So after our cheerleading pose at the Eiffel Tower, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe and Emily guess what? We did cross the street in front of it! There is a tunnel for people to walk underneath to get to it, but we saw and opening in the traffic and went for it! Now I can say that I have crossed a five-lane roundabout. haha! Don´t worry, we took the tunnel to cross back over ;). After that we wrapped up our Saturday with a nice dinner out.
Sunday we decided to go to Monmatre and see Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge. The view was amazing from the Sacre Coeur, and the inside was just as beautiful. I think it was one of my favorite churches that we visited. Then we walked over to the Moulin Rouge...I had to get my picture there...since it´s one of my favorite movies ;).
For the afternoon we had planned to go on a boatride down the Seine. I am so glad we did it. It was a beautiful day and it was a different view of Paris from the Seine.
Finally, for our last night, we decided to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night. Everyone was pretty tired by then, and it seemed like I was the only one excited about doing it! I couldn´t believe I had to convince people to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower! I mean c´mon, we´re in Paris!!! But we all went up, and it was gorgeous. We even got to see it light up, which was amazing. Being up there on top of the world was the best way for us to end our trip to Paris!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Ohhh Paris!!!!
Last weekend was our long free weekend. After classes on Thursday morning, we were free until Monday afternoon at 4:30. The group of Bellarmine girls had decided to go to Paris. We had a lot of fun.
Our flight was out of Madrid at 5:45 a.m....ewww. So we had planned on taking the last bus out of Segovia to Madrid, maybe hanging out in Madrid and then catching the last metro to the airport.
We took the last bus out of Segovia, which was around 9:30 p.m. Lopez was headed to Madrid too for a few days. When we got to Madrid, we didn´t really know what we were going to do. Lopez was our savior and let us put all of our bags in his room while we went out for a while. The original plan was to take the Metro to the airport but we decided to hanging out in the city a little longer would be more fun than sitting in the airport. So we opted for a taxi.
For some tapas, we headed to La Taurina again. We had some sangria and more bull tail, a tomato salad and we tried octupus and squid dishes...mmmm. Sofian, the waiter from last time (he told me I wasn´t as pretty as Ashley) was excited to see us (especially Ashley).
After we ate, we went to this latin dance club and danced for a little while. It was a lot of fun...everyone danced a little. After that we kind of just wandered around and went in a couple of other bars...but they were boring.
So we headed to the airport. While we were in line to check in, this really cute boy got in line behind us. He started talking to all of us and kind of stuck with us for the rest of our flight and busride to Paris. His name was Ignacio and he was from Spain. We were sad to later find out that he was going to Paris to visit his girlfriend, but he was very nice and enjoyed talking with us.
When the plane landed, we found out we had an hour busride we had to take to get to the city. We weren´t expecting that, but it was no big deal. Around 10 a.m., we were finally in Paris!!! It took us all a little while to figure out where we needed to go, but we did it and hopped on the Metro. MacKenzie and I headed to our hotel. It was about a 15 minute walk from the Louvre and it worked out great for the weekend.
Later we met the other girls and got some lunch at a cute little cafe. We had croque madames...which we decided were our favorite dish from Paris. We decided to spend to spend the rest of the day at the Louvre. It is so much bigger than imagined....I think it could take months to go through the whole thing! So we were a little overwhelmed and very tired, but we just kept going, because we had to see the Louvre! We saw the Mona Lisa, of course, and Hammurabi´s code, and then just kind of wandered around some of the Roman and Greek sculpture areas and renaissance paintings. By the end of the day we were exhausted, and we made it an early night. We had a big day planned in the morning...there were so many things we wanted to see.
Saturday morning, we met to plan our day. We started off at Notre Dame. We walked by the Seine to get there and it was so cool. It was amazing to see the thing that our cathedral in Covington is modeled after. I lit a prayer candle in the chapel of St. Joseph. For lunch we walked through the Latin Quarter and sat in the Luxemburg Gardens to eat some sandwiches. It was a beautiful sunny day and the gardens were gorgeous.
After that we headed over to the Musee d´Orsay, and saw some really great paintings. It was all of my favorites like, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir and Degas. We also found this Cézanne painting that looks exactly like López...it was hilarious...but also kind of eery how much it looks like him.
For the rest of the afternoon we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. We decided not to go up, some of the other girls wanted to wait until nighttime to go up...so we went the next night. But we got some ice cream and laid out on the grass beneath the Eiffel Tower (how many times can you say you´ve done that?!?). Then we were taking some pictures for the Bellarmine brochure and we decided to make a pyramid...well these two French guys wearing fake NFL jerseys came up to us and asked us a question. They wandered if they could take their picture with us since we were "almost cheerleaders." We were laughing so hard, we almost couldn´t respond, but we finally agreed, and the picture is priceless!
This is a good stopping point for me....I´m running out of time, but I want you all to stay updated...don´t worry I´ll have more soon. I have a tough final exam tomorrow, but I´ll try to finish up Paris and another post about this past week tomorrow (Tuesday). Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you are enjoying it!
Our flight was out of Madrid at 5:45 a.m....ewww. So we had planned on taking the last bus out of Segovia to Madrid, maybe hanging out in Madrid and then catching the last metro to the airport.
We took the last bus out of Segovia, which was around 9:30 p.m. Lopez was headed to Madrid too for a few days. When we got to Madrid, we didn´t really know what we were going to do. Lopez was our savior and let us put all of our bags in his room while we went out for a while. The original plan was to take the Metro to the airport but we decided to hanging out in the city a little longer would be more fun than sitting in the airport. So we opted for a taxi.
For some tapas, we headed to La Taurina again. We had some sangria and more bull tail, a tomato salad and we tried octupus and squid dishes...mmmm. Sofian, the waiter from last time (he told me I wasn´t as pretty as Ashley) was excited to see us (especially Ashley).
After we ate, we went to this latin dance club and danced for a little while. It was a lot of fun...everyone danced a little. After that we kind of just wandered around and went in a couple of other bars...but they were boring.
So we headed to the airport. While we were in line to check in, this really cute boy got in line behind us. He started talking to all of us and kind of stuck with us for the rest of our flight and busride to Paris. His name was Ignacio and he was from Spain. We were sad to later find out that he was going to Paris to visit his girlfriend, but he was very nice and enjoyed talking with us.
When the plane landed, we found out we had an hour busride we had to take to get to the city. We weren´t expecting that, but it was no big deal. Around 10 a.m., we were finally in Paris!!! It took us all a little while to figure out where we needed to go, but we did it and hopped on the Metro. MacKenzie and I headed to our hotel. It was about a 15 minute walk from the Louvre and it worked out great for the weekend.
