Explorations

Hello All!

I’m sitting here in my room, saying goodbye to half my roommates who are off to watch innocent animals be tortured to death. No bull-fights for me. Thanks anyways. Although, if I was going, I would definitely root for the bull to win.
So, first I have to say that a couple days ago, I was very happy to learn that AIFS (American Institute of Foreign Study) decided to have internet installed in our apartments! YAY!! I’m so excited. There is a guy coming tomorrow, and we should be able to use it within a couple days of the installation. This means, I will be able to blog more frequently, and I will be able to Skype at a more compatible time. For those of you who have Skype, you can find me by searching with my email address, which is itskathryn@sbcglobal.net . My Skype name is itskathrynwhite.
That being said, I’m still having a complete BLAST over here in Spain!!! I’m loving it more and more every day. I finally think I know my way around the city, not just my way around the apartment and school areas. This makes it much easier to wander around without fear of knowing whether or not I’ll make it back! I found that every area within Madrid is different from the next. Some are loud and heavily tourist populated, others are quiet and serene, and others are older and fairy tale like. The fairy tale parts are my favorite!
Yesterday, our group went to Avila and Segovia. Both these cities are about an hour and a half outside Madrid. They were both breathtaking and full of history. Avila is a city surrounded by this giant castle-like, stone wall. St. Theresa was born in a convent there, which we got to go inside of and take pictures of! I’ll put those up on facebook. We also got to see her mummified finger! Crazy!! Segovia is known for this GIANT castle that supposedly served as inspiration in the building of one of the Disney World castles in Florida. True or not, the castle was seriously incredible. We don’t have random castles lying around in California, so this was my first castle experience. And yes, I climbed up 150 stairs to the tallest tower and pretended I was a princess. It was amazing! Then, a few other girls and I proceeded to do the “jump on it” dance. Random, but we are now able to say the following sentence: “I climbed to the tallest tower of a castle in Spain and did the “jump on it” dance once I got to the top.” That is pretty awesome, if you ask me. (If you don’t know the “jump on it” dance, then YouTube it. It’s from a Saturday Night Live sketch.)
Tuesday night, a couple of my roommates and I went to see the musical “Chicago”! It was sooooooo much fun! The whole thing was in Spanish, but I have seen that musical a dozen times before, and I know every song lyric that was sung, so the communication barrier wasn’t an issue. It was amazing to me how much the Spanish version of the songs sounded like the English version. I mean, you know they are speaking another language, but every syllable was right on. I sat there singing the English words in my head, and they were in perfect sync with the Spanish words. I don’t know how that’s even possible, but it had to be difficult. The whole show was just spectacular! They had the directors and choreographers form New York work with them, so it was very similar to the Broadway version. And I do have to mention the dancing. Oh my goodness, these Spanish boys can move their hips like it’s their job…which it is. Hahaha. It’s insane! The male dancers were better than the female dancers, and that is pretty rare. I wish all of you could come see it! I LOVED IT!! And so did the other two girls who saw it with me.
A few days ago, I went to this park called, “El Retiro.” It was so beautiful! And, it’s humungous! Its way too easy to get lost there, but once you do, you don’t really mind. There are dozens of statue monuments and water fountains. There is even this lake right in the middle, where you can rent a little boat and spend a few hours drifting amongst the swans! So romantic! I took a bunch of pictures. Then, as you walk a little deeper into the park, there is a huge, glass dome-like building with a garden inside! It served as a royal ballroom! It’s so beautiful! It reminded me of the “I am Sixteen going on Seventeen” scene in Sound of Music. It looks just like the building she dances in. After I explored and took a thousand pictures, I sat on a park bench to read. I sat near a man playing a saxophone for money. And as I read, he played classical music.
Well, that is about all the new and exciting insights I have to share. I hope they were fun to read about, because they were certainly fun to experience! I heard about this Christian church that has a college group who meet every Tuesday. They are really close to my apartment, but that is all I know. I’m going to try it out this week and see what it’s like. It will probably be in Spanish, but maybe I’ll still get a little something out of it! Some of my roommates are going to Portugal this weekend, but they booked tickets during a class that I don’t have! I’m going to see if can find cheap, last minute tickets, but otherwise I’m here for the Spanish Holy Week. That should be interesting! I’ll let you all know what happens! Love you and miss you!