Hello from Barcelona

Sorry its been a while. Life got a little crazy this past week and I meant to post more pictures for you all who don´t get to see the ones on Facebook. They were the ones from Madrid last weekend and I had answered some of the questions that you all have been asking but now I´m in Barcelona so I don´t have access to those pictures or the questions I had written.

Anyway, I´m having fun here in Barcelona. We´re staying in this great hostel and we went to see the Sagrada Familia and walked down the main drag with all the Gaudi houses and eventually Las Ramblas but we didn´t make it that far before it started to rain. Needless to say, hanging out in the hostel last night due to rain was not nearly as boring as it could have been.

I´m going to keep this short and sweet today because we´re getting ready to head out for another fun filled Barcelona day but I´ll be sure to post again on Monday at the very latest and try to get some pictures up here so you can see what I´m doing.

Lot´s of love to you all in that wintery white stuff. Hope you stay warm.
Un Saludo Grande

After a Week

Okay, so I've been here for a little over a week and I assure you I'm having a good time. I may be a little frustrated at times but in the end everything comes out just fine. Last week we went on a cultural tour of our home town to get to know the history  I took a ton of pictures...
this is a view from the Plaza de Cervantes of a monastery and part of the tower that's there. Cervantes was a great writer, know as the author of the world's first novel Don Quijote de La Mancha.

Here's another view from the plaza. Behind the gazebo you can kind of see the tower.

there are these trees that line the center part of the plaza. I think they're sycamore but I don't know my trees very well. I'm told that in the summer their leaves act like a roof of shade.

More trees and you can see some of the archictecure of the buildings here.

 This is the oldest university in the city. Inside it anyway, It was founded by a Bishop named Cisneros. They still had the decorations up from Christmas. Here is also where they will give the Cervantes Prize which is like a Pulitzer Prize for Spanish literature.

This is outside of the university. The chains are remnants of how the city was historically.Our guide said that there were two sets of laws in Alcala. One was of the universities and another for the rest of the town. Once you crossed this chained "fence" you were on university property and under university law.

This is where Cervantes is said to have been born. Now, its a museum in which you aren't allowed to take pictures. Basically, it showed how the house might have been when it was inhabited by Cervantes and his family.

Outside the birth home of Cervantes is this statue of Don Quijote. To his right (our left in this view) is a digruntled looking Sancho Panza but that picture didn't turn out very well.

I thought this was cool. It's a view down Calle Mayor where all the shops are and its a pretty historical neighborhood.

This picture won't rotate....sorry...anyway, this is what the street looks like when you walk down Calle Mayor. This street was originally constructed by the Romans as a trade route and this is what it looks like today.

And finally, one of the big cathedrals here in Alcala. Inside is beautiful. The ceilings are curving and the walls are adorned with pictures of the saints and things people have asked for from the saints.I loved being in there in the silence and the shear religious power that it holds is daunting. I wish I could have taken pictures inside to show you what I mean.

This is pretty much my Friday. Its kinda chilly here but the sun shines and it gets warm. No snow is the best part and everyone seems really great.

I hope you all are having fun in your white swirling abyss.

I'll write again soon. I'm planning lots of trips so lots of pictures will follow.

Besos!

Spain!!!!

For those of you actually followingg this blog, you'll know that I've been getting ready to come to Spain for a while now, so this is the post where I say I'M IN SPAIN!!!!

yeah you get the point.

Anyway, I haven't really done much. Classes started yesterday and everything's been a little crazy but crazy in a way that I can handle for now. Last night I bought my cell phone and an adaptor for my computer which has three prongs and the adaptor I had gotten for Christmas only does two. So yeah.... I also of course had classes yesterday and a tour of the Plaza de Cervantes (Cervantes is the guy who wrote Don Quijote the Man of La Mancha and is considered the father of the modern day novel).

Food is great so far, though Alicia keeps me so full I want to puke sometimes. Servings are HUGE here but everything I've tried is really good. If you get a minute look up TORRIJAS. They are seriously good and I think maybe my favorite Spanish food (up to this point).

Buses are crazy, I take one to get to the university. They get soooooooo packed full of people sometimes that its scary. Like today I thought I was going to get stuck on the bus because I couldn't get out at my stop. Thankfully there was someone there that was doing the same thing.

There is a mall walking distance from the university and its really cool inside. It remindes me of home and I think I even passed a Claire's when I went between classes yesterday (I had an hour and a half to kill).

Weather is wet. Sometimes the sun comes out for a few hours then the clouds come back and its raining and cold. At least its not snowing.

Haha Americans that have books to buy for classes! I've spent a total of... ready for this?... 6 euro (a little over six dollars) for everything I need for classes. Ha ha ha ha....now I have money to take a trip somewhere if I want. Somewhere warm and sunny? I don't know yet.

Oh! I live in a small appartment called a piso on the third floor. My room is smaller than a dorm and I might have had to share if more people came but becuase they didn't I don't have to share. It's an okay place though. I can sit on my bed an write and there are places to put all my junk. Its kinda cold all the time but I'm not going to complain because in the summer it gets hot and I don't know what spring will bring.

I think that's all I've got for now.
ummm....
6 hour time difference
Jet lag is horrid
I wish I were rich and didn't have to worry about money like some of the girls that came from BG as well.
Everything normal here.

Hope you don't get too cold in all your snow.
Besos!