It's been a while..

Hello Readers :) 

I must apologize for the total slackage on the blog updates, but I've had quite the hectic week.  

Last Friday, we went on a school excursion to El Escorial, which is outside of Madrid.  It is the King and Queen's house during one of the seasons (I don't remember which one).  One half was the monastery and the other half was the King and Queen's quarters.  Pictures don't even do this place justice.  IT WAS GINORMOUS!  The weather was rainy and cold, so it kind of was a bummer, but a really nice day trip.  We ended the day at a cute little restaurant where we had pasta, steak, and crepes!  It was divine.  I love eating good food, which is sometimes hit or miss for me.

Friday night was Halloween.  I am SO THANKFUL that my host mom is from the U.S. because it makes holidays feel a little more like home.  Paula and a bunch of her friends got all dressed up and we went out for truc o trato (trick or treating).  It was kind of disappointing, most of the people who answered the door didn't even know what trick or treating was.  To say the least it made me miss home a little bit.  I did get some great pictures though and we were even able to carve a pumpkin earlier in the week.  Paula loved it!  I love being able to pass on traditions from home. 

On Saturday and Sunday Jenn and I planned a last minute trip to Sevilla.  It was quite an adventure.  The AVE (high speed train) got us there in only 2.5 hours so we had almost all day on Saturday to do some sight-seeing.  We had a hard time finding our hostel which was actually much closer than we had originally thought, but we did get there.  Staying in a hostel for the first time was quite an experience.  We ended up having to share a room with 2 guys.  Andy was from Manchester and about 40 years old.  He was QUITE the talker.  I tried to be nice, but I just couldn't listen to all his stories he had to share.  John was our other roommate.  He was in his 20's and from Scotland, but we didn't get to talk to him much.

On Saturday we saw the largest cathedral in Spain (the 3rd largest in Europe).  It was absolutely breath-taking.  It was so amazing.  The statues and chapels were just beautiful.  Then we ventured out to the Torre de Oro, which was a total bust.  At one point it used to be covered in gold...and now it's not.  So that was lame.  We also walked past the Plaza de Toros and made our way to the Plaza de Espana.  That was by far the coolest thing I saw there.  It's a huge half circle building and in front of the building is a little ceramic bench for each province in Spain.  Toledo was under construction, so that was a bummer, but it was so pretty anyways.  We decided we were too cheap to spend a lot of money on dinner so we found a grocery store and bought spaghetti noodles, sauce, garlic bread, oreos, clementines and a box of sangria.  It was absolutely delicious and a great change of pace.  The hostel had a kitchen with all the dishes and pots and pans that we needed, so we had dinner and then got our free drink at the bar.  It was tinto de verano (red wine with a bit of lemonade) and it was soooo good.  For sure my new favorite drink here.  

Sunday Jenn and I got up early and went to the Real Alcazar.  It was built in a similar style to the Alhambra and it was beautiful!  The gardens were amazing and I could have just walked around forever.  I have soo many pictures from there!  Then we wanted to do some shopping, but no joke, there are NO stores open on Sunday in Sevilla.  Even the largest department store chain in Spain (Corte Ingles) was closed on Sundays.  That was disappointing, but we headed to the bus station and took a 6 hour bus ride back to Madrid.  It was AWFUL and I will never travel that long by bus again if I can ever help it.  We took the AVE back to Toledo.  I am always so glad to be back in Toledo.  It's like going home.  

The reason I have been so busy this week was because I had a huge paper for my history class due today.  I worked on it all week and now am unfortunately extremely behind on updating my pictures.  Oh well.  

The weather is getting cold here and thankfully my host mom is letting me borrow one of her warmer jackets.  I wasn't expecting it to be as cold as it has been. 

 

I had so many little stories to share and now I can't think of any of them!  Oh yes, the fruteria.  There is a little fruit stand right on the walk to school and I thought I'd stop one day and check it out.  I AM ADDICTED!  I think the lady recognizes me now because I am there almost every day buying a piece of fruit or two.  It makes for such a great snack and it's really cheap!  On the same street there is a little convenient store.  It's owned by this little Asian couple who are so nice!  I always stop to buy a bottle of water or another pack of PRINCIPE cookies from them.  I think they also recognize me there. 

 These are the types of things I know I will miss when I go back home.  I am so excited to go home and spend time with my family and friends again and get back to life on campus, but I am going to miss Toledo so much.  This experience has made me come to love traveling and be spontaneous and adventurous.  I am so so glad I have been able to spend some time abroad.  I think it's hard to understand unless you have studied abroad yourself, but I feel like it's changed me.  Like I've grown up.  I will miss Spain and the language, and especially my host family.  I just love them.  

I think that's all for now, I am off to Barcelona for the weekend with a bunch of other SNC kids studying abroad in Europe, so I will report back on Sunday.  

Abrazos,

Amy