Blog time :)

I’m pretty sure I have lots to write about… but I’ll probably forget a lot. Soooo, let’s start with the happenings of last week. Two Tuesday’s ago (I know- long time), I went for churros con chocolate with Berta, our grad student professor from Western, and a few other girls. Mmmm… churros are like fried dough with sugar on top. I’d say that they might be the equivalent of elephant ears, except they are more in the form of small twists. Are you picturing this? Gooood… add to the mix chocolate that is melted just so that it can barely be considered a liquid. Dip the churro into the chocolate, and you get absolute perfection. Quality Spanish snack for sure. The next day, our class went to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. There are five Guggenheims in the world, with one being in New York City. It displays modern art, which I have to say is not really my thing. Too many black paintings with a single white spot or random paint splatters to mean a whole heck of a lot to me. But there was an exhibit by a painter named Henri Rousseau, which I really loved. He paints in what they call “naïf” style in Spain, but I think the translation to English would be “naïve.” Anyway, his paintings are really legit… the basis of “naïf” paintings is to portray things the way they are, kind of like through a child’s eyes. So there were tons of really playful paintings, many of them including jungle scenes. The next day, Thursday, marked a beach day :) And let me tell you- I LOVE me some Spain beach. Minus the topless women and naked children. Without a doubt, the beaches here are a haven for perverts and pedophiles. It’s like lady- put some clothes are your child, immediately. And no it’s not acceptable to wipe their butts in my direct line of vision. Just got to keep your eyes closed. But really, the beaches are otherwise beautiful. There’s just something a bit more magical about laying on a Spanish beach rather than Grand Haven or Holland. At night, I went out with a bunch of people to Plaza Canadio. That place is crazy busy/cool on Thursday nights. Everyone hangs out outside drinking around the plaza and in the surrounding bars. It’s like the ultimate weekly social event for people our age. Later in the night, I went to a bar to try a shot they call the “dragon.” Everyone has been raving about them, and of course, I had to join the club. The dragon is a shot that they pour into a tall, skinny glass. You cover it and swirl it around so that you get the alcohol toward the top of the glass. Then you light the top with a lighter, and it of course starts on fire. You put your hand on the top as soon as the flame goes down a bit, and it suctions to your hand. You shake it a bit as it is suctioned, and then take the shot and cover the glass immediately. After you take it, you uncover the glass and breathe in the fumes from the shot. :D Let’s just say that Kelly conquered the dragon.

A few short hours later, we left as a group for Segovia, Toledo, and Burgos. Overall, the three cities were very similar and kind of blend together in my mind, but I’ll try to organize my thoughts as best as possible. We had about a 4 or 5 hour trip to Segovia, I believe. We stopped first at our hotel, El Corrigedor, which was a bit older, but overall pretty nice. And there were 2 single beds in each room, so it was Ashley and I in our room. After we settled in a bit, we met our tour guide at the ayuntamiento of Segovia, which is right in front of the aqueduct. Can I just point out for a second how freaking amazing this structure is? It was built between the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., runs over 15 km to the mountains for water, and looks brand new. Even more amazingly, it doesn’t have any mortar or cement holding the bricks together. They are held together solely by the pressure of the bricks making an arch around them. HOLYYY! It was used up until the around the 1950s. So like 1900 years! Pretty freaking cool. After that, we took a walking tour through the city Our final stop with our tour guide was at the Alcazar of Segovia. It’s part fortress, part castle, but has some really great history. Isabel and Fernando, los “Reyes Catolicos,” who forced the conversion of the Spaniards to Catholicism, among other things, were married there. There were some amazing views out into the countryside, and there was a moat, too! A real MOAT. Cool cool. Afterward, some of us toured the Cathedral of Segovia, which was gorgeous from the outside, but pretty much the same as every other church I’ve seen here so far. Haha… beautiful, but redundant. The unfortunate part about Segovia is that almost everything… all the bars, restaurants, EVERYTHING, closes by midnight. What the heck, people… we are in SPAIN. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best place for our group to stay. After everything closed, we hung out at the hotel, causing a big ruckus like a bunch of youngins. Kindaaa fun, actually :)

