Explore. Dream. Discover

I started off my journey four months and 7 days ago.  January 6th, 2011 I hopped on a plane and arrived in Segovia, Spain.  I was so excited for my new experience.  The first blog I wrote had this quote in it: 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"--Mark Twain

The day has finally come.  I am leaving tomorrow.  It is very bittersweet (as everyone in my group has been saying).  I am excited to start my three weeks of European travels to Italy (Cinque Terre, Venice, Rome & Naples), Germany (Cologne), Amsterdam & France (Paris), but I am really sad to be leaving this place that has become my second home. 



Second Home.

 I just want to thank everyone who helped make this trip happen.  Especially my parents.  I also want to thank the 28 other students who have become a family to me.  I would not have wanted to spend my study abroad experience with any other group. 

Family

So as I begin some new travels in Europe, I am ready to once again "Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds. Explore. Dream. Discover."

I am truely blessed.

Besos, xo

Katie

Media Maraton

Bennie Pride at the Segovia Half Marathon

I can officially check running a half marathon in a foreign country off my bucket list.  Today, March 27th, 2011 I, along with 8 other Bennies and Johnnies took part in the 5th annual Segovian Half Marathon. We all signed up about a month ago and have been working our butts off (or hardly working) training.  I trained with Alexa and Michelle joined us the last couple weeks of training.  All I can say is that Spain knows how to put on a half marathon.  As representatives for our university here, we got a bunch of equipment.  We got a dry-fit t-shirt with "IE University" (our school) on the front to wear for race day along with the shorts they gave us.  We got a cotton t-shirt from IE, too. Then from the sponsors of the marathon, we got another dry-fit t-shirt, a windbreaker zip-up, and a sweat rag.  I definitely got my 18 euros worth from this.

Parachuter!

On marathon day, aka this morning, we all met and took a picture for the university paper.  Then we just hung out til half marathon time and pumped each other up! It was cloudy and around 50 degrees with a 60% chance of rain.  The whole race had bipolar weather with rain, then sun, then just clouds. 

The Segovians put on quite a show.  Since we have a military academy in town they had a plane fly over Segovia and parachuters jumped out and landed right in front of the aqueduct.  When we got to the starting line, all of us were really pumped, but off course it started raining.  The rain didn't last too long.  It was pretty spotty all day.  The course is said to be one of the hardest that Spain has to offer with three major hills which reach max's of 1032 meters high, 1003 meters and 1065 meters.  Woofta.  Alexa, Michelle and I stuck together.  We recieved cheers of  "Venga equipo de verde" (Go green team--the color of our shirts), "Chicas, ANIMO" (Girls, energy!!), "Venga el trio" (Go the trio, or GO you three), Calientes (HOTTIES), etc. etc. 

Start of the Marathon!

Crossing that finish line was the best feeling in the world. I got done in 2 hours and 23 minutes which was the same time I got in my last half-marathon, but this was a WAY harder course.  I can say that I did not walk at all (I tried walking one time, but after 3 steps, I knew I had to keep running because it hurt too much, so I just kept running)

Alexa, Michelle & I finishing up (Las Tres Amigas)

Now, as I am laying in my bed with my feet up and having just woke up from a two hour siesta, I can gladly say that I am SO PROUD of us Bennies and Johnnies! Another great experience in Spain.  I only have about 2 and a half weeks left in Spain and I'm going to make the most of what I have left--but what a great way to finish up my last couple weeks here. 

Besos, xo

Katie

Holy Toledo!!

So once again, havn't been doing a very good job at keeping up with my blogs, but last weekend we traveled to the wonderful city of Toledo, Spain.  We took a 3 hour bus ride, and once we got to Toledo it was nice and sunny. 72 degrees and sunny, in fact.  The. whole. weekend. Be jealous :)  So we got there and visited Puerta de Bisagra, la Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, Hospital de Santa Cruz and La Catedral de Toledo.  All of which were amazing.  We were free for the rest of the day after that so we made our way to Hotel Beatriz.  We all hopped into the bus and drove to our hotel.  When we arrived at our hotel, we found out that we were staying at a beautiful hotel right outside Toledo.  I roomed with Libby and Amy. 