Later we met the other girls and got some lunch at a cute little cafe. We had croque madames...which we decided were our favorite dish from Paris. We decided to spend to spend the rest of the day at the Louvre. It is so much bigger than imagined....I think it could take months to go through the whole thing! So we were a little overwhelmed and very tired, but we just kept going, because we had to see the Louvre! We saw the Mona Lisa, of course, and Hammurabi´s code, and then just kind of wandered around some of the Roman and Greek sculpture areas and renaissance paintings. By the end of the day we were exhausted, and we made it an early night. We had a big day planned in the morning...there were so many things we wanted to see.
Saturday morning, we met to plan our day. We started off at Notre Dame. We walked by the Seine to get there and it was so cool. It was amazing to see the thing that our cathedral in Covington is modeled after. I lit a prayer candle in the chapel of St. Joseph. For lunch we walked through the Latin Quarter and sat in the Luxemburg Gardens to eat some sandwiches. It was a beautiful sunny day and the gardens were gorgeous.
After that we headed over to the Musee d´Orsay, and saw some really great paintings. It was all of my favorites like, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir and Degas. We also found this Cézanne painting that looks exactly like López...it was hilarious...but also kind of eery how much it looks like him.
For the rest of the afternoon we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. We decided not to go up, some of the other girls wanted to wait until nighttime to go up...so we went the next night. But we got some ice cream and laid out on the grass beneath the Eiffel Tower (how many times can you say you´ve done that?!?). Then we were taking some pictures for the Bellarmine brochure and we decided to make a pyramid...well these two French guys wearing fake NFL jerseys came up to us and asked us a question. They wandered if they could take their picture with us since we were "almost cheerleaders." We were laughing so hard, we almost couldn´t respond, but we finally agreed, and the picture is priceless!
This is a good stopping point for me....I´m running out of time, but I want you all to stay updated...don´t worry I´ll have more soon. I have a tough final exam tomorrow, but I´ll try to finish up Paris and another post about this past week tomorrow (Tuesday). Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you are enjoying it!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Madrid Otra Vez
Our day trip turned out to be the most fun that I have had yet. Four of us decided to take the bus to Madrid for the day. López and Bernhard were also going to spend the afternoon there, since Bernhard had to fly out that night.
Brittany, Ashley, Ashtin and I caught the 8:30 bus into Madrid. The first stop was El Rastro. Every Sunday in Madrid, there is an open air market and it is huge. It takes over one main road and a lot of the side streets around it. People there sell everything from clothes, jewelry, purses, posters, shoes, music, movies, touristy stuff, souvenirs; we even saw this guy selling duct tape and tools...haha. People were everywhere! We walked around and checked everything out. I bought a few things and then we decided to head back toward the center of Madrid to get something to eat.
We wanted to visit the Royal Palace, so we took the metro to that area and found a cute café where we could sit down and eat. We sat for about 2 hours outside, just watching all the people and taking in the sun; Ashtin even played a little bit with the pigeons :).
After that, we headed for the Palacio Real. It is a huge building...I don´t even think we saw half of it on the tour. But it was still amazing. It was very decadent inside and it was fun to be inside a real live palace...pretending to be a princess ;).
Around 3, we met up with Lopez and Bernhard. We decided to go grab some dessert. We went to Corte Inglés and had the best chocolate cake ever! mmmmm...Dad and Molly, you would have loved it!
After dessert, we went to my new favorite place in Madrid....Retiro Park. It is a giant park...I didn´t even see the whole thing, but I am in love with it! It is so gorgeous there! There is a giant lake where people can rent row boats and it is right in front of this giant statue with steps in front of it leading to the lake. The statue and steps are surrounded by a semi-circle of columns where local musicians come and play the drums and bongos.
The first thing we did in the park was stop and watch this couple of Argentinian actors perform their little show. They kind of integrate acrobatics and the people in the crowd into their show...which was more like a comedy act. They were very funny, but also kind of inappropriate...they were telling some very sexual jokes and there were little kids everywhere. We all agreed this kind of show would never happen in Louisville or in the Quad at Bellarmine. We stayed and watched them for the finally, where one of them flipped over a rope that was probably higher than 8 ft in the air. They were just a couple of guys trying to make a few bucks and I think they were rollin´ in it by the end of the show...there were a ton of people watching and throwing them money.
After that we walked around the park a little more, and finally went over to the statues and the musicians I was talking about before. We sat on the steps for about an hour, making up stories about the people rowing by us on the lake and the couples sitting near us on the steps, listening to the drums and just talking. I could have sat there all day long.
Around 8 or so, we decided to go get something to eat. López of course had somewhere that he knew, so he took us to this restaurant in the Puerta del Sol. He knew the waiters, so they treated us very nicely. We all just shared some tapas and a bottle of wine. We ate a tomato salad that had peppers and fish in it, mushrooms stuffed with bacon bits, a seafood dish (I can´t remember what type of creature it was...but it was good) and finally....bull tail. The bull tail was surprisingly good.
One of the waiters developed a strong crush on Ashley (she has very blond hair and he really liked that). When we first sat down, he was telling Ashley how pretty she was, and even went so far as to say that she was prettier than me! I was a little mad at first, but then our other waiter told me that I was pretty too :). haha.
After our dinner we had to run through Madrid trying to make it on the metro to the bus station. The last bus left at 10:30 and we didn´t leave the restaurant until 9:45. It was a close shave, but we made it! I think this day in Madrid was one of the best days yet!
Brittany, Ashley, Ashtin and I caught the 8:30 bus into Madrid. The first stop was El Rastro. Every Sunday in Madrid, there is an open air market and it is huge. It takes over one main road and a lot of the side streets around it. People there sell everything from clothes, jewelry, purses, posters, shoes, music, movies, touristy stuff, souvenirs; we even saw this guy selling duct tape and tools...haha. People were everywhere! We walked around and checked everything out. I bought a few things and then we decided to head back toward the center of Madrid to get something to eat.
We wanted to visit the Royal Palace, so we took the metro to that area and found a cute café where we could sit down and eat. We sat for about 2 hours outside, just watching all the people and taking in the sun; Ashtin even played a little bit with the pigeons :).
After that, we headed for the Palacio Real. It is a huge building...I don´t even think we saw half of it on the tour. But it was still amazing. It was very decadent inside and it was fun to be inside a real live palace...pretending to be a princess ;).
Around 3, we met up with Lopez and Bernhard. We decided to go grab some dessert. We went to Corte Inglés and had the best chocolate cake ever! mmmmm...Dad and Molly, you would have loved it!
After dessert, we went to my new favorite place in Madrid....Retiro Park. It is a giant park...I didn´t even see the whole thing, but I am in love with it! It is so gorgeous there! There is a giant lake where people can rent row boats and it is right in front of this giant statue with steps in front of it leading to the lake. The statue and steps are surrounded by a semi-circle of columns where local musicians come and play the drums and bongos.
