Catching up...to the end

Well it has certainly been a long time since I have updated. Life kind of has a way of taking over and whenever I had a moment it wasn’t used blogging so I have quite a lot to catch up on.

Two weekends ago I stayed in town, tired after going to San Sebastian and Italy. That Friday we took a day trip that was free with school to El Escorial, which is a monastery and castle about 45 minutes outside of Madrid. It is a huge building and we toured quite a bit of it, about a 2 and ½ hour tour. I found the tour to be interesting but it was extremely stuffy inside the building and we were definitely all getting a little restless after about 2 hours. I think my favorite part was going to the room that held all the tombs of the Kings. It was just crazy to think about all of the hundreds of years of memories there. After the visit, we got lunch in town and it was fun for all of us to realize there were tentacles of some sort in our food. My friend Laura also got carried away laughing and flipped her plate. We were lovely company, I’m sure of it.
That Saturday my parents went to Zaragoza up north to visit their nephew who was in the hospital. He has since gotten out from and is back here at home recuperating. I stayed home with my sister and our grandma, Ya-Ya come over. We went to the market. I should say that going to the market never means just going to the market. It means we’ll go to the market. Then we will go get a coffee. Then we will go to the grocery story. Then maybe get another drink. It is quite a process really but now I really know what going to the market means. I ended up spending the day at home working on some papers because it was stinking hot out and my Ya-Ya didn’t want me out in the heat. That night we did go into Toledo to the Cathedral because they were doing something called El Greco Lights show. It was amazing. They displayed El Greco’s works on the Cathedral along with other images put to music. It was incredible to see on the side of such a huge Cathedral. Since the light show takes place at 3 different places in Toledo, our buses home were running differently than normal. We ended up missing the normal bus and had to wait for the night owl bus. But that turned out to be okay, we met an older couple that has lived in Toledo their entire life. They were really nice and it is always fun to be able to meet people around town and here what they think of the place.

That Sunday we went to the Miguel’s house, who is my dad’s best friend. He lives in the police cartel with his family. It was a great time but definitely a moment for me to try adventurous foods. For appetizers we had all kinds of sea urchins going on. I ate octopus, a tapa that was tomato with salmon and shrimp that had their whiskers and eyes. I kept saying that it was watching me and they all got a kick out of that. Our main meal was black rice, which is similar to paella. It is calamari with rice, some garlic and onion. It was absolutely delicious and of course Miguel had the wine coming and that turned into champagne. It was just a lot of fun with a lot of good food. Miguel also gave me a book about errors famous Spaniards have made with grammar or word meaning, something interesting to read. After that we all went home and siesta-ed. That night was the World Cup Finals, and it was definitely the most nerve-wracking game of them all. Spain won though! And the whole country went insane, jumping into fountains, blowing their car horns for hours and waving their flags. Monday they had a huge parade in Madrid that I watched on tv with my parents. They had a huge celebration with music. It was really awesome to just see how proud everyone was to be a Spaniard. It was definitely a privilege to be here and experience that with them.

That week I had a lot of papers due and work was really kicking in. We had another visit in art class, this time to a Monastery. I wasn’t a huge fan except for one amazing original El Greco painting. The week was classes and more class. Thursday night I was supposed to leave for Morocco with 14 other girls but when Thursday night came I wasn’t feeling great. I decided that given a) the level of planning put into the trip and b) how I felt, it would be better if I didn’t go. Thursday night I just tried to sleep off not feeling good. My sister here was so happy i didn’t go. It was also funny that after I decided not to go that my family started telling me that they really didn’t like Morocco all that much. Really no Spaniards that I’ve met do, the staff at school are very against us going just because they can’t do much from here if something were to happen. My friends did get home safely but none of them really said they had fun. I’ve gone to Morocco before so I didn’t call it a total loss, plus I had a great weekend.
Friday a few of us went on the excursion to Segovia, which is NW of Madrid, it took us about 2 hours each way. It was a beautiful city, smaller than Toledo and much more flat, with only 55,000 people that live there. We started at a castle/fortress on one side of town. It was used in the 16th century and had all of the details you’d expect on the outside to keep unwelcome visitors away. There were some really neat armor statues there. We also saw some very elaborate ceilings covered in gold and beautiful views. The tower there was open and we climbed it…all 152 steps. It doesn’t sound so bad but they are much steeper steps and turned out to be spiral stairs. It was worth it to see the view but going down was just as scary. All of us were still saying that our legs hurt all the next day. By the time all of us got down the stairs our legs were shaking. We figured out why our leaders decided they didn’t need to go up again. : )

