Hola de Segovia!

Where to begin? First of all the keyboards are very different and I have to use the backspace every two seconds so please forgive the errors.

And second. I am staying here...send my stuff...ok ok stop with the angry eye roll and Mom please stop crying... It is beautiful here! And feel free to skim because I wrote a lot!!!

Megan and I got to Madrid at 7am on Sunday and went into Madrid after fighting our way around the airport...theme of Spanish airports are to make it is as difficult as possible! Not because of the language just because you have to bus and hike to different terminals and then to use ¨left luggage¨ you have to go outside of the airport... it was exhausting but we got everything figured out...while still making an idiot of ourselves on multiple occasions. The accent is different here and there is a kindof lisp so it takes some getting used to. And our classes never taught us how to say ¨How do I leave my bags here so that I can kill 12 hours in the city...¨ one of the ladies thought we wanted to check our bags onto another flight even though we were at our final destination....

Anyway, we went to El Museo de Prado...we were so tired but it is free on Sundays and we needed to kill time so we went into the museum and saw some of my very favorite paintings... Las Meninas de Valazquez is enormous and mesmorizing. It is truly amazing and the political statements are very interesting. Greco y Goya were there as well...and you could see the tributes from one artist to the next (mostly for Valazquez). I studied these artists and saw their paintings in textbooks but it was very neat to stand in front of them as the painter once did.

We then got back on the Metro and went to El Parque de Ritiro...it´s much like the Central park of NYC. It´s beautiful and full of fountains and statues and a lake in the middle where people paddle around in boats. We heard music and walked over to an area where there were hundreds of people sitting and laying in the grass, older people in wooden chairs on the plaza and an orchestra played for one of the first Conciertos del Verano. It was amazing...we learned that music is universal. (Interesting fact: Spaniards clap much longer than Americans...I mean much longer!) At 13:45 the concert was over and all of a sudden everyone got up and seemed to rush out. We quickly learned it was time for the siesta. Spaniards have lunch around 14:30 and then take a nap. But since we had no interest to sit in the airport we found a nice area of shade and sat in the park...five more of the Universidad SEK students joined us and we all chatted and looked like zombies I´m sure.

We took the metro back to the airport and then got on a bus to Segovia. You drive straight into the mountains. I liked Madrid okay but it is very similar to any other city in the US and Segovia is much prettier.

When we got into town, we pulled up to this bus stop and all of these women and their familes are waiting for us...they are quite literally chattering like chickens. Scared to death we walked in...it was like adoption day, wondering if any of the mamas would want you! But they called out our names and told us who our house mother was. Señora Julia kissed us on both cheeks and introduced us to her grandchildren, children and everyone else that she knew on the street as her ¨ninas nuevas¨her new children...ha! She´s very sweet but a little nutty.

She talked a mile a minute and Megan and I had been awake for more than 30 hours so it just wasn´t happening...it was like I had never heard a spanish word in my life. She made us dinner...tortillas (which in spain are more like omelettes) and then we took showers. When we were just about to go to bed she came in our room touching our hair and rambling on she then turned, ran out of the room and came back with a hair dryer...we were NOT  to go to bed with wet hair...to her we are children...you live with your mother in Spain until you are married so to her we still need to be taken care of!!! The language is often times frustrating but after the first day it got better...I´m hoping it gets better yet.

We got up on Monday and went to orientation at the school. The school is amazing and the town is just a little cobblestoned street town with a castle and cathedral from a fairytale. The school has amazing history and we got a tour. The school is built around a cathedral and according to mi amigo Josh...it´s like Harry Potter in España! I have to admit it kindof is. After orientation we went to la Plaza Mayor and sat at a cafe for the afternoon and again at 14:00 all of the stores shut down...everything closed! So we hustled home so as  not to be the stupid Americans who were wondering the streets....we had lunch at the house...which is probably the biggest meal of my young adult life...I swear my house mother is actually southern and just happens to speak spanish! I don´t every want to hear that Americans eat too much because honestly have lunch with a Spaniard and then talk to me!!!

It´s the biggest meal of the day and it´s course after course...the food is good but it´s so funny because if you don´t eat everything then you don´t like it...after lunch you can´t move so everyone goes to sleep...I have a hard time with the sleeping during the day thing but after we were up until 01:35 last night I found out why siesta es buena. They eat dinner at 22:00 and if you go out it is usually 24:00!!! ¿Por qúe? Yo no se. But the sun goes down later too...so it works out.

I actually just got out of my first class...La historia de España at 9am (which was shocking to our house mother because it was so early...she got up to make us breakfast and then went back to sleep) but in the states we would have been glad for class at nine. My grammer class is at 12:00. They are both an hour long and I´m excited about them. It´s hard to figure out sometimes because she told us that our homework was to get photocopies and we thought we had to use the copy machine but it turns out you just go to the bookstore in the school and they hand you a packet. It´s things like that that are confusing. Sometimes you want to cry because they speak so fast and for literally 5 minutes at a time without taking a breath...but the language thing is getting easier. Between our friends we talk in spanish mostly, especially in el centre because we just want to blend in...and because there´s graffitti on the tiendas with a picture of Bush and some choice words for him...so we are careful...obviously we are Americans but we can at least try to blend.

Anyway, I know this is long...I have another class in an hour and then lunch, siesta and a meeting tonight and then FLAMENCO dancing lessons!!!!

So all is well! All my love! Oh and by the way there is a pig leg on the kitchen counter...

Vida, Amor, Viaje