The first thing we did in the park was stop and watch this couple of Argentinian actors perform their little show. They kind of integrate acrobatics and the people in the crowd into their show...which was more like a comedy act. They were very funny, but also kind of inappropriate...they were telling some very sexual jokes and there were little kids everywhere. We all agreed this kind of show would never happen in Louisville or in the Quad at Bellarmine. We stayed and watched them for the finally, where one of them flipped over a rope that was probably higher than 8 ft in the air. They were just a couple of guys trying to make a few bucks and I think they were rollin´ in it by the end of the show...there were a ton of people watching and throwing them money.
After that we walked around the park a little more, and finally went over to the statues and the musicians I was talking about before. We sat on the steps for about an hour, making up stories about the people rowing by us on the lake and the couples sitting near us on the steps, listening to the drums and just talking. I could have sat there all day long.
Around 8 or so, we decided to go get something to eat. López of course had somewhere that he knew, so he took us to this restaurant in the Puerta del Sol. He knew the waiters, so they treated us very nicely. We all just shared some tapas and a bottle of wine. We ate a tomato salad that had peppers and fish in it, mushrooms stuffed with bacon bits, a seafood dish (I can´t remember what type of creature it was...but it was good) and finally....bull tail. The bull tail was surprisingly good.
One of the waiters developed a strong crush on Ashley (she has very blond hair and he really liked that). When we first sat down, he was telling Ashley how pretty she was, and even went so far as to say that she was prettier than me! I was a little mad at first, but then our other waiter told me that I was pretty too :). haha.
After our dinner we had to run through Madrid trying to make it on the metro to the bus station. The last bus left at 10:30 and we didn´t leave the restaurant until 9:45. It was a close shave, but we made it! I think this day in Madrid was one of the best days yet!
¡El Fin de Semana!
After a long day of studying on Thursday and two tests and a presentation on Friday, we were ready for the weekend (el fin de semana;).
Friday night, an exchange student from Austria that studied at Bellarmine this past year was going to visit us in Segovia (Bernhard). He was going to stay with Lopez in his apartment, but was not getting in until late Friday night. But we wanted to go out, so we would be out on the town when he arrived.
First we decided to go to a Cuenta Cuentos...a storytelling festival that had been going on all week in Segovia. It was held in a little courtyard and a storyteller just told funny stories about everyday life in Spain. I think it might have been pretty funny, but none of us really understood it. Lopez was sitting with us and tried to explain some of it, but we were still kind of lost....he was cracking up though.
After that, MacKenzie and I still had to go home and eat dinner (it was around 11) and put on some makeup to get ready to go out. So we scarfed our dinner and got ready really quick. I did´t know it yet, but I was in for a long night!
We met up with a bunch of the girls from the group in the Plaza Mayor and headed to the street where all the bars are (Segovia is pretty small...so there is like one street where all the young people go). A bunch of us went to this bar and had some of the best sangria I have had so far. We hung out and talked there for a while, and then some of the girls headed to a dance club or went home. MacKenzie went home, so I stayed with Ashtin and Brittany. We were still waiting to hear from Lopez about Bernhard!
Around 3 a.m. we heard from Lopez and he said he still hadn´t heard from Bernhard, so he just came and found us. After closing out one of the bars, we went and sat in the Plaza Mayor for a while, just talking and watching all the people stumble home. But then we saw this group of guys carrying instruments and dressed in Medieval gear. Lopez got really excited and started yelling, "Tunas, tunas!" (that´s what they are called...tunas) They are groups, usually from a university that go around singing, usually for a free drink.
So there we were in the Plaza Mayor at 5 a.m. and the tunas decided to play for us. We told them we were from Kentucky and they sang us a song that had the line "Viva España!" in it and substituted, "Viva Kentucky...fried chicken!" It was sooo funny and so much fun. We sat there listening and talking with them until 5:30 a.m.! Man, I haven´t stayed out that late in a long time! It was so much fun though.
Saturday, we found out what happened to Bernhard. His luggage was lost and he was very late and decided to just stay in a hotel in Segovia for the night. But we met up with him Saturday. We walked around Segovia and showed him the sites, like Alcazar (the castle) and the park below. We even got our picture taken with a bride and groom who were doing their wedding pictures in the park! haha! When we made it back to the center of town, we decided to sit down for a drink in a cafe. And who did we see walking across the plaza? Las Tunas! We had to invite them to sit down for a drink. So they played for us again.
Later that night we had dinner and went out again. We went to a bar and had a few drinks and danced a little bit. It was a fun night...and we only stayed out until 3 this time! We needed our rest...we were headed to Madrid in the morning for a day trip!
Friday night, an exchange student from Austria that studied at Bellarmine this past year was going to visit us in Segovia (Bernhard). He was going to stay with Lopez in his apartment, but was not getting in until late Friday night. But we wanted to go out, so we would be out on the town when he arrived.
First we decided to go to a Cuenta Cuentos...a storytelling festival that had been going on all week in Segovia. It was held in a little courtyard and a storyteller just told funny stories about everyday life in Spain. I think it might have been pretty funny, but none of us really understood it. Lopez was sitting with us and tried to explain some of it, but we were still kind of lost....he was cracking up though.
After that, MacKenzie and I still had to go home and eat dinner (it was around 11) and put on some makeup to get ready to go out. So we scarfed our dinner and got ready really quick. I did´t know it yet, but I was in for a long night!
We met up with a bunch of the girls from the group in the Plaza Mayor and headed to the street where all the bars are (Segovia is pretty small...so there is like one street where all the young people go). A bunch of us went to this bar and had some of the best sangria I have had so far. We hung out and talked there for a while, and then some of the girls headed to a dance club or went home. MacKenzie went home, so I stayed with Ashtin and Brittany. We were still waiting to hear from Lopez about Bernhard!
Around 3 a.m. we heard from Lopez and he said he still hadn´t heard from Bernhard, so he just came and found us. After closing out one of the bars, we went and sat in the Plaza Mayor for a while, just talking and watching all the people stumble home. But then we saw this group of guys carrying instruments and dressed in Medieval gear. Lopez got really excited and started yelling, "Tunas, tunas!" (that´s what they are called...tunas) They are groups, usually from a university that go around singing, usually for a free drink.
So there we were in the Plaza Mayor at 5 a.m. and the tunas decided to play for us. We told them we were from Kentucky and they sang us a song that had the line "Viva España!" in it and substituted, "Viva Kentucky...fried chicken!" It was sooo funny and so much fun. We sat there listening and talking with them until 5:30 a.m.! Man, I haven´t stayed out that late in a long time! It was so much fun though.
Saturday, we found out what happened to Bernhard. His luggage was lost and he was very late and decided to just stay in a hotel in Segovia for the night. But we met up with him Saturday. We walked around Segovia and showed him the sites, like Alcazar (the castle) and the park below. We even got our picture taken with a bride and groom who were doing their wedding pictures in the park! haha! When we made it back to the center of town, we decided to sit down for a drink in a cafe. And who did we see walking across the plaza? Las Tunas! We had to invite them to sit down for a drink. So they played for us again.
