written September 24th
Thoughts here and there:

- I went to Madrid this weekend! What a crazy city. We stayed in this gorgeous hotel and visited two art museums- Prado and Reina Sofia (the latter was modern art- Picasso!!), as well as the Palacio Real, the cathedral, and some gorgeous parks and buildings. We snagged some shopping time at the centro commercial (their main mall) and celebrated Marie’s birthday with some of her friends that live in Madrid at a delicious restaurant called Pepe Tio, I think. Lots of walking, art, and metro riding- All in all, it was a wonderful whirlwind of a weekend.

- On a somewhat related note, it was an amazing sensation to come home to Segovia after this weekend. I think we all realized after Madrid how little Segovia really is. Some people feel a little cramped by it, but I love it so much. Something definitely changed after Madrid for me….of course, Bloomington will always be my hometown, but somehow I feel more ownership to Segovia than I ever have in Bloomington. Maybe it’s that it really is a bit smaller. Maybe it’s that we’re living with native Segovians whose families have been here for generations. Maybe it’s that I’ve already walked miles and miles throughout so much of this town. Maybe it just feels familiar after the craziness of Madrid. Either way (and I almost feel presumptuous for saying this after only a month!) whether it’s reading the newspaper, watching the news, or just hearing about Spain….Segovia really feels like “my town”. And it really is the best. :)

- If you want to, definitely pray for Spain during this time. These past few days, the ETA (a terrorist group here) has attacked three times, all in the País Vasco, northern Spain. Lots of injuries, and a man from Segovia who worked for the military was killed by a car bomb on Monday. It feels pretty close to home…he was actually a second or third cousin of Sandra, and the funeral was at an Artillery Academy only a block away from my house.

- One of the really unsettling things about being here has been the difficulty in understanding news about the US. I try to read the paper every day, but I don’t catch a lot of it. Sandra explains to me what’s going on when we’re watching the news on TV, and the helps a lot too. But today in class Ricardo was talking in class about how serious the financial issues are in the US right now, the latest developments, etc….and a lot of us were pretty clueless. I’m kinda uneasy about it all, not knowing how much to take from what Ricardo said and having only caught snippets here and there in the past month. I plan to start reading up a bit online (read: less facebook time! :P) and that should help a lot.

- On a lighter note, I’ve got a SWEET running route! I discovered a beautiful path for running the other day with Sandra and officially went for my first run in Spain last week. It’s so gorgeous, located in a park here with a path that goes right along the river, through some woods, and eventually right next to the alcázar. I kept tripping over myself, staring up at the huge castle with all these sweet caves and ancient little lookouts in the cliff that the alcázar was on. Also, I’m pretty sure I got scolded hardcore by an older man when I was running, but have yet to figure out what I did wrong! :P In the middle of my run, I stopped at a monastery and stepped into the sanctuary for a minute (it’s amazing…there are so many around here that you can just walk in and look around). It was so gorgeous, and completely silent. Once again, I was torn between feeling awe and wonder at how beautiful these places are, but knowing some of the dark history that the church has been involved in. The other night, Sandra (who went to Catholic school all her life) told me that the only thing she remembered about the church is that you’re supposed to feel guilty for everything you do. In the cathedral, I couldn’t stop thinking about how many coins were donated for the building of this gorgeous church that were donated out of fear, guilt, or a warped image of a God who just wants your money. There’s definitely more to the story, and I’m not bashing the Catholic church- I know they’ve done some amazing things (especially in Latin America with liberation theology…) and that there have always been priests and bishops and believers who stood up against some of these lies and wrong actions. Anyways, despite all that, this place was amazingly serene, and I hope to make it part of my normal runs here. :)

Sorry about the heaviness of this post. It isn’t all terrorist groups and politics and the Catholic church here. :P Tonight we went out to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday at Foster’s American Restaurant, the one and only American restaurant in Segovia! I almost felt guilty doing something so blatantly not Spanish, but it was quite heavenly to have the cheeseburgers, ribs, French fries, and onion rings that we shared. This past week or so has really been great here….feeling settled into the life here, forming relationships with the others on the trip, and starting my intercambio (language exchange) with a Spanish guy named Miguel. And in two weeks….I’m going to Italy!!!! ahh!! :)