Las turistas...

Okay so I haven't written in here for two weeks, I'm sorry. Let me re-cap what I've been doing, it's been crazy!

So to begin with, THREE weekends ago was a holiday weekend here in Spain. The Monday after that weekend was a holiday in Alcalá and that Tuesday was a holiday in all of Spain, so I didn't have class both of those days, which was absolutely fantastic. The Saturday of that weekend, my friends and I went to the Medieval Festival in Alcalá de Henares. The festival happens once a year! People dress up in costumes and set up little shops all over the main square called Plaza de Cervantes. The shops sell and make things that were found in the Medieval Ages. In the middle of the street, people dressed up as medieval soldiers were doing skits and dances and other people with really creepy face paint were walking by on stilts. Even though it rained the entire time, it was amazing and so much fun! And we ate a lot of delicious desserts :)

Then, the Tuesday after that weekend, I went to see a parade in Madrid with my friend. This holiday is in recognition of a special Saint and every year in Madrid, there is a huge parade that involves the entire Spanish army (aka the marines, soldiers on foot, soldiers with horses, etc etc etc), so there were at least a couple or three hundred soldiers. There were tanks on the street and later, army planes even flew above us in the sky. All together, it was an incredible sight! My friend and I tried to take pictures with each type of soldier because we thought it was hilarious. There was almost a thousand people out on the street to watch the parade! We found out later that the Spanish president gave a speech, but we didn't see him or hear what he said. Apparently, the Spanish people are very unhappy with the government at the moment, so we heard people in the crowd start negative chants about the president.

That week I only had three days of class, which was an absolute dream, and then, last weekend, my friends and I took a day trip to Toledo! It was an absolutely beautiful city. It's only about a half an hour train ride away from Madrid, and it actually used to be the capital of the Spanish Empire. It's recognized worldwide for incredible coexistence of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions that takes place in the city. Toledo is extremely small - it takes about fifteen minutes to walk from one side of the city to the other - and it's very hilly. It's an ancient city though, so it not only has stunning monuments but it also has a mysterious, old glow in its entirety, from its roads to its houses. Everywhere you looked, the architecture was gorgeous and so interesting. You could definitely see the Arabic presence in the structure of the houses and some buildings. We walked into the Cathedral first, and it was an amazing sight. It was the biggest cathedral I have ever seen! The painted or sculpted walls were incredible, so carefully designed to represent heaven and religious scenes. We tried to follow groups with guides that were speaking either Spanish or English so that we could learn about the Cathedral. There is definitely a Jewish presence there: in the middle of one painting (my favorite!) covering the top part of a room, there was writing in Hebrew that said "God." We took two rounds walking through the Cathedral so we could absorb all of it. We then went up a huge tower and took pictures of Toledo from way up top! Along the way, we met a Brazilian girl who was touring Toledo by herself and she joined our group... so we became the four international touristas, represting Japan, Sweden, Brazil, and Italy/America! It was fantastic :) We spent the entire day walking around everywhere! We were so exhausted on our way home that we could barely speak.

Tomorrow marks my fourth week in Spain and its almost frightening how fast time has flown by. I think I speak and understand Spanish better than I did when I got here, and the classes are definitely helping. I even started taking a theater class on Sundays, which is really scary because it's just a group of ten Spanish teenagers from Madrid who all speak really fast. But I'm trying hard to make Spanish friends so I can speak and listen to Spanish all the time. It's much much much easier to talk Spanish to the foreigners at the university than it is to talk to actual Spanish people. With other foreigners, we just kind of laugh at our own mistakes and finish each other sentences. With Spanish people, it depends if they have the patience to talk to you or not. Thankfully, most of the people I've met do. Also, I am constantly reminded how nice some people can be. Once, on the train, one woman woke me up (yes, I basically sleep the entire time on the train hahaha) to tell me that we had reached a certain station, in case I was supposed to get off there. And the teacher of my theater class is so caring and nice to me - he told me he would speak slowly with me and that it's no problem that I don't speak well. I'm even feeling better with my Spanish family, which is great. I had a little trouble feeling situated and "at home" with the family, but I think we're all warming up to each other, even though we all have our differences, and I've finally gotten over the fact that my actual family isn't the same as this one.

Okay, it's noon here and I have yet to get out of my pajamas! Tomorrow, I'm going to theater class and then to a Chinese restaurant with my foreign friends from the university... most of them being Chinese! It'll be really fun, so I'm excited. One last thing - I'm totally loving the unprofessional relationship I have with my professors. They tell us to call them by their first names and we talk as if we've been friends forever. It's so fun! I think my class is going out to dinner with one of my professors soon! I'm also thinking, unfortunately, that I need to change universities because Alcalá is way too far away for me (I basically spend three hours every day riding the train). But if I do switch, I'm not switching until January, when I come back from winter break at home, so I have all the time to make the most of my friends and professors and classes at Alcalá! :)