Finding an internet connection is like a not fun scavenger hunt...

So yesterday was our 3rd excursion. What a good time. The day was sunny and brisk when we left Segovia at 11:30am to see a mountain. Now, i could not tell you the name of the mountain because there are soo many around here. However, it is in this little pueblo called Valsain. We all hiked up the mountain (it took about 45 min or so) to find HORSES everywhere, just grazing. it was sooo cool. I was so excited, almost like i had never seen a horse before. We all were a little over the top about them, but it was still cool to see random horses. Our prof, Edu, talked about the different mountains that surrounded the one we were on. We hiked our way to the different battle sites on the mountain.

This mountain was a huge site from the Spanish Civil War between the French Nationalists and the Spanish soldiers for the Republic.....or something like that. Anywho, there were bunkers and pits all over the summit where soldiers slept and fought. They were pretty darn cool. Edu also talked a little about Earnest Hemingway(who i detest) and how he wrote about this site in a book of his, which i did not listen to cause again, do not like him too much. :)

The day was PERFECTO for an excursion. It was chilly so we all got to bundle up in cute stuff but it was sunny so it wasnt TOO cold. On our way down the mountain we encountered a spring...from the mountains! It had been tapped with a spout i am sure by the environmental agency in the area but we all filled out water bottles with the cool, non-chlorinated water. SOOOO YUMMY! haha

Later that evening i went to the church for choir rehearsal again. I switched to soprano yesterday because they did not have enough people...but then the pastor's wife showed up and she can sing loud enough for 3 people. I wanted to switch back down, but oh well. we'll see! After that i met with some of my friends from school to visit the Plaza Mayor because this weekend is the Festival de San Frutos, the patron saint of Segovia. There was a large band giving a concert in the Plaza...we all began dancing and taking ridiculous pictures until we saw this group of couples....so we decide to join them! They were so nice and welcoming to us college kids from America. They were all from Andalucia (southern Spain....specifically from the city of Cordoba!) We just danced with them for like an hour! We taught them the Electric Slide too...dont worry: we danced it to Spanish folk music. (and Dont ask, it just fit in the rhythm.) it was a BLAST. i mean, how often can YOU go to a city square in the US and dance with (adult, 50-60's)strangers for an hour and still be friends, without the awkwardness?? it put me in such a good mood. they were such a cheerful bunch. My friend has pictures which i am sure i will get later.

Anywho, its late on a Saturday afternoon and i have to do some homework. Next week we have mid terms! YIKES. haha God's Blessings to everyone!!

1.5 months down, 2 to go!

Today is October 20, which is CRAZY. it does not feel like i have been here over a month. And now, October is almost over which is also insane. Since fall break is now over, I just have to stick my nose to the grind and just do some work. Which shouldn't be a problem since i rarely have a TON. But i just dont feel motivated here. The motto of everyone here is my favorite: No pasa nada!

Friday was our second excursion to El Escorial and el Valle de los Caidos. El Escorial is the largest building in Spain. It houses a royal palace, a monestary, a cathedral, a library, and probably other things that i can not remember. All the old kings and queens of Spain are buried there and we saw their "chamber". It was cool. We were not allowed to take pictures inside nor were we allowed to carry anything like a backpack. It was a beautiful building and we spent a good 2.5 hours in it! El Valle de los Caidos( el vi-yay deh los ky-ee-dos) is the home to the largest stone cross in the world. it is 152 meters tall! it towers over the mountains and can be seen from the highway! Under the cross is the Basilica that we visited.....it is under the mountain. CRAZY! it was so beautiful....but we also could NOT take pictures. lameos. However, the old dictator of Spain, Francisco Franco, was buried there so it was fun to see that. i dont really understand why he was buried in the church...since he was a DICTATOR and a communist. oh well. the spaniards are strange.....sorry, not strange. DIFFERENT. ;) haha

My weekend was pretty easy going. I stayed in on Friday and Saturday night. I went on a walk with my friend Lana on Saturday around the Alcazar. It rained while we were walking, but it was still nice. Sunday i went to the small protestant/evangelical church around the corner from my house. I forgot how nice the people were there! I am very glad that i found this place because its nice to have some place where i can worship at all with others. I am also going to be singing in their little "choir" for a pre-Christmas concert on December 18. That will be cute. I am even singing alto! It is the Spanish version of Hark the Herald Angels sing....so fun.

well, i need to finish a lit paper for Thursday sooo yah. I better get on that. :D God's Blessings to you all!

Con carino,
Emily

It is a good thing that I went to Italy with other people!

