What a week!

I can't believe I have been here for just one week! I am becoming more and more accustomed to the schedule, (ie. lunch at 2:30 followed by a nap, dinner at 9:30, etc) the language and the life of this culture that it feels like I have been around for much longer! After my first day of school on Tuesday the rest of the week sort of followed suit. I guess their was a little bump in the road on Wednesday morning though. A bunch of us stayed out just a little too late especially for those that had our poly-sci class bright and early at 9:30! Let's just say it was a challenge to stay awake for that lecture. That day I was done with class by 11 and came home and alternated reading my homework for the study abroad class and falling asleep to my reading for my study abroad class. I needed sleep just about as much as I needed to finish my homework so it's all good! Needless to say I decided to stay in that night!

Since we technically don't have class on fridays, thursdays are our fridays and I love it! Tuesdays and Thursdays I have three classes which gets extremely long but I am understanding most of the lectures and discussions now which is very rewarding--my hard work is paying off!! After class on Thursday most of us went to our favorite bar/cafe here called Oso Blanco to have some drinks and play some cards. Thank God Santa brought me Phase 10 for Christmas because my group is loving it! Later we all went home to dinner and then of course met at the aqueduct at 11 to go out on the town. More of our group went out that night and it was great to be out with everyone. Before we went out that night, Kalleah and I stopped by a store by my house and I bought some purple pants, did I wear them out that night? Of course!! We went to a few different bars that night and discovered a new one called Penelope that we are planning on frequenting again tonight!

I stayed out pretty late on Thursday night/Friday morning so you could say that my lunch easily overlapped my breakfast. However I still had my chocolate croissant that my mom knows I love so much! We don't have class on Fridays however we usually have a walking tour at a certain location in the city. Yesterday we went to Alcazar, which is a castle in Segovia. (I finally figured out how to post pictures on here so I will get to that soon, promise!) The castle was very cool, but really cold. It's much warmer here than in Minnesota but I get a little too excited about the temperature difference and usually convince myself that I don't need a jacket and that a sweater will be sufficient. Note to self: I am always wrong! It looks nice out the balcony window, but it is much cooler than it looks! We toured the main level of the castle and then towards the end of the tour we climbed a steep steep spiral staircase with about a million steps to the top where we could see all of Segovia and the mountains in the background. Each day this city gets more and more beautiful! I made sure to take many pictures atop the castle so you can all pretend you were there with me!

Friday night we were invited to Christian's Art Exhibit. Christian is the man that organizes the host families and is not only a fabulous artist, but he is so nice! We chatted with him for a little bit as he told us about his contemporary art and sipped on some bubbly, how classy are we? Since the exhibit conflicted with dinner, some of us decided to go out to a restaurant for dinner. I have since forgotten the name of the place but I had this pork that had some kind of jelly sauce on top. There were seven of us at dinner and we basically just passed our dishes around so that everyone could sample the food. We had shrimp, calamari, salad, croquets and others that I can't remember. It was all so tasty! After dinner we headed back to Oso Blanco and hung out there for the remainder of the night. We played cards and chatted all night, I love this group of people!

I went home around 1:30 and was able to catch my sister on skype which was nice since I hadn't talked to her in a while. Even though I was falling asleep on her I think I may be convincing her that a trip to Spain is a really good idea especially because I have a couple of extra bedrooms in my apartment! The reality of that trip happening is still pretty far-fetched, unfortunately. I got a great night of sleep and then this morning me and a couple of other girls went to a cafe to work on our homework. Understanding the material is much easier while working in a group. After about an hour and a half of homework we decided that our hard work deserved a reward. Since Michelle is allowed to have friends over (which is not usually done here as most people go out to socialize) we hopped over to her apartment and watched an episode of the Bachelor. It was great to see some American television, let me tell you!

I think it's about time for my siesta. My mom is getting sick and hasn't been eating with me because she doesn't want me to get what she has so I think a nap is a great way to keep me healthy ;) and ready to shop later this afternoon with my friends. I hope you all are enjoying the copious amounts of snow that are right outside your windows and doorsteps! Hasta luego!