our huge feast that we were unable to eat. We ended up pawning it off on some large group of drunkards that were from everywhere and silly. In general, the night was full of drunkards and silliness. We made friends from Brazil who tried to read our fortunes and teach us sassy things in Portuguese that I can't remember, but that's life. It was just a really fun night in general, though. The lounge felt more like a big international party, and it was really a shame that we were only there the one night.

The next morning was our Monastery/market day. We had breakfast in the hostel, which was nothing spectacular, before we made our way to the bus area. We stopped at the market again. There were just so many cool handmade things, plus some homeless man with the most adorable puppies on the face of the earth. We played with them; it couldn't be stopped. Then we got on our train/bus/whatever mode of transportation to the Monastery. We luckily got in for free (unlike the bus which was rather expensive). I really only liked the Monastery because it reminded me of Harry Potter, but do you really expect anything else from me at this point? Good. So when we were done wandering around the Monastery, we wanted to check out this market that we saw on the way over. It was like a giant farmers market. There were some cool things and dumb things as any market goes, but it was fun. I ended up lusting after this leather purse and splurged on it. Shoot me. Then it was time to leave, and Steven thinks he can run down to the coast really quickly. WRONG! We ended up waiting for him FOREVER and then it was pretty much rush central to get back to our hostel to get our stuff and back on the metro to get to the train station, and this is where the fun ensues.

So we get there, and we're looking for our train... we don't see it anywhere. We think... hmm, that's odd. It was. So we ask. We are then told that it leaves from Platform 1. Awesome. We go to Platform 1. Our nerves are high because Steven stopped to buy postcards and we're getting pretty close to the leaving time. We want to ask someone to calm said nerves. There is this nice older gentleman that takes a look at our ticket. He tells us it's not right. The train coming in isn't international. Commence major freakout session. We go tearing off down to ask someone. We say don't split up. What do we do? Split up. We are literally running everywhere, only to find out we WERE in the right spot. Our train was moved back a few minutes, and it was right all along. Life was fine and dandy, besides the fact we were convinced we almost missed our train. Something must always go wrong, though, right? Right. At least when we travel. So I decided to relax by reading pretty much the whole way home. It was perfect.

it's totally the well from army of darkness

shit guys, i really suck at this. it's been a really long time, and i honestly have no excuse besides i just get really bored.. like bored beyond the want of doing anything. I'll try to be better I promise. So I have about 3 weeks to catch you guys up on. And by 3 weeks, I mean 3 weekends, because let's face it, the weekdays are a little on the dry side. I go to class, sometimes a lot and sometimes a little, I do homework, teach, go to intercambio and every once in a while a fun thing (like the Beatles tribute last Thursday). Maybe if I stop failing so much, I'll be able to tell you all about the nuances of Spanish life, but it really isn't all excursions and travelling.

Starting with excursions. Three weekends ago we went to the province of Valladolid. Yep, you heard me; we went on an excursion to our own province. Valladolid is the center of it, or capital of sorts, so we went around to some historic sites- three exactly. This seems to be a little bit of a pattern. Anyway, our first stop was La Villa Romana, or Roman village. In case you guys weren't aware, Spain used to be controlled by Romans around the 1st century. This is why Spanish is a ROMANtic language, also why I said some things about a Roman aqueduct in Segovia. Anyway, they found this old village buried underneath a farm type area and began to excavate it. It's in incredible condition still. Really unbelievable.

Fake excavators on site

some of the original mosaic tiling

more of it

these guys actually had running water back then. crap!

 

 

 

So after we hit up the historical aspect, we went to this reenactment place just on the other side of the field. There were some fake drunk and in love Romans walking around. Can't say I understood everything, but it was very interesting to say the least. We were also brought out to help sing a love song? Which basically meant we read a love poem with a lot of character. Naturally, the girls did a better job with this. Then after we were given wine with roses which somehow ended up tasting more like meat. Don't ask me how they did it, but they did. So we sipped on that while lounging around the rooms getting  a feel for what it was like to be Roman. I've learned that they had shitty beds, but everything else wasn't all that horrible. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures.

So once we were done with that business, we made our way over to some other city. I was sleeping and don't pay much attention to where we are going, so I don't know the name of it. All I know is that we were going to see a castle in ruins, which was pretty awesome. We got to see some dungeons, climb way too many stairs, and get a great view of the city. I was a big fan.

these would be the creep stairs leading to the dungeon in which prisoners would be chained to the wall to drown when it rained.

This is the well at the bottom of the stairs. The light at the top is the sun shining outside.

View from the top.

Countryside

This was this pedestal at the top of a windy tower, so we do we all do? Stand on it of course.