SO i did lose all my pictures or something from Italy. My camera's memory card freaked out and got some kind of corrupted virus thing...and it deleted all my pictures. I think. Caleb still thinks they might be there still hidden, since i never actually pressed anything to delete ALL my photos. But thanks to my other friends that i travelled with, i was able to find some pictures for my use as well. Although there arent quite as many with ME in front of things, its still proof that i was there too! hehe.
I am safely back in Segovia though after a very INTENSE week in Italy. It was supposed to be vacation but we were sooooo busy traveling everyday, trying to see all the important stuff in each city. I should talk about the rest of our week!
Wednesday(october 8) Was our first full day in Florence, and i must say that I Loved it! We took a 3 hour walking tour of the historical part of the city which was very insightful and i enjoyed our tour guide alot. After that we went to the market again and spent a LOT of time there. I got all my Christmas shopping done there! I feel pretty darn accomplished. haha Later that evening we went to the biggest plaza in Florence to find some live music! It was great and the artist was very good. He played the acoustic guitar. We listened to his set for about an hour.
Thursday(October 9) We all got up early to go get in line for the Accademia....aka to see Michaelangelo's David. it was super expensive, especially for how small the museum is, but it was pretty cool to see the David statue. After that we went to the market....again! haha it is just so entertaining! We also went up and in the Duomo in Florence, aka the big ginormous cathedral there. It is pretty neat! I went to a concert this night, and it was amazing. it made me miss my Uncle David a bit because there was an organ soloist who was amazing...and organ always makes me think of Uncle Dave. The organist played Bach's tocatta and fugue in d minor. AWESOME when it is played live, in a cathedral. There was also a soprano soloist and a flautist. It was only a 45 min concert, but it was free and i was not about to object to classical music! haha.
Friday(October 10) We left Florence in the morning to head to Venice. The train ride was shorter when you nap! haha. Our hostel was out in the middle of no where, so we had to take a bus into the city every day. Our first night there: there was a strike. Apparently, there are strikes all the time, and the groups that strike like, sign up for times each month or year to have this specific strike. it was bizzare. We ate dinner by the Canal Grande(sooooooo expensive) but the food was delicious. WE just then walked around the Rialto bridge after wandering for the San Marco square forever.
Saturday(October 11) We went into the city of Venice again and bought a boat "pass" for 12 hours because the boats are what get ppl around cause the streets are WAY too narrow for cars to pass through. Like in rome, everyone had a Vespa. IN Venice, everyone has a boat! We decided to go to Murano and watch glass blowing, cause there is nothing like Venetian glass, no? haha That was fun and then we went to San Marco square. We went into the main cathedral there and took pictures around the square. Then we just spent alot of time just wandering the streets, we took the boat up the canal grande again during twilight(soooo pretty!) and sat by the rialto bridge before grabbing a bite to eat. Then we returned to teh Square to listen to live music by some big bands. That was awesome. We couldnt sit unless we wanted to eat at the restaurants that sponsored the performances.....but it was cool nonetheless.
Sunday(October 12) We took a later train at 12:40ish back to Rome; and even though it took 5 hours we made it back to our original hostel, The Yellow, and walked to see the Trevi and the Spanish steps again. We found this DELICIOUS gelato place our last night. I got Pear gelato and it was basically heaven it was sooo good. haha.
Monday(October 13) Our flight left Rome at 9:10am and got back to Madrid at about 11:20am. However, even though i only live 1 hour away from Madrid it took us a long time to get home. We had to wait 40 min for our luggage and then had to catch the metro to the bus station to get to Segovia. I did not get back to my apartment til 3:30pm. Then i did laundry and did some homework, finally crashing at like 10pm.

ALl in all, a great trip of a lifetime. I am glad that i blew all my money on this trip cause a year from now, i will look back and be glad that i did this! Pictures will be up on my photobucket account (ehmuhlee1219) tomorrow sometime! Now it is back to the regular routine here in Segovia. I like my classes and i am soooo happy to be back where Julia can cook her sumptuous foods for me! hehehehe. She is so cute and the sweetest host mom i could ask for. This friday we have an excursion to El Escorial, the big palace in a huge valley. I am SUPER excited about that. i will bring my defective camera, but make sure others take pics of me too! haha. God's Blessings to you all!!

-Emily

A Super update...and some (possible) sad news!!

Well, I know that I need to fill ya'll in on the last couple of days!! I have not had that much time on the internet, but now i DO! :D

