cathedrals, castles, and waterfalls- oh my!

So I officially am not very good at this blogging thing. I am going to try to update it more often from now on! So...here we go.  A Complete update on what I've been doing for the past...19 days!!!



Weekend 1:
The butler group went on an excursion to Caceres, Trujillo, Merida and Guadalupe- aka EXTREMADURA!!!!

so 1. Caceres- So we arrived in Caceres and when we were walking around, we found this cute medieval fair!! They had all sorts of crafts and pastries and this big metal cooking thing that they had HUGE slabs of meat on. They had jewelry, scarves, fans, all sorts of stuff...
I, of course, bought a pastry! It was delicious- think big puffy pretzel with chocolate on the oustide.

After walking around, we went on a tour of the city. We walked around all these old buildings/ maybe a castle? I don't remember. Castles are so common.... (too snobby?)  And we also went into the church where they had all these cool old outfits of past priests...I think they're for priests? Hence the above picture.

2. TRUJILLO
Trujillo was amazingg! We got another tour of the city, and then we went to this AMAZING old castle and we got to walk around on top the walls.

 This is a picture of the city from on top the wall. It was an incredible view!!

This is another picture from on top the wall. We got to walk all around and we were so high up. It was one of the coolest things we'd done up until that point.





3. Merida
This was another awesome place!! We got to see ancient Roman ruins, an old theater and an arena where they used to have animal fights.  

 This is the arena where they held the fights. The people would go and watch as the fighters took on lions and other sorts of animals....but mostly just lions. The richer people would offer to have their slaves be the fighters.... What a wonderful way to entertain themselves..? But it was really neat to see. We got to walk around and see where the kept the lions waiting before the fight.

These are pictures of the theater.
To the left is all the old pillars and statues of people. As you can see, the pillars/ building is in very stages of deteriorating. And on the right is where they used to sit and watch them put on the productions! There was another part of this place that they had the "bathrooms" Aka cement blocks with a whole in it. They were all built side by side... so the men could talk to each other. Also- when it got cold, the slaves had to sit on the cement seats to keep it warm for their masters when they would eventually have to use the facilities....what a great job! Cold tushy on freezing cement. :)

So that was that weekend!! We stayed in two different hotels for two nights. The first hotel, the next morning at breakfast, we all made sandwiches for the day so we wouldn't have to buy lunch and we got in trouble with the people there! But we still smuggled out our sandwiches anyways.
Did you know: In spain- it's not common to bring home your leftovers with you- in fact it's actually considered to be rude! Taking food out of a restaurant is a big no-no.

At the second hotel- I had the best breakfast of my life. Usually at home, I just get coffee and a muffin, but at the hotel, I had eggs and toast and coffee and cereal- it was AMAZING.

So the last day on the way back to Alcala- we stopped in Guadalajara to see this Catheral. It was really cool. We went to part of a mass and then we got to go on a tour on the inside of monastery I think... I don't quite remember.

So after that... I was just really busy with school stuff. I had a presentation to do and I just seemed to be really busy. But we went on a day trip to this Monasterio de Piedra- Monastery of Stone? and we got to see all these INCREDIBLE waterfalls. We walked around the whole park and it was just incredible. 


The one on the right was this HUGE gigantic waterfall. it was amazing.
And of course there's me and danielle on the right!

We even got to walk inside of the rock like underneath the waterfall. It was all dark and we were being dripped on but it was really cool!




For one of my classes, I had to do a presentation on a building in Madrid. The building I got was the Monasterio de la Encarnacion. So I traveled Madrid all by myself by bus, metro and then train.

The Monastery was interesting. I had to go on a tour so I got to see all this old art work/ statues from the 17th and 18th century. They have really extreme depictions of Jesus suffering and then on the cross. It is a convent for Augustinian nuns. The coolest thing about it is that there are all these relics from different saints. Such as, but not limited to....bones, skulls, a actual HEART, and blood. There is blood from San Pantaleon...and the story behind that is on his saint day ( july 27) his blood will transform from a solid form into a liquid!! And it has happened every year since the 1800's or something. And the story goes that if the blood doesn't liquefy then disaster will follow...bum BUM BUMMMM.


So this past thursday I gave my presentation, so now that's out of the way I have a little break in my classes. We also don't have class on Monday or Tuesday this week because there is a festival going on " Semana Cervantina" that is celebrating Cervantes because he lived here!

So these last pictures are from a side trip that me and some friends took to get extra credit for a class. We went to Aranjuez to the royal palaca (i'm telling you.....they're everywhere these palaces/ castles) And so yeah! they had some really neat stuff. There was a room had walls covered with porcelain painting on it. There was old wedding dresses of the queens! and other cool stuff. 

The left pic is of the palace!



The right is one of the fountains in the garden!! The palace is most famous for its beautiful gardens.



So that's all I have for right now!! I will try to be more prompt when I update so I actually have information to tell you all. But otherwise- life is good. classes are hard. And rain season has officially started here in Spain. and it will continue to rain for the next month. Also, I did not pack enough fall/winter clothes, so I have been cold! I miss everyone so much and can't wait to see you all at christmas. Only 10 weeks away! (not my countdown...a friend told me)

So love you all talk to you soon!

ps- I am studying hard....just look at me! The glasses make me look so studious....they add at least 10 IQ points.

 Oh and there was a statue that brings good luck to single women for finding a husband if you rubbed the toe. Don't worry mom! I rubbed the toe!!!

Between that toe rubbing and my obvious good looks... I'm unsure as to why I'm still single! hehe. besitos!