http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Spain , Castile L on en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:49:49 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:49:49 BST Tomorrow I'm going to La Granja on an excursion. Saturday I'm starting to pack possibly meeting Julia's mom going to church and finishing homework. Sunday I'm going to two museums in Madrid on an excursion. See you all in a week http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-304082.html This morning I had a Valenciana four cookies and hot chocolate for breakfast. I also had to do a little homework before we left because I didnrsquot finish it last night. In grammar we took the entire 1.5 hours correcting the homework from yesterday and we have very similar homework tonight. In civ we finished talking about Franco he died today and we get to move on tomorrow After class http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-303540.html Reporting back after delay we have finally found internet in this society with dwindling technology.A few days after Leon on day twenty somewhere in the Spanish outback we had the hardest day yet. The troops were woken at 0600 hours by Corporal Comyn aiming to leave base camp at 0630 hours. However a short delay was incurred after the albergues owner offered us some of his personal rations of cof http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/blog-303286.html This morning I woke up and was still very tired. Diego woke up last night at 130 and screamedwhinedcried until 230. I was up for about 30 minutes before I was finally able to fall back asleep. He's been here since Wednesday and Marian his mom came for the weekend but I think he really misses her. He's also teething. Daddy would be going crazy because all he does is whine all day. So I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-303122.html SundayWake up at 8 got ready and cleaned room roll and valenciana in hot chocolate for breakfast to bus station at 945 left early to take pictures but found group Courtney Libby Lea and Claire going to Toledo on the way and walked fast with them bought ticket for bus to Valsain 1.05 euros at 1030 and went to sit in caf with Sam bought a muffin with milka chocolate and chocolate ch http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-302691.html ThursdayThis morning I had my banana walnut mini muffins for breakfast and they tasted so good. Julia was already awake because Diego woke up early but I just told her they were a present from my aunt in the package and she didnrsquot seem offended. Irsquom sure Diego woke up early because of Nicole. She has no courtesy in the morning and makes as much noise as she wants at any time of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-302686.html This felt like the longest week ever I guess my professors realized wersquore almost through here and assigned us way too much homework. So during the week I didnrsquot do much other than working on papers and relaxing. This weekend though I had fun.Friday we had an excursion to el Escorial and Valle de los Cados. First el Escorial. This is the biggest building in Spain. It was made in h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-302672.html Buenos Dias In two more weeks I will be home. This trip has flown and I feel like I have learned so much about a multitude of things. But I canrsquot wait to get home and see everyone. This past Friday we went on a group excursion to a huge castle which was in a suburb of Madrid. It had the most amazing murals I have ever seen. There was a hallway where the entire thing from wall to ceiling was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-302670.html Hello allWell I made it through exam week It was a rough go... and Im really glad to have that done for a few days. I have one exam this coming week and then three the following week. Before you know it Ill be heading back to the states I dont have much news to report because the week was so full of classes and studying. However Ive been enjoying Salamanca a bit the last couple days http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Salamanca/blog-302218.html so after the kids left us last weekend we chilled out for a couple of hours in the kitchen as the cook had left so it was our first time to have a good ol nose around and then michelle orla and i got ready to hit the town... it would have been quite scary to stick around in the education centre for the entire evening as it reminds me a bit of the place inthe shining... i thought i was the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/blog-301805.html Well made have made it to leon an amazing city with so much going on. On the way here passed a Welsh cyclist who said he had heard of us when speaking to other British Pilgrims as apparently not many Brits are doing it...so we must be quite famous for him to recognise us Booked into the the refuge here and about to go out again but we have just been playing to locals at football in bare feet http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Le-n/blog-301119.html Tomorrow for our excursion we're going to Valle de los Caidos in Madrid to see the tomb where Fransico Franco is buried. We're also going to a Monastery here in Segovia. Saturday me and Julie are going to Toledo for 5 hours it's only 22 euros round trip and only 1.5 hours away. Then we are participating in a picture that is being taken at the aqueduct at 1115 pm. Sunday we have a mini excur http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-301115.html WednesdayThis morning I had a roll with nutella two cookies and milk for breakfast. I also brought an oatmeal crme pie to school to eat between my classes. In grammar we went over the past tense homework we had and we all did really bad. She gave us another exercise in the book for practice and then photo copied another story for us to use for practice. We also have a one to two page paper http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-300916.html SaturdayToday we had an excursion to Salamanca and Avila. We had to be at the bus station at 8 am because it is a two hour drive from Segovia to Salamanca. I sat next to Julie on the bus and we listened to Spanish music on my IPod the whole way there. I wanted to eat my mini muffins this morning but Julia woke up early to make us our sandwiches for lunch and I didnrsquot want to offend her. