Finally a new blog post! haha

Hello again,

Well, as many of you probably already know our trip to London ended up being an awful FAIL! John and I lost too much money and missed out on an awesome opportunity to work on our British accents.

To make a long story short- we missed our flight and were unable to leave Spain because it was a Holiday. We were forced to stay in Madrid and spend ridiculous amounts of money that neither John nor I had. To say the least- it was a very bad weekend financially but we tried to find the silver lining and of course we failed at that too. I will not go into details because it still makes me sad. However- John wrote a few blog posts about our miserable weekend. Feel free to pay his blog a visit. It is very entertaining stuff (in other words, I can not entertain you with words as eloquently as he can, so I will let him take this one).

Check it out at 6foot7.weebly.com

So that was a couple weekends ago. I apologize for not keeping my vow of writing every Tuesday. I have failed you. Last week was a two-day school week. I like weeks like this. Haha The bad thing is that this week I have two tests and a presentation. It is by far the most stressful week thus far but that is not saying much because so far classes here have been fairly simple.

Anyways, the reason why we only had two days of classes this last week was because Thursday at 6:20am we had to meet outside of the school and get on a bus to Toledo. We made a pee stop and then another stop at a town with windmills. It was brought to my attention that these were the Don Quijote windmills- that of course means nothing to me. I just know that these windmills and Don Quijote are famous. So I took pictures of them… and thought of all the Dutch people I know. :D

We arrived in Toledo and settled in to our hotel and ate our lunches we brought from home. Then we visited a cathedral with a famous Greco painting and a monastery. I think I would have liked both more if it was not for the fact that it was for class. For some reason that little detail changes things. Later we had free time that John and I spent exploring the town and taking pictures. We ended up taking the long way around to a door I wanted a picture with… so we really explored the city. It is a very picturesque town so I did not mind the walk. We also found a reasonable place for dinner and got a whole lot of food for not too much money (dessert was even included!). Overall it was a successful night.

Also this day was the first time since I permed my hair (late August!) that I straightened it. I felt like me for the first time in a long time. Too bad it was a little humid and it frizzed. It felt nice to be able to run my fingers through my hair again though. :)

The next morning we visited the Gothic styled cathedral and spent a lot of time there. Did I mention that it was freezing out and I was wearing a t-shirt? I could not focus on the contrafuertes of the church because my blood was turning into ice (it really was not that cold but I have gotten used to the scorching hot days in Sevilla). Anyways- the cathedral was impressive. We then had lunch at yet another reasonable establishment. Then went on a mission to find black olives without seeds, found them, walked around some more and headed back towards our hotel because we had to leave by 4pm.

Ok- venting time:

First of all- when students are REQUIRED to go on an overnight trip for class, the school/ program/people in charge should pay for their meals or at least give them all 5 Euros for their meals. It seems like the only just thing to do since we are paying way too many thousands of dollars to be here. Does it not?

Second- it really irritates me when we are told we will be home at a certain time and then we are not. We may be on Spain time but we are not Spanish and either are they. I really wish they would respect the fact that some of us need to get home for dinner.

Also- I do not enjoy sitting on the bus for an extended period of time and then having to stop in order for others to use the bathroom, buy more coffee and then have to stop once more.

Can you tell poor planning irritates me?

Well… I am done venting now. Haha I just had to get that out of my system.

We went to the Cathedral yesterday afternoon for art and got to explore the cathedral and then go up into the Giralda. I got some sweet pictures! I shall post them on Facebook soon. I am still working on all the other ones from these past weekends.

It rained yesterday. It was the first time since I have been here that it actually rained. It has sprinkled a few times but this was more legit. I loved running around in it except for the fact that I had a group project to work on and I had to sit in wet clothes for a couple hours... and my socks were wet! Gross.

Yesterday was also Salud’s (host mom) birthday. Sarah and I took her out for drinks and tapas (small portion of food- appetizer). It was fun and she is just such a doll. I really like her.

Hmmmm… I think this is all for now and this is probably the longest blog post yet. It also has been the longest time without writing. Sorry. :D

Peace and Love my friends,

Karla <3