Later that night we had dinner and went out again. We went to a bar and had a few drinks and danced a little bit. It was a fun night...and we only stayed out until 3 this time! We needed our rest...we were headed to Madrid in the morning for a day trip!
Salamanca y Avila
The next day, we had an excursion to the cities of Salamanca and Avila. We had to be at the bus station at 8 a.m. to make the two hour bus ride to Salamanca. We all arrived with our "bocadillos" (sandwiches) from our señoras and were ready to go.
It was a pretty early morning and the ride to Salamanca was quiet. Everyone sitting around me was asleep. But they don´t know what they were missing...the views of the countryside were gorgeous. I sat there listening to my ipod and taking them all in (yes Katy and Emily..I listened to your playlists ;)
When we got to Salamanca our first stop was the cathedral...well the two cathedrals. The city has two because they decided the first one was too small. So one is from the 12th century and I think the second was built in the 17th century. I was a little scared at first and having flashbacks of Toledo and the three HOUR tour of the cathedral there. But our tour guide was really cool and informative. Both of the cathedrals were amazing. The sheer age of the old cathedral amazed me. It was so cool to be standing somewhere that existed that long ago. And the newer cathedral was very extravagantly decorated and huge. On the outside there is a wall that was restored because of some damage, and the designers decided to put little stone statues of an astronaut and a devil eating ice cream to add some of their own history to the building...and they blend in very well with the whole building.
After the cathedral, we visited the University of Salamanca. It is the oldest university in Spain, and one of the oldest in Europe. We saw some of the oldest classrooms and the library, which was amazing.
We saw a couple of other buildings and then headed to the Plaza Mayor. There they set us free for about 2 1/2 hours. We sat in the plaza and ate our lunches on a bench there. Two old guys came up to us and welcomed us to Salamanca and wanted to know why we were there. This one guy was explaining to MacKenzie some of the history of the Plaza Mayor. After we finished eating, we explored the city and did some shopping. Everyone there was very friendly. Salamanca is a beautiful city.
Then we headed to Avila. Avila is known for being the home of St. Theresa (the Carmelite´s founder), its medieval walls that are still in tact and its dulce tipica (most of the cities in Spain have a sweet or pastry that they are known for) called yemas. We were only in Avila for an hour and we were starving...we had just enough time to get something to eat, buy some postcards, snap a few pictures and try some yemas. We tried the yemas with out even knowing what they were first. They are this little yellow ball that is kind of squishy (they were hard to pick up out of the box) with a little bit of sugar covering them. Turns out they are egg yolks baked in powdered sugar! Not my favorite pastry of the trip...yuck!
We arrived back in Segovia around 7 that night...and we had a ton of homework to do. We had been slacking for the previous two days and we had sooo much to catch up on. But seeing Salamanca and Avila made it a little bit more worth it!
It was a pretty early morning and the ride to Salamanca was quiet. Everyone sitting around me was asleep. But they don´t know what they were missing...the views of the countryside were gorgeous. I sat there listening to my ipod and taking them all in (yes Katy and Emily..I listened to your playlists ;)
When we got to Salamanca our first stop was the cathedral...well the two cathedrals. The city has two because they decided the first one was too small. So one is from the 12th century and I think the second was built in the 17th century. I was a little scared at first and having flashbacks of Toledo and the three HOUR tour of the cathedral there. But our tour guide was really cool and informative. Both of the cathedrals were amazing. The sheer age of the old cathedral amazed me. It was so cool to be standing somewhere that existed that long ago. And the newer cathedral was very extravagantly decorated and huge. On the outside there is a wall that was restored because of some damage, and the designers decided to put little stone statues of an astronaut and a devil eating ice cream to add some of their own history to the building...and they blend in very well with the whole building.
After the cathedral, we visited the University of Salamanca. It is the oldest university in Spain, and one of the oldest in Europe. We saw some of the oldest classrooms and the library, which was amazing.
We saw a couple of other buildings and then headed to the Plaza Mayor. There they set us free for about 2 1/2 hours. We sat in the plaza and ate our lunches on a bench there. Two old guys came up to us and welcomed us to Salamanca and wanted to know why we were there. This one guy was explaining to MacKenzie some of the history of the Plaza Mayor. After we finished eating, we explored the city and did some shopping. Everyone there was very friendly. Salamanca is a beautiful city.
Then we headed to Avila. Avila is known for being the home of St. Theresa (the Carmelite´s founder), its medieval walls that are still in tact and its dulce tipica (most of the cities in Spain have a sweet or pastry that they are known for) called yemas. We were only in Avila for an hour and we were starving...we had just enough time to get something to eat, buy some postcards, snap a few pictures and try some yemas. We tried the yemas with out even knowing what they were first. They are this little yellow ball that is kind of squishy (they were hard to pick up out of the box) with a little bit of sugar covering them. Turns out they are egg yolks baked in powdered sugar! Not my favorite pastry of the trip...yuck!
We arrived back in Segovia around 7 that night...and we had a ton of homework to do. We had been slacking for the previous two days and we had sooo much to catch up on. But seeing Salamanca and Avila made it a little bit more worth it!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Alcázar
Last Tuesday, after a few days in Segovia, we decided to check out some of the sites of Segovia. On our first day in Segovia, we had our "official" tour and walked by a castle that Isabel and Ferdinand once lived in. We thought we would go visit it for the day.
So the BU girls and a few others, headed to Alcázar. We all brought our Bellarmine t-shirts so we could get a few brochure shots (for the study abroad department). We looked like Bellarmine ambassadors walking around in our t-shirts. We bought tickets to go all the way to the top of the tower. We entered the castle and one of the first rooms had a giant knight on a horse...we had to get a picture with him! I mean c´mon....Bellarmine Knights. So we explored the castle and it is beautiful. There are some of the most amazing views of Segovia from the castle.
Before heading to the top of the tower, we stopped in a little courtyard. There was kind of a little box cut out in the wall with ivy surrounded it. We all decided to get pictures inside "the box." Some of them look like Senior pictures with the ivy all around. And others are just kind of crazy...at one point there were 3 people inside this 4 x 4 hole in the wall...haha! We have so much fun, no matter where we go!
After that we headed to the top of the tower. The views of the city were breathtaking! I think they are some of my favorite pictures.
Later that night we all met to go to another event that Segovia was holding...it was a festival of storytelling called a Cuenta Cuento. Storytellers sit and tell stories for an hour. It was free and our professors all recommended that we go. And we REALLY tried, but we just could not find the place where it was! We finally gave up and decided to go get something to drink.
A couple of us went to a bar and got some wine. We sat at the bar and I was at the end. I ended up having a conversation with the two guys next to me. One was an older Spaniard and the other was a guy in his 30s from Holland. They both spoke Spanish, so I got to practice a little. They were very interested in what I was studying and how I like Spain and Europe. They wanted to know how Americans viewed Europeans.
It was a nice way to end a fun-filled day!