After that we walked the city and went pass the place where the first book in Spain was printed. We also went past the main plaza and their Cathedral. We ended our tour at the amazing Roman aqueducts they have. We stopped for lunch then but had some time afterward to wander around so we walked to the top for a full view of the aqueducts, which were just breathtaking. Back in the day they were the latest technology. It was also covered in birds and so my friend did get pooped on. They say it’s good luck but I think she’d disagree. The rest of us thought it was great though. On the way home we stopped off a grocery store to explore. We ended up getting a bottle of Sangria there to take with us to the light show. Alcohol here is about 10 times cheaper than in the US and just as good, if not better. We went to a different light show on the opposite end of the city from where our bus stop is. Of course, my friend that should have the good luck broke her flip-flop about two minutes after we got there. The light show was good, but not as good as at the Cathedral. We rigged up a way to get her home with some hairbands. We ended up catching the bus and meeting up with my family at the bar. It is always fun to sit outside with my family and just hang out at our bar.
Saturday my friend Beth came over and my dad bought us churros and we made chocolate. Choc-o-la-tay is like hot chocolate, only so much sweeter and thicker, like you just melted a candy bar into a mug and called it a drink. The main protocol is to dip your churro into the chocolate or coffee, depending on what you prefer. It was delicious, as usual. After that, I went on the market adventure with my sister and mom. This included getting a coffee first, then going to the market. Then we went to the grocery store and stopped to get a drink. After that we went to the bread store and then the meat store. It is always quite a process. That took up a good while of the day and then I’m sure I took a siesta. The heat here is so intense it really fries you after a little while. I always find myself like wow how can I be this tired. But it really is because how hot it is. It is always 100 degrees, always, always. 92 degrees would be a breezy day. Saturday night my mom, sister and my friend Beth went to the mall to see Eclipse. We had some time before the movie started so we shopped a little. They also have a supermarket in the bottom of the mall and we all got water and a treat for the movie. I got a chocolate bar, which proved to be an adventure in the dark that resulted in many stains on my clothing. My mom here has caught onto me, she told me that I am a champion stainer. It is true and she has mastered getting all of them out just like my real mom has. Eclipse was actually good, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much in English though. It is dubbed pretty well and it’s not hard to understand. After the movie we went to the bar, of course. This is basically a way of life go sit outside and have something to drink and just chat.
I have pretty much reached the age where I cannot sleep past 8:30 in the morning but I do enjoy the mornings where I can lay in bed and read or listen to music, which I enjoyed Sunday morning. My family went to their grandparents house for lunch but I stayed home, as I was going to do some work. I went to Beth’s house, she has AC, internet and Sprite so basically it’s the best place ever. I actually got to skype with some people, catch up on emails and get some work done, although I definitely get more work down at my house without internet. It is just too easy here to be distracted by the internet so sometimes I really like that I don’t have it, but not all the time, it can be a pain.

Yesterday I got to school to find out that our Phonetics teacher is still sick. She basically had an asthma attack in class last Tuesday and hasn’t been good since then. The extreme temperatures really agitate her asthma. We did get all the info for the final exam, which is on Wednesday (yikes!) Today we did our visit to the cathedral. It was over two hours long. The Cathedral is one of the most famous in all of Europe. It was extremely ornate, sometimes what I would even consider, gasp, overdone. But it was interesting, they have some more Greco paintings in there. The coolest part is called the transparent, a spot where they designed light to shine in through the ceiling into a circle where they keep the Eucarist. All in all it was pretty interesting. It was definitely a good last spot to take for our art stops of Toledo.

After finals, we have Friday-Monday to do what we want. A lot of people are traveling but since I will be traveling with my friend Sarah from Xavier for two weeks straight, I’m going to stay here and enjoy time with my family and some friends. Friday I think we may take a day trip somewhere close by or go to a tour of a guitar factory close by. Saturday is a lot of things at school, we get our grades and also get a chance to talk with our professors. That night we have, no kidding, a graduation ceremony that all of our families are invited to attend. Sunday I believe will be a pool day and Monday a group of us are going to see Toy Story 3! It finally comes out here. Then it’s time to pack up and leave. I’m definitely starting to feel sad. However, I will be back in August. I’m leaving a bunch of things I don’t need for 2 weeks here with my family and I will be back to show Sarah all of Toledo and she will get to meet my family and my mom will cook for her! Sarah flies into Madrid a week from today and I’m very excited to get our whirlwind tour started! It just all seems to be happening so fast it’s hard to even believe I’ve been here 5 weeks.
Well that’s all I have for now, phew I know it’s a lot!

