Oh Monday, I'm so glad you're over...

Let me tell you, Mondays in Spain are just as bad. Maybe even worse, because the whole time we're here the universe is tricking us into thinking that we're on vacation. Until BAM! here's a Monday and you have to go to school and think. And when school is in Spanish, you don't zone out. Now, I'm not saying that I'm one of those students who sleeps in class or uses it for things other than learning (occasionally some extra homework gets done, but I'm still learning!), but classes in Spanish are serious. Mostly because if I miss 2 words in a sentence, I very well may not know anything the teacher said. And I'm not to the proficiency level that I can fill-in-the-blank with Spanish words (on tests, yes) so zoning out is not an option. Also, our Spanish teachers are CRAZY! Like bonkers type of crazy. They are SO excited about teaching "extranjeros" (foreigners) that they are almost too much. One of them has the worst voice. I'm assuming it's for everyone, but there is like one pitch that seriously hurts my ears to listen to and that is the exact pitch of her voice. At 9:00 in the morning (or 3:00 for you) it's a little hard to handle. Mostly, they are obsessed with love and sex. So we have had long conversations about our perfect date, the best physical features in the perfect man/woman, etc. If they catch you looking up a word in your dictionary or reading from your notebook, you have to answer some "hot seat" question and good luck with that! Moral of the story: forget that it's Monday and dive in.
I was planning on having an incredibly wonderful post about my weekend ready for you, but my weekend wasn't incredible. Haha, we had a good time on our excursion, but it wasn't climbing mountains or anything. We visited a couple of really old towns and saw some old buildings. I know this sounds really snooty of me, I mean how lucky am I that I get to come on this trip (lucky is used lightly here, I have strong feelings when tells me I'm "lucky" in that snarky tone, but I won't continue that rant here)? But I've been here for 26 days now, we've done a lot of sightseeing. And once you've seen one Roman cathedral, you've pretty much seen them all. So, like always, it was beautiful!

We also saw "El Capricho," which is a building by Gaudí (Google Antonio Gaudí and be amazed). It was really beautiful and I would love to live there. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The best part was, the whole upstairs was Sydney sized and there was a princess tower!

Gaudí used sunflowers to capture as much sun as possible.

Seat on the balcony

(Please note the roll cage foam used to protect heads!)

Princess tower!

Super tight, skinny stairs!

More princess tower!

Lastly, we visited the Caves of Altamira. They are only replicas of the real caves because the real ones are too fragile to be visited (unless you have lots of money of course). They were okay, but were pretty much just some plaster and fake paintings. Not too impressive.

That was all on Friday, so Saturday we visited the beach and did lots of homework. Sunday was pretty chill too, which was a blessing because I am always tired here. We've come to the conclusion that it's because our brains are c.o.n.s.t.a.n.t.l.y working overtime while using Spanish because we're all just exhausted and I never know what time it is. That may be because I feel like I'm on vacation though. It may also be that we're at a higher altitude than we're used to, but I don't actually know how true that is or how it works.

The best news of the day: only ONE more day of school this week! We're currently celebrating Semana Grande (literally "Big Week," haha) which is the festival of the Saint of Santander. So we get Wednesday off of school and then we leave for Santiago de Compostela on Thursday morning. I think it will be a fabulous trip! I'm not sure exactly what it's going to include, but the Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage that covers the northern part of Spain into France. We're staying in a monastery, but that's about all I know. I will be there from Thursday until Sunday afternoon, so I probably won't be able to contact anyone during that time.

For now, I have to study as we have our final exam for culture class tomorrow. I'm stuffing as much Spanish history, government, and art as will fit in my head and I think I already know more about these in Spanish culture than I do about the States. Cool beans.

Congratulations on surviving Monday, and bueno suere para mañana!

Besos y abrazos! (Literally "xoxo" : D )

Sydney