Wednesdays Start Too Early

Due to the fact I just came into 7 extra hours in my day... I figured it be a good time for an update!

Usually on Wednesday mornings.. I wake up at 7:45 am... leave my house by 8:15.. walk 15 minutes and then catch a ride to my internship at 8:30. All of that happened today except.. for step #4... catching a ride. IT NEVER CAME! How sad.. I was on time and waited for a little over 15 minutes. Not quite sure what happened.. the lady the picks me up, Ana, would have called me if she came and I wasn't there or something. But sadly, I do not have her number so I couldn't call her.

It's not all bad though.. because I have my first Modern Spain exam today.. so now i'll be able to use this time for some more studying (and probably a pretty lengthy nap... maybe even a run if I get motivated). It's an essay test.. and we have two options - Terrorism or The Historic Memory (Civil War). The kicker... we won't know which one until we get into class. Luckily, both topics are very interesting. Unluckily, both topics are pretty hard.

This past Monday was a holiday (FIESTA!) in Segovia. It was San Frutos.. that's Segovia's saint. So it's always a big party all weekend. And then all of the traditional stuff happens Sunday night... there were concerts starting at like 8:30pm that went until about 1 or 2am. And get ready for this....... at midnight.... they serve SOUP! To everyone who wants it! You pay 1euro.. wait in line.. and you get your own cool ceramic bowl .. filled with a garlic soup that has like bread in it and ham. And I was VERY surprised how fast the line went. Its so fun to experience the traditional things of another culture.

We have the option here to meet people that  we call.. "intercambios'.. basically they are spainards that want to work on their english and help you with your spanish. So every Tuesday it's me, kasey, emilie, the other amanda and isaac and 2 spanish girls. BUT.. yesterday it was Me, Kasey & Emilie and one of the girls we usually meet with and then a new girl.. who was just a SWEETHEART! And her english is very impressive. She was asking us if we have made very many segovian friends.. and we were like umm no not really.. because whenever we meet people when we "are out" its usually guys that have been drinking... sooo we don't usually make a point to become friend with them and hang out again. So... she has already invited us to hang out with her and friends! She's the same age as us and studying to teach english. So that was a very exciting "intercambio" session.

After our exam today.. me and a couple friends are planning on taking the bus to "Nuevo Segovia" .. the new part of Segovia.. so we can go to a Halloween shop and get some costumes for Halloween--Apparently Spain has adopted this lovely American "holiday" (We'll be in Barcelona) ... and also go to a movie! Then tomorrow.. I have my business class in the morning (but it's pushed back an hour tomorrow.. yes!) and then later Thursday we're having a "birthday party" for everyone who is celebrating a birthday in Spain... haha even though we usually celebrate it the day of too. and then... 6:00 am Friday morning we are leaving for Barcelona.. which I am so excited for.

And before I leave.. here is a picture!

On the Left is Kristie (who is also staying for Jterm)

In the middle is Emilie (who I traveled with for Fall Break)

This pictures is actually from awhile ago.. when we were in Madrid!

un abrazo y un beso. xo

amanda.

Parid y Londres

Hola Todos!

prepare yourself for a long blog post full of pictures from... Fall Break!

I left bright & early Monday the 11th at 6:00am on a from Segovia to Madrid. We made our way through the metro, into the Airport, through "check in" (aka.. 2 stamps on a piece of computer paper that was our boarding pass - gotta love budget airlines) and security to our gate. Our flight left on 10:30 am.. and that consisted of waiting in line, going outside, getting on a bus/tram, running down the tarmac and up the stairs to claim our seats on the plane. What a morning. And then we were off.... to Paris! To Paris I traveled with two girls... Emilie and Leah. And once we got there we met up with two guys from our group... Paul and Isaac. Emilie and I were in Paris until Wednesday night, while the other 3 left early Wednesday morning for Dublin.

First... our hostel was pretty nice!!! It wasn't too expensive either. Emilie and I shared a "private double with bathroom"... let me just show what bathroom exactly means according to them...

Obviously a sink and mirror mean bathroom! hah.. but it wasn't that big of a deal, the place was clean!

 

Isaac, Emilie, Leah, Paul, Me!

For Monday & Tuesday it was all of us. Wednesday was just Em and I!

This was close to our hostel.. we went on a walk with our McDonalds and found a place to watch street performers while we ate!

We saw everythinggggg... mas o menos :)

Here we are.. at the Louvre! 

The whole group at the Louvre

Of course, the Eiffle 

The first night there we decided to cook for ourselves!

We made 2 different pastas and bread.

And of course, we had a lot of cheese and wine!!! 

¡Que delicioso!

We didn't sleep the night before...... 

Day #2 in Paris

We went on a "free" walking tour.. it was so great!

