Excursión a Segovia!

Saturday the 17th was the first time that I got to travel outside of Madrid. We didn't go very far, only an hour away to Segovia, Spain. After a very pretty and short bus ride, we arrived in Segovia. The first thing I saw when I got off the bus was the acueducto. The aqueduct is huge! According to my professor (who literally knows everything there is to know about anything) the aqueduct was built without using any sort of cement to keep it together. It is about 2,500 feet long and was used for 2 thousand years! It amazes me that a huge structure of rocks held together only by gravity and pressure is still standing!

For most of the day, we got a tour around the historic parts of Segovia! My professor, Abrantes, talked so much about architecture and the history of all the different buildings. As interesting as all the information was, it was hard to pay attention because I was trying to take in all the beauty of the city! Even though I needed to pay attention because a lot of what he was talking about is going to be on my final!

We got to see the Catedral de Segovia. It was absolutely gorgeous. The cathedral was Spain's last Gothic building and was built during the renaissance. When I first walked into the cathedral, I honestly could not believe how pretty it was. Everything was so detailed and amazing! I have never seen anything like it! There was so much history behind the cathedral also! After walking around the cathedral for a while, we got to have a much appreciated lunch break!

The best part of the day was saved for last, the castle! The castle we went into is simply called the Segovia Castle. It once housed Isabel and Fernando, who are both really important people in the history of Spain. Walking through the castle was kind of unreal! It's strange to think that the castle is older than the United States. Once we got a tour of the castle, we got to climb up to the tower! This was possibly my favorite part of the day! To get to the tower, you had to climb up this minuscule winding staircase for a little while. The staircase was only big enough for one way traffic, which became a problem because it was the only way up or down from the tower. I was talking to some of my friends about how hard it would have been to get down from the tower in a hurry. There is no way anyone could get down the staircase very fast since it is so steep and very windy! Though the climb up was a little difficult, it was so worth it when I got to the top! The view of Segovia and the surrounding areas was breathtaking. You could see the cathedral off in the distance in one direction and the rolling hills and mountains in the other direction. It's almost indescribable how beautiful it was!

After a long day of walking and touring Segovia, we headed back to Madrid for the rest of the weekend!

 Acueducto 

 Catedral de Segovia

Castle! Castle! Castle! 

 View from the tower! AMAZING! 

Week Tres!

I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with this lately!! As I predicted, my wonderful life in Madrid got in the way! I will try to be more timely now!

Week number 3 didn't bring to many new and exciting things. However, since I had just moved into my home stay, getting to class on Monday morning was quite the adventure! Allie and I said we were going to leave at around 8:10am to get to class by 9am. We figured that would have been enough time. Well, 8:10 turned into 8:25. Let's just say we were a little late. Getting to class here is so much different than when I am at Marquette. At Marquette it takes 10 minutes tops to walk anywhere on campus. Here, I have to take the metro for around 10 to 15 minutes and then there is a 15 minute walk on top of that! While at first it seemed annoying, I actually am starting to like it! I enjoy having to actually wake up and function in the morning unlike at Marquette where I roll out of bed and go to class. 

We didn't have any class on Wednesday, but instead had our academic meetings. I already knew what classes I have to take so my appointment was easy! At Universidad Complutense, where I am studying, you have the chance to test out all the classes you want for the first two weeks of the semester. Unfortunately since I have such a strict timeline to keep to I won't get to do that. Wednesday night the whole Marquette group, including our director, went out to one of the most popular clubs in Madrid. No, we didn't just randomly decide to go clubbing with Profe. Instead, we were there for an APUNE welcome party. APUNE stands for "Asociación de Programas Universitarios NorteAmericanos en España." So basically it was all the students from all the American programs in Spain together to celebrate the start of the semester. It was a pretty good night! I met a lot of people from different universities who are studying here this semester. It was interesting to compare programs, because no one program is similar to another. 

Thursday and Friday were normal with just classes and homework. Just another week in Spain! Time is flying by and I am having so much fun! I love it!