Burgos

Friday night a huge group of students from Cal Poly went out together. Saturday was Laurel's 20th birthday, so we celebrated it on Friday night so we could all be out together when the clock turned to midnight. At 2, Maryn, Helena, Mike, and I decided it was about time to go home. Unfortunately we didn't think about which direction we were walking. We wandered around for 45 minutes then decided it was about time we asked someone where we were. We had wondered off the map and he said we were about 45 minutes away from home. We walked that way and finally ended up at home at 3:30 in the morning. I kinda freaked out when Maryn and Helena split off because I was by myself and had to walk home. I called Cindy and she calmed me down so that was good. I finally got to bed at 4 in the morning. I only got 4 hours of sleep that night. I was exhausted the next day, but it was worth it because we went to... BURGOS!

On Saturday we had an excursion to the renaissance town of Burgos. It was really awesome because this weekend was the renaissance festival. A bunch of the citizens of Burgos dressed up and had a parade through the town. Women and men of all ages, their children, their horses, and anybody else dressed up in outfits like they wore during the renaissance. It was very exciting.

While we were in Burgos we saw the statue of El Cid who was a Spanish pirate in the ninth century. He fought for both sides of the war between the Spaniards and the Moors. I'm not quite sure why there is a statue of him in Spain if he was a pirate... but it was still interesting.

We also saw the beautiful cathedral, the castle, the Plaza Mayor, and the Cartuja de Miraflores which is a monastery. I forgot to charge my camera the night before, so it died part way through the monastery which was okay because I got a few pictures and there wasn't really too much to take pictures of after that.

I really loved this town. It was beautiful, the people were very nice, and I loved the little stands of hand made jewelry that they had. I only bought a little leather bracelet for myself because everything else was very expensive, but I loved seeing the cool things that people made.

Today I spent a lot of time working on homework. I woke up late because I wanted to catch up on some sleep, but at 2 I walked to a café and a few of us worked on reading, maps, vocab, and whatever else we had to do for our classes. Tonight, we are going to meet up in one of the parks and hang out for a bit.

In other news, last night a few of us spent some time planning for our 3 day weekend next week. I am going to BARCELONA with about 8 other girls. We booked our train last night and then the hostel today. I can't believe I'm going to barcelona!

I also got to talk to my dad and Cindy today (plus Liana and Kelley for a few minutes). I filled them in on a lot of stuff here, and they told me how things were going at home. We talked about their trip to Spain and what we would do while they were here. I told them to start thinking of different places in Madrid that they would want to see. I told them to stay at a hotel near the Prado because I think that area of Madrid is beautiful. Our conversation lasted almost an hour and a half. Technology is amazing because it allows me to see my family when they are half way around the world.

I called my mom to see if she could go on Skype, but apparently the King Tut exhibit in San Francisco was more important ;) (Just Kidding) Mommy, I hope we can Skype soon!

For all the rest of you, I get on Skype and iChat whenever I am on my computer. Send me your screen names so that we can talk if I ever see you online. I would love to see, hear, and talk to people at home. For those of you in California I am generally online early in the morning your time (between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.), or at night (around 10 p.m.). No guarantees that I will be on because each of my days is different, but like I said, I'd love to chat!

I hope everybody has a wonderful week this upcoming week. Good luck in work, school, sports, or whatever else you might be doing. ¡Te amo!

 

Girls getting tapas and café con leche

 

 

Renaissance fair in a renaissance town. Super cute kids dressed up. Women wearing old fashioned dresses. 

 

Me with the cathedral behind me.

 

The golden staircase.

 

Me and Jessie up by the castle with the cathedral in the background.

I just really liked this basket of keys.

Sorry, this post is a little weird. I am having a bit of an off day. Hopefully my next post will be better written and more exciting :)