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Salamanca/blog-300914.html Hola I canrsquot remember if I ever posted pictures of where I am staying. So here are some for your entertainment. I donrsquot have a picture of my host mom but I will get one before I go home. She has a nice apartment which has a small kitchen living and dining room combo 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It is clean too. Some people have houses but others live in apts. like mine and others not http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-300908.html I didn't have an internet connection last night so I missed uploading this blog.....El Cidrsquos BurgosOur day in Burgos began with breakfast again and once again it was the classic European fare full of meats cheeses and fruits with a croissant thrown in. Scrambled eggs of course. All of the hotels have a curious way of cooking our style of bacon. They donrsquot. Itrsquos very limp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Burgos/blog-300717.html TuesdayThis morning I had a roll with blackberry jelly two cookies a chocolate cookie and hot chocolate for breakfast. In grammar we did an exercise in pairs and didnrsquot all have to talk about our weekends. It was weird to do something different. We also had poems due. Yesterday we had to write a poem following the format of one we read in class about what we want from her ex I wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-300472.html MondayThis morning I had the last Valenciana for breakfast with three cookies like always. Even though the coffee was a day old I decided to have some because the cookies dipped in the coffee are soooo good. I had a little scare this morning though. When I woke up my left eye had lots of sleepies in it and when I opened my eyes it was really blurry. I looked at it and it was very pink. I thou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-300468.html FridayThis morning we only had grammar class. Edursquos civilization class was combined with Marianrsquos European Union class that comes right after civ and we went to the cathedral and Alcazar here in Segovia. The catedral was beautiful and really big. There is so much to say about it and so many stories that I already wrote out when I was labeling my photos. So Irsquom not going to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-300467.html On the Road to BurgosEarly Sunday morning after another European breakfast we boarded our bus for the ride out of town out into the countryside and eventually Burgos in the north. We had three stops on our journey north. The rolling hills of Spain are quite beautiful. Bill Zaccone likens the area to eastern Oregon. The winds blow low over the hills and we passed many groupings of windmills. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Burgos/blog-299776.html So I haven't had much blogging time but definitely am going to eventually because it was a good weekend that I don't want to forget. Here's a mini updateFriday for my civilization class we went to the cathedral and then the castle here in Segovia. They are so beautiful and I can't wait to upload some photos I will when I put up the blog from the day.Saturday we went to Salamanca and Avila. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-299722.html Itrsquos Monday here and Irsquom back to blogging.On Saturday morning we all rose bright and early to go on another group excursion. First we drove two hours to Salamanca where we toured the University of Salamanca which resembled something out of Harry Potter. Parts of the Univ. are still used today and it is the 3rd oldest Univ. in the world. We then toured another cathedral which looked the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-299509.html Hola familia y amigos Can you believe Irsquove already been here 3 weeks. When itrsquos time Irsquoll be ready to come home but there is still a lot I have to see and do. Hope the weather has improved in Michigan. It was actually a little cold here this weekend. This past Friday we toured the caste again the school never told us we were going there so I went twice and the main cathedr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-299508.html What a long week. We had classes 5 days this week rather than the normal 4 to make up for a festival day we had off during our first week here. After classes Friday we went on a little field trip just in town to learn more about Segovia. First we went to the cathedral. Itrsquos right in the plaza mayor. Irsquom sure Irsquove posted pictures of the plaza with the cathedral in it. It was th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Salamanca/blog-299505.html To say the Spaniards have been intrigued by our camping habits would be a substantial understatement. Spanish campsites are on the whole excellently appointed with most boasting outdoor swimming pools and onsite bars and restaurants. For the city dwelling flat loving Spaniard the campsite involves a permanent pitch for their caravan plus attachments and often a number of surrounding permanent stan http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Astorga/blog-299227.html We have now left the N120 long behind us well about 50 kilometres or so. The plains of Castille y Leon ended and the mountains of the Cordillera Cantabrica began. These mountains had long been on our horizon and our every bit as beautiful as their name. Three days ago Astorga with its fairy tale Gaudi palace was the entry point to this lush mountain range. After a day of gentle ascent we found http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Astorga/blog-299221.html This morning I had a corn bread Valenciana for breakfast with a chocolate cookie they eat them for breakfast here and two other crackers dipped in my drink. I made myself some hot chocolate using milk and the Cola Cao like Ovaltine powder. It was very good. Then it was off to school. We got our papers back in grammar and I got a 93. My professor grades kind of hard because with the amou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-298281.html This morning I woke up at 7 and had a roll for breakfast. I put the fake Nutella on half and blackberry jelly on the other half. I brought 3 crackers with me to eat between classes and one of my granola bars from home for after class to tie me over until lunch at 230. Grammar class was much better today but I still havenrsquot learned much. We reviewed pages that we already did last week f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-298280.html I wanted to place a picture order today so I didn't get to do my blogs. I'm going to try to come up here today at 4ish but if I don't have time I'll place something on Monday. Hope everyone has an ok weekend http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Segovia/blog-297930.html but this job IS actually easier than my job in japan when im actually with the kids its hard work and exhausting but just sooooo much fun.i love having the mornings and early afternoons off... the other day i walked to the nearby park to have an ice cream and then carried on walking for another 20 minutes and hit a small little beach... so peaceful and very relaxing indeed we organised a set http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/blog-297895.html