: )
Emily

The Kindness of Strangers...or not

Its been a week since I have had a chance to write. We visited two awesome places last week in art class, I reallly enjoyed them. One was a synagogue and another was a convent but also had a huge church attached to it designed for and by Ferdinand and Isabel. I will have to put pictures on Facebook sometime so that everyone can see them. I still have not quite figured out how to put them on this blog, someone smarter than me will have to let me know. Last week was also a fútbol game with españa. I watched it at the bar with my parents and their friends. My friend Beth ended up walking past us on her way home and so she had to stop for drinks too. My classes are in full swing, I had a presentation last Tuesday and a paper due last Tuesday. It is hard to believe, but final exams start three weeks from Wednesday!

This past weekend we went to Italy, which was absolutely gorgeous. We flew right into Rome but as usual, there is always an adventure to be had. Our flight left earlier than we could catch a train or bus from Toledo into Madrid so we decided to stay in Madrid. Well, when we got there we had a few surprises in store for us. THe first was that the metro was on strike )still, its been a week plus.) It is running, but it runs with half of normal capacity, meaning you have to wait more. THis made us getting to the airport on time in the morning via metro impossible. Luckily we had our first encounter with a really nice man who showed us how to get there by using the ceranias which are like higher speed trains with fewer stops. When we combined that with the metro for a litt,e we could get there on time without paying for a cab. Next came the hunt for the hostel we had booked. When we got there, we found out that the water wasnt working and so he had us booked at a different hostel and it was off to find that. I also forgot to mention that this past weekend was gay pride weekend in Madrid. When we got there Thursday night, there was a huge concert going on, sort of like a scene out of the Birdcage, if you have ever seen that movie. We found our hostel, which was right by the main square where the concert was. We ran into all sorts of booking issues and ended up splitting hostels. Plus, we could hear the concert. We had to get up and leave our hostel by 5:30 am and we headed to the trains, there were a ton of people still out, partying. This is pretty normal in Spain but it still made us laugh.

The flight to Roma was pretty easy, no real issues. Once we got to Italia, we all kind of realized oh yeah, none of us speak Italian. We basically tried to speak Spanish to everyone out of habit. Luckily we found some nice people who explained to us what train to take and then later what tram to take, which was a fun adventure. They really have no way of monitoring who pays for the trams, so we bought tickets but did not really need them, everyone seems to rid eit illegally.We also met a very nice man who helped us look up how to get from the station to our hotel. This part of the trip was filled with some really nice people, considering we were idiots and did not have a map. The hotel was really nice and in a great part of town. We squeezed five of us into a room for 4 but it was way nicer and cheaper than staying in a hostel, believe it or not. After we got settled at the hotel, we went out exploring.

We started just walking the streets. We knew we had to walk across the river to get to a different part of the city. As we are walking, one of us just says oh we have to get a picture of the five of us somewhere along the trip. We hear a voice say, I can take it. It was a woman, with her husband and one of her sons. They are from Cincinnati, the husband works at P&G, they live in Blue Ash and her other son goes to Xavier, although I do not know him. The world is a tiny place. She also gave us a map, which was amazing. It was just hilarious, and it definitely made us all miss our moms. After that, we did more wondering.We happened upon some "ruins" just in time to realize that they were in fact, a cat shelter. Only in Rome. After that we found some amazing buildings and then headed to the Colosseum. That was by far my favorite part of Rome. We paid to go inside and it was totally worth it. We also went to Palatino and walked around a lot of Roman ruins, we saw Augusts' house or what was left of it. It was blazing hot that day and we headed to the Trevi Fountain. We threw our coins in and then we found a place to get pasta for dinner. The pasta was delicious, there were about 30 different kinds to choose from and the house wine was also very good. After that we started to head back to the hotel and rest for the next day. We found a sort of fair along the river with shops and restaurants that we looked at on the way home.