Me and Libby eating authentic, Toledo marzapan

Dana and I with Toledo in the background

So we get into our room and check out the view from our balcony.  I swear the instant we started talking and American voices were heard, about 50 Spanish guys walked out on their balconies, bottles in had and just started cheering, chanting, calling over to us (the works)...and more and more came out.  So we are all thinking, "Awesome. This is going to be fun." Since it was so nice out we all changed into our bathing suits and went to tan down by the hotel pool (which was closed since it's "winter").  Well, I would expect nothing less, but when all of us girls were sun-bathing down by the pool, all those Spanish guys really started hootin and hollaring.  It was more funny than annoying.  Pilar, our art professor who came on the excursion with us, came down and told us that there was a group of over 100 guys from Sevilla who were there for a band performance. haha.

The crew for the night

After sun-bathing for a little, we attempted to do some yoga by the pool and then went back up to our room to get ready for the night.  We headed back into the city for dinner.  Baylee, Michelle, Libby, Amy and I went and ate at an outdoor pizzeria. It was excellent.  After that, Colin's girlfriend (who studies abroad in Toledo through the U of M) took us around Toledo for the night.

When we returned to the hotel for the night, Dana, Luke, Amy, Anna and I decided to check out the hotel's discoteca.  So we walk in and find a bunch of old couples dancing.  Welp, needless to say, we joined in and had the time our of lives dancing with all the old people.  Luke was popular with the "cougars."  haha. It felt just like a family wedding. It was one of the best times!

Libby, Me & Amy in the Plaza Mayor of Toledo

The next day we woke up and visited Santo Tome to see a famous Greco painted titled "El entierro del Conde de Orgaz," el Museo Sefardi, San Juan de los Reyes and El Puente de San Martin.  After visitng those places, we had a little lunch and headed home.  Overall, for being such a short excursion. Toledo was anothing GREAT city.

Muchos besos,

Katie

Andalucia--Granada, Sevilla, Italica & Cordoba

Our final large excursion of the trip was to Andalucia. Andalucia is a region in the south of Spain.  We spent 5 days in the cities of Granada, Sevilla, Italica & Cordoba.  We left last Wednesday at a bright and early time of 6:30 a.m.  After a 7 hour bus ride, we made it to our first city: Granada.  We settled into our Hotel (Hotel Los Tilos).  I roomed with Libby, Amy & Alexa.  After settling in and getting a little bite to eat while watching Spanish "Next" and "Fisica y Quemica", we headed out as a group to explore La Capilla Real and walk through Albayzin which is "a fascinating labryinth of narrow streets and whitewashed houses with beautiful secluded gardens" (thank you to Brian's itinerary for that one). 

Anyways, so after that, my roomies and I just explored Granada in the rain.  We ended up finding an Ash Wednesday mass so we went to that and after we had a little feast of cheese and crackers in our room and stayed in and had a movie night. 

Erinn, Me and Alexa at the Alhambra

The next day, we headed to the Alhambra which is a big Muslim-inspired Palace in Granada.  It was just beautiful.  After we walked around that for a couple hours we headed off for Sevilla.

It was a three hour bus ride to Sevilla.  We arrived at our hotel (Hotel Baco) aroun 3 p.m. and ate lunch.  I roomed with Amy for this part of the excurison.  The rest of the day we had free time.  We took a siesta for a while, then we got up and explored the city.  Dana, Libby, Anna, Amy and I found the Jewish Quarters and a beautiful garden called "Los Jardines del Alcazar."  It was so beautiful.  After that we checked out the cute little street stores and sat down to test out "Vino de Naranja" (A Sevillan classic vine--which ended up tasting like liquor, but was still nummy).  After that we went home and got ready for the night. 

We ended up going to an Irish bar called P.F. Flanerty's and then a three-level discoteca called Buddha!  It was so much fun! We all danced the night away!

Sevilla sunset--exploring down by the river

Catedral at night

Friday, we woke up to breakfast in bed (yup, we got breakfast in bed at this hotel), got ready and then left to explore La Capilla de San Jose (a church that is one of the small gems of Sevilla), Alcazar and La Catedral.  All were completely beautiful.  The Alcazar (or palace of the Spanish kings at the time) was never-ending.  Amy, Libby & I might have pretended that we were princesses for a good chunk of the visit--it felt like we were in "Aladdin."  Then we went to La Catedral which is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world.   After that, we had some free time so we went home, took another siesta, woke up and Dana, Anna, Libby, Amy and I went to check out the Plaza de Espana.  This Plaza was my FAVORITE part of the whole trip.  It was simply amazing! A huge building (I think it's used for goverment and military purposes today) with a small canal in front.  We just hung out there and took everything in. 

