Written November 9th/10th

Whew…it’s been a while…where in the world do I start??

Well, less than a week after getting back from Italy, our group took off for a four day trip to Barcelona- officially one of my favorite parts of Spain after Segovia. Barcelona is on the eastern coast of Spain, right on the Mediterranean Sea, about 8 hours from Segovia. We stayed in a hotel right along this street called Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is the heart of Barcelona, with a huge median filled with little kiosks and still-life actors. Each part of the street has a certain characteristic. For example, one section is called “Calle de los Pájaros” (street of birds) by the local people and there is stand after stand selling goldfish, bunny rabbits, and tons and tons of parakeets. Another section is called “Calle de las Flores” (street of flowers) and each stand is bursting with all kinds of plants and flowers. Barcelona has a really cool feel- very different than all the other big cities I’ve visited so far. It had a very hippy-ish sense to it, very relaxed and artsy and fun- tons of stands with artists and their creations- really unique jewelry or clothes or paintings or even antiques! We stopped a number of times during our days there to listen to music on the street: a way cool Cuban band complete with dancing and dreadlocks, a fun trumpet and piano duo, or just a lone guitar player singing and playing typical Spanish music.

We had plenty of free time during this trip, but spent the majority of one day touring Gaudi’s creations. If you haven’t heard of Gaudi- definitely google him. He was this Spanish architect/artist (Barcelona is known as “the city of Gaudi”) who had the craziest, wackiest style ever. We went to the Sagrada Familia, this cathedral designed by him that looks like no other cathedral- very detailed and kind of a dripped-candle wax kind of texture. We also went to this enormous park that Gaudi designed with buildings designed to look like those in the Hansel and Gretel story, the famous iguana, and some SWEET mosaics. He used so much color in his creations and seemed to break all the laws of what’s “normal” in art and architecture.

By far, the best part of Barcelona was the sea. I’ve never seen the sea or the ocean before, and our group spent a good half an hour the first day just wading, running from waves and getting soaked. We went back a number of times to watch the stars or swim….it was absolutely breathtaking. :)

Another highlight of the trip occurred when Kat and Emily and I were walking home one night and saw signs for a Spanish guitar concert in a Basilica that night. On a whim, we bought tickets. The man who played was Manuel González, apparently one of the best in Spain, and our ears were filled with beautiful classical guitar music for two hours. He was SO freaking good and I thought of my dad the whole time. :) Between the sea and beautiful Spanish guitar music (and the fact that it was 70 degrees the whole time!), Barcelona basically won me over in a snap.

The night before we left for Barcelona began the festival of San Frutos in Segovia. Every city in Spain has two patron saints, and San Frutos is one of Segovia’s. So although we had to be up at 5am the next morning, we got to enjoy the festivities that began at midnight that Friday night. We went out at about 11:30pm, only to find that every restaurant was packed and the Plaza Mayor FULL- music, entire families, everything. In the center of the Plaza was a group of middle aged women and men dancing a traditional Segovian dance. One by one, we joined in and pretty soon the circle was more American than Segovian, but they were wonderful and attempted (unsuccessfully) to help us learn this dance. At midnight, we all gathered around the cathedral (gorgeous and all lit up) where a band playing instruments like clarinets passed by. Then, at the stroke of midnight, the legendary “miracle” of San Frutos occurred, and a page in this big book at the entrance of the cathedral turned by itself (later we discovered the paper clip and string behind the magic :P). After the miracle, for which everyone clapped and whistled and cheered, everyone (half the city!!) lined up to eat traditional sopa de ajo- garlic soup. It was a night of culture, no doubt about it. :)

The last week and a half has been a lot of settling in and cracking down. We had our first free weekend since the beginning of September. I got the chance to eat in Sandra’s family’s restaurant a few times- Restaurante Gago. Her whole family works there, and I got to meet all of them and try some very Spanish food, including “sopa castellano”- a red broth with garlic, dumpling-like bread pieces, and egg. Speaking of food, I had the opportunity yesterday to really step out of my comfort zone and try some very Spanish cuisine during our excursion- paella (a yellow rice mixture with shrimp, clams, pig, and I’ m not sure what else- super espanol!), raw veal with olive oil, spices, and cheese, and a potato and bull stew. I gotta say, Italian food still ranks number one in my book, but clams aren’t so bad after all. :)

I passed survived my first exam for Modern Spain and now we’re in the midst of papers in nearly all my classes. Photography is really ramping up, and I have a ton of picture taking and developing to do before the end of the semester. I simply cannot believe that we only have a month left before the semester is over!

My Spanish has been getting a bit better after a frustrating plateau when we got back from Italy. I rented a season of Cuéntame, one of Sandra and my favorite shows about a family in Spain during the time of Franco, and a bunch of movies in Spanish to watch instead of my Friends DVDs or listening to music in English, and that’s helped immensely. I’ve spent a good amount of time with Miguel and his friends the past few days, and Stephanie and I just started meeting with Laura, a new intercambio. This also helps a ton with the Spanish…though in end, I’m a bit disappointed about the whole Spanish thing. I know I’ve progressed a ton in my Spanish, especially in speaking and understanding, but I still have so far to go. Definitely try to “aprovechar” (one of our most-used Spanish verbs- to take advantage of) the rest of the time I have, but three months just isn’t enough…..guess I’ll have to come back. :)

Yesterday we had an excursion to Avila and Salamanca- it was a pretty low key day and we toured a cathedral and the oldest university in Spain. This Thursday we take off for a five-day excursion to Andalucia, the southern region in Spain. We’ll be visiting Sevilla, Córdoba, and Granada. Then it’s Thanksgiving, three free weekends, and the end! Crazy stuff.

Monday update: I just found out today that I got approved for a loan to stay here in Segovia until the middle of January! Crazy stuff part two. There’s this J-term advanced communication class that sounds absolutely amazing offered here, and I’ve wanted to stay for it since I first heard about it last spring. After this summer, it looked like it wouldn’t work out financially, but on a whim a few weeks ago I decided to email Bethel and see if there’s any way I could stay. It’s been a confusing few weeks of flip-flopping back and forth, waiting on the news….and finally I decided that if I was able to, I’d stay.

The class I’ll be taking goes from December 29th- January 16th, and it’s just me and two other girls from Bethel that will be taking it. Every morning, the three of us will go out to coffee with our director, Ricardo, read the paper, and discuss the news in Spanish. Then we’ll have an hour or two each day of intense grammar/vocab/pronunciation practice. Spanish heaven. :) The girls I’ve talked to who took it last year said it’s really the capstone to Spanish language learning, that it really propels your language abilities forward to have one more month in Spain and such a great class. I’ve realized over the past few months just how passionate I am about Spanish and this culture. This, along with just how much I love Segovia and life here….makes me know I’ll regret it so much if I don’t take this opportunity. I’m definitely grieving a bit about what I’ll be missing- Christmas with my family, seeing my sisters, seeing friends who will be studying abroad or in other states over spring semester, my birthday at home, and New Years with friends. Even now, these things are tugging at my emotions, taking the forefront of my mind when I think about staying. But I’m know this is what I need to do right now, and God’s provided so many amazing opportunites already. :) Sandra said I can definitely stay another 5 weeks with her, some friends here invited us do the typical New Years (I’ll have to write about grape-eating traditions and the like…!) shindig with them, and my friend Kat invited me to travel with her family around southern Spain over Christmas. He is sooo faithful, and I’m so looking forward to the rest of this adventure. :)

That’s all the news for now…I love you all and hope your Tuesdays are simply amazing! :)