This past weekend in Spain was Carnaval! It's the weekend before Holy Week and basically it's a weekend of parades, concerts, parties and costumes. Thursday during our grammar class our professor María took us to a costume shop outside the casco. I bought wings (alas) and a headband for antennae (antena) to dress up as a butterfly (mariposa)!
The festivities don't really start until Saturday so I went to a bar on Thursday night for a few hours and came home pretty early. Friday during the day I ate lunch with my family, went to the mall, bought a new shirt and ate pizza for dinner! I just really wish I had ranch dressing... I went out to a bar again Friday night and had a lot of fun! It's those nights when you have no expectations that turn into the most fun. I slept late on Saturday to rest up for the big night! I got lunch with some friends during the day and walked around Toledo a bit because the weather was so nice. I only had to wear a sweater. Around 5 p.m. we walked to Avda. Reconquista to watch the parade.
The parade was awesome! The children running around had the cutest costumes. My favorite were two little boys dressed as princes. The parade was a little over an hour long (actually longer but there was a break in the middle and we had left already) and it was so much fun. The best part was this 20-minute period of ancient Egypt. The dancers looked exhausted though! Their costumes were amazing, their choreography was fun and their floats were massive. They did not throw candy into the crowd like in America but we did get covered in quite a bit of confetti. And now I'm deaf because the music they played was so loud.
After the parade I went home to get dressed quickly. I wore a blue dress to match my butterfly costume. Shannon, Liz and I ate doner kepab (the best food ever) on the street and drank tinto de verano (red wine with lemon juice, it's similar to sangria). There was a concert in the middle of Zocodover and so we spent the night dancing and enjoying the creative Spanish costumes. It's much more popular here to wear costumes in a group. I don't know how many groups of 5-10 girls I saw wearing the same exact costume! We went to O'Brien's, of course, for a few drinks and I grabbed a taxi home around 3 a.m. It was a really fun night! Carnaval was a blast.
Yesterday they had the burning of sardines in the river and fireworks but I didn't make it down to the river. I could see some of the fireworks from my window though. Nothing too exciting has happened since my weekend in Barcelona until now. Classes are going fine, maybe a little boring at times and sometimes we're given a lot of homework, but they're manageable. We were supposed to watch a movie last week called "Nueve Reinas" but the movie did not have subtitles (in Spanish nor in English) so we couldn't understand most of the words being said. Hopefully ESTO will find a copy that has subtitles because it seemed really funny. We have another tour of Toledo this week and the group is going to Segovia on Friday. My good friend Kristin (who goes to Miami and is studying in Luxembourg) is coming to visit me tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm excited to hang out with her and show off my Spanish skills to a French speaker!
Everyone is starting to mentally prepare to leave (in three weeks) but I'm getting excited for the new group of students and a new experience in Toledo - the spring! I can't wait for Spring Break with my mom and then I'm excited for new Spanish classes and a new family. Lots of new things to come! This evening I'm having intercambio with Brian and Halle and I think Ángel is bring the Spanish version of Taboo and we're going to teach him how to play American card games. Should be fun! Hasta luego!
The festivities don't really start until Saturday so I went to a bar on Thursday night for a few hours and came home pretty early. Friday during the day I ate lunch with my family, went to the mall, bought a new shirt and ate pizza for dinner! I just really wish I had ranch dressing... I went out to a bar again Friday night and had a lot of fun! It's those nights when you have no expectations that turn into the most fun. I slept late on Saturday to rest up for the big night! I got lunch with some friends during the day and walked around Toledo a bit because the weather was so nice. I only had to wear a sweater. Around 5 p.m. we walked to Avda. Reconquista to watch the parade.
The parade was awesome! The children running around had the cutest costumes. My favorite were two little boys dressed as princes. The parade was a little over an hour long (actually longer but there was a break in the middle and we had left already) and it was so much fun. The best part was this 20-minute period of ancient Egypt. The dancers looked exhausted though! Their costumes were amazing, their choreography was fun and their floats were massive. They did not throw candy into the crowd like in America but we did get covered in quite a bit of confetti. And now I'm deaf because the music they played was so loud.
After the parade I went home to get dressed quickly. I wore a blue dress to match my butterfly costume. Shannon, Liz and I ate doner kepab (the best food ever) on the street and drank tinto de verano (red wine with lemon juice, it's similar to sangria). There was a concert in the middle of Zocodover and so we spent the night dancing and enjoying the creative Spanish costumes. It's much more popular here to wear costumes in a group. I don't know how many groups of 5-10 girls I saw wearing the same exact costume! We went to O'Brien's, of course, for a few drinks and I grabbed a taxi home around 3 a.m. It was a really fun night! Carnaval was a blast.
Yesterday they had the burning of sardines in the river and fireworks but I didn't make it down to the river. I could see some of the fireworks from my window though. Nothing too exciting has happened since my weekend in Barcelona until now. Classes are going fine, maybe a little boring at times and sometimes we're given a lot of homework, but they're manageable. We were supposed to watch a movie last week called "Nueve Reinas" but the movie did not have subtitles (in Spanish nor in English) so we couldn't understand most of the words being said. Hopefully ESTO will find a copy that has subtitles because it seemed really funny. We have another tour of Toledo this week and the group is going to Segovia on Friday. My good friend Kristin (who goes to Miami and is studying in Luxembourg) is coming to visit me tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm excited to hang out with her and show off my Spanish skills to a French speaker!
Everyone is starting to mentally prepare to leave (in three weeks) but I'm getting excited for the new group of students and a new experience in Toledo - the spring! I can't wait for Spring Break with my mom and then I'm excited for new Spanish classes and a new family. Lots of new things to come! This evening I'm having intercambio with Brian and Halle and I think Ángel is bring the Spanish version of Taboo and we're going to teach him how to play American card games. Should be fun! Hasta luego!
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