Our last stop of the day was Tordesillas. This place is really most famous for being the home of Juana la Loca, one of Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter. She basically went nuts after her husband died and was kept in a prison of sorts here. It really wasn't anything too exciting. We wandered around a bit, heard the extended version of what I just told you, and looked at miniature buildings in a museum. Definitely my least favorite part of that excursion. And that pretty much concludes what happened on our Valladolid excursion. Stay tuned for the previous missing two weeks!

That's What She Said

Ouch, sorry once again folks. Life is surprisingly quite busy, and I am unsurprisingly lazy. So Barcelona, and some other fun things that have happened. We'll start with the flight. It was fine. Valladolid airport is SUPER tiny. I mean, there's like nothing there. So that's where we flew out. It was a good predictor of how the weekend would go. We were silly and started making way too many "That's what she said" jokes that continued on for the rest of our trip. It was short, too. I guess that's because Barcelona's really not that far, but then we needed a bus to get to Plaza Catalunya before walking to our hostel. It was late and dark and we didn't really have a good handle of the city, but we're just very unprepared travelers. Luckily it has always worked out for us. Anyway, we DID get to the hostel safe and sound. The place was amazing. With a name like Hip Karma, we were thinking it'd be totally sketchy, but it was really nice. The bed were bunked and curtained, which I enjoyed a lot. We had free wifi, a kitchen (with everything needed to cook), and the bathrooms were super nice too for being community style. Basically, our  hostel was wonderful. I really kind of miss it.

Saturday brought us delicious french toast courtesy of Steven, our great chef of the weekend, and a trip back to Catalunya to purchase some tour bus tickets! Yes, we are dorks, but it was actually really nice. We rode on the second level so we got to see everything and it brought us directly to the places we wanted to hit up. Tourist buses are cool, man. Anyway, that day we got to Montjuic, which is this old gypsy village up near the mountains. It was also this village that the Spanish government cleared out in order to host the Olympic games in Barcelona. Kind of douchey if you ask me, but the stadium was flipping awesome. We got to go inside and look around a bit. Most of it was closed off, but it was so weird thinking that not even 20 years ago, some of the best athletes in the world were competing here for the honor of their countries. There was also a cool fountain and other great things to take pictures of. Of course, they are on Facebook. We also met up with Andrea's friend that was studying in Spain around this time, too.

After our Montjuic adventure, we walked around looking for some food and found this little tapas place. The food was pretty good, and the owner was super nice. A couple of us also got a drink, and dang! was it strong. Not even joking. I was buzzing hardcore after one sangria. It was ridiculous. But then after we made it down the port and coast. It was right at sunset, and although we wanted to make it all the way to Barceloneta, the beach, I think we got some wonderful pictures anyway. Also, some crepes, YUM! Later that night, Emily and Lisa went to the Barcelona game, so we headed back to the hostel for some more of Steve's cooking and some ridiculous dancing. It was a great time. After being outside all day, it was nice to just chill a little in the hostel and have fun.

Next day was our Gaudi day. Gaudi, for those of you who don't know, was an architect during the Modernism art period. He was pretty much a forerunner of the movement and was a a complete genius. Basically, I have a crush on him. Anyway, we hit up La Sagrada Familia, which is Gaudi's masterpiece. It's uncomplete and has been worked on for over 100 years now. Although Gaudi died some time ago, all of his scale models and plans have remained. Even unfinished this place is absolutely stunning. I walked in and my mouth literally dropped open. There is no way to describe exactly how it makes you feel but I could spend forever in there looking at things. The facades on the outside are Biblical stories and the artwork is just stunning. Then you get inside and everything is colorful with the stained glass and precise. The details blew my mind. Everything is contoured as well. There's not a straight line in the place. I would love to go back to see it once it's been completed.

Later we made it down to Park Guell, which is where Gaudi lived and has been turned into a huge park. This place is also gorgeous. Near the entrance there's a lot of Gaudi's work, and as you move away it turns more into manipulation of nature to accent the beauty and make pathways and such. Emily and I explored quite a bit of it and got to see the entire city from one of the hills at the top. We were also little rebel children and jumped a fence to get back over to the main area. There were also some guys playing music in this little alcove in the front. They sounded unbelievable. The echoes just made my mind go blank and listen to how beautiful the sound was. We caved and bought CDs, but I say it was quite a good investment.

