Madrid, La Granja, Segovia

This past weekend our group went to Madrid, La Granja and Segovia. We left bright and early Saturday morning, stopped for breakfast along the way, and got to El Prado for our tour. We went through El Prado getting to see works from all different artists, the highlights being those from Velazquez and Goya. I bought a book that is a guide and history of the museum so that was pretty neat. We went to lunch (some people from our group got squid that was cooked in their own ink, mmm) and then headed to the Palacio Real. This is the official residence of the king of Spain, but is only used for state ceremonies(political visits etc).  All the rooms are decorated differently, with all types of art from many different artists. This part of the trip was a repeat from the trip with Diebler, but it was still neat to see everything. We then headed to hotel, which was the same hotel from the Diebler trip, Hotel Convención. :) We got back and started getting ready for our special dinner where we got to dress up :) I wore my little black dress I found with Emily and Anita at TJ Maxx :) We ended up eating at this restaurant that was an old house now a restaurant with different rooms. We started outside with appetizers and drinks, then headed inside for dinner. We got a salad to start and then a weird fish purée(kind of looked like cat food) then a yummy pumpkin'ish' dessert. Through out the meal the waiters sang opera while accompanied by the piano. It was really neat, and a very different experience but it lasted over 4 hours!!!!  So by the end (12:30 or so...) I was exhausted.
Sunday we went to La Granja, which is only 20 minutes from Segovia and saw El Palacio de la Granja. It was another palace with tons of art, but it had beautiful gardens. After the tour we walked around the gardens and got to see some leaves that changed colors!!! It was really neat. Miguel (the husband of the Maria Angeles who is in charge of the Salamanca Program for OWU) said that in the summer there are two days when the all the fountains are turned on (they don't run on pumps) and people come and kids wear their bathing suites and play in the fountains!!! We then had lunch, then headed to Segovia. We saw the aqueduct, which is Roman built with out any cement at all. We walked through the city and saw the cathedral and Alcázar, which is a palace in Segovia.
It was a fun trip, I really enjoyed the gardens of La Granja, they were really beautiful :) This weekend Kelley, Mark and I are going to Santiago de Compostela and IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!
lots of love!

Quick update

So, we don't have class today!!! woot woot :) I was counting the days of actual class we have and it's on 25 days of class but Im here for another two months haha Sunday Mark and I went to El Rastro, didn't find any cute boots but had a fun time walking around. There are these off brand Puma shoes that they call Hunting Lions, and I about died laughing at the name!!! They're only 5 euros so I might have to get someone a pair hahahahah We also got to talk to Mark's family and I got to skype with mine so it was nice to hear and see everyone!!! Trying to book a another trip. It's hard though because stuff is expensive and I don't know what trips the university is going to offer in November. Im looking at going to Santiago de Compostela, but I also asked my madre for suggestion and she gave me a couple cities to look into.  Today Mark and I went on a jog then met up later at 4 and watched Iron Man 2 in the park, so that was nice :) I am currently eating some peanut butter and listening to some music, going to read some La Casa de Los Espíritus then skype date with Grammie :), dinner, shower, then another skype date with Joni!!! So yeah that's a quick update on my life here in Salamanca. :)
lots of love

Better late then never :)

So, obviously I have not kept up my end of the deal with this whole blog thing, but I'm doing it now, because I hadn't realized that it's been since Sept. 28 that I've updated, woops :)
Okay so here's a breakdown of my life for the past week and half or so: Bilbao and Classes.
Bilbao
Mark and I left for Bilbao on Friday Oct 1 by train. The train was 5 hours or so and relatively uneventful. Unlike Kelley, Kelly,Jess and Courtney's train ride to Portugal, which involved getting covered in blood sucking bugs (GROSS) haha. So, yeah we got to Bilbao, and this was the first time I've ever travelled with out any guidance and I'd like to think it was successful. We got there, found a map of the city, found our hotel, Barceló and headed that way. We took a walk around the city after getting settled in and saw the Guggenheim and the dog. We were hungry, so went to try and get some tapas, we found a restaurant and we ended up getting cheese nachos and mozzarella sticks! Woops haha. But they were sooooo good!! On Saturday we got up, had a great breakfast at Barceló, and then spent the afternoon in the Guggenheim. It was soooo awesome. There was exhibits from Anish Kapoor(the bean in Chicago), selections from their collection (some Andy Warhol), and then a time exhibit with huge mazes (pictures on FB). I think it was the same artist who had a piece in the Canadian airport when we went to Switzerland and Italy, so that was super neat too. We went back and relaxed for a few, then headed out that night to walk around and see more of the city. We saw a manifestacíon on one of the main streets and they were yelling ETA ETA, but it no one seemed worried, and there were families walking in it so that was kind of interesting. For all those who don't know Bilbao is in the Basque country, with it's own language and flag, and want to be there own country. When my Mom was here in the 80's they weren't allowed to go to Bilbao because of the extremists, but it's safer now, and I did not feel threatened at all. Sunday we headed back to good ol' Salamanca, riding through some storms and wind, and when we got back there were a lot of branches everywhere because of the wind! I really enjoyed the trip, it was a great first travel experience!
Classes
We just finished our second week of classes. We are taking five: Grammar, History, Art History, and two literature classes. We go to class from 9-2 then there are some classes in the evening from 5-7. They are going well. We have 3 novels we have to read, so that's a lot along with our daily homework. The history class is a little much because it's suppose to be contemporary history but he started before the invasion of 711, and it's basically the same class two hours in a row, because we're talking about the same thing in Art, so yeah. I love love love the grammar professor, I really feel like I'm learning a ton and getting a lot out of the experience, so that's definitely the best out of all of them.
Life
Life's pretty good. I was a little homesick last week, but that's passed and I'm really enjoying my time here. This afternoon I met up with Mark and went to go check out the trip to Portugal, but it was already full!! So Im going to do some research and hopefully we can go there too. We also planned our trip to Barcelona!! Im SOOO EXCITED for that :) We get to be there for 4 days, it was expensive, but its going to be soooo worth it!!!! We're going to Madrid next weekend with the group so that will be tons of fun too! Today we also went to VALOR, which everyone has been talking about since we got here, and had some AMAZING churros and chocolate. It's definitely on the list for things we're doing when Joni/Ken and the Schmitter's come in November!!! Then we went and got some much needed toiletries! So a pretty awesome Friday :D The only thing is the leaves don't change here!! So yeah, I asked people to take pictures of all the leaves changing and the pumpkin carvings! I miss Fall festivities!
Sorry for being so lack on the updates! My grammie sent me an email asking if I was going to update it on Bilbao..hahah
OWU- HAVE A GREAT HOMECOMING WEEKEND!!! Thinking of everyone!
BESTIES- HOPE YOU'RE PLANNING AN AWESOME REUNION!!! I CAN NOT WAIT!!! DONATOS, CHICK FLICKS :) :)
Lots of love