A relaxing weekend in a country I love.

Well, kids, I'm still as happy as can be.

This weekend was fantastic and I actually have time to write about it, so here we go!

On Friday our group went to Segovia. I think Segovia is awesome. I actually went to Segovia with my friend almost a month ago, the first weekend I was here. I'm not going to lie, that visit was a little 'bit better than this one because the weather was not as pleasant on Friday. It's true what they say about the wind in Spain during the month of Febrero, es muy mal. Pero, está bien. We still enjoyed a beautiful day seeing a beautiful city. I was actually really excited to go back and see this city that is just about an hour and a half drive from Alcalá.

We went through the Alcazar (The castle) where Ferdinand and Isabella once lived with their four daughters and 1 son? I believe? Some facts that I learn on tours become a complete blur because we learn so much about so many different things... it can be hard to put two and two together. Anyway, we were able to tour the castle and walk through the city. I was actually somewhat surprised that my group didn't go into the cathedral in Segovia. The outside of the cathedral is just stunning, but I guess our director felt the interior was not too impressive. (I guess that's true in comparison to the ones we've already seen... but I'm grateful I was able to go through it last month with my friend).

After a cold, somewhat snowy day in Segovia, we headed back to Alcalá. A friend of mine and I decided we would have a movie night- complete with a lasagna dinner made by my awesome host mom, cheesecake, 5 different kinds of chocolate Milka bars, New in Town, and Princess Diaries 2. It was awesome. We stayed up pretty late talking about anything and everything. It was fun to have a night of relaxation.

Today we woke up and I could feel the definite lack of sleep ringing in my head. Nonetheless, we had an awesome day ahead of us. Encarna had planned a fun day. Here's what we did:

1) 10:30am: Desayuno. (Chocolate con churros). Nothing better.

2) 11:30am: We met up with Rafa y Sandra (sobrino y la novia de sobrino) and headed to Parque de Europa.

3) 12:00pm: Walk around the park and see all of the cute statues of European architecture. It was incredible to think that most of the things we saw that were just cute park decorations, I will be seeing in the next few months. (The Eiffel Tour, The Trevi Fountain, The London Bridge, The Roman Colosseum, etc.)

4) 2:00pm: TAPAS. Delicious. Encarna treated us to some yummy food. Tapas are like appetizers, but you order as many as you want and eat it as a meal. I ordered a small hamburger first, and then a chicken-type sandwich with Sprite. It was delicious.

5) 3:30pm: Encarna, Kristie, y yo headed to a mall. Encarna told us about a store that had ropa barata. Alright, by this time in the day, I was somewhat ghost-like. Lack of sleep never sits well with me, so I kind of felt like a zombie at times. However, I was successful enough to find more gifts for my family/friends back at home. Success. (Side note: Am I worried about how much room I will have in my suitcases on my way home? Yes.)

Goofing around in front of "The Eiffel Tower" with our awesome new friend, Sandra.

Roberto, Encarna, Kristie, yo, Sandra

6) 5:00pm: Returned to la casa y durmieron mucho. Necesitaba una siesta.

7) 8:30pm: Cena- lasagna y biscoche (A Spanish type of cake, kind of like corn bread?)

It was an awesome weekend. Today felt especially good to be around Encarna and her family because they only speak Spanish. I enjoy listening to them and sometimes I feel like they might think I'm a creep, because I watch the way they talk and I try to listen a little too attentively... Eh, whatever. I'm just a crazy American loving my life in Spain.