That night was pasta night. Steve was basically our live saver when it came to food. It was so good, even if he said it wasn't, but whatever. We enjoyed it and then it was time to cruise on over to the bar for some FOOOOOTBAAAAAAAALLL! Yes, I did indeed watch the game in Barcelona. I wish I could have been home for it, but here I got to drink in a public place and swear at the top of my lungs without getting yelled at by my parents. Before the game started, we also sang some Karaoke, crazy right? It was "Hey Jude," and it was actually a lot of fun. However, I don't think I'd like to sing in  front of a group of people in a country where people actually know me. Also, there were some guys that we met from Spain in Packer jerseys. They admitted they were fans and when we asked them why, they asked us if we knew about "That 70's Show!" Yes, they are Packer fans because of a TV program. Love it! But the game was so exciting. I pretty much was one of the loudest people there. Staying up that late was totally worth it. I also lost my voice for a few days afterward, and now I'm sick... so I'm not sure if my voice is a little off from the game or being sick.

Monday was our last day and we were going to go to Las Ramblas, a big outdoor shopping street, and the beach. It was a lot of fun. Emily met up with her friend that lives in Barcelona while we wandered a bit. Most of the stands were very touristy, but we did find a big market where Andrea and I tried cactus flower and coconut juice. Surprisingly delicious. I also got some music by a Spanish composer at this little Beethoven music shop. We wandered around until we met back up with Emily, right after getting some good ole-fashioned KFC and McDonalds. So we continued on our quest for the beach, but not before stopping in a sex shop for all of 2 min. It was a little awkward being in there during broad daylight with other people in there. It was back on the road again, and we finally reached the sea to make our way down to Barceloneta when the other Emily realized her wallet was missing. It turned into a frantic search to find it; however, our attempts were fruitless and we instead had to go to the police station to file a report. Hopefully all will go well. Emily got her cards canceled right away and still had her debit card and passport, so it really was the best scenario for a bad situation. By this time we had to head on back to our hostel and get all of our stuff to get back on the plane to Valladolid. Again, another good flight. We got there on time, so this silly little fanfare played, but then we had to wait for over an hour for the bus to get us back into the city. That part was rather unfortunate.

And that was pretty much our Barcelona trip. I'll be updating soon on the rest of our adventures over the past week or so.

When in Spain, Buy Hooker Boots

Again, it's been quite some time. Do I see a pattern coming? Might just be that. Life is getting to some of the mundane parts. We're full time students. Our History class has been reinstated (cuz our professor was gone for two weeks), and I've already had 2 tests with another tomorrow. I should be studying for that, but I thought of all of you instead and decided to update you on my life. How sweet am I?

There is probably going to be no order to this, and I will write things as I remember. We had a fun weekend out. We finally found the chocolate shots! We were really proud of ourselves, and the place is pretty nice. Basically, we will be going back. And on our return, we never ran into the perro! It's so wonderful. I'm really glad that we've had a few walks back in complete safety. Although, we do plan escape routes every time we walk back.

I also started teaching on Monday. I'm helping an 8 yr old girl with her work in school. She attends a bilingual school here in Spain, so her classes in English change often. I'm also supposed to  help her with her speaking. It's pretty low-key and laid back, but I really enjoy it. The first session went well, so I'm looking forward to keep working with her. Plus, I get paid pretty damn well.

We went to see Todo Sobre Mi Madre on Tuesday... so, yesterday. It's one of our cultural excursion type things. It was good, but a little weird. There was a lot of Spanish cursewords, and therefore I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I'd suggest it to many people because, one) it was in Spanish and two) not sure who would really be into it. Almodovar is a different kind of director, but very famous here in Spain. He also directed Volver. I guess if you really like Penelope Cruz I'd tell you to check him out, cuz she's in a lot of his films.

Let's see, what else? The World Cup trophy was in Valladolid the other day. The queen also came to visit. Our Barcelona trip is planned (and said planning involved some damn good frozen Bailey's coffee) and we depart tomorrow. That led to an inevitable trip to the bus station today to figure out how to get to the airport. Along the way we found a Domino's and a sex shop. Oh, I love this place.

I guess that's it. Like I said, it hasn't been nearly as exciting lately. Maybe it still seems exciting to you all, but it's really starting to become my home, so it's slowly becoming just as boring as Eau Claire or Geebs. Haha. Also, I do miss the snow, guys. You're all on the news for it here in Spain. Makes me wanna come back to watch the Super Bowl (which I will still watch in Barcelona this weekend). Until next time.

They Aren't Applauding Cuz We Left, Right?

Jeeze, I'm really starting to suck at this, lo siento chicos. Basically a lot has happened since I last updated, so I feel like this is gonna be a doozy. Let's begin with about where we left off, last weekend. I'm sure something happened in school, but I know you all don't want to learn about what I'm learning. Oh, besides the class thing, we went to El Castillo, which has the most amazing churros con chocolate on the face of the earth (or at least that I've tried so far) where we were invited to some Celtic music thing later that night at a cafe. It ended up not being exactly what we expected, but a good time nevertheless. Plus it was away from Calle Santiago where the Grim lives (because he showed up again Thursday night after we went out to the bars). And then the next day we went to Segovia.