Amy, Me & Libby rowing :)

Saturday we woke up, had breakfast in bed again (yes, be jealous), and headed off for Italica--the Roman ruins about an hour outside of Sevilla.  It was a very cool place. My favorite part was the gladiator arena.  After getting home, I went on a run with some of the girls along the river and we ended up getting lunch outside in the sun right by the river.  I got the best salad in the world!  After getting a bite to eat, we headed to the Plaza de Espana again to see what it was like in the day.  We got there and ended up renting row boats to row in the canal surrounding the Plaza.  It was so much fun! Once that was over, we took a walk through some of the parks around the area and then headed home.  We ordered Dominos that night.  Then, a small group of us girls went to a free Flamenco dance performance! It was great! The Flamenco dancer was a very serious, determined (at times mean-looking) woman who sweated passion! ha. It was a great experience.  After that, we went and celebrated Monica's 21st birthday at Buddha again!

Sunday we left for Cordoba, our third and final city of the excursion.  Once we got there, we visited the Mezquita (a mosque turned into Cathedral) which was very beautiful and fun to apply something I learned about in Pilar's class to real life! After checking that out, we took a 7 hour bus ride back home. 

Andalucia was great.  San Sebastian is still number one on my list of favorite places, but Sevilla might just be number 2! 

Now it's time to do some homework (something I have not done for the last 5 days!)

Besos, xo

Katie

Valsain & Carnaval--A Little Late

So after going on a couple excursions and partaking in some big events in Spain, I thought I should finally post a blog about it. So to start off I will talk about Valsain. 



Hike to Valsain



John, Katie & Me in the Valain Forrest

 Valsain is a town in the "afueras" (outside of Segovia).  It is about a thirty minute bus ride to get there.  A big group of us went there a couple weeks ago because we wanted to check out the beautiful hiking paths and forrest that Valsain is known for.  We headed out at around eleven and made it to La Granja (a town right next to Valsain).  This was unintentional, but we ended up taking a beautiful scenic hike to Valsain through an amazingly lush and beautiful area.  Once we got to Valsain, we ended up eating our bocadillos that our parents (Olympia in my case) packed for us in the park.  Amy and I went to a local bar to ask for directions to the best trail to walk through and this very nice gentlemen told us where to go.  Once we made it to the start of the trail, we took about an hour long hike through the snow (note to self--don't EVER wear tennis shoes in the snow.  All of us did because we didn't really expect the snow and all of our feet were just soaked by the end--it was worth it).  Once we were done with that short hike, we went and got cafe con leche to warm up and then headed home for Segovia on the next bus. 

The next thing I need to mention is Carnaval in Spain.  Carnaval is the equivalent of Mardi Gras in the U.S., but to the EXTREME.  Carnaval started almost a week before Ash Wednesday.  Here are some ways you can tell it is Carnaval around here:

• People of all ages are dressed 24/7 in their disfraces (costumes)--it's very typical for boys to dress up as girls (that's my host mom's favorite costume to see).  The most creative one that I saw were little girls dressed as "Barbies" but they made cute little boxes to look like Barbies that were still in the box.
• There is a parade every other day, if not every day (with people parading around in their costumes..instead of throwing out candy to the children, I got handed a single peanut..bahaha)



Live band in Plaza Mayor

• Live bands in the Plaza Mayor (this was the best, so much fun just dancing around with the Spaniards)
• The churros stand is open 24/7 because we all need to indulge a little before Lent!

As a group, we all partook in the festivities! The boys all dressed up as sailors with mustaches and us girls got pretty masks to wear!  It was the best time ever!

Besos, xo

Katie


Noah, Amy, Me & Travis



Salamanca y Avila

Choc Chip Cookies/Galletas de chocochip

Before I tell you about my wonderful weekend in Salamanca and Avila, I must say that my family LOVED the choclate chip cookies!! I was nervous since they don't have vanilla extract over here (I found "vanilla sugar" in the cupboard which I found can be used as a substitute).  The cookies turned out great! My host dad came into my room just raving saying, "Katie, las galletas son TAN BUENISIMOS!!" (The cookies are SO GOOD!!).  Needless to say there aren't many cookies left. Baking cookies for my family was such a fun thing for me to do and I'm so glad that they liked them!





