A Taste of Spring in Segovia

It has been such an amazing weekend here in Segovia and at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday it isn't over and hasn't even begun in the eyes of my packer-crazed friends. The kick off for the Superbowl is at midnight! All of you enjoying your evening game in the states, not to mention your very tasty (and American) appetizers, think of me. Today a few friends and I went and soaked up the Segovian sun and even got a little homesick...for the food y'all are eating today! It is pretty difficult to have a decent superbowl party here (another thing you should all be grateful for on this day) as inviting people over to one's house isn't customary in this culture and the houses/apartments are usually a bit small to accommodate such a large group of us! However, that didn't stop us because we have already booked the basement of our favorite bar, Oso Blanco, complete with copious amounts of sangria and tapas. I guess we are celebrating futbol americano the Spanish way tonight!

This past week went along as usual, I had class Monday through Thursday and spent my evenings playing cards with my friends, watching movies with my mom and doing little homework. Many of us went out on Thursday which was a lot of fun. We were able to meet some futbol sala players at one of the bars because there was a tournament here in Segovia this week. Futbol sala is like soccer but is in an arena with a few different rules (I think/would assume--soccer really isn't my thing though so who am I to say!). Anyway as always it was fun to meet local people and to speak Spanish with them.

The inside of the reconstructed Synagogue.

After a late night on Thursday, Friday proved rough for some. We had a walking tour around the former Jewish quarters (juderia) of Segovia at 4:15 and let's just say that there were some that didn't make it and others that probably shouldn't have. The tour was interesting and I found the history behind it fascinating. Spain has held a variety of dominant religions in the history of its existence. Today in Spain and especially smaller cities like Segovia, Christianity is the basically the only religion that is practiced and others are very few and far between. Before 1492 when the Catholic king and queen married and reformed Spain back to Catholicism, Judaism was prominent. The Jews of the time made up the doctors and people of intellect of this era, and since they could read and write they left information for future generations to find and to then teach tourists such as myself all about. So there's a bit of a history lesson for you all! On our excursion we toured a small museum and then a Synagogue that was reconstructed as the original was located where we now find the grand cathedral in the plaza mayor. On Thursday at dinner, I was telling my mom all about our upcoming excursion to the juderia and also learned that she was in a play about the Segovian juderia, how cool! After our tour we all walked around a bit more, shopped and bought some ice cream as the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here! I eventually went home for dinner with intentions of making it out again, but was too tired and instead plopped myself in front of the television and spoke spanish and watched some shows with my mom.


Today has been such a great day! I was able to sleep in until about 10 and then I met up with some friends at the aqueduct at 11:30 to walk to the neighboring town of Zamarramala for the day's festival.

The trail that took us to Zamarramala.

Before arriving at the aqueduct I was under the impression that we would be taking the ever-so-convenient public transportation that frequents Zamarramala about every 20 minutes instead of walking, hence the terrible shoe choice of my spanking-new heeled boots. And instead of taking the ever-so-convenient public buses, we walked. It took an hour. Since it was another beautiful afternoon in this city of ours, many of us were sweating buckets.  Luckily I wore layers because I was down to my only tank top upon our arrival to this distant land! The festival reminded of the 4th of July festival in St. Joseph, but this time I could legally drink the beer an obvious perk and our first stop, in fact, was for beer and tapas. The tapas were some french bread and tereso which sort of tastes like sausage. (For those of you that don't know, tapas are appetizers such as nuts, potato chips, etc that are commonly served with an order of a beverage at bars and cafes within Spain.) We walked around to all the interesting looking shops and food stands. Since this festival is one that honors women, we followed the women, dressed in traditional garb, from the church to the main plaza of the town while we listened to a few speeches and then watched them burn a man-doll--I knew I liked this place! And don't worry, pictures to follow! We made it back from Zamarramala in less time because I made sure that the chicos (boys) of the group didn't get us lost again!

The much-anticipated burning of the man-doll.

A breathtaking view of Segovia from right outside Zamarramala.

Now I am lying in my bed about to take a nap at 7:00 o'clock p.m., which I think is a first! I am meeting Bridget at 11:30 for our walk to Oso to watch the much anticipated game! And my deepest apologizes to all of my friends and family who are diehard vikings fans, as I will be sporting as much green and gold as my limited wardrobe provides me with and will be singing "Greenandyellow, greenandyellow..." all the way there. Also, this post got long quick, but I am sure you all don't have anything better to do than read about my exciting days here in Spain. I hope you are all staying warm and that the snow keeps falling there and the sun keeps shining here! All my love to you!