segovia. otra vez

so last weekend I went to Segovia with my host mom, sister, and cousin. I had gone before, but didn't bring my camera. so this time, I was prepared.

 

so when we got out of the parking garage there was this pretty little church. this is clara and Antonia (my sister and mom)

 

clara doing a jump for the camera

 

and then we walked like 5 minutes and got to the aqueduct. I know theres an awesome story that goes along with this aqueduct, but I don't really feel like looking it up, so yeah. anyway, you can go up these stairs on the side to get a cooler view. (this photo is from the stairs)

 

you might not be able to see it well, but top right theres a green patch and its just so cool to see the mountains, green, city, and aqueduct. super sweet

 

on the left side

 

the Romulus and Remus story. if you guys don't know, its the greek story of how the 2 brothers, abandoned, and raised by a wolf, fought for rome. Romulus killed his brother and won. and of course theres so much more to that story. its actually pretty cool, so I would suggest actually looking it up.

 

walking back

 

if anyone recalls from my previous visit to Segovia, I talked about the mountain called mujer muerte (dead woman) because of how the mountains look like a woman laying down. well, last time we went to a hotel with a great view, but this is just the side view, as we headed to granja de san idefonso. Its just a window photo, but in the very middle would be the head of the woman, and her feet the next little bump.

 

another quite beautiful church

 

walking through all the trails

 

throughout the whole thing they had these amazing fountains and sculptures.

 

cousin sara

 

more fountains. I really like this photo. nice focus and light

 

pretty little flowers

 

and then in the middle of all the trails there were all of these. I think in summer they have water in the bottom. but basically theyre structures of many of the major greek gods, this one being Poseidon. although I could only identify a couple, I still thought it was really cool

 

and then the view of this castle thingie

 

from the bottom (in front of the castle)

 

and then freakin sphinxes

 

and a last view.

 

 

 

so it was all super great. i loved going again and it was beautiful outside.

 

other than that, all is going well. just got done with a ton of tests, so when I head off for korea tomorrow I wont have to make up any. and i am soooooo excited to go to korea. I miss my sister a ton. and i'll be stopping in london, so maybe i'll be sitting by an English person and we can be friends. because its a 12 hour flight. ugh. but oh well. its worth it.

 

M

spheal with it. 6 month anniversaire

 

it all started on march 4th. the day my john green books arrived. I had previously ordered them as a gift to myself. and in the four days i've had them I've finished 2. and they are phenomenal. so that was the best gift I've ever gotten myself

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so the next day/my birthday/wednesday theres school. I leave early because laura says she has something for me so I have to go to her house early. I get there and she gives me these. please mind my silly faces.

 

 

this is sideways, but yeah, its a little photoset of me and her and its super cool and I love it. shes a fantastic friend

 

and she gave me this bear which I continue to love everyday

 

 

so then we walk to school. as i walk up to the room, the door is closed, and you cant open the school doors from the outside, so I knock, and as it opens they all say felicidades and give me hugs and i feel awesome. I felt super loved. then in recreo Julia brought out this oreo cake and it was delicious and marta gave me an apple which is an inside joke and that was also delicious. and then came all the selfies.

 

 

you can see Julia, the cake and the apple in this one

 

and here's marie. shes Canadian and really cool and she'll come up later in this blawg

 

 

later on that day, I hung out with my friend Audrey. we met up after my English lesson by the 4 towers because she lives near there.

 

 

this is what I see while waiting for her. pretty sweet

 

then we went to a 100 montaditos and got tinto de verano. which is basically a really sweet wine. im not a huge wine fan but it wasn't too bad. then we went to a chino and bought food and just hung out in the central looking at attractive Spanish guys. so that was a good night. hangin with Audrey is always fun

 

then on Thursday we had an English test and finished early so mooore selfies. and I just really like these ones. I got even more bored and edited them so heres my artificial face

 

 

 

also this day marta gave me a present. marta is seriously so cool. shes so nice and funny and although she never stops talking in class shes amazing.