Inside La Catedral de Salamanca

Anyways, back to the actual trip. We left for Salamanca on Saturday morning. It is only two hours away so we got to leave a little later than usual.  It is such a beautiful city.  We saw El Convento de San Esteban, La Catedral Nueva y Vieja and la Universidad Civil Salamanca.  Everything was gorgeous.  The atmosphere of Salamanca was super chill and fun (It's a college town).  It was in the mid-60s and sunny on Saturday so all the college kids were out laying on the grass or in the Plaza Mayor.  The Plaza Mayor was the best! I think my favorite part of Saturday was sitting and eating our bocadillos in the Plaza Mayor, taking it all in and enjoying the sun.  Saturday night we went out and experienced Salamanca night life.  The highlight of the night was hearing the Grease Songs, "Summer Lovin" and "Greased Lightnining" come on at a bar.  Needless to say, all of us were singing at the tops of our lungs!! What a sight :)

Amy and I at the top of La Catedral



Sunday (aka today) we woke up early and visited the Salamanca University.  After that we left Salamanca to head to a town called Avila which is only about an hour away from Segovia.  Here we visited La Catedral de Avila and el Convento de San Jose and Convento de Santa Teresa.  The highlight of Avila was climbing up and exploring the "muralla" (wall) that surrounds the city and was made for protection way back when. 

Now I'm back home and completely pooped from a fun weekend.  Time for sleep and a new week of classes.

Besos, xo

Lovin' the Segovian Life

It has been awhile since the last post so I thought I would give an update.  Last Thursday was the IE (my university) Talent Show! A bunch of us dressed up and went and watched some acts and awards given out.  It was fun to hang out with all my new IE friends and go out dancing with them after!

Amy, Me, Kim & Kalleah at the IE Talent Show!

Friday was a day of relaxing.  For Pilar's (art) class we went and visited Las Iglesia de San Justo y Pastor which was fun.  I love applying everything we are learning in her art class to real life.  Our group always loves when she says "ARCOS DE MEDIO PUNTO" and "Entendeis, chicos?"--her class is the best. 

Katie, Amy, Travis, Me & Alexa after we saw "Enredados" (Tangled)

Anyways, Friday evening a group of us went and saw the movie "Tangled" (Enredados) in Spanish at the movie theater! It was such a blast! Friday night I stayed in and relaxed because Saturday morning our University took a group of 15 of us to Sepulveda (a small town about an hour away from Segovia) to go on a mountain hike! It was pretty rainy for the first half of our hike around El Rio Duraton, but the second half was insanely beautiful!! After getting back from another amazing experience, I took a big nap and then Saturday night was a friend from Austria's birthday, so the majority of our group went to his birthday party at "Hook" (one of the local discotecas).  It was so fun, once again, just hanging out with all my new friends from IE and meeting some more people! 

Me at the top of the mountain!

Sunday was also was fantastic because I got to go shadow a matrona (baby nurse).  My Myths and Legends prof, Juanjo, set me up to shadow his friend, Belen, at the largest hospital in Segovia.  I learned SO much about the healthcare system.  For instance, each pueblo around Segovia has their own clinic that the townspeople go to.  They only come to Segovia if the doctor in their town cannot handle the problem.  The number for our "911" is 112 here.  Along with that, all healthcare is completely free to everyone.  Spain taxes go into providing healthcare for anyone and everyone.  I asked Belen if this results in more people abusing the system and she just said that people are really good about it and very few abuse their privileges. All in all, it was such a great experience! Belen said she would take me to one of the pueblo clinics one of these upcoming weekends! I can't wait.

This school week has been pretty typical.  I had a Linguistics test on Tuesday so we will see how that goes.  I have had some good conversations with my host mom and dad this week about all sorts of things ranging from my great grandma who lived til she was 108 to places to travel after Spain.  I love my family here so much! They are making this experience so great for me. 

Today=Wednesday. Wednesdays are my favorite days!  I had Myths this morning and then after I went on a nice run with Alexa because we are officially (as of today) training for the Segovian Half Marathon on March 27th. Wish me luck and please pray that I won't die.  I did a half marathon this past June, but I trained a lot for that, and this was just kind of a spur of the moment decision. When in Spain, right? Anyways, so after our run, I grabbed a quick boccadillo at the cafeteria and headed off to basketball.  Normally I am the only girl at basketball, but this week Dana came..BENNIES REPRESENT! Haha. Anyways, we always play 5 on 5 which is so much fun.  I have missed playing competitive basketball so much.  After basketball I came back to the school and studied for a little.  Then, every Wednesday night, a group of us girls catch up on GLEE!! So we did that.  Just got home a little bit ago, and now I am off to go play some volleyball :)

Spain never ceases to amaze me! I am absolutely lovin' it here!

