I wish I was doing more exciting things so I could talk about them in my blog, but there hasn't been much to say so that's why I haven't been writing!
This is my first full week of school and it's already brutal! My school schedule is pretty full. Monday through Friday I have spanish class until either 1 or 2 everyday. Then make the long trek home on the bus (which can take up to 35 min) and have lunch. Monday, Tues, Wed I have class at 4 for Cal Poly so I have to eat pretty quickly, have about 15 min to do whatever I need to do and then walk to class which takes about 20 min. Spanish class is awesome! It is pretty challenging but these are my favorite classes I have ever taken. The teachers speak to us exclusively in Spanish and they are all extremely enthusiastic about the subject they are teaching. I really like all of the spanish teachers.
Here is a random thing that I would like to share...In a cafeteria or a bar, or any place that sells tapas really... There is a strange thing that the people do here (ok, only strange to people from the US, a better word would be different). When eating tapas or drinking cafe con leche people use paper napkins. What do people do in the US when using a napkin when eating? They leave it on the table for the waiter to clean up. WELL in Spain they drop it on the floor. Yes, on the floor. So by the end of the day there are tons of little paper napkins all over the floor! Why do they do this you ask? Let me tell you... first of all it is because they don't have to clean them up all throughout the day and at the end of the day they just make one big sweep of the entire place. Another reason? When you walk into a place that has tapas if there are tons of these little napkins everywhere you have to think "wow, this place must be popular... lots of tapas are being ordered!" therefore, it is kind of like "street cred" for these places, the more napkins, the better food you have. Kind of interesting, huh? Random fact of the day....
Anyway, this weekend I am going to Barcelona with some people from the program but I will be staying with my friend Nicole who is studying there! I am very excited to get to see the city because I have heard so many good things about it. I leave Friday night and get there Saturday morning and since we have school off on Monday I will leave monday night and get back to Valladolid on Tuesday morning. So that means I have 3 full days in Barcelona to do whatever I want! Does anyone have any "must dos" while I am there? If you have been before what is your favorite thing in the city, I will visit and take a picture for you :)
Also, I have another 3 day weekend coming up that I want to travel outside of Spain for. Any ideas for that one?!
So last Saturday I went on a day trip to Burgos with the Spanish program at UVA (University of Valladolid) It was about an hour and 15 min away by bus and it was such a beautiful city. I didn't get to see too much of it, as we only got to visit part of the city, but I took some awesome pictures.
Just a pretty sidewalk next to the river :)
Catedral de Burgos
Me in front of the Cathedral... I took this myself, I'm good I know
We took this long stairway up here and after a night of going out that was not fun. But the end result was worth it. Overlooking all of Burgos.
A church in Burgos... All of the catholic churches are like this here! Amazing that this is from hundreds of years ago.
Burgos was awesome, I can't wait to go on lots of other day trips just so I can see as much of Spain as I can! Here are some other random pictures:
Inside the Campo Grande, the "Central Park" of Valladolid
This is the giant pond inside the park with a cool geyser type thing. Lots of ducks and geese live here. Inside the park are playgrounds, pathways, gardens, a chicken coop (!) and tons of birds!
Peacocks are EVERYWHERE! Its pretty cool, but they also kind of scare me.
This is actually a cafe inside the park. Tables are set up all around the fountain and you can order a cafe con leche, beer, wine, etc., and sit here and people watch all day long. Its really quite lovely, but such a distraction when you are trying to do homework (which I was).
I still haven't taken many photos of the actual city, but I figured why rush?! I have 3 months to do that, better to keep you guys guessing :)
XOXO,
Abby
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