Devin in Spain!

---

Hi everyone!
So I’m going to go ahead and try this blogging thing and see if it is easier for than trying to e-mail everyone. I’m pretty sure on here you can send me messages and see maps of where I have been and all. You can still e-mail me of course and please do! For right now I don’t have Wi-Fi in the house I am living in, so I am going to try to figure something out to make internet easier, but we will have to wait and see. So if I am slow at e-mailing you back or if it is hard to find a time to Skype that is probably why!
So, since I have been here we have seen most of the highlights of Madrid including El Museo Prado (The Prado Museum), El Palacio Real de Madrid (the Royal Palace in Madrid), El Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Toledo and today we finally got to Càdiz!
In El Prado we saw paintings from some of the most famous painters in Spanish history including El Greco, Velàzquez, and Goya. One of the most famous paintings in the world called Las Meninas by Velàzquez and we aren’t supposed to take pictures but I snuck one through my purse (without flash of course).
El Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a palace, monastery and school built by Felipe II in the 16th century. I wrote a 15 page paper about it two semesters ago and so it was really neat to see it in person! It has over 2000 rooms, 88 staircases and 55km of hallway! It also has one of only 3 statues of Jesus on the Cross were the figure of Jesus is completely naked, in case anyone was interested I suppose ha! The town the monastery is in is El Escorial and it is a really cute town. We didn’t get to see much of it but it is in a mountainous area of Spain and the scenery is beautiful!
Toledo was by far the coolest place we have seen. It is called the Town of Three Cultures because it has Muslim, Jewish and Christian influences. There are all of these narrow winding alleyways, and the tour guide called it a labyrinth which I definitely agree with, it was really easy to get lost there!
Today we took the 7 hour bus ride from Toledo so Seville to drop off the 70 students studying in Seville and then the 8 of us left who are studying in Càdiz had another hour and a half ride to the coast. We haven’t gotten to see a ton of the city yet, but it is a very beautiful place so far! It also has lots of narrow streets but I think they are a bit straighter than Toledo.
Me and my roommate Natalie met our host mother Pepa and her husband, Selco (I think  ) and her 19 year old daughter Alba. Pepa co-owns a really cute shop just a few minutes from the house (on foot) with her sister Mary. Natalie and I got to go look at it for a few minutes and they have some clothes and a lot of little knick-knacks and things. Natalie and I were actually supposed to originally live with Mary, but she moved from “Old Càdiz,” the historic part of the city where the university is, to “New Càdiz ” closer to the bridge onto the mainland. So, we were placed with her sister Pepa.
Pepa and Serco’s normal house is currently being remodeled so they are living in an apartment. They have three dogs, and Chihuahua named Coco, and two terriers, one is Turca and I forget the other, whoops! They also have a guinea pig and a parakeet! Its not too spacious and we have five people sharing one bathroom…and three of those five are 20 year old girls…you do the math. But they are very nice and very family oriented. They really try to talk to Natalie and I and want to help us in any way they can. Pepa has been hosting students for ten years and gets very attached to them, so Natalie and I know we are in good hands.
Tomorrow we are going on a walking tour of Càdiz so I will be able to tell you more about where I am going to live!!
Love and miss you all!
Devin 😊

---