So the BU girls and a few others, headed to Alcázar. We all brought our Bellarmine t-shirts so we could get a few brochure shots (for the study abroad department). We looked like Bellarmine ambassadors walking around in our t-shirts. We bought tickets to go all the way to the top of the tower. We entered the castle and one of the first rooms had a giant knight on a horse...we had to get a picture with him! I mean c´mon....Bellarmine Knights. So we explored the castle and it is beautiful. There are some of the most amazing views of Segovia from the castle.
Before heading to the top of the tower, we stopped in a little courtyard. There was kind of a little box cut out in the wall with ivy surrounded it. We all decided to get pictures inside "the box." Some of them look like Senior pictures with the ivy all around. And others are just kind of crazy...at one point there were 3 people inside this 4 x 4 hole in the wall...haha! We have so much fun, no matter where we go!
After that we headed to the top of the tower. The views of the city were breathtaking! I think they are some of my favorite pictures.
Later that night we all met to go to another event that Segovia was holding...it was a festival of storytelling called a Cuenta Cuento. Storytellers sit and tell stories for an hour. It was free and our professors all recommended that we go. And we REALLY tried, but we just could not find the place where it was! We finally gave up and decided to go get something to drink.
A couple of us went to a bar and got some wine. We sat at the bar and I was at the end. I ended up having a conversation with the two guys next to me. One was an older Spaniard and the other was a guy in his 30s from Holland. They both spoke Spanish, so I got to practice a little. They were very interested in what I was studying and how I like Spain and Europe. They wanted to know how Americans viewed Europeans.
It was a nice way to end a fun-filled day!
Lola y Alfonso
Friday morning, we hopped on the bus and headed for Segovia. We were about to meet our host families, with whom we would be staying for the next 4 weeks. We were on the bus for about an hour. I was excited and nervous. I just listened to my ipod and took in the beautiful mountains we had to drive through to get to Segovia.
We pulled into the bus station, got our luggage and there were a few of the host families waiting there. MacKenzie and I were one of the first ones to leave. Alfonso picked us up and took us home. We drove through the city of Segovia and past the Roman aqueduct that is one the familiar sites of Segovia. We arrived at our house, an apartment on La Calle de Mal Consejos (the street of bad advice...haha). Alfonso took us upstairs to the fifth floor and showed us our new home. It is a gorgeous apartment with three bedrooms and a beautiful terrace (we eat dinner there a lot). He showed us our room and our bathroom (MacKenzie and I have our own!) We sleep on bunk beds and have a little table in our room where we can do homework.
Alfonso had to go back to work, but he told us he would be back around 2:30 for lunch. MacKenzie and I unpacked and explored the house a little bit. Alfonso came back and made lunch for us. He told us that Lola, his wife, would be home soon. She works in the next town at the library. We had chicken in a beer sauce. It was delicious! Sooo much better than the Colegio Mayor. Just as we were finishing up lunch, Lola arrived. She was very excited to meet us and soo nice!
Alfonso is a businessman, and works in an office just a few minutes away, and Lola works at the library. Both of them grew up on Segovia and they have had their apartment for 26 years, and they enjoy it very much. They have two children, Alfonso, who is 28, lives in Germany, and Christina is 24 and lives in Ibiza with her husband. Lola and Alfonso, I think, are maybe in their 50s and they are soo cute. They are both excellent cooks too! We haven´t had anything bad to eat yet! Lola is very adamant about correcting our Spanish...but we love it! I think MacKenzie and I are very lucky in getting this family as our hosts.
We pulled into the bus station, got our luggage and there were a few of the host families waiting there. MacKenzie and I were one of the first ones to leave. Alfonso picked us up and took us home. We drove through the city of Segovia and past the Roman aqueduct that is one the familiar sites of Segovia. We arrived at our house, an apartment on La Calle de Mal Consejos (the street of bad advice...haha). Alfonso took us upstairs to the fifth floor and showed us our new home. It is a gorgeous apartment with three bedrooms and a beautiful terrace (we eat dinner there a lot). He showed us our room and our bathroom (MacKenzie and I have our own!) We sleep on bunk beds and have a little table in our room where we can do homework.
Alfonso had to go back to work, but he told us he would be back around 2:30 for lunch. MacKenzie and I unpacked and explored the house a little bit. Alfonso came back and made lunch for us. He told us that Lola, his wife, would be home soon. She works in the next town at the library. We had chicken in a beer sauce. It was delicious! Sooo much better than the Colegio Mayor. Just as we were finishing up lunch, Lola arrived. She was very excited to meet us and soo nice!
Alfonso is a businessman, and works in an office just a few minutes away, and Lola works at the library. Both of them grew up on Segovia and they have had their apartment for 26 years, and they enjoy it very much. They have two children, Alfonso, who is 28, lives in Germany, and Christina is 24 and lives in Ibiza with her husband. Lola and Alfonso, I think, are maybe in their 50s and they are soo cute. They are both excellent cooks too! We haven´t had anything bad to eat yet! Lola is very adamant about correcting our Spanish...but we love it! I think MacKenzie and I are very lucky in getting this family as our hosts.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Par-tee en la Piscina!
Thursday was our last day in Madrid, and our last night in the Colegio Mayor (thank God!) It was still a little sad though. We all knew we would be seeing less of each other when we moved in with our host families :( But we had kind of a relaxing last day in Madrid.
For my Culture class, we visited El Museo del Prado, the amazing museum in Madrid. We had to study the paintings of El Greco, Diego Valazquez and Goya. The museum is huge and you could spend days there, but we only had enough time for these three artists. The paintings were amazing. I would like to go back maybe on another free weekend to look around some more.
After that, my Conversation and Composition class was meeting to see a movie in the theatre. We saw Bajo las Estrellas. It was a cute little movie about a man who is kind of slacker...he´s a street musician and needs to get his life together. His father dies and he has to help his brother out. He ends up making friends with 8 year old daughter of his brother´s girlfriend. It was kind of a bitter sweet movie. And by the end of it, we all realized that we understood Spanish better than we thought we did! I think Uncle Bob, you would really like this movie... so keep yours eyes open for it!
Back at the Colegio Mayor, no one wanted to do any class work (and believe me, there was plenty to do). We all just wanted to hang out together, since it was our last night there, living all together and enjoying the horrible food, and the tiny showers:) We hung out in the hallway for a while, then later in MacKenzie and I´s room. We set up a Facebook account for our neighbor, Alberto, so we could keep in contact with him. He is such a nice, nice boy...we thought :)
MacKenzie and I got an interesting wake up call a few hours later around 6 a.m. I woke up to a really loud knock on our door. MacKenzie didn´t move, so I waited a second...but there it was again. So I jumped up and answered the door. Who was standing there? Alberto yelling "Piscina, Piscina...par-teeee en la piscina!" (piscina = pool). I touched his arm to get him to stop yelling, and he was soaking wet! I said Alberto "Have you already been in the pool?" He just nodded his head and smiled. He had been out at a party celebrating the end of his finals and was pretty drunk.