Forecast for the next couple of days:

Luke's birthday party (hosted by some of our Spain friends)
Baking American Chocolate Chips cookies for the family
Salamanca and Avila

Muchos besos,

Katie

 

BARCELONA

I got back yesterday from an amazing trip to Barcelona, Spain! It was fantastic. We left Friday morning at 6:30 am and took a 9 hour bus ride from Segovia to Barcelona.  It was A LOT of bus-riding (A LOT being an understatement).  It didn't help that our bus driver got lost a couple of time along the way either..ha. Once we finally got to Barcelona, it was amazing. The temperature was in the mid 60s and sunny all weekend.  We stayed in a hotel on Las Ramblas, one of the most popular streets in Barcelona.  Our hotel was a little outdated (every room was pink and had extreme flower-power floral decor), but it was in such a perfect location AND we had a 24 hour buffet. 



Our lovely bedroom



So once we got all settled in after the bus ride, a couple of the girls and I went to check out the shops! I didn't have any success, but others did.  After that we went to an international market which was great! There was fresh fruit, fish, seafood, chocolate and gelato EVERYWHERE. It was a site to see. My host parents said that this was one of the best places to go in Barcelona and I completely agree! Just walking around was a pleasure in itself, I didn't even have to buy food to make it better (of course I did end up buying a fresh fruit smoothie). We were all pretty tired from the long bus ride so we took a little siesta after and then went out that night.



International Market



Saturday was spent walking La Rambla, going through the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic), visiting the Cathedral and Musea d'Historia de la Ciutat and La Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar (St. Mary's church).  The churches were my favorite part. They were so beautiful and ornate.  After seeing all this, some of the girls and I decided to have a bite to eat at an outdoor restaurant right by the beach.  I had some really nummy pasta and pesto! After that, we took a walk on the beach, dipped our toes in the sand, and got some gelato (the best pistachio gelato EVER!).  We went back to take a siesta after a long day of walking and then we went out again for the night.  This time we went to a discoteca called "Cat Walk" to get our dance on.



Cathedral de Barcelona



Inside La Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar

Us girls eating gelato before hitting the beach

The beautiful beach!

Sunday aka "Gaudi Day" was spent visitng all of Gaudi's fantastic works of art.  We started off visiting La Sagrada Familia which ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip.  It is SO BEAUTIFUL and detailed and they are still working on finishing it.  After that, we went to Parc Guell (one of Gaudi's parks), and finally, a couple of us went to Gaudi's House at La Pedrera.  Everything was fantastic.  Walking back from the La Pedrera, we heard this drumming and lo and behold, there was a bunch of different drums lines parading down Las Ramblas.  They were so good! We went home, took another siesta, and stayed in and played cards all night because we had to get up for our 9 hour bus ride back home the next morning!

La Sagrada Familia

Inside La Sagrada Familia

Overall, I loved Barcelona a lot.  The weather really made it amazing with all the walking and site-seeing that we did. Now it's back to another week of classes and living the Segovian lifestyle!


I love stained glass

Hasta luego y muchos besos :) 

The Past Couple Days in a Nutshell

I think it's about time I give a little weekly update. This week started off kind of slow as all of us were tired from our long weekend travels.  Classes went well. My favorite is still my Myths and Legends class with Juanjo :).

Wednesday was when the week started to pick up.  Some of the intramural sports started at IE. I will be starting basketball next week, but this week was the start of volleyball (volibol).  Me, Luke, Mark, Alex, and Mike S were the Bennie/Johnnie players.  We walked to the gym and when we first got there, the gym was full of a bunch of older guys playing basketball. It reminded me of the movie "Along Came Polly"--take a look and see why...

So after the men got done playing basketball, we got the court.  There were about fifteen students in all.  I met a lot of new people, not only from Spain, but from Austria and Dubai, too! It was such a neat experience.  I will definitely be returning for volleyball every Wednesday night. 