The next day we hit the Vatican earlyish. Our hotel was only about a 10-15 minute walk from there. We went into St. Peters Basilica and also went and looked at the popes' tombs. After that we wandered, we knew we wanted to go to the Spanish Steps. We went and saw the Medici Castle, climbed the Spanish Steps and went to the Piazza Navona. We grabbed more pizza at the place right by our hotel and got ready for the Spain game! We watched it at a bar and met some people from the US and Italy, both of which were born in Cuba, go figure. Spain won of course and we celebrated with our 3rd helping of gelato on the Italy trip.

Now comes the ugly side... We got to the airport more than an hour ahead of time, waited at our gate and were totally ready to go. Then we find out they changed our gate to another terminal. We literally run there and find out that its not hte right flight. By the time we all ran back, only 2 of the 5 of us made it. The 3 Emily's of the trip did not make it and the people at the gate and airline were less than friendly nor were they helpful. THe next flight with that airline to Madrid did not leave until 9:15 pm and we would not have gotten back in time to get a bus to Toledo and make it to class on time. We found another airline with an earlier flight but it did cost us each 140 euros. I tried to tell myself that its all part of the journey that is traveling although my wallet is hurting badly at the current moment.

Getting back to Toledo never felt so good. It was definitely strange being there on the 4th of July but I got to talk to my family and that was nice. Yesterday it was stinking hot, word on the street is that it will be getting up to 110 or so until it cools off. A friend and I had to go hunt for towers for our art class and that exhausted us pretty much for the rest of the day. I did get to go home for lunch which is always a nice change. I was so beat from the sun though. Today we went to visit an old hospital that looked like a convent. I also bought a pair of sneakers for 5 euro. Now it's off to more class and trying to avoid the heat.

Cheer for Spain tomorrow!

Emily

San Sebastián

This past weekend was one of the most fun that I've had so far here. Friday we all hopped on another bus and did a guided tour of Madrid. It was pretty much everything that I had already seen before but we were all together so that wss fun. We went through Palacio Real, which I did in high school, but this time my art professor guided us through and gave us an extremely detailed explanation of every room, which was nice for like, the first 4 rooms. As usual, we were running behind (remember concept of time differences) and we knew we had to catch a bus to San Sebastián that left at 4. Lunch was at the Museum of Ham (a semi-chain restaurant around Madrid). We basically ate and ran, as some of the metro line workers were on strike and we weren't sure how long it would take us to get to the station we needed. Luckily all of our lines were running, and so were we to try to get there on time. At this point, I've pretty much figured out the metro in terms of getting where I need to go. The bus stations are always different though and we seem to make friends each time. This time we met a group of Canadians backpacking and they were also on our bus, which, after we ran to catch, left late. The bus ride is through a lot of mountains and we went through what I think is the longest tunnel I've ever seen.

Once we go to San Sebastián, we realized that 1. it was getting dark (it was around 10:15pm) and 2. we really had no idea how to get to our hostel. Have no fear though, Rick Steves came to save us. My friends make fun of my book but I knew which bus to take to get us there and a lovely grandma on the bus showed us which stop was ours. Then came the best first experience of all: the hostel. Of course, none of us had ever stayed in one and had NO idea what to expect, especially since we knew there'd be 3 other people in our room. We found our street and followed some people into the hostel. We got to meet some neat people in the hostel. One girl in our room was from England, her mom was from NYC and she had two siblings living there, she went to St. Andrews in Scotland and was working on organic farms in Spain all summer. Our other people that came and went were from Australia and the guy had already run once in the Running of the Bulls. I think we got used to hostel life, although it was definitely daunting at first. I definitely laughed a lot at just how awkward and funny the whole thing can be.

Saturday was a lot of fun. We got up semi early and headed toward the beach. On the way, we found an awesome pastry shop and all got things to eat. We sat in a park and enjoyed our breakfast. Then we were beach bound. There is a really nice walkway that runs for 2 miles and connects two of the beaches. First, we went to La Concha, which is the main beach. It was still early and the water was absolutely ice cold so we didn't spend much time in the water. The people watching, however, was fantastic. Since we were so close to France, there were a lot of people speaking French as well as Euskari, which is the language spoken in Basque Country. As far as the beach goes, it was beautiful. People there are not shy about what they wear, I definitely saw at least 6 grandmas in bikinis and even more topless, just not abnormal here. After spending a little time on the beach, we walked the entire paseo down to where the funicular was. The funicular is a lot like the inclines in Pittsburgh. We took it to the top of Monte Igueldo, where there were some awesome views. After that, we went and had lunch right along the beach. After that, more beach time and at that point it was hot enough outside that we wanted to get into the water, even though it was still pretty cold!