I'm not going to gush every detail of the day here because it would probably bore you all to pieces, so I will just give a preview and (hopefully) soon there will be a fully commentated slew of fotos on facebook. If you don't have my facebook, you're probably a creep and should stop reading about my life. Just kidding, but seriously. Anyway, Segovia; it's pretty spectacular. It's even smaller than Valladolid, but unlike this precious city in which I'm currently living, Segovia has a giant freaking aqueduct at the entrance to the city. This aqueduct was the product of the Romans in the 1st century. It's still standing quite solidly without any use of cement. It was a little terrifying but awe-inspiring at the same time. We proceeded to be lead through the city by one of our 3 male professors because apparently the women know nothing about Segovia. That's probably not true, but the male teachers are the ones with subjects that deal with visiting cities. We learned a lot about how the city was built/decorated before they let us loose for a  small break. We checked out the Catedral (Cathedral) there which was the last gothic cathedral constructed in all of Spain. Besides costing 3 euros, I'd said it was pretty neat, but it wasn't any warmer and I'm not particularly religious so I could've done without in all honesty. Following the Catedral, a small group ventured over to the contemporary art museum. It was much better and cheaper. One of the exhibits was cinematography about a woman who painted her lover's shadow and is now the only art left after an attack. There was also some strange hand puppetry about Zeus and one of his lovers. It got awkward. Then the last was a room with different photos of people standing in front of famous art which appeared like they were in the art itself. The last thing we checked out were some Esteban Vicente pieces. They were very he-got-paid-for-this-how?, but I did enjoy it. The only problem was that my mind liked to make me think that the colors were bleeding into one another when they definitely weren't. Also, one of the employees followed us around the entire time like we were going to pocket one of the paintings the size of an ancient computer and run off with it. And then it was time for Alcazar! So this is the castle is Segovia. We got a very awesome tour of it, led once again by one of our professors. Lots of history, humor, and horror. The fotos will explain much better about some of these themes. Then we got the chance to walk up to the top of the tower, which I did, of course. 152 steps later (yes, that is bigger than the Hill in Eau Claire), I got to see one of the most gorgeous sights of my life. We once again had some free time in which we looked at touristy shops and bought some delicious concoction from a sweet shoppe. Seems like it went by fast, and it did, but dang I was sore by the end and slept the whole way home.

That night we returned to Valladolid and our houses like little freezie pops. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I KNOW it's freaking cold in Wisconsin, but you also have ski jackets. I have a fleece and the interior coat from my winter jacket. Not sufficient, especially when walking about 30-45 min home at night. Our host mom wanted us to go take a shower (not together) to warm up... which is extremely weird because I can't even leave the hot water running when taking a shower, so she must have been really concerned. Which reminds me of this great story I haven't yet shared.

So, I'm on our balcony hanging up my laundry when Belen lets someone in the house. She calls Katie out and I hear a man's voice. I'm mildly curious, but don't leave my chores at that moment. Of course this didn't last long and I went to see who was here. It was a police officer in full uniform. Belen asks if he needs to talk to me, too, and he says yes! It was the casual exchange of niceties before he drops the bomb. "Documentation" I'm sure you can figure out what that means. At the same time, Katie is coming out of our room with her passport in hand. We have NO idea what's going when Belen bursts out laughing! Turns out it was a huge joke and the police officer was her friend that she invited up since it was so chilly.

Back to the frigid night, we decided to go out, but not far because 1) we didn't think we could make it and 2) we didn't want to walk on Calle Santiago. We ended up finding a little cafe not far from home. We got hot chocolate and it was a good time.

Sunday was a relaxing day. Got some more churros con chocolate with Andrea, Kelsey, and Esteban before seeing wizards on our way home. Yes, there are wizards in Spain. Okay, probably not, but they were wearing cloaks and looked like wizards, no joke. So I've decided I need to try to get into the Ministry of Magic here, somehow. The rest of the day was sleepy, lazy, and homework filled which is never fun, so I will not bore you with those facts.

So these past three days... I'm just going to sum up. School is going well still. I don't think it's ever going to be too bad except facing my oh-so-favorite professor. I talked to the family of the little girl I'm going to be teaching. So I have made my first official Spanish phone call. It was frightening and an experience I wish not to repeat. Tuesday led to the discovery of Blanco, a clothing shop that is freakishly like ModCloth... I might have some problems over here. It was also the day of the first meal I didn't like! It was mushrooms, so you can't really blame me, right? And then the big event of today was my getting a library card and checking out the first 3 Harry Potter books in Spanish. It is my goal to read them while I'm here, and I'm very excited. One last exciting thing before I go, Superbowl Sunday. I'm gonna watch it at a bar here at 2 am in the freaking morning! Pumped!