He kept yelling so I pulled him inside so he wouldn´t wake anyone up and get us in trouble. Then he saw MacKenzie, and started yelling, " MAAA-KENNN-SEEE! MAA-KEN-SEEEEEE!" (We had told him earlier in the week that it was funny the way he said her name haha). So he´s talking to us trying to get us to go to the pool. He pulled MacKenzie´s covers off of her and threatened to pour water on her too! Then....he walks over and picks up our chair, stands up on our bed and says he´s going to throw it out the window if we don´t go to the pool with him! I grabbed the chair from him and told him "No!" So he finally got the idea and started walking out the door, defeated. Then he turned around and came back to say in the very little English that he knows, " YOU....ARE....BORING!" and he walked out the door and told us to wake him up at 8. HaHAHAHAH
Two hours later, MacKenzie and I headed next door, glass of water in hand. We knocked on his door and nothing...so we just walked in. There was Alberto, sleeping like a rock with his alarm clock and cell phone alarm going off. haha. We started sprinkling water on him and yelling "Te despiertas borracho!" (Wake up drunkard) He finally opened his eyes and MacKenzie asked him if he was still drunk...he just nodded his head and laid his head back on the pillow. But we saw him emerge a little while later, showered, dressed and headed for breakfast. Before we left for Segovia, MacKenzie and I made sure we got our picture taken with this boy! We will never forget his memorable send off from the Colegio Mayor!
For my Culture class, we visited El Museo del Prado, the amazing museum in Madrid. We had to study the paintings of El Greco, Diego Valazquez and Goya. The museum is huge and you could spend days there, but we only had enough time for these three artists. The paintings were amazing. I would like to go back maybe on another free weekend to look around some more.
After that, my Conversation and Composition class was meeting to see a movie in the theatre. We saw Bajo las Estrellas. It was a cute little movie about a man who is kind of slacker...he´s a street musician and needs to get his life together. His father dies and he has to help his brother out. He ends up making friends with 8 year old daughter of his brother´s girlfriend. It was kind of a bitter sweet movie. And by the end of it, we all realized that we understood Spanish better than we thought we did! I think Uncle Bob, you would really like this movie... so keep yours eyes open for it!
Back at the Colegio Mayor, no one wanted to do any class work (and believe me, there was plenty to do). We all just wanted to hang out together, since it was our last night there, living all together and enjoying the horrible food, and the tiny showers:) We hung out in the hallway for a while, then later in MacKenzie and I´s room. We set up a Facebook account for our neighbor, Alberto, so we could keep in contact with him. He is such a nice, nice boy...we thought :)
MacKenzie and I got an interesting wake up call a few hours later around 6 a.m. I woke up to a really loud knock on our door. MacKenzie didn´t move, so I waited a second...but there it was again. So I jumped up and answered the door. Who was standing there? Alberto yelling "Piscina, Piscina...par-teeee en la piscina!" (piscina = pool). I touched his arm to get him to stop yelling, and he was soaking wet! I said Alberto "Have you already been in the pool?" He just nodded his head and smiled. He had been out at a party celebrating the end of his finals and was pretty drunk.
He kept yelling so I pulled him inside so he wouldn´t wake anyone up and get us in trouble. Then he saw MacKenzie, and started yelling, " MAAA-KENNN-SEEE! MAA-KEN-SEEEEEE!" (We had told him earlier in the week that it was funny the way he said her name haha). So he´s talking to us trying to get us to go to the pool. He pulled MacKenzie´s covers off of her and threatened to pour water on her too! Then....he walks over and picks up our chair, stands up on our bed and says he´s going to throw it out the window if we don´t go to the pool with him! I grabbed the chair from him and told him "No!" So he finally got the idea and started walking out the door, defeated. Then he turned around and came back to say in the very little English that he knows, " YOU....ARE....BORING!" and he walked out the door and told us to wake him up at 8. HaHAHAHAH
Two hours later, MacKenzie and I headed next door, glass of water in hand. We knocked on his door and nothing...so we just walked in. There was Alberto, sleeping like a rock with his alarm clock and cell phone alarm going off. haha. We started sprinkling water on him and yelling "Te despiertas borracho!" (Wake up drunkard) He finally opened his eyes and MacKenzie asked him if he was still drunk...he just nodded his head and laid his head back on the pillow. But we saw him emerge a little while later, showered, dressed and headed for breakfast. Before we left for Segovia, MacKenzie and I made sure we got our picture taken with this boy! We will never forget his memorable send off from the Colegio Mayor!
La Zarzuela y el Camarero Rodrigo
Wednesday night in Madrid did not start out so well. We were going to a Zarzuela performance in the center of Madrid, and the professors just told us to meet them there. The performance was at 6 and we had to catch the bus there. So groups left at different times...the earliest being around 5:15, but still about 20 of us ended up waiting at the bus stop. There was also another big group of middle school kids there too waiting for the bus. So here we are all dressed up at the bus stop waiting...until about 5:40...we were going to be late and we thought the professors were going to kill us! So we got off the bus around 3 minutes before 6 and were running around the streets trying to find the theatre. We all hurried in and tried to find our seats...we just made it, but we were scared to look at our professors. It turned out to be fine though...they understood the bus was late.
So anyway, back to the Zarzuela performance. It is kind of an opera-play-musical type performance. But only about an hour long. We saw two of them. The music and dancing and costumes were beautiful...but we couldn´t really understand what they were saying! They were speaking very fast and sometimes singing opera, and even the times when we could read what they were singing (there was a screen above the stage) the words were unfamiliar because they used a different kind of speaking and sometimes shorten the words...so it´s hard to understand. It´s kind of like trying to understand Shakespeare except in Spanish ;) So we watched two of these performances. The second one was easier to understand than the first, but we were still pretty lost. López was cracking up and the rest of us were just sitting there like, ha ha (????)
So after the performance, we decided to go out to eat since we were all dressed up and lookin´good. We (the 6 BU girls) went into a restaurant called Cañas y Tapas. We sat down in the back because there was no room in the bar, and we were the only ones back there. Our waiter brought us our menus and sat and waited for us to order. We took kind of a long time to order (the waiters in Spain expect you to know your drink order as soon as you sit down) so we thought he kind of hated us. but he warmed up to us later.
We were talking and laughing and started to kind of mess with us (he sneaked up behind me and scared me when he brought us our food...then he was making fun of Ashtin because she was laughing so hard she was crying). So by the end of the meal we were making conversation with him, and he was asking us where we were from and what we were doing in Spain. His name was Rodrigo, even thought he had come back in to the room two more times with two different name tags. He finally showed us his I.D. to "prove" that his name was really Rodrigo. haha. He was from Uruguay and was studying in Spain.