 

 

so this is bigger than it looks in the photo. but its great. I cant wait to hang it up in my room in iowa and just remember everyone. I told my friends I wanted something to remember them by and she seriously nailed it.

 

 









so then yesterday, Friday, I kinda had a fiesta thing. I had invited a few of my friends to come to pio and we could eat and go on a walk or whatever. and some were only able to come later, so at first I hung out with Marie for a couple hours, which was fun. she may be Canadian (well actually she was born in france) but shes a cool girl. since shes only been here a couple weeks, we went to the temple.

 

the sky was beautiful. as per usual

 

this is definitely my favorite from that evening

 

seriously, its like a rainbow

 

 

so then we went back to pio to meet up with luli.  luli is one of my favorite people here. shes super nice and mature and funny, and she knows when to be quiet. my other friends never shut up, but shes always calm and sweet, and just overall a great friend. so we walked around a bit and ended up sitting outside talking about boys and where we're from (luli is from argentina) and it was great. really great. and then the rest came. honestly, it all went downhill from there. I had to go home for money, because my mom offered to pay for dinner for all of us (we eventually got kebap) so I had to go and get it. so i went with luli while the rest did whatever. then on our way back i asked where they were and they said they were waiting for another friend. now I like this friend, shes super cool, but i feel like if I invite people to a get together, because i want to spend time with them, and they invite someone else, it just changes things. I invited these people for a reason. but anyway, then we ate, and ended up just sitting around, because some of my friends wanted to drink and im like im not going to and theyre so indecisive and ugh. so then around 1130 i went home. so that was that

 

on a good note, orchestra was great this morning and I get to see emmy IN 5 FREAKING DAYS. im so excited. honestly I cant wait to see her again. we are the weirdest people and I just need her weirdness surrounding me again. let me just show you a glimpse of what its like just messaging each other:

 

 

this happens a lot

 

 

now imagine when we're together, after not seeing each other for 6 months. yeah. it'll be great. 

 

also my Spanish is improving a ton. im honestly getting to the almost fluent point. it feels great when people tell me im improving, and when someone is speaking English with me, and one of my friends say, talk to her in spanish, she speaks like la puta madre. its freaking awesome.

 

but speaking of mothers, my host grandmother from my other family died and the funeral is on monday. I cant say im really excited about that, but im glad i can see my family again.

 

so that's that in marias fabulous life.

 

M

 

heres an extra selfie in case you wanted another

 

 

 

starring marta



 

p.s. sorry this post is a mess, im tired and I cant concentrate so yeah. spheal with it

 

 



vamos a un paseo

 

so this is what our walk consisted of

 

 

 

 

quick stop to the temple

 

wherein we argued about how well horses could climb stairs

 

and were just walkin around

 

then we got artsy, as usual

 

EU flag

 

and the rio manzanares

 

and we found this amazing tree

 

where Audrey was at first quite uncomfortable

 

but then became a model

 

and then we found this fence

 

and of course decided to go in

 

 

and Audrey became a supermodel

 

 

I took this, I might add, while lying on the ground, because I really wanted the sassy leaf in the photo

 

another view from the ground

 

the sky was phenomenal

 

and then we got silly again. although I have to say I really like the quality of this one

 

and then we put the music on.

 

I honestly really love this picture. just the focus and the background and everything. its so simple.

 

we're kinda crazy

 

more dancing

 

and really, whenever you see a cat, you need a picture

 

this is another one I really love. it seems so natural. the facial expression, the showing of the hand, the phone in the other hand. its just really neat

 

we circled back over to the river

 

 

after the river we hopped on a bus and went down a couple stops, got off, bought some candy and a mango, continued on to the plaza mayor, then back to sol, where we took the metro home.

 

i really loved today. just going on a walk with a great friend, being weird, being artsy and taking photos, something I love to do, and just having a great time. talking and laughing. telling stories. walking around not caring where you're going or if you get lost because being found is just a bus ride away. you go where you want, when you want, and if you want to stop and do something, you do it. its so simple, yet I feel like it's one of my favorite parts of being here. 

 

M