Segovia

This past week was quite a busy one! I sat around and did homework on Sunday so it all started with Monday afternoon. I met up with two of my intercambio partners, Ángel and Mar, at a bar near my house. Halle, Brian and I spent about two hours eating tapas and speaking in Spanish and English with Ángel (with his adorable son, Iván) and Mar. It really helps my Spanish. We’re even meeting up this afternoon to play games and cards.

Tuesday my friend Kristin came to visit me in Toledo! She’s currently studying in Luxembourg but had a mini-Spring Break this week and was traveling around Spain. I am so happy she made time to come see me! We did some touristy things around Toledo including the “Zocotren.” It’s a small train that leaves from the main plaza inside the Casco and drives outside of Toledo and gives you some amazing views. It is only about 45 minutes long but it offers some brief history on Toledo and I took a lot of photos. Kristin had to leave Wednesday afternoon but we had a lot of fun together! And I hope I impressed her with my Spanish skills.

Wednesday morning during history we went to the Santa Cruz museum. We saw some paintings, ancient chemistry materials and antique clothes. It was pretty interesting but our tour guide was definitely a vampire. Wednesday afternoon we had another ruta of Toledo. We went to a museum with some statues and then to a Jewish museum. Toledo is known for a period of time in history of peace among the Jews, Christians and Muslims. Toledo’s art is heavily influenced on a mixture of these three religions. Over the past eight weeks we have been visiting museums and sites of these religions.

Friday morning our group left Toledo at 8:30 a.m. to drive to Segovia! We arrived around 11 a.m. and walked to the aqueduct. I can’t even explain how incredible it was so here is a photo:


After our guide, David, gave us a brief history lesson of the aqueducts, we headed to the Alcazar. According to our tourist guide (because it can explain Alcazar better than I can) during the Middle Ages the Alcazar was one of the favorite residences of the Castile Monarchs. Once the court moved to Madrid the Alcazar became a state prison for over two centuries. In 1762, king Carlos III founded the Royal Artillery School in the Alcazar (until 1862). The Alcazar now holds the General Military Archives and is a frequently visited site of tourists.

So needless to say there was a lot to see at the Alcazar! The tour was about an hour long and we saw the various rooms of the palace, the museum of military and we even got to climb a tower to the top of the palace for some amazing views.


We headed over to lunch after our Alcazar tour. I had pasta and then fried chicken and French fries. Very Spanish, I know. We had an hour of free time so most of us got a café con leche and played “mafia.” It’s a card game that we used with coins, but it kept us occupied. We took a tour of the Cathedral of Segovia (which looked exactly like the Cathedral in Toledo), had another hour of so of free time and then headed back to Toledo around 5:30 p.m. I was pretty exhausted so after dinner with Liz I came home, watched the end of National Treasure 2 and went to bed.

Yesterday I spent my morning packing up things I want my mom to take home, making a list of things I want my mom to bring me, writing e-mails, writing in my journal and cleaning my room. I met up with Liz for lunch and then with Halle and Brian for intercambio and games. The four of us went to Ángel’s house and spent over four hours with him, his wife Olga and out other partner Mar. We talked for about an hour, ate food and drank wine and played Taboo and Spoons. It was so much fun! We’re meeting up with Ángel and Mar again on Monday.

I have spent most of today relaxing and messing around on the computer, not doing homework, like most Sundays. Only one more week until Shannon and I go to Rome and only two more weeks of class until my mom comes and we go on our European Spring Break! Hasta luego readers, until next time!