Pigs & Aqueducts (AKA Segovia)

So our adventure to Segovia began at the lovely hour of 8 AM, a time when the streets of Salamanca are basically completely empty.

Luckily, it was at least light outside when we got to the bus pickup point. The bus ride to Segovia was two hours long, just enough to get a little nap in before our long, long day of walking started. The first thing we did when we got there was go to a potter's studio, because this is apparently a pretty big thing in Segovia. 

So he showed us how he does pottery on the wheel, and made a piggy bank as an example. Pigs in Segovia are kind of like frogs in Salamanca–they're in every single tourist shop, in a thousand different forms. In Segovia, they're known for cochinillo, roast pig. Unfortunately, due to being cheap and having a free sammich from María, I didn't get a chance to try it on this trip. Anyway, after a few of us in our tour group attempted to make some pots with limited success (except for that one kid who was in AP art in high school and already knew what he was doing…) we left the studio for the Alcázar, a palace on the end of town.

Large, made of stone, lots of towers… you get the gist. It's a pretty place, but it's one of the less important palaces in the big scheme of Spain, as far as I can tell. However, it is where Queen Isabella was staying when she got the news that her brother had died, and was then crowned the queen of Spain at a church across town, at the age of 23.

Here's a blurry photo of the mural in the Alcázar of Isabella (in the white) being crowned. It's a creepy mural though, because, for reasons I do not understand well enough to explain (the phrase "Blind Man's Day" was used), no one in the photo has eyes. If anyone's ever watched the show Supernatural, the people in the mural all look like the demons from that show. It's freaky.

No eyes, super creepy. Especially on kids.

We got to climb the towers of the castle as well, which was 152 tall steps, which actually made me slightly sore today. 

But the views from the top were fantastic.

That's basically the entire city of Segovia, and the mountains beyond it. Ta-da! Worth the climb.

Britt, myself, and Camila at the top of the towers, with the city's main cathedral in the background.

The other main attraction in Segovia is the Roman aqueduct that's been standing in the city for over 2000 years. And it's literally just made of rocks. There's no cement or anything else in between, and the whole thing is at a perfect decline of 1% or something like that. Basically, the Romans knew their physics.

A few more highlights of the city were the Casa de los Picos, which is now an art school, and the city is well known for…

…the epic amounts of piggy banks in the stores, which I really wanted to buy, but unfortunately my suitcase is going to be stuffed enough as is…

…and ponche segoviano, the city's other famous food product. I'm not completely sure what was in this, but I'd guess there's about a pound and a half of sugar in it, it was very sweet. We shared this little square between three girls and didn't feel like we missed out on anything at all.

And that, my friends, was my day in Segovia! I'm enjoying a very lazy Sunday today, so I will probably not have more fun content until later this week.

Segovia Sneak Peak

No time to write a blog, watch for today's adventures tomorrow!

TGIF

So today's post photo is brought to you by the Crayon Guy, who literally just hangs out around town with a box of Crayolas and draws these murals:

All crayon. And they're everywhere in the pedestrian part of town.

Also, we had a meeting about my upcoming excursion to Morocco with ISA, where I learned that if someone asks you if you want chocolate in Morocco, you say no. Because that means drugs. Just say no to chocolate (but only in Morocco!!).

After the meeting, I went to this coffeeshop/café we've discovered and really like with Sam & Britt, two girls from ISA. They have really good smoothies and milkshakes, but today I ordered café mandala which was condensed milk, coffee, and whipped cream. With chocolate sprinkles. Probably the sugariest coffee drink I will ever drink ever, but it was pretty delicious. Also, here's an artsy photo I stole from my friend Hannah's Facebook page, of some of the decor in Mandala.

Thank you to Hanna Mae for being artsy

After I got home from coffee, I ended up practicing English & Spanish with David for about an hour. Spent half an hour talking about motorcycles in English, and then another half hour in Spanish talking about guns (he works with the police) and the Spanish education system. Good times.

María made us tortilla española for dinner, om nom nom. That's the sound of my stomach being a very happy camper. Tomorrow we have to get up super early to get on a bus and visit Segovia, which, according to María, is really only good for the Roman aqueduct there, but apparently ISA knows of something that'll take up 10 hours, so hopefully I'll have some good photos to share tomorrow!

Bleh Class Bleh

Good news: One of my professors likes giving readings in English. Win! Except I don't know why he would give readings this difficult to students who don't speak fluently. Even I am having trouble getting through it… I mean, here's a quote from the article I'm reading right now: "it tends to preserve Zeitgeist thinking after all, because it privileges the notion of an ‘essential’ relatedness across diverse domains and decades." Now, does anyone know what class I'm reading this for? No, you don't. Music in the 18th Century, for the record. But seriously, it's crazy. If a professor at home gave readings in another language (for a non-language class, obviously), the students would probably riot.

Other good news: My other musicology professor told me I speak Spanish well. Which makes me very happy because I feel like every time I open my mouth in her class, I sound dumber and dumber. She's also far less terrifying face-to-face than when she's doing lecture during class. 

Bad news: having a cold here sucks. For starters, the kleenex I have are in those little travel packs (10 packs of 10 for 0,73 euros!) so I can basically count how many tissues I've gone through in the last 24 hours. (It's roughly 30, in case you wanted to know that.) But at least I have a day off class, and María is making sure I drink lots and lots of water.

Random discovery: These chips, which are (don't be surprised) ham and cheese flavored. Of course. Also, someone should look at a pack of potato chips and tell me how many ingredients there are, because the unflavored ones here have literally three: Potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt. I feel like there's no way a manufacturer just left it at that in the USA.

Chinese Food & English Practice

Last night, we decided to go out for Chinese food. So this is what it looks like when six American girls order Chinese food in Spain

They also set Orange Duck on fire when you order it... my friend's face looked like a little kid on Christmas, it was priceless

And we cleaned up pretty decently. Very good food, and the best part was it comes in slightly smaller portions. We all ordered two plates and just shared among the table. Deliciousness abound. A very good find, especially since if we just want to do one plate each, it's just 3-4 euros per plate. Last night we were all kinda starving for some reason...

Today was back to the grind of school. Bright side: Even though I have to do a partners project, I did not get stuck with some super awkward quiet kid, my partner seems really nice. And like she has a cold, but that's kinda irrelevant for now.

Also, when I got home, I ended up helping David practice his English for a little while. We talked about jobs, and I found out that his first job was a pizza deliveryman. However, if you put in just the word for "deliveryman" on Google translate (without adding the "pizza" beforehand) it spits out "dealer." So I then explained to David that he was definitely a deliveryman because if he told people he was a dealer and left off the pizza part, people might assume some not so good things. Definitely one of the better conversations we've had, just saying.

Sunday Afternoon

Things that were said while Megan and I were out exploring:

"Well, you missed a guy playing the harmonica with his nose."
"What? I was only gone for like two seconds!"

"They were doing something over there with bubbles earlier I think."
"That doesn't sound like bubbles."
"What does that even mean??"

We went down to the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) to take some photos of the city from afar. Unfortunately I only had my iPod, not my camera, so I didn't great photos, but it was a pretty great view.

Street performers–with bubbles

Exploring

Here's some photos of the walk I took around town today. I found a couple of cute little parks, one with some really pretty trees, the other was basically a scenic viewpoint.

New boots!