Thursday was fun, too.  After finishing up with my three classes for the day Anna, Morgan, Michelle and I met up with four guys from the Military Academy in Segovia to practice speaking spanish while they practiced their english.  It turned out to be a really fun time.  In Spanish culture, if you invite someone out for tapas (buy a drink and get some appetizers), you pay for them, so the boys paid for our drinks. We will definitely be making this a weekly event with Gonzo, Eduardo, Javi, and Mateo (and hopefully they let us pay next time). After our little "intercambio" I went home for dinner and had breaded and chicken and french fries (yum!).  Then our group met at the Aqueduct at 11 to go out for the night.  We went to Zircus and danced a little bit and then I called it a night around 2:30 a.m. I am finally starting to get used to the scheduling around here (everything is just a little later in Spain).  

This morning I slept in til around 10:30 and then laid in bed for another hour reading Eat. Pray. Love. All of a sudden I heard a bunch of music in the street.  I opened my window and popped my head out to see a bunch of women dressed in traditional spanish get-up parading down the street. They all had baskets full of bread that they were handing out to people.  This Sunday is El Dia de Santa Aguila (St. Aguila's Day). St. Aguilla is the patron saint for women, so Sunday there is a big party with free food and drinks for all the ladies.  I asked my host mom if she was going to go celebrate it and she said every day is women's day in Spain--haha. Love it! 

This weekend is full of fun stuff.  Later today our group is going to visit La Juderia (the old Jewish quarters in Spain) and then we have the big SUPER BOWL this Sunday! Don't worry, the boys already talked to Jesus from Oso Blanco, and we will be watching the Super Bowl (starting at 12 a.m.) at Oso!!

That is all for now, it's about lunch time so I better be off!

Luego!

San Sebastian, Spain

The group at the top of Mount Igeldo

Boats in the San Sebastian harbor

This weekend was our first free weekend because it was El Dia de Santo Tomas--thank you Saint Thomas! We didn't have any activities to go to this Friday as a class, so a group of 13 of us went to San Sebastian, a gorgeous town in Northern Spain (about 10-15 minutes away from France).  It was the best weekend yet, in Spain.

We departed bright and early Friday morning for the train station to take our 4 1/2 hour train ride to San Sebastian. It was my first train experience and I really liked it! I think a tall person created the seat spacing for trains because I actually had extra leg room (which never happens).  So we got to San Sebastian around 1:30 p.m. and walked about 15 minutes to our hostel: Umore Ona Bi. It was a great place. Great location, clean, and cheap..the way us college kids like it! After getting all unpacked and settled in, the group headed off to do some exploring.  We walked along the boardwalk and admired La Bahia de La Concha (Conch Bay) and La Playa de La Concha (Conch Beach). It was the cleanest water I have ever seen! We then made our way to the San Sebastian Aquarium which was a really good time. Some of the group got to touch an octopus in the hands on tank!

My roomies Friday night!

After the Aquarium we went back to our hostel for a little siesta. After resting up, we got ready and went out for some pixtos (Spanish tapas--appetizers). They were great! I had a cheese ball thingy (don't remember the name), some shrimp, and a vegetable-filled appetizer).  After getting full off of pixtos, we came back to our humble abode and got ready for the night.  Going out in San Sebastian is not as wild and crazy as Segovia or Madrid is (which is fine by me).  I think it is because more old people live there. We tried to find some bars and discotecas, but didn't have any luck. We ended up hanging out at an Irish pub for about an hour and then calling it a night.

"Pixtos"

Saturday we slept in a little big and then me, Alexa, Katie, Kim, Kalleah, and Amy hit the shops! There were a lot of great shops with a lot of awesome deals. Needless to say, it was a successful shopping day! After shopping, we all met to have a nice authentic San Sebastian meal. My stomach had been hurting the past couple days so I didn't get too adventurous. We had three courses: first course was a nice garden salad for me (others had spaghetti or beans), second course was chicken and fries (others had fish, calamari, or lamb), and then for dessert we all had flan (which was way too eggy for my taste--but I have had good flan before).  It felt good to have a nice meal. 

What a piece of chicken, huh?--Dinner fit for a queen

Saturday afternoon, we walked the beach to the other side of San Sebastian and took a funicular (trolly-like thing) up Mount Igueldo to an amusement park! We saw the greatest views and got to do bumper-cars for a euro :).  The park closed at 7 p.m. so we took the funicular back down.  It had started raining and we got caught in it without umbrellas.  So we started walking the beach back and then at  the closest part of the beach to our hostel, we went and JUMPED IN! When in San Sebastian, right? It was 6 degrees celsius and all the Spaniards that were there looked at us like we were crazy--I mean, who wouldn't think that 8 American girls in bikinis running on the beach, in the rain, and jumping into La Bahia de La Concha wouldn't be wierd?  Walking back to our hostel in our towels was even funnier, but completely worth it!

