Fiesta Brasilena!

Ok Let me catch you up real quick on the past two days. Yesterday (Tuesday) was our first day of class. I was placed in level 5 out of 10, which I don't think is right. I couldn't have done that poorly on the exam. But we have a chance to move up levels if the material is too easy. which it is. My teachers are great though, and I like them a lot! In grammar, we worked on the indefinido (preterite) and imperfect tenses of verbs. I did that a long time ago. In conversation, we talked about where we were from and why we study Spanish. The teacher talked mainly to each student individually, which got really boring after a while when she wasn't talking to me. There are three Chinos (Chinese), four Unidenses (Americans), and twenty Brasilenos (Brazilians). Well, not really twenty, maybe like 8. They all live in the same residence as my group does, so we see them a lot. After class, we came back and had lunch. I talked to mom on skype, and then I wasn't feeling well, so I took a siesta. I was going to get up for dance class at 7, but I still felt terrible, so I stayed in bed. Then I was going to get up for the Spain v. Portugal game, but I was still sick, so I just stayed in bed pretty much until this morning.


I felt somewhat better this morning. My throat is still scratchy [it better not be strep HANNAH PERCY or so help me, I'm going to come across this ocean and get you.] I went to class and it was still too easy. But our teacher, Senorita Virginia Barbero told me and the other 3 Americans that she thinks this work is too easy for us, so she's going to talk to the prof. in a higher level to see if we can go there. It all depends on the class size. They don't want it to end up with like 30 students in one class and 4 in another. So we'll see in a few days I guess. Our second class was canceled b/c they took us all as a group to the Ayuntamiento, which I think is the city courthouse. They packed us all into the main hall and gave some speeches, which I couldn't really hear, but they were about Toledo, and then we were free after that. We had a little while before lunch, so Haley, Elyssa, Rachel, our new friend Pamela, and I got some helado, ice cream, and did a little window-shopping. Then we came back and had lunch- primero was something spinach with maybe cheese and bits of ham in it? I'm not sure, I didn't eat much of it. And segundo was chicken and mashed potatoes. They have something potato in every single meal! Then Crystal and I hung out and talked in my room for a while and decided to do a little shopping along the street that leads to la Plaza Zocodover. We found Elyssa on the way and she joined us. I got one gift, I think, but mainly I just shopped for ideas for gifts for people. We made plans to go to la Plaza de Toros to watch the futbol game on Sat. night. Apparently, they put a big screen up at the arena and everybody goes there to watch it. I just hope we get back from Segovia in time. We're taking a day trip up to Segovia on Saturday! It's not that fat, and we're leaving at 8:30 AM, and the game isn't until 8:30 PM, so we should be back in time. TONIGHT was la fiesta brasilena. SO.MUCH.FUN! I tried to learn how to dance some of the Brasilena dances, but I don't know how well I did. I tried some kind of Brasilena drink, I have no idea what was in it, but it was good! I also tried "calimocho", which is a Spanish drink that is just half coca-cola and half wine. Easy to make and very tasty! We danced and we danced, and sang songs. It was so much fun! Who knew that I would come to Spain and go to a Brasil fiesta?!