Here we are at the Louvre again.

Arc de Triopmhe

Soooooo cool. My favorite place in Paris.

Of Course, the Eiffle again!!!

DELICIOUS Nutella Crepes

Just Em and I .. lovin' Paris.

had to make some stops at the local pet stores

loveeeee these kittens.

we did it.. found the Mona Lisa

In that HUGE museum that everyone seems to love

I wish I understood art.

Outside the Louvre.. again!

After a very interesting journey to London that night... we finally made out way to our friends' university in a not so near by town called Egham... 90 Pounds later.. which is $141

First night out in Egham

in a pub with friends!

Good 'ol McDonalds

whoops... we went shopping

even though we only have a back pack to travel with!

check it out..... BERRY'S!

Bethel friends :)

Gotta love a little piece of home on the other side of the world

Lots of Swans..

We cooked dinner for the boys!

It was a "thanks" for giving us your room for 4 nights :)

Em and I in the train to London

check it out.. Big Ben

in front of Buckingham Palace

Just some Modern Art

On Justin's favorite bridge... so we had to get a picture

Big Ben!!

Em and I lovin each other... and the boys in the background

Paris friends reunited in London, love them.

Tower Bridge behind us

London Eye

Wow! That was a lot of pictures. There is a little taste of the things I saw and did during fall break! Sunday night Em and I stayed in a hostel near Stansted Airport (all the airports in London are pretty far our there).. which we got to around 9:00 pm.. which is sadly when the Pub near by stops serving food. So.... we counted up how many pounds we had left... and luckily we were able to order some pizza! Which was pretty good. The hostel was adorable.. a cottage-y feeling.. but it was REALLY in the middle of no where. We were able to catch a ride with the owner of the hostel in the morning to the airport.. because he was taking his wife to the airport... so sweet of him! So we boarded our plane at around 8:00am ... to only find out we were going to be delayed 2 hours .. sitting on the tarmac. How Fun.. but it ended up being fine. We made it back to Madrid.. got on a bus to go back to Segovia.. and arrived in Segovia at about.. 3:45pm.. enough time to walk to school and be in class at 4:15 pm. To say the least ... we were pretty exhausted.

Overall -- amazing trip! Loved Paris. Loved London. They were both expensive, London worse -- because the pound sucks. Now, I am happily in Segovia.. about to go out! Its thursday... so as my host mom tells me .. of course I need to go out.. its thursday! Spainards are crazy!

Next Friday, the 29th, We leave for BARCELONA!! the weekend after that we spend a day in Salamanca.. and the weekend after that we are in Andalucia for like 5 days. And then its about half way through November.. time flys.

love you all.. hugs and kisses are sent your way.

It's October!!

Hello Everybody!

It's Sunday afternoon and my host mom is just starting to prepare our lunch! My host grandma is also over.. she is usually here for weekend meals! So that's always fun to add another person :) Yesterday our group went to Toledo.. it's a 2 hour bus ride each way - a perfect time for napping. Toledo is a beautiful place with the "small town" feel that segovia has. ALTHOUGH--they have a McDonals, unlike Segovia. Qué suerte. We toured the town, went to Cathedrals, saw some art... and had free time to just roam around. The weather was just perfect.

Last Saturday we spend the afternoon in La Granja, a town about 15 minutes away from Segovia. We toured a glass factory were we got to see some guys blowing glass--very very cool! And, of course, there was a palace to tour as well. It was very beautiful with a ton of art. We had a wonderful tour guide (who was literally, half my height) she spoke very clearly and slowly and made sure we all understood what we were seeing! It was a great day!

glass blowing in La Granja

Stained Glass -- will always amaze me

more cool glass!

The Palace.. and beautiful gardens!

Leah, Kasey, & Me!!

This past week of classes were just same 'ol same 'ol. Nothing too new. We started reading some poetry in my classic literature class... it's awful. I always have my host mom help me with it.. but there a quite a few times where she doesn't even know what it's talking about!!!

I leave for fall break one week from tomorrow.. I'm going to Paris and London. Which is getting to be a little scary---there are about to be European Travel warnings to Americans because of threats of attack coming from Al-Qaida. Paris has had to evacuate the Eiffle Tower two times.. and most attacks take place in areas of public transportation, which i'll obviously be using. So please.. say a prayer for me and the other 17 students that will be travel around Europe in a week.. different places people are going are Italy, Paris, London, Dublin, Switzerland, Germany.. and a couple more.

Also - my Nana Berry has been in the hospital getting tests done to figure out what is causing some problems  she's been having lately... please say a prayer for her and the doctors.

"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."Acts 4:31

I hope you all have a great week! And if you didn't see ... my post before this one has my address at the bottom..!!! Just in case you're interested in sending me something ;)

Besos. Amanda.