EmWest

Daily life as a Spaniard 830am Rachel & I wake up 920am breakfast          *Here breakfast is hot chocolate, orange juice, cookies to dip in the hot cocoa & sometimes a mini muffin (I just want some fruit!) 930 head to the center to use Internet and finish homework before class 1020 -2 class (2 classes each an hour and forty five minutes) 230 lunch at the casa 3pm siesta for an hour and a half to 2 hours 430-5 wake up and get ready to leave again 5-7 walk around Segovia, do touristy things, use the internet, do homework 7-930pm drink either white wine or a jarra de sangria with at least 3 or 4 of us to like 10 of us and eat the tapas that must come with it and ... read more

Barcelona! July 14 to 17 then Madrid 17 to 18 What a weekend..is all I really have to say about our "long" weekend in Spain. We accomplished so many things that it felt as though I was gone from my "home" of Segovia for a week--even though 5 days is close to a week. Thursday July 14 Travel Group: Rachel, Jillian (she went to Pamplona with us), Carey Beth, Ali, Sami, and Elizabeth. After a long day of classes, we all had our lunches and headed to the bus station to travel to the train station to go to Madrid to then take a metro to the airport to take a plane to Barcelona then a bus to Barcelona city centre to take a metro to an area around our "hostel" to walk the rest of ... read more

Random side notes about Spain: There always seems to be a negative odor around..I don't know why yet. Clearly in Pamplona it was because people were living in the streets. There are tons of roundabouts so it is just like home..except there are stoplights on alot of the roundabouts which I find very interesting. All of the spanish stores play American/english music. I don't know why..but I am looking forward to going out in Barcelona to hopefully hear some spanish music! The sun here, like at home, doesn't set until around 10pm but that is okay because we don't eat dinner until 10pm every day. All of the "emergency exit signs" are green with a man running and an arrow. I wonder if this makes for more chaos because everyone thinks they should be in a ... read more

First day: PAMPLONA! On Friday 8 of July Jillian, Raquel, and I headed to Pamplona. The bus ride from Segovia to the train station was about 20 minutes, and we were literally taken to the middle of nowhere..which mean the BFE of Segovia. I was convinced we were on the wrong bus headed to our death. We made it safely to the train station..but the station was an experience. We were in line to go to a bus, when a man saw our tickets for Madrid and told us (in spanish) that we were in the wrong line and to go that way..The other direction. The problem was that the direction we were headed was for the bathrooms. Clearly that was wrong. Turns out you can only go through "security" when your train is boarding. So, ... read more

Madrid & Funny Story about el Metro: The program visited Madrid on Saturday the second of July & while there we had hours of free time after 2pm. About the day: When we visited Madrid, it was very cool--there were many people and it is a huge city. We got off the city bus, which was very nice, and continued on an uphill walk to the garden of the castle. El Palacio Real--we walked through the very plain gardens (no need to ever see those) and then the castle. It was grand and beautiful. Basically, I should live there. (A true princess at heart=Emily) Then we continued to walk to the Plaza Mayor and la Plaza de Sol. La plaza de sol is where the protests for working and other problems in Spain are occurring. THey calmed ... read more