Playa de La Concha (where we jumped in!)

Me on top of Mount Igueldo (where the amusement park was)



View from the top of Mount Igueldo



We stayed in for the rest of the night and got some good sleep.

Sunday, we woke up and had to check out of our hostel by 11 a.m. So we got up, went to La Pasteleria (Pastry Shop) and I got a delicious chocolate covered croissant for breakfast.  Then, a couple of us went to mass at the beautiful Iglesia de Santa Maria (St. Mary's Church). It was absolutely gorgeous. After that, some of the group hiked up Mount Urgull to see "La Estatua del Sagrado Corazon" (A big Jesus statue).  I have never been so excited to see Jesus before after that hike! Again, the views were breath-taking.



La Iglesia de Santa Maria (went to church here)



After the hike, we went for some pizza, and by the time we got done we had to catch our train back to Segovia.

Overall, San Sebastian was a fabulous place to spend my first free weekend in Spain.  We had some great adventures!  Oh, and I came back to snow in Segovia--haha.

Mount Urgell- JESUS statue!

Madrid, you need to learn a thing or two about "Minnesota Nice"

La Plaza Mayor

This past weekend, our group went on our first excursion. Destination: Madrid.  We left around 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning and took the public bus from Segovia to Madrid.  Once we get to Madrid, we went on a "walking tour" on the way to our hotel.  Madrid is huge, and all the buildings are so classy looking.  My favorite place was La Plaza Mayor, although it was a little creepy because there were some odd people walking around (examples: man making monkey noises, guy making huge bubbles, and various mascots walking around in full costume).



Big bubbles-reminded me of my Grandma :)



After walking about a million miles, we finally got to our hotel.  I roomed with Amy and Jenny! The hotel was really nice and we had a spacious room.  We all ate the bocadillos (lunch sandwiches) that our parents made us for the trip and then took a little siesta.  After resting up, we went to El Prado--one of Madrid's most famous museums and spent about two hours admiring all the artwork of Ribera, Velazquez, and Murillo. 

All of us girls!

After the museum some of us girls went out to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe for Katee's 21st birthday.  A Cobb Salad never tasted so good :).  After that, all of us girls walked home together. It was around 10:30 p.m. when we left and we didn't get home til around 11-11:15 because our hotel was on the other side of Madrid. 

We all got ready and then we went out to experience Madrid night life. Our first stop was an Irish pub called "Dubliners" which was really fun. After that we went to "O'Connels" to dance a little. By that time it was around 3 a.m. and we had to wake up for breakfast at 9 the next morning, so a group of us headed back, got home around 3:30. 

Sunday, aka the worst day ever.  Sunday we woke up and had a nice breakfast and headed out around 11 a.m. to go to "La Reina Sofia" (another museum full of modern art). It was really cool, but we were all pretty tired from staying out the night before.  However, seeing Dali and Picasso was AMAZING.

After the museum we were all so hungry so we went to McDonald's (naturally).  I had a nice meal, but it was super packed in there, luckily we all found tables.  There were many new experiences while eating McDonalds.  First of all, there was a beggar going from table to table shaking her cup and asking for money, which was sad and I felt pity for her, but if we gave her anything, she would have never left us alone. Then, while we were eating, this Spanish lady walked by us and told us in Spanish to watch our bags because there were some sketchy people in the restaurant.  So all of us girls quick grabbed our bags kinda starting to freak out. We just wanted to get out of there. So we all got  up and went to the table where the rest of our group was, and one of the guys realizes that his backpack is missing..his backpack containing his computer and all copies of passport, credit cards, etc.  That is when we all started freaking out.  I don't think I have ever felt so helpless in my life.  There was nothing we could do about it, the backpack was gone.

This was the biggest culture shock I have had since getting here. I have always been hyper-sensitive about guarding my purse and belongings when I am out and about here, and have been told countless times that Madrid is where all the robbers and pick-pocketers are, but to actually have one of my friends experience it was so scary and sad.  I think all of us were sick to our stomachs.  Where is the Minnesota Nice in Madrid?? It obviously doesn't exist there, which left me with a bad taste in my mouth and a bad last impression.  I am very unlikely to return there again if I can help it. 

