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