Segovia!

We made it!! It is 10:20 here and very gloomy and rainy Now we are just waiting in the airport in Madrid for the rest of the group in order to take the bus to Segovia and meet our host families! I am getting so anxious and nervous to meet my family because I have no idea what to expect! My hands are all blistered from the hauling around the weight of my two bags.

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My first day was crazy!! The flight went really well, although I was nervous to board everytime because my carryon looked more like a suitcase and it was really hard to get up and down from the overhead compartments, but I had lots of help. When we arrived we had to wait around in the Madrid airport for 6 hours until the rest of the group came. I got some sleep on the plane and during the wait, so I wasn’t too tired during the rest of the day.

Then it was about an hour drive to Segovia. We arrived an hour early but my host dad was the first one there and greeted me right away, so I was the first to leave! I walked back with him and Eva to their apartment, which is located right next to the aqueduct and in the middle of all the action! Eva studied abroad here 2 years ago and is from Minnesota as well, but she went to Bethel.  She is visiting for the weekend and is really nice to have here!  She really calmed me down because she was able to explain customs, words, phrases and all the new things that I would just nod my head and smile at. There is a really nummy looking candy store below me and yesterday all the winter sales started in all of the cute shops around! 

         Right when I arrived I met the two boys, Jorge (4) and Diego (7) and Dani, who is the nanny, cook, cleaning lady and much more. She sat me down and said I needed to eat, so she proceeded to make me this super nummy soup, crema de Calabasas, with some meat for my second dish and a small yogurt for my third. She was so helpful and easy to talk to.  After I ate I unpacked all my stuff. I have a room alone upstairs with a bathroom and desk and bed. It is pretty small but it is very nice and my host family is very accommodating. After unpacking I joined Eva, Dani, Diego, Jorge y Blanca (the cousin of the boys) out into segovia! we went to the candy shop first, but I didn’t get anything yet because I was pretty full from my other meal. Then we walked down the street to a park. On the way I saw a beautiful castle, church, tons of shopping and a lot of people. I thought it was really cool that so many people are in the streets, it makes the town seem so lively and like a real community. The norm in spain is to meet outside the house and at different places, they rarely bring people back to entertain at ones own house. The park had a legitimate marry go round that lit up and you needed tickets to ride. It was really fun to just enjoy the outdoors, it was about 45 degrees but getting chilly because it was nearing dark.

         When we got back home I played escondito (hide and seek) with the kids all around the apartment. After that we just hung out and watched TV. It was really easy to talk to Blanca because she is 12 and I don’t feel judged by her and its really easy to ask her questions! We talked a lot and I showed her pictures of my family and friends and she met Sammie Sandy and blankie too.

         Dinner wasn’t until about 10 but it was very delicious. We had tortilla de España and some really good ham that they cut right from a thing that looked like an animal haha. After that we watched a movie .

         Although the day was really fun it was also really hard. I had no way to contact anyone else in my group or anyone at home because I don’t have a converter for my computer charger and my computer was about to die. They also said they went out and looked for one for me and couldn’t find it. I also was going to get minutes on my prepaid phone but the line was too long and I didn’t know anyones numbers anyways. Hopefully I will be able to find the group tomorrow and exchange numbers!!

Hasta luego!