The next time he came in the room, he shushed us...we thought we were in trouble again. But no! Rodrigo had six glasses in his had and a bottle...he poured us all a shot of this liqueur that had a buttery, almondy type taste...I still don´t know what it was, but it was not very good. But the thought was nice and it was on the house :) And we made a new friend. It was a night full of a lot of fun and a LOT of laughing...we will always remember Rodrigo, our favorite "unfriendly camarero (waiter)."
So anyway, back to the Zarzuela performance. It is kind of an opera-play-musical type performance. But only about an hour long. We saw two of them. The music and dancing and costumes were beautiful...but we couldn´t really understand what they were saying! They were speaking very fast and sometimes singing opera, and even the times when we could read what they were singing (there was a screen above the stage) the words were unfamiliar because they used a different kind of speaking and sometimes shorten the words...so it´s hard to understand. It´s kind of like trying to understand Shakespeare except in Spanish ;) So we watched two of these performances. The second one was easier to understand than the first, but we were still pretty lost. López was cracking up and the rest of us were just sitting there like, ha ha (????)
So after the performance, we decided to go out to eat since we were all dressed up and lookin´good. We (the 6 BU girls) went into a restaurant called Cañas y Tapas. We sat down in the back because there was no room in the bar, and we were the only ones back there. Our waiter brought us our menus and sat and waited for us to order. We took kind of a long time to order (the waiters in Spain expect you to know your drink order as soon as you sit down) so we thought he kind of hated us. but he warmed up to us later.
We were talking and laughing and started to kind of mess with us (he sneaked up behind me and scared me when he brought us our food...then he was making fun of Ashtin because she was laughing so hard she was crying). So by the end of the meal we were making conversation with him, and he was asking us where we were from and what we were doing in Spain. His name was Rodrigo, even thought he had come back in to the room two more times with two different name tags. He finally showed us his I.D. to "prove" that his name was really Rodrigo. haha. He was from Uruguay and was studying in Spain.
The next time he came in the room, he shushed us...we thought we were in trouble again. But no! Rodrigo had six glasses in his had and a bottle...he poured us all a shot of this liqueur that had a buttery, almondy type taste...I still don´t know what it was, but it was not very good. But the thought was nice and it was on the house :) And we made a new friend. It was a night full of a lot of fun and a LOT of laughing...we will always remember Rodrigo, our favorite "unfriendly camarero (waiter)."
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Toledo
So Tuesday morning, after our late night out, we had to be on the bus by 8 a.m. I think we all looked pretty good for having three hours of sleep, and we were on time too! We headed to Toledo, which was about an hour away. I did not really know what to expect.
When we arrived in the city, I was pleasantly surprised. Toledo is a beautiful old town surrounded by the Tajo River. We crossed the bridge and the bus drove up into the hills, and we stopped at the best view of the city. You could see everything from there and it was the most beautiful view of this old city (for a time it was the capital of Spain). This view was my favorite part of the whole day.
After we saw the view things went a little downhill. We visited the Cathedral of Toledo. It is an amazing cathedral and full of history, but our tour guide took us through and talked to us about it for almost 3 hours...in Spanish! To say the least, we were not focusing too well by the end of the day. Around noon or 1, we finally had some free time just to roam...but most of the shops and stuff were closed for siesta. So we hung out in one of the big plazas and ate our bocadillos (sandwiches). Ashtin and I got some ice cream too.
After lunch we still had a little time to kill. So we decided to look for some shops. We found one that was open, Zara, it´s a clothing store that they have all over Europe. We were kind of shopping around a little and then we saw these shorts. They were the most outrageous patterns...really bright green, maroon and yellow flowers...and then, someone found t-shirts with sequined rainbows and smiley faces on them. So naturally we had to try them on for a picture. haha. So the 6 of us, me Brittany, Lauren, Ashtin, MacKenzie, and Ashley all tried them on, and had someone take our picture. We looked like some crazy band...the pictures are hilarious!
So that was our day in Toledo, we have some beautiful pictures and some crazy ones!
When we arrived in the city, I was pleasantly surprised. Toledo is a beautiful old town surrounded by the Tajo River. We crossed the bridge and the bus drove up into the hills, and we stopped at the best view of the city. You could see everything from there and it was the most beautiful view of this old city (for a time it was the capital of Spain). This view was my favorite part of the whole day.
After we saw the view things went a little downhill. We visited the Cathedral of Toledo. It is an amazing cathedral and full of history, but our tour guide took us through and talked to us about it for almost 3 hours...in Spanish! To say the least, we were not focusing too well by the end of the day. Around noon or 1, we finally had some free time just to roam...but most of the shops and stuff were closed for siesta. So we hung out in one of the big plazas and ate our bocadillos (sandwiches). Ashtin and I got some ice cream too.
After lunch we still had a little time to kill. So we decided to look for some shops. We found one that was open, Zara, it´s a clothing store that they have all over Europe. We were kind of shopping around a little and then we saw these shorts. They were the most outrageous patterns...really bright green, maroon and yellow flowers...and then, someone found t-shirts with sequined rainbows and smiley faces on them. So naturally we had to try them on for a picture. haha. So the 6 of us, me Brittany, Lauren, Ashtin, MacKenzie, and Ashley all tried them on, and had someone take our picture. We looked like some crazy band...the pictures are hilarious!
So that was our day in Toledo, we have some beautiful pictures and some crazy ones!
Monday in Madrid
Monday was our first full day in Madrid. We went to our first classes and realized that our other professor (Dra. Pertusa) does not mess around...we have a ton of work to do for her. So after classes, we decided to explore Madrid on our own...except we brought Lopez with us and he gave us his "official" tour of Madrid. We took the bus into the center of Madrid. We saw the sites like the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol...we even stood in the exact middle of Madrid.
We did a little shopping in the Corte Ingles (it´s like a 9 floor Target and Macy´s mixed together). We bought some groceries, like water and granola bars for breakfast. The Colegio Mayor gave us like a piece of bread and some water for breakfast...maybe a muffin too. We stopped for a snack at the top of the Corte Ingles, which had an amazing view of the city.
After seeing a few other sites and doing a little more shopping, we ate at the "best" Chocolateria in Spain. It was called St. Ginés. We got chocolate and churros....and this is not regular hot chocolate...it´s like melted hershey´s chocolate in a cup and you dip churros...which are like fried dough stick thingys. mmmmm.
A few of the other girls with us decided to go back to the Colegio Mayor, but the rest of us (it just happened to be 6 Bellarmine girls) stuck around to see more. We walked by the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and MacKenzie and Brittany got massages from some vendors there. Later, we ate some tapas in el Museo de Jamon...I had chorizo with my beer, but we also tried tortilla español, which is like an omlette with potatoes, and we also had some olives. After that we decided to head back...the boys were waiting for us to go out!
When we got back around 10, we had to rush to get ready and take showers in the cracker box...it was pretty funny, but we all looked cute! Two of the boys drove and a couple of others took taxis. We rode with Nico, and he was the nicest boy! He spoke English really well too!