After beaching, we changed clothes and heading towards the cathedral. We didn't get to go in because there was a wedding going on, but the outside was very nice. I still think Toledo has the most beautiful one, but hey I'm biased. We did lots of looking but shopping was very expensive and we didn't really find anything. We walked around and explored that part of town and then headed over to a tapas bar to eat dinner, drink wine and watch the U.S. lose. After the tapas bar, we called it a night.

Sunday was a lot of walking. We got up and repeated our usual breakfast and then we walked Jourdan to the bus station (a nice 30 min walk) and left here there, as she was taking the 11am bus and ours wasn't until 3pm. Laura and I ended just walking a lot, which was nice. We went to some parks, walked along the river, went to see the other surfer beach which is on a different side of town and grabbed a baguette for lunch. We picked our bus because it gave us more time, but it turned out to be like the first class bus: leather seats, more space, free headphones with music, snack, drinks, and dinner. I was thoroughly enjoying channel 7 on the bus, which was like the love channel but mainly just played 70s and 80s music with a little early 90s. Getting home is always such a long process: bus to Madrid, metro to other bus station in Madrid, bus to Toledo, Bus to home. Luckily next week will be Italy and that is a plane ride so not as much bus time!

Classes are starting to kick into gear, I have a presentation and a paper due tomorrow! I keep forgetting that oh yeah it's school too.

: )

Emily

Exercising in Spain...

Yesterday I had time to go home for lunch and since the bus came right as I got to the stop, I got home even earlier than I expected. I decided that I would go for a walk for about 30 or 45 minutes. Now, I've seen people running around our neighborhood so I know that SOME people do exercise regularly. I do think it is much less frequent than at home, but people here already walk more than we do. I told my sp mom that I was going on a walk and my sp sister immediately wanted to come with me. She's attached to her headphones so we both were walking and listening to our music. We went a way I had never been before but then we ended up loopng right back by our house. I asked her where we were turning next and she looked at me like I was certifiably crazy. She was like I'm going back to the house, I thought we were done. I would just like to say that it had been 7 minutes. I went on the rest of my walk and when I got back my sp dad was home eating lunch. He was saying that he saw how energetic I was when I was walking. All 3 members of my Spanish family think I walk very fast so it was kind of shocking to them that I'm one of the slowest walkers at home!So just a funny little cultural difference.

Tuesday we all stayed after for a dinner with native Spanish speakers as a way to meet people to do an intercamio or an exchange conversation partner. We didn't meet too many people and a bunch of us were pretty tired, so we didn't stick around late. The food was funny because it was hamburgers, but Spain is obsessed with ham and from what I could tell, it really was ham in the burger. I got home around 10:30 and no one else was home, which was really nice. I cranked up my music and cleaned my room some. When my sp parents got home, I showed them pictures of my family and friends in the US. They were pretty funny and my sp dad wanted to know when I was going to send them pictures of my family in Spain.

Yesterday was class, the exercise fiasco and more class. Football is definitely the way of life here. My teacher let anyone who just HAD to see the US game leave early without being faulted haha. When I got home, we were all going to a hotel where my sp dad, who knows and is "buen amigo" with everyone, is friends with the owner. We met up with Miguel and his son Tiago, but he also brought his wife Sonya (who is from Mozambique) and his mother-in-law Olympia who was visiting along with their two other kids Andrea and Maximo. Andrea is 3 but she has some sort of cerebral parlysis and cannot walk, talk or eat on her own. She does smile a ton though and she can make noises and cry. Max is only 2 months and absolutely adorable. We left to meet them around 7:30 for only a ratito (a little bit) but in Spanish fashion, we got home around 12:15 or so. It's kind of similar to being in South Africa, people just take their time more a it's just a relax sort of thing. Sonya and Olympia were very interesting to talk to, especially since Portugese is their native language and they have a very different accent. I also got to meet the owner, Pepe, who starting talking about political issues.

