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Lovely Sunday in Spain

Yesterday (Sunday) was another beautiful day in Segovia. It was warm and the sun was shining. In the morning I went to mass with two friends at the Cathedral in Segovia. I hadn't been in the cathedral yet. I took some pictures of the inside. The mass was in the small chapel on the side of the church. It was one of the shorter masses I've ever been to, because it only lasted 35 minutes. There was no music, but I was so happy I was finally able to go to mass while I was here in Spain. Because the Catholic church is universal I knew everything that was going on, although I couldn't say all the prayers in Spanish. It was Pentecost yesterday too, so I can say I was in the Cathedral in Segovia celebrating Pentecost! 


In the afternoon, I went to a park to have a picnic with some friends. It was Maddie's (my roommate) birthday so we went to celebrate. I bought some pastries before to bring and enjoy. It was so pretty outside and it was great to relax, tomar el sol y charlar con amigos. I forgot to put on sunscreen so my shoulders got burnt, but I don't think I have a farmer's tan anymore which is good! 

 Cathedral

 Cathedral

Picnic at the Park

This week we only have three days of classes because we have a long weekend. I hope this week goes fast because I'm leaving for Barcelona on Wednesday, I can't wait! My classes are getting busier though. I have to interview an owner of a pasteleria for my business class. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will go well. Tomorrow our group is also going to Alcazar to go inside the castle there, but I will have to leave early because I have my interview. 


Hasta luego!

When in Spain

One thing that I really enjoyed the other day was eating dinner with Senora. It was just the two of us (I was the only one eating because she had already eaten). My two roommates were out and her husband had already eaten too. Before dinner even started I was a little nervous because I was going to have to talk and not let other people take over if I didn’t have anything to say. But it went really well I liked using my Spanish and telling her more about myself. She is understanding of my Spanish and helps me out if I don’t know a word or phrase. I hope it will happen again the future because it is great practice for my Spanish!

Yesterday (Friday) for lunch, my family’s son came over for lunch. He was really nice and his named was German (like Herman in US). He brought a dog with him!! She was so cute. She looked like a German Shepherd mix. She was so friendly and it made me miss Bailey! Her name was Dona or “Mrs.” in English. They told her “Dona fuera” when we were eating lunch which means “Out Dona”. She had the saddest face on because I could tell she wanted some scraps of food.

Another highlight lately is I have been having cake for the past two days for breakfast! It’s delicious. It is a plain pound cake. The other night she took it out at dinner for us to smell it, and I just assumed that she was serving it to us for dessert that night, but nope, for breakfast! In Spain they have a really small breakfast usually consisting of bread and butter/jelly. Also galletas or “cookies” in English. They also have coffee as well. So usually I have coffee and piece of toast for breakfast. And surprisingly it holds me over until lunch around 2 pm.

Today is the festival of Noche De Luna Llena (Night of the full moon). It is really busy here today and there will be events all over the city of Segovia. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing, but I’m sure I will have a lot of fun! This morning I went shopping with some friends. They had a feria where there are a bunch of vendors selling unique items from where they are from. It’s a gorgeous day here and later I went for a walk with Maddie around Alcazar. It is great to feel the sun, hear ducks quacking, and enjoy the free time!

 Bunch of Beach balls they are blowing up for Noche de Luna Llena

 Beautiful Day in Segovia!

Hard to tell, but I'm standing on the bridge.

It´s already been over a week in Spain!

My first week in Spain flew by! It's been a great first week. Yesterday I went to Toledo in the afternoon with my whole KIIS group. I visited Toledo last time I was in Spain, but I was really excited to visit again because it is such an old and beautiful city. We left at 1 pm and came back at 9 pm.


The bus ride to Toledo was two hours from Segovia. It wasn't a bad ride at all because I saw beautiful mountains in the background. It was a sight! Once we arrived the first thing we did was drive to the top of the hill to take pictures. I went picture crazy up there because I can't believe how gorgeous it is! You can see the whole city and it was sunny, so great for picture taking :) Below I have a picture of me in Toledo in 2008 and then when a went yesterday (a now and then!). After we walked through the cobblestone streets and made our way the Cathedral of Toledo. Let me just say it is HUGE and GORGEOUS. I was disappointed though because we couldn't take any pictures on the inside. But I will always remember what it will look like because it is unforgettable. I took plenty of pictures on the outside. In the sacristy there were over 20 paintings by Greco. There was also a beautiful monstrance on display and I just wanted to stare at it forever. There was also a gift on display from Toledo, Ohio. How cool! I was also disappointed that I couldn't stay longer because I would have liked to kneel and pray for awhile but we were in a hurry and had more to see! 