So we went back down to the center and waited for everyone. Where did we end up? A bar called Dubliners, that played Irish music! haha. I was a little disappointed that we didn´t go somewhere a little more "authentic" but we still had fun, dancing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and the Black-Eyed Peas! It was a fun night, and we didn´t get home until 4 a.m.! And we had to be at the bus for Toledo in the morning at 8 a.m.!
We did a little shopping in the Corte Ingles (it´s like a 9 floor Target and Macy´s mixed together). We bought some groceries, like water and granola bars for breakfast. The Colegio Mayor gave us like a piece of bread and some water for breakfast...maybe a muffin too. We stopped for a snack at the top of the Corte Ingles, which had an amazing view of the city.
After seeing a few other sites and doing a little more shopping, we ate at the "best" Chocolateria in Spain. It was called St. Ginés. We got chocolate and churros....and this is not regular hot chocolate...it´s like melted hershey´s chocolate in a cup and you dip churros...which are like fried dough stick thingys. mmmmm.
A few of the other girls with us decided to go back to the Colegio Mayor, but the rest of us (it just happened to be 6 Bellarmine girls) stuck around to see more. We walked by the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and MacKenzie and Brittany got massages from some vendors there. Later, we ate some tapas in el Museo de Jamon...I had chorizo with my beer, but we also tried tortilla español, which is like an omlette with potatoes, and we also had some olives. After that we decided to head back...the boys were waiting for us to go out!
When we got back around 10, we had to rush to get ready and take showers in the cracker box...it was pretty funny, but we all looked cute! Two of the boys drove and a couple of others took taxis. We rode with Nico, and he was the nicest boy! He spoke English really well too!
So we went back down to the center and waited for everyone. Where did we end up? A bar called Dubliners, that played Irish music! haha. I was a little disappointed that we didn´t go somewhere a little more "authentic" but we still had fun, dancing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and the Black-Eyed Peas! It was a fun night, and we didn´t get home until 4 a.m.! And we had to be at the bus for Toledo in the morning at 8 a.m.!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
El primer día
Hola everyone! I miss you all and am soo sorry that it has taken me this long to get to it, but last week in Madrid, we did not really have too much time to be on the computer all day...so I have been keeping my journal up to date, so hopefully here in Segovia, I´ll be able to write regularly.
First let me tell you about Madrid...I love it! It is such a cool city...it is kind of full of tourists, but there is so much to do and see. When we arrived on Sunday morning, we headed straight for the Colegio Mayor (a dorm like place where we stayed all week). We drove through downtown and got a taste of Madrid. Later that afternoon, we had our first meal there...I don´t really know what it was, but it was some sort of mix of cold vegetables, and then the second course was fish...it was ok, but we knew we were in for a week of Koster´s-like meals (our cafeteria at BU). The rooms we stayed in were soo small and we thought the beds were going to be so uncomfortable, but we slept just fine. But the showers and the bathrooms were a different story. The shower was in our room, so that was a plus, but they were so tiny. I could hardly bend down to reach my shampoo, and they definitely were not big enough to spread my arms out all the way...it was kind of funny, the shower curtain attacked you when you were trying to take a shower, and MacKenzie and I always got the floor soaking wet after a shower. haha!
Later that afternoon, the three professors split us into groups and took us on the official tour of Madrid. They showed us how to use the metro and the metro buses. We visited Puerta del Sol, it´s one of the main streets with lots of shopping and restaurants and stuff like that. We went to the Plaza Mayor and stopped in the tourist office to get a map, and then just kind of wondered around the city some more. But we all felt kind of rushed, because our guide was the program director and she didn´t really let us stop to take pictures and explore. But we were tired anyway so we went back to the Colegio Mayor to hang out. Earlier that afternoon we had heard American music playing in the room next to us...really loud, so we pounded on the walls, and got some pounding back, haha...we played that game for a while. But that night as we were getting ready for bed, we heard a knock on our door. It was Lauren and Ashtin (our classmates from Bellarmine) and two Spanish boys that were staying in the dorm for the week, while they took finals. Our neighbor who we had played the knocking game with earlier, was Alberto and he was from the Canary Islands. Nico lived down the hall and was from Bilbao (in the north of Spain). So we sat and talked to them some more...and we met some of their other friends who lived there too. So the four of us American girls sat and talked to all of the Spanish boys until about 1 a.m...so much for catching up on our sleep! But we promised them we would go out with them the next night.
So our first night in Madrid turned out to be pretty fun. We saw the sights, learned how to use the metro, and even practiced a little Spanish with the boys! We knew we were in for a week of fun in Madrid!
First let me tell you about Madrid...I love it! It is such a cool city...it is kind of full of tourists, but there is so much to do and see. When we arrived on Sunday morning, we headed straight for the Colegio Mayor (a dorm like place where we stayed all week). We drove through downtown and got a taste of Madrid. Later that afternoon, we had our first meal there...I don´t really know what it was, but it was some sort of mix of cold vegetables, and then the second course was fish...it was ok, but we knew we were in for a week of Koster´s-like meals (our cafeteria at BU). The rooms we stayed in were soo small and we thought the beds were going to be so uncomfortable, but we slept just fine. But the showers and the bathrooms were a different story. The shower was in our room, so that was a plus, but they were so tiny. I could hardly bend down to reach my shampoo, and they definitely were not big enough to spread my arms out all the way...it was kind of funny, the shower curtain attacked you when you were trying to take a shower, and MacKenzie and I always got the floor soaking wet after a shower. haha!
Later that afternoon, the three professors split us into groups and took us on the official tour of Madrid. They showed us how to use the metro and the metro buses. We visited Puerta del Sol, it´s one of the main streets with lots of shopping and restaurants and stuff like that. We went to the Plaza Mayor and stopped in the tourist office to get a map, and then just kind of wondered around the city some more. But we all felt kind of rushed, because our guide was the program director and she didn´t really let us stop to take pictures and explore. But we were tired anyway so we went back to the Colegio Mayor to hang out. Earlier that afternoon we had heard American music playing in the room next to us...really loud, so we pounded on the walls, and got some pounding back, haha...we played that game for a while. But that night as we were getting ready for bed, we heard a knock on our door. It was Lauren and Ashtin (our classmates from Bellarmine) and two Spanish boys that were staying in the dorm for the week, while they took finals. Our neighbor who we had played the knocking game with earlier, was Alberto and he was from the Canary Islands. Nico lived down the hall and was from Bilbao (in the north of Spain). So we sat and talked to them some more...and we met some of their other friends who lived there too. So the four of us American girls sat and talked to all of the Spanish boys until about 1 a.m...so much for catching up on our sleep! But we promised them we would go out with them the next night.
So our first night in Madrid turned out to be pretty fun. We saw the sights, learned how to use the metro, and even practiced a little Spanish with the boys! We knew we were in for a week of fun in Madrid!
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