El segundo dia y la fiesta

Well Monday didn't start off well. My alarm clock didn't go off. We were supposed to leave the dorm at 9 to walk to the university, la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, to take our placement tests. I woke up to Dr. Baldridge knocking on my door at 8:50. So I threw some clothes on and ran out the door. When we got there, we couldn't find the group. We were at the place we were going to take the test, but they had gone to another building first. While we were walking around to find our group, we found Holly (one from my group). She was late because the family she is staying with dropped her off late. So it's good that we found her so she wasn't wandering around alone! The whole group finally came to the building where we were and we took our placement test. It wasn't too hard. After that we were given a tour of that building, la Plaza de Maria la Blanca. The other building that most of us would be taking classes is la Plaza Padilla, which is just down the road. After the tour, we had pretty much a free day until the fiesta. So we went back to the dorm, la Residencia de Universidad Feminina (RUF), and had lunch and took siesta. Primero was a mixture of scrambled egg, zucchini (I think), and something else green, and segundo was some kind of fish with an red-orange kind of sauce. Primero wasn't half bad. I mean, I wouldn't have put vegetables and eggs together, but it was ok. The fish was fish. Not great, but not bad. After siesta it was time for the welcome fiesta. So we dressed up and walked up to la Plaza Padilla. Upon entering the courtyard, we were lei'ed with red and yellow lei's. I was a little confused since we aren't in Hawaii, but oh well. La Fiesta de Bienvenidos began with a few speakers from UCLM, followed by a flamenco band and dancer and a little spanish play. I couldn't understand all of it because they talked so fast and they were far away, but what I heard was funny. La fiesta ended with an exhibition of medieval fencing. It was so cool! The swordsmen wove in and out of the courtyard and even let some other people try it. After the fiesta, we were tired, so we came back to RUF. I walked in and the Brasil v. Chile World Cup game was on, so I watched the end of that with some of the Brasilians in the dorm. It was quite entertaining!

We made it!

We made it safe and sound into Toledo! We left on Saturday morning at 9:50 from the Nashville airport to Philadelphia. We had a six hour layover in Philly, then we left for Madrid. We arrived in Madrid at 8:20 AM Spanish time and took a bus down to Toledo. They dropped us off at Puente de San Martin, a bridge into the city (buses aren't allowed to drive into the historic district because of the narrow, cobblestone streets) and we walked to our dorm, We checked into our rooms, showered (finally!) and went to find someplace for lunch. My new friend Holly and I found this little restaurant not too far from our dorm. Lunch for the Spanish is the biggest meal of the day (in the US, it's dinner). Most places will serve two courses for lunch. I had gazpacho (a cold kind of tomato soup) for my primero and pork chops and vegetables for my segundo. After lunch, we decided to explore a little bit. We went back down toward Puente de San Martin and walked around there for a little while. It started to get really hot, and it was almost time for siesta, so we headed back to the dorm. I'm in a room by myself, which is ok, but I'm kind of sad because I was excited about sharing a room with someone. But it's ok. That means that I have the closet to myself. :) I took a 3-hour (much-needed after barely any sleep on the plane) nap. Then Dr. Baldridge and I went to go find something to eat for dinner. The first thing I've learned in Spain is that gazpacho gives me heartburn. So for dinner, I turned to something more familiar: McDonald's. It's very different here. Your included beverage can be beer. Weird. People smoke all over the place here, but they can't smoke inside public places, which I'm very grateful for. Well, it is time for bed, I am exhausted! Can't wait for another exciting day tomorrow!

Only One Week Left!

Hola mis amigos!

Only one week left until I hop on a jet plane and fly halfway around the world! I keep having all kinds of crazy dreams. Like the one I had last night. I dreamed that we went to the Chattanooga airport instead of Nashville to meet my group. Talk about freaking out! I've had several dreams like this over the past few days. I guess I'm just really nervous! Haha. Anyways...

My refund check from school finally came today! Woo-hoo! The check I was expecting was supposed to be for $2,802 which meant that I would still owe $110. But the check I got was for $2902 meaning that I only owe $10 more! Praise Him! There was $100 extra that I hadn't calculated. I had done the calculations many times, but I only ever got $2,802 in refunds. I don't know where that other $100 came from, but I'm not complaining!

I've been following the World Cup. I'm not much of a soccer fan, but I was reading about it in Sports Illustrated, and they predicted that Spain would take the cup. Since I will be in Spain while the World Cup is still going on, I figured that that's all the locals will be talking about, so I better know what's going on!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! I can't believe that there are only seven days left! I've already packed twice. I have almost everything I need. Now I'm just getting kind of restless, I'm just so ready for it to be here!