I also saw one of the most famous paintings! Called "El entierro del señor de Orgaz" It is a painting on a canvas and is really big! It was painted in the late 1500's so it is really old. It is located in the lobby of a church. Here is some more information on it (on wikipedia ;) ): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burial_of_the_Count_of_Orgaz 


My classes are going okay. Once again they are a lot more work than I thought. I had a presentation about a business article for the Business Spanish class, it could have gone better. But today in class we went to a crystal shop in Segovia. We learned about this only and unique shop and asked questions about the business. We were able to carve crystal ourselves! It was really cool. We all got to make a star on a scrap piece of crystal. The owner was really nice and only him and his brother are the only ones that carve. They are very talented. You can buy wine glasses, vases, and other gifts.


Today our whole group had a tertulia (gathering) to discuss our poems we have been reading in Literature class or just talk if you are a student in Conversation class. It was a lot of fun because we sat and talked in a bar for a complete hour, IN ONLY SPANISH! Our professors were basically showing us that we could talk for that long in only Spanish. Si se puede! (Yes we can!). I feel my Spanish is getting better, but I still need lots of work! 


That's all I can think of for now, but I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday because it is the weekend! I'm staying here this weekend in Segovia to relax and explore the city that I live in.


New words/phrases I've learned:
tiquismiquis: finicky
cola cao: Tattle-tail
Qué guay!: cool
Qué chulo/a: how cute!
You know where the saying "Holy Toledo!" come from? Yep, Toledo, Spain!


P.S.- I booked my trip to Barcelona for next week. My hostel is on the beach! I can't wait :)

 TOLEDO

CATHEDRAL DE TOLEDO

NOW: TOLEDO 2011

THEN: TOLEDO 2008

First Weekend in Spain

Friday night I went to my first discoteca. Almost my whole group went so we had a lot of fun together on our first free night in Segovia. It was a great time not worry about our classes, get to know each other and enjoy ourselves. There was a creepy 30 or so guy that kept asking me to dance and of course I said no, but some other people in my group danced with him and it was quite entertaining! I went back way earlier than most because I needed my sleep for a big trip to Madrid Saturday and Sunday.


On Saturday the group left for Madrid at 8:30 am (which was really early for a weekend). It took us about an hour by bus to Madrid. In Madrid we took the Metro to Puerto del Sol (reminds me of Times Square in NYC). It is one of the busiest spots in Madrid. There were people with tents and signs protesting about things going wrong in the government. Most of them stay there 24/7 so they have their own mattresses out there! It was really interesting. We split up into groups and my group walked through a street that had names of famous Spanish writers, some of which we will be studying in my Literature class. Afterwards we ended up in Atocha which is the major train station in Madrid.

El Prado was next on our list! Maddie and I went to El Prado which is HUGE! There are so many paintings and works of art that our feet were killing us when we were done. I had been to this museum before when I went to Madrid in 2008, but I was excited to go again because I love to learn and see Spanish art. We saw “Las Meninas” by Velázquez and others by Goya, another famous Spanish artist. After we went to Parque del Retiro!! It is like Central Park in NYC, but probably ¼ of the size. If you haven’t caught on I kind of compare Madrid to NYC because I see A LOT of similarities. But of course there are a lot of differences too.

At Parque del Retiro we went to the area where there is a huge lake. We went rowing in the lake. It was so much fun and I actually was able to row this time because in the past I didn’t have much coordination.  It was such a beautiful day to be in the park! After we tried to return to our hostel…. We thought we knew where we were going be we took the wrong way (passed up our street, and walked for a long time) And it started pouring on us! The Spanish people were giving us weird looks because we were still walking while they were standing underneath a covering. Once we found our hostel and dried off we went out for dinner. After dinner we went to Chocolateria for churros and chocolate. Delicioso! We returned to our hostel to go to bed at a decent time since Sunday was going to be another full day! Luckily the other two people that were supposed to be in our hostel room didn’t show up so we had a room to ourselves which was nice.

On Sunday morning Maddie and I went to El Rostro which is this street that has TONS of vendors. They were selling anything from shoes, jewelry, and decorations. It was a great place to buy cheap things but it got so busy that we left. After, we went to the Royal Palace. It is beautiful and gigantic! Carlos III, IV, and Fernando were some of the kings that lived there. The last thing on our list to do for Sunday was visit Reina Sofia, which is an art museum. It closed at 2:30 pm and we arrived at 3 pm so we were late. But it was ok because I had been before, but I was still looking forward to seeing Guernica by Picasso. Since that was all we wanted to do we headed back to Segovia. I was exhausted and slept all the way back on the bus! Overall I had a great weekend in Madrid and I had a good time exploring and navigating independently. 