Class today so far has just been art and we went to visit what I guess we would call a tower? It was pretty neat and we got to see some other stuff that I hadn't seen before. I still have 3 classes left today and I'm already feeling tired! AH... But the weekend is upon us. There is a big festival going on right now in Poligono where a bunch of us live and we may go tonight and check it out. Tomorrow we go to Madrid with school but a large majority of us are using it as a free bus ride to Madrid and lunch. We are touring the palace, which I did in high school, but it will be fun anyway. After that about 6 of us are going to San Sebastian for a weekend. We are taking the bus out of Madrid, which could be somewhat of an adventure. San Sebastian is known for its beaches though and it's starting to get a lot hotter here so it should be a fun weekend!

Hasta Lunes,
Emily

Mezquita Cristo de la Luz and Football

Today in art class we went to visit a pretty neat place, a mosque in town. The walk is uphill (as they all are in Toledo somehow...back in the olden days it really was uphill both ways). The mosque was a secondary one to the original large one. The large one was torn down in the 11th century when the Christians took over Toledo and expelled the Muslims. The large cathedral now lies where it used to be, go figure. This mosque was much smaller but it was interesting because it was converted to a church after the Christian takeover. Half of the mezquita is where the Muslims would come to gather and pray. The other part was added on later when the Christians came. It is definitely not something that we would find to be that common, but here in Toledo there is such a mix of religion in its history that it isn't that uncommon to the people here. Another neat thing is that under the mosque there was a huge cave dug out where the Romans practiced their religious ceremonies before the Muslims. So in one place there have been three different kinds of religions, pretty cool. Plus there was an awesome view of part of Toledo.

Of course, also, the World Cup is huge here right now. Last night I watched it with my Spanish sister and grandma, which was entertaining. Whenever there is a goal, fireworks go off in our town which makes it all the more fun. Everyone was also decked out in red yesterday.

Well that's all I have for now.

Un beso,
Emily

First Weekend in Toledo

Well, it has been almost a week that I have been here, hard to believe! Sometimes it feels like I've been here about 12 seconds and other times for much longer.

Friday we went on a tour of Toledo. I was spoiled though and my spanish dad (sp dad from now on) took me for churros and chocolate first, which I love. Chocolate is like hot chocolate only much thicker, like they just melted a chocolate bar down and poured it in a glass. Then he drove me to school, which he has been doing and it is so awesome because it gives me about 20 more minutes in the morning. The tour of Toledo was really cool, we started on the bus and went around the entire border of the city, where you can get really good shots. The best views of Toledo are from the bottom outside of the walls of the city but its hard to get it and I never want to try on the bus, because its too hard. After we did the bus tour, we did the walking part. We went to more of the main spots, like the Cathedral. We also went past the building where the Jesuits used to live before they got kicked out of Spain for being too rebellious (go figure...) I asked the guide and he explained to me how to get to the convent where the Jesuits live now so one day I'll have to go explore and try to find that. After the tour a group of us went to the main plaza in Toledo and enjoyed a nice pitcher of Sangria. After that, I went home to my sp mom for lunch. Friday was a rough day, I started feeling sick and then took a nap. My sp mom has now switched me off tap water and on to bottled water.

After I woke up, I felt better so we went to find where my friend Liz (who goes to OSU and lives in Cleveland) lives. My sp mom is the classic spaniard...at one point when we were walking with the dog she was wearing high wedges, holding the dog and smoking a cigarette, the normal spanish walk. It took awhile but we did find where Liz lives and she actually came out with us. We went to the main street in Poligono to the bar my sp dad love to go to watch futbol, Il Gatto Mafioso (which is, ironically, italian). We met up with my sp dad and his friend Miguel,the police chief. Miguel is awesome, he knows a lot about the US, and he also always makes sure that I understand everything that is going on and he explains a lot of things to me and Liz. Ya-Ya, my spanish grandma met us there also. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday I got to sleep in, which was absolutely wonderful. My sp mom and I went to the mercadillo, which is the market in Poligono. On the way, we met up with some of the people I knew, so I went with them. The market wasn't very big, just your basic flea market. After that, it was time for lunch. We all met again after lunch to tae the bus to the mall. I did, of course, buy shoes at the mall. Taking the bus is always an adventure. We know where to get off, but the stops to get on are usually in a different place so it's kind of a guessing game to figure out where they will pick up. At one point by the mall we were like walking through what looked like a mini desert. We did find our way back and I went to Liz's house to meet her sp mom (I've already met her sp dad in town) and see where she lives. She also has internet!! We booked tickets to go to ROMA in 2 weekends, so while all of you are celebrating the 4th of July, we will be celebrating pasta.