The next morning, we woke up to the best hotel breakfast EVERRRR. Well, probably not ever, but the Spaniards don’t eat much for breakfast typically, so it was heaven. Danishes, cereal, buns, croissants, meat, cheese, toast, yogurt, fruit, juice, coffee… yummm. Definitely a good start to the day. Next we took off for Toledo, which was another 2 hour ride or so. Interesting fact: this city is where they coined the phrase “Holy Toledo!” Pretty cool, huh? I’ve BEEN there. At one point, when Spain was the highest power in this part of the world, Toledo was the capital of Spain. It is known as the “city of three cultures,” because back in the day, there was an unusual tolerance and acceptance of the combined presence of Christian, Jewish, Moorish/Muslim cultures. It was a sweet city with a veryyy extensive history that reminded me a lot of Santillana del Mar on a much grander scale. We took a walking tour there as well, with temps apparently being right around 100 F. Lucky for us, there’s no humidity, so it was bearable. Another cool thing about Toledo is that it was built in the middle of a river that winds almost entirely around the city, which acted as a moat to protect the city from the enemy during early times. We saw both a monastery and a synagogue on our tour, both of which were very interesting. But my favorite faaaavorite part was seeing El Greco’s painting, “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.” Please look it up… it has the greatest symbolism, and I couldn’t resist buying a print for myself. I stood there for at least a solid 10 minutes just staring. Lunch in Toledo was the Menu del Dia, or Menu of the Day, in which I got paella, carcamusas (some type of stew), ice cream cake, wine, bread, and water for just 14 euros. Yumm. Katie and I then took on the city’s shopping. I was on a quest to find the perfect piece of jewelry. One of Toledo’s specialties is this really cool black and gold jewelry. You can get the gold plated type for much cheaper than the real gold, obviously, so this was my aim. I found a bracelet that I love love loooved, but after seeing that the gold was rubbing off already, I settled for a couple of cheap rings and a small pair of earrings…in case you were wondering. ;) That night, we stayed in Segovia for another night. Once again, the bars were only open until around 12 or so, so we headed back to the hotel for the night again afterward.

The next day, we drove to Burgos. The main draw is the Cathedral of Burgos, which is absolutely beautiful. There is soooo much to learn about every room in that cathedral, but by that time, I was just about toured out, so I think I tuned out for a good portion of it. But the cathedral is just as beautiful inside as well. My favorite part was a figure of a man called “Papamoscas” that hangs in one corner of the church. On the hour, every hour, it opens and closes its mouth two times as it simultaneously rings a bell. “Papamoscas” means flycatcher, so this makes sense. What our tour guide told us after this all happened is that the irony of the situation is that WE are all the real Papamoscas because we were the ones standing there watching with our mouths open. Funnyyyy. :) We ate lunch in the Plaza Mayor after the 2 HOUR tour of the church, and our food/sangria was sooooo good. Afterward, we discovered that there REALLY isn’t much to do in Burgos, at least during siesta, and I am very glad that I am not staying there for a semester. Goodness gracious, Burgos. We walked to the castle which doesn’t hold too much appeal, other than a good view of the city. And then we arrived back home that night just in time for dinner and school the next day. Yayyy…

This past Wednesday we took our last group excursion to the Picos de Europa, or the Peaks of Europe, for the day. Super sucky for us, it was raining so it was full of fog and clouds throughout all of the mountains. :( We took a cable car to the top of the mountain. It was almost vertical, which would have been crazy awesome if we would have been able to see anything. But we made the most of it anyway. On the way back to Santander, we stopped in a small town called Potes for a couple hours. It’s a small town a lot like Santillana del Mar, except for maybe a bit bigger. It’s known for its orujo, a type of strong liquor. No worries, I bought a small bottle for everyone back at home to try! :) We sat outside, ate some lunch (patatas bravas and sangria…woo!), and listened to mariachi. And no, mariachi is not Spanish. Haha… just a little slice of Mexican in Espana. We stopped at another small town on the way back called San Vincente that had a lake with the cuuuutest little boats, which made it super pretty and idyllic. We stopped at the small castle there and grabbed some ice cream from my fave Regma, and headed back home for the day.

This weekend in Santander is Semana Grande, a weeklong festival that Santander has every year, with tons of restaurant booths, rides, music, and everything else that goes along with a festival. I’m excited to experience it all… Manolo says it’s the best week out of the year to be in Santander. And only 6 more days, and I’ll be leaving here. TOO weird to even think about. I’ll be home SO soon! I know after a couple days at home, I’ll be missing this place and all traveling I’ve been doing. Bittersweet feelings, without a doubt. But I’m excited to see all of you back home, too :)

Abrazos y besos,
ME