(unfortunately I can't get my iphoto to update right now so no pictures on this one which is a huge bummer because there was so much to see this past weekend! However, they are all on Facebook to look over if you are just that curious! I'll get it working for the next one, I promise!)
Sorry I've been away so long, but life just got really busy over here for a while and as I sit here typing this out, it's the night before my two midterms which means I'm already halfway done with this incredible journey. I've already learned so much about Spain and it's language and culture, but I'm also learning a lot about myself on this trip as well as fully being able to appreciate the life I have in America. I know you just want to see the pictures and amazing stories from my adventures and don't worry, a few lines down I'll begin a recap of the past weekend/week, but I've had several great conversations or encounters with my host family that made me realize a few things. First, I'm thankful for the job market we do have in America, it's rather dismal here in Spain and other parts of Europe. One of my teachers here told me that for the students going to college, they know that when they graduate getting a job is like winning the lottery. Secondly, I'm thankful for the diversity and freedom in America. Sure we still aren't completely free from prejudice, but it's great to know that we have a myriad of options out there for us as far as jobs or religions or whatever it may be to make you different which is surprisingly not the case here. Thirdly, I'm thankful that some things really are universal. My host mom is a saint. She may not speak English at all and I'm not perfect at Spanish, but somehow when she knew I needed comfort, she gave me it and words of wisdom I never thought I would get as part of my study abroad experience.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox now and back to show and tell about the trip!
This weekend my whole group took a trip to Burgos, Toledo, and Segovia all of which are beautiful cities! I don't even know how to condense my trip because we saw so much, but I'll do my best.
In Burgos, we saw a cathedral, built in the Gothic style, and also burial place to El Cid (the famous spanish fighter in literature and also based on real life that fought to bring Spain together--that was a very loose summary of El Cid so you might want to look it up more to get the full story) then we had lunch and then went to San Pedro monastery which is also super old and the Cid was originally buried there. Real life monks still inhabit it as well. They wake up every morning at 430 to pray and do chores throughout the entire day. We then hopped on the bus again for another few hours to get to Segovia to the hotel for the night and had dinner there. My roommates and I tried to get out and be social only to realize it was too cold so we went to bed.
Next day we were up bright and early for breakfast and to leave for Toledo, which was another 2-3 hour bus ride. All the hours on a bus this weekend were worth it just for the beautiful view and sights in Toledo! We had a guided tour that first started at a blacksmith place where we saw how they made swords back in the Middle Ages, then learned all about the history of the city as we walked through the streets and into one of the cathedrals and the synagogue. The synagogue in Toledo is actually really fascinating. It opened as a synagogue, but was then taken over by the Muslims in Spain before the reconquest of the Christians who then ordained it as a church. It was then used as a hospital, then by Napoleon's troops and now serves as a museum. Do to all of this wear, the three major world religions all took up residence in this one building. Rumor has it, the phrase, "Holy Toledo" comes from this. I don't actually know that, but I'm choosing to believe so. We then took a quick tour through El Greco's house and museum and then were rewarded with lunch. After, we had some free time to wander the city and site see more so I went back to the main cathedral and it was one of the most gorgeous buildings I've ever been in. It was so colorful and ornate and huge. We also saw a wedding take place in one of the little chapels so that was cool. Another bus ride ensued back to Segovia for dinner and sleep.
Once again we were up early for our guided tour of Segovia which is of course gorgeous! We went to the Alhambra, which is a castle specifically used for the housing of the royal family. It is built out on the edge of the city up on a hill surrounded by two river valleys that cross at its point. It also served as an inspiration for Walt Disney's princess castles. Then we went and saw the best and largest preserved Roman aqueduct in the world. It runs right through the center of the city and actually was fully functioning until about 1921. It is a fascinating and amazing work of architecture, so ancient yet sits perfectly in the modern world. For our free time that day we simply sat at a cafe having coffee and then out on the grass under the aqueduct enjoying the sun, then had lunch and were headed off in the bus for a 5 hour trip back to Santander.
I don't even know how we all managed to survive that weekend of non stop walking and then decided it was a good idea to go to mountain and hike all around it the very next day. Monday was a holiday in Santander so no class which meant that we were up for an adventure. We went to Picos de Europa which is a fantastic mountain range not too far from Santander. We made a pit stop at another monastery and saw a piece of the cross that Jesus himself hung on. Then made it to the mountain, road a cable car to the top and hiked all around for a few hours, ate lunch in a cave, and basically just basked in the splendor of nature (at least that's what I did). Then rode the cable car down to the bottom, stopped in the cute mountain town of Potes, and then took our last bus ride of the 4 day weekend back home once again.
That was a lot of words and that doesn't even cover half of it, but I did the best I could. I can always talk your ear off about any of these things when I get back home so if you want to know more, hit me up!
Anyways, to sum things up, I learned so much about Spanish history on this trip and saw nature at it's finest and had fantastic interactions with humans and lots of good laughs with my new friends on the trip. So all in all, it was a pretty great weekend. Now to finish out this school week and look towards my next adventure this weekend: ROME and also THE WORLD CUP
Hasta luego amigos!!
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