That night I got do something realllly cool, we went on a night walk of Toledo. My sp dad is the vice president of something relating to the futbol club Madrid Atletico. Whether it is a fan club or a group of people that used to play or a mixture, I haven't been able to figure that out. It was all people from this group and they do it every year. It starts at 10 right as the sun is going down. I got to meet a lot of people who were all very nice. This tour was by far the best. I didn't take any pictures though because it was nighttime and the tour was moving very fast since everyone else was from Toledo. We went to the Jewish neighborhood (which is no longer so, but was exclusively for Jews only back in the day). We went down pozos, which are like wells and caves for purifying before praying for both Muslims and Jews. We also went by a lot of buildings where the guide told some awesome stories. There was one building that an archbishop built for women that didn't want to get married young but also didn't want to become nuns. The famous story with him is that he used to be extremely poor and homeless. When he was younger, he went to a shoemaker and said he'd never had a pair of shoes and would like one. The shoemaker took all of his measurements and said to return the week later to get the shoes. So a week later, the man returns to get his shoes. He tries them on and gets so happy because they fit so well. The only problem of course is when the shoemaker tells him how much they cost THe man realizes this could be trouble and says "I forgot to tell you, I can't afford to buy these shoes." The shoemaker says, no problem just bring back money when you have it. Flash forward many years and a person comes in and says to the shoemaker--the archbishop is coming! Of course the shoemaker is thinking oh no what have I done. THe archbishop enters, and sets down a bag of gold on the table. He says thanks to the shoemaker and leaves. The shoemaker opens the bag of gold and realizes its that man from years ago and he has paid it back, with interest. And there in lies the story. After that, we went to get drinks (I have a lemonade that I'm semi-addicted to). I had to laugh when Party in the USA came on in the bar and no one was there to appreciate it.

Sunday a friend and I went to Madrid for the day. Its a very short bus ride, a great one to sleep on in fact. Once we got tehere, we went to el rastro which is a huge open air flea market, and I mean HUGE. We wandered around there for awhile and actually saw people from our school, go figure. Then we went to the PLaza Mayor and had sangria and lunch. MY friend Ian from Xavier met up with us there and it was so nice to see him, plus he was our own personal tour guide to Madrid. We went to the cathedral, the palace and theatre and then we walked across town to the park, buen retiro. After that we tried to go to El Prado because it was free but the line was wayyyy too long so we headed home. That night of course we went to Il Gatto Mafioso.

Today has been just class. All I have today is Phonetics and that class seems like it will be really fun. I like a lot of the people in the class and the professor seems really cool, plus we have no homework outside of class. We are going to wander the city this afternoon and plan for our weekend.

Abrazos,

Emily

First Day of Classes!

Today was the fun day that classes began!So far I have had 2 of my 3 classes. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have 4 class sessions (each class for an hour and 15 minutes, each in the morning and the afternoon). So far I have had 3 of the 4 sessions and my next starts at 6:20 pm so in about 30 minutes or so. The classes seem like they will be very interesting. One class is Muslim, Christin & Jewish Art. Every morning we will be going out to a different place in Toledo to look at the art. Then in the afternoon class we will talk about it and do all of the history behind it, etc. My other class today is The art of reading literary texts. The professor is pretty funny and we will be reading all contemporary material so that will be a nice change of pace for me!

Yesterday we had our welcome party which was a lot of food (it all looked better than it tasted) and then some singers and guitar players came and performed for us. It was pretty funny, they kept corning people to dance. Then I had the adventure of taking the bus home for the first time at night. It wasn]t supposed to be dark (the sun doesn't even start going down here until maybe around 9:30) but it got dark quicker than I thought it would. My stop is one of the last, but normally we come around a traffic circle and that's where I press the button to stop. This time we came a different way and I had to quick press the button and the bus had to screech to a stop. My house parents thought this was hilarious of course when I told them. At least I made it home!

Today I had the happy surprise when my house dad told me he was going to take me to school. On the way he pointed out more things and history of Toledo--their train station is one of the oldest in the country. I also got to basically eat a cake for breakfast...its a spongecake with chocolate in the middle. Rough life, I know.

Today has also been the day we are trying to figure out plans for the weekend. We have a walking tour tomorrow of the city in the morning. The plan is probably to take a trip to Sevilla, but plans change so who knows!

Adios,
Emily