So after that experience, we all just wanted to get the heck out of Madrid.  So we took the metro to the bus station and left for Segovia. After getting home and recooperating, I ended up going out to a bar to watch the Packers v. Bears game. It was a really great night and made me feel a lot better.  Nothing like some good friends, a Diet Coke, and some American football to cheer a girl up :).

If anything, Madrid definitely made our group closer and it was a wake up call letting us know to NEVER let our guard down.  I know this type of thing can happen anywhere in the world, but it's a shame it had to happen on our first excursion, because it really ruined an otherwise great city for me.

Sittin in the Library

It is back to the grind on this gloomy Monday.  It is funny because my host parents and the copy lady at the local copy center commented about the crummy weather today, but I really can't complain about 50 degrees and no snow!

This weekend was pretty fun! Saturday I slept in and went shopping once again. The best part of Saturday night was going to "Metropolis" (a local bar) and watching the Packers play (Dad & Uncles--please don't give me crap).  The game started at 2 a.m. in Spain so we didn't get home til 5:30 a.m. Which is fine because that is a typical time to come in on a Friday and Saturday night in Spain. Crazy, I know.

I slept in til around 12:15 on Sunday and then went to my first Catholic mass in Spain at the Church of Saint Eulalia.  It was such a great experience and something I really needed! The church was mostly filled with older people. All the women had on these huge fur coats (that might be my next purchase..haha). The rest of Sunday was filled with napping, homework, trying paella (rice, saffron, and seafood dish), watching "Monster in Law" with my sister and a soccer game with my parents!

Today was a typical Monday. I had my Myths and Legends class with Juanjo, went home for lunch, and came back to school to do a little homework in the library!

Hasta luego!

Alcazar and Other New Experiences

Yesterday we had our first mini-excursion to Alcazar, a castle in Segovia which was Walt Disney's inspiration for the Cinderella Castle in Disney World! It was amazing! We toured all the rooms, including the royal dining room, bed-chambers, and climbing up the stairs from hell to reach the top of the castle and see the most beautiful view of Segovia. 

Some of the group on top of Alcazar

After that, some of us went to Valor (a Chocolate Place)--yes, I am Lorraine Cavanaugh's granddaughter (love you Grandma)--and had some churros with chocolate! We met Jesus, the owner, who is very good friends with one of my Spanish professors back at St. Ben's. 

After the chocolateria, we went to the art exhibition of Christian (the guy who matches us with our host family and is also the brother of my Art and Culture prof, Pilar). It was so cool and fancy schmancy.  Then, I came home and all my family members were getting ready to go out for the night! I had a tortilla espanola for dinner (eggs, potatos, and cheese all formed into a tortilla shape)..ahh it was delicious!

After that, we went to our favorite bar, Oso Blanco, to hang out with our favorite bartender, Jesus. We got to know the other group from the U.S. that is also studying here in Segovia!!

This morning I slept in, woke up and went to Dicano, a local cafe, to work on some homework..yes, I actually have to study while I am here. Came back and had lunch with my family! Now I am off to go explore some more! It has been nice and sunny here for the last three days, Minnesotans BE JEALOUS :)



Adios

View from the top of the castle! So beautiful

Alexa, John & Me

Back to School, Back to School

Today was the first day of classes! My school, Instituto de Empresas (IE), is SO COOL! It's a modern school with all sorts of history. Yesterday we got a tour from one of my profs (His name is Juanjo). 

Juanjo giving us a tour of IE

I am lucky and start class everyday at 11 a.m., so I started the day of with Linguistics class with my professor, Carolina.  After that I had Brian's (the program director's) study abroad seminar class.  Then I went home for lunch and watched a little basketball and a telenovela (soap opera) on t.v. with my brother.

Then I studied for a little and went back for an art and culture class at 4:30 with Pilar!

Class ended at 6 and Amy, Noah, Colin and I found a perfect study spot in our school's basement. We even got to hook up our computers to a stereo they had down there to listen to the European Top 40! I just got home and met one of my host mom's sisters and her daughter!

It was rainy again today, but it's not like it matters because we walk everywhere, regardless. I think I might have legs of steel when I get back to Minnesota!  Anyways, it's dinner time..then a little more homework and tapas (appetizer/snacky things) tonite with the gang!