 Friday Night

 La Plaza Mayor in Madrid

 Outside El Prado Musuem

 El Parque del Retiro

Royal Palace in Madrid

Day Three in Spain

Hoy estaba un otro día muy hermoso. En la mañana tengo las clases. Para mi primera clase mi grupo fueron a una empresa y pidieron para su dirección y número de teléfono. Todas las personas en mi grupo estaban nervosas entonces, hablé sola con el secretario. Pero pienso que hable bien. Mi gusta mi primer clase mas porque no me gusta el poesía mucho. Pero estoy aprendiendo mucho en las dos clases. Después almuerzo, Maddie y yo caminamos alrededor del Segovia. Caminamos por una senda y había muchos árboles verdes y vimos los platos en el rio. Estaba un gran camina y me gustaba. Lo buen ejerció y estaba tiempo afuera en el tiempo fantástico. Tengo mucha tarea. Yo pensé que antes del viaje, nosotros no tendríamos no mucho. Pero tengo tiempo para completar. ¿Pero quién le gusta tarea, especialmente en España?

Trabajé en mi tarea para un poco tiempo y después fui al plaza mayor. Allí, había una banda de cinco hombres y ellos “serenaded” mis amigas y yo. Estaba muy divertido y cómico. Había muchos niños que bailaron en la calle. ¡Qué lindo! Yo he notado que los españoles son muy amigables y siempre tienen las sonrisas en sus caras. España es un buen país con gran gente.

Para cena anoche tenemos una hamburguesa. ¡Comida americana!  Estaba definidamente diferente que las hamburguesas en los estados unidos. Pero tenía un sabor bueno. En España el almuerzo es la comida más importante. El almuerzo es la comida más grande, y la cena es un poco. Entonces, sola tenía una hamburguesa, nada más.

Hasta luego!

English:

Today was another beautiful day. In the morning I had classes. For my first class my group went to a business and asked for their address and telephone number. All the people in my group were nervous so I talked by myself to the secretary. I think I spoke well. I like my first class more because I don’t like poetry much. But I am learning a lot in both classes. After lunch, Maddie and I walked around Segovia. We walked on a path with many green trees and ducks on the river. It was a great walk and I liked it. It was good exercise and good time outside in fantastic weather. I have a lot of homework. I thought before the trip that we wouldn’t have a lot. But I have time to complete it. But who likes homework, especially in Spain?

I worked on my homework for a little and after I went to the plaza mayor. There was a band with five men and they serenaded my friends and I. It was fun and funny. There were many children that danced in the street. How cute! I have noticed that Spaniards are friendly and always have a smile on their faces. Spain is a good country with great people.

For dinner tonight we had a hamburger. American food! It was definitely different than hamburgers in the United States. But it had a good taste. In Spain, lunch is the most important meal. Lunch is a big meal and dinner is small. Because of that, I only had a hamburger, nothing else.

See you later!

On our walk around Segovia

 Segovia

 The band playing in Plaza Mayor

Day Two in Spain!

Hola!
Today was the first day of classes, and it was a beautiful day to walk there! My first class was Business Spanish I think I´m going to like it. Our whole goal to is be able to speak outside class and be able to interact with and learn about businesses in the area. One assignment that we have is to visit a local business (mercado, cafe, etc.) and interview a person that works there and then present what you found to the class. We are also required to¨shadow" a person working at a local business.


My second class today went well today. Throughout the month we will be reading Spanish poetry as well as writing our own poetry! I think this will be an interesting class even though I’m not a big fan of poetry. After class, I ate lunch and then worked on my homework. Later, my roommate (Maddie) and I went for a walk around Segovia. I bought some of my first purchases! I bought some postcards and un cerdito (pig) to add to my collection at homeJ.  As we walked even further we realized that we made it to Alcazár. There is a huge castle there and it is beautiful. The weather was a little chilly, but the sun was shining! My KIIS group is actually taking an excursion to Alcazár in a few weeks, so I will tell you more about it once I learn more from my trip. On our way back to the house we ran into some other students at a restaurant outside. We joined them and I tried my first sangria. ¡Tuvo un sabor muy bueno! (It tasted good!) It was great to meet some new people and socialize.

I still get a little nervous when speaking in Spanish but I already feel like I;m improving. While writing this blog post, I’ve been thinking in Spanish and instead of English. I’m tempted to write my blog posts in Spanish, but I think I’ll stick to English so you can understand.

Buenas noches. 

 Aquaduct in Segovia

 Street in Segovia

 Beautiful Segovia

Maddie and I at Alcazár