Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall....

Greetings to all of you! It is just another cloudy and cool day in Segovia and I have spent it in a good way! Like most Saturdays here, I slept in this morning, with no agenda to attend to today. I ate some breakfast and got dressed…then I did my grammar homework to get it out of the way. I felt pretty accomplished, even just doing that! Then I decided to watch Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

BEST. IDEA. EVER.

It made me miss David Appold a lot. And then , that made me miss Liz, which lead to Bethany and Erin. And well, then I just missed everyone at Concordia. It was so good to watch it again. Mainly cause I love hearing those familiar quotes that David and I integrate into everyday situations. Cause my life has the same exact hardships as Frodo and Sam’s. ;) hahahah. I smiled a lot.

Speaking of movies, I watched V for Vendetta on Wednesday, cause it was November 5. It was a nice moment for me. Except that I am running out of movies to watch, in my own collection here. I might have to start asking the other students to see if they have movies to watch. Cause I love watching movies.

Thursday we took a class excursion to the Alcazar in Segovia, which is the fortress/castle here. That was a fun time because I have wanted to see it since I first arrived here. The castle is beautifully constructed with gilded ceilings of gold and very intricate detailing. Those Arabs knew how to decorate their architecture. We climbed the large tower after touring the castle, and there were many steps to the top. 152, to be exact. I took more pictures from the top. Haha. I just loved having a working camera now!!!

Yesterday was our 4th excursion to Salamanca and Avila, which are 2 cities 2 hours and 45 minutes from Segovia. It was a beautiful city, Salamanca. We were advantageous enough to see a large, working, Roman bridge. This city is home to one of the oldest universities in Europe. The University of Salamanca also was the first university to have a library in it, in Europe. We also were able to go inside the cathedral there to which is also attached the old cathedral. The choir section with the organ was BEAUTIFUL. It reminded me of Westminster. I wish I could be there to hear a choir sing or hear that organ play. I am sure it is amazing. Our lunchtime was great too. One of the students’ mothers is visiting and she just has some great stories which made us all laugh.

Avila would have been a lot better, had it not been raining the whole time. We got some far away pictures of the cool wall surrounding the city, but once we got into the city, it began to pour. And it was not fun cause the roads would just accumulate water….and I wore flats, so my feet were wet.  ahah but then we visited an old convent with a relic of Saint Theresa…her finger. It was gross and odd cause it also had a ring on it. I did a lot of sleeping on the bus on the way back to Segovia. We had started the day quite early (8:30) so the naps on the bus helped.
Now I have to work on a presentation for my European Union class about The Netherlands for Monday. I have all the information on slides, but now I need to cut back and make a lot of those slides into notes. I don’t like a lot of words on my slide show presentations. I need to have something to say in Spanish too! Haha. Tomorrow is church and then a full week of class! WOO. Not. I am getting to that point in the semester where I just want to enjoy Spain, and not worry about class.
Let us all remember that God has a plan for our new president whether we all agree with him (and his ideas/platforms) or not. We can only pray for him and his new administration. :D

God’s Blessings to everyone during this next week!