Saturday(october 4) we all woke up really early to head to the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. We wanted to have a decent place in line for the Vatican museum. The Vatican is only open until about 2 on Saturdays sooo we went at 6:45am since the museum opened at 8:45am. We did stand in line for quite some time. The Basilica is BEAUTIFUL! It was pretty empty when we were there, which was enoyable for me. There was even a choir practicing...which reminded me of Concordia Choir and Arborsong.....i miss you guys!! :) The Vatican Museum was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo extensive and overwhelming. I heartily enjoyed the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. The Sistine Chapel was NOT what I was expecting. For some reason I thought it was going to be this GRAND building....and no. it is what it says it is: a chapel. it is a small room. about the length of all the Riverside Rooms....and very tall.(like the chapel on the inside) It took me a long time to find the fresco of God reaching to Adam....and i DID sneak a picture. :) We spent all morning til early afternoon there and then headed back to our hostel before getting ready for dinner. All of my traveling buddies went to a ritzy place to eat...I stayed behind b/c i had a headache and was not hungry. I then later met our new room mate, a French student named Frank(Franco...really). He was studying in Rome for a year, but was having trouble aquiring a flat....so he stays in hostels for now. He was nice and very talkative. Rome is very busy and def a tourist city....it made me miss the peace and quiet of Segovia.
Sunday(october 5) we woke up early again, about 8am, and went to go and visit the Christian catacombs in the outskirts of Rome. We recieved poor directions 5 times but eventually found them. Well, one of them. There are 16 Christian catacombs throughout teh Rome metro area. We just went through one called The catacombs of San Callixstus. We were not allowed to take pictures but i bought a postcard of my fav room in the catacombs. After that we went to the part i was MOST looking forward to: the heart of Ancient Rome! We walked through the Colusseum, Palatine Hill, and the Forum. I was not a huge fan of Palatine Hill...but i LOVED the Colusseum and the Forum. Lots of photos there....and soo much history. I wanted to start chanting "Maximus!!" in the Colusseum but i felt it might be a bit too much. :) At the Forum, there was a man named Jason who was giving free tours, so we wandered with him. He was very good and memorable. He said he has been reccommended by Rick Steve's and the NY Times many times....i was happy. :D It was too dark after our Forum tour to go and see teh Circus Maximus so we went to get a crepe.....mine was lemon and sugar. YUMMY!!
Monday(october 6) we ran back to St. Peter's Basilica to visit it again because my firend had not seen it yet....she was with her bf all weekend who is studying in Rome. I sat outside the building and read....for a long time. (a very interesting book...i would like to hear some feedback from those who have read it, if possible!!) Then we went to the Pantheon. Cool building as well. Then we grabbed our luggage and hopped on a train to Siena for the next day. it took us 3 hours to get there but we did and BOY what a beautiful place. Our Bed and Breakfast was outside the city limits so we had to take a cab into the city that night, but it was worth it. We ate a small dinner at El Campo, the big hang out in Siena. Its basically a giant plaza. really pretty.
Tuesday(october 7) we had a nice continental breakfast and took the bus into Siena again. We visited the Duomo, a huge church made of black and white marble. It was gorgeous. Then back to the Plaza for a quick descansa y siesta. then back to the train station at about 4 to head to Firenze(aka Florence). We arrive in Firenze at about 6:30pm and settle into our super nice hostel(that I booked! heheh) then we go out, grab some food, and wander around the city. we stumble upon this acoustic guitar guy and so we all join the small crowd and listen to him for about 1.5 hours. it was such a chill way to spend the evening...in Florence, Italy.
This morning we took a 3 hour walking tour around the city which was nice and very imformative. Then my friends and I walked the HUGE market of San Lorenzo for hours. (until about 1 hour ago! haha) needless to say, i might sum this all up saying: I loved the history of Rome, the BEAUTY of Siena, and the city life of Florence!

Okay: the possible bad news....so i was trying to see if this computer would read my camera's memory card so i could FINALLY upload some pictures. The computer would not take it, so i put it back in my camera. when i turned it on again, the camera said "no image". now, i have taken about 300 pictures since i left last Friday. if they are all gone.....i personally have NO photo memories of anything i have seen....i dunno what happened but i am about to take my memory card somewhere and find out! please pray that my pictures are not gone! :D

i hope you all are well! God's Blessings as we live and love in this beautiful world He has created!

-Emily Joy

Italia: Day uno

So the overnight stay in the Madrid-barajas airport was a fun time. i did not sleep alot and i played alot of cards. the terminal was really nice and we made friends with the security guard but our check in station. The overall night was great seeing as i left Segovia at 9:30pm, got to the train station at 11 and arrived at the airport at midnight....aiii i was tired. i stayed up for about 3 hours then tried to nap for a little bit. we were able to check in with Alitalia at about 4:30am. We made it to our terminal with plenty of time to spare!

We boarded the plane a little after 6am and left at 6:30am. We got into Rome at about 8:45 and i was able to sleep for a while on the plane....but i was still tired, but i didnt care. I WAS IN ITALY!!!! we had to wait a long time in the baggage claim for our luggage(an extra 45 min!) but then all was well and we left to take the train to our hostel. the train station is about 5 blocks from our hostel in Rome. The reason i am able to write this is because we get 30 min free of internet everyday! that made me happy seeing as i have become very attatched to the internet....well, any form of communication with friends and fam back home. hhaa :)

Our hostel is quite nice. its called The yellow. its within walking distance of trevi fountain and the spanish steps. and other things too but i dont know the geography of Italy well. We rested for a while, grabbed some lunch then went exploring this part of Rome. its soooo beautiful the things we saw....finally!! we had dinner at this restuarant that made their own pasta...everyday. i got the pesto pasta....and my friends know how much i LOVE basil pesto. :) then i topped the evening off with a peach gelato. oh man...so grea. well, i must go since my time is almost up but another update will come soon! Pictures will have to wait until later! Gods Blessings!!