I See Dead People. (And Snow!)

Hello Everyone!

Ellen and me

I’ve heard all my adoring fans are impatient and excited for a new update (i.e. my mom was wondering why  she didn’t get one earlier). So here it goes, Mom.

Classes are progressing, and my Spanish is getting better. I’ve already got midterms in two weeks (Eeeep!) so that’s a little intimidating. For my art in Toledo class, we visited a synagog that was built in the 14th century, which reminds me of how old everything is here. It’s fascinating to think about how many people have gone through these places and all the time that has passed. It blows my mind just to think about it.

Outside El Escorial

We also went to El Escorial, a palace (Or castle? I’m not sure what the difference is) a little north of Madrid. Because I’m weird and enjoy car rides (or non-public transportation rides that don’t involve planes), the two hour bus ride was actually enjoyable. When we got there, it was clear the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Actually, I should clarify. We had gone up into the mountain-ish area more, so it was a LOT colder. It even "snowed" which thrilled all the Puerto Rican students who had never seen snow. Even so this wasn't really so cold by Minnesota standards, but by I’ve Gotten Pathetic standards it was less than ideal. Also the entire place was made out of stone and used to be a summer palace for the royal family, so it wasn’t exactly made to be warm in the winter. I guess the world is not a wish-granting factory.

In any case, both the scenery and castle (palace?) were beautiful. El Escorial was less....gold-must-be-everywhere than El Palacio Real, but that didn't take away from any of the beauty. The first hall we were in was impressively large, the highest part of the dome was the height of a soccer field and the area was at least that big. We couldn't take pictures of the interior (*le sigh*) so no pictures again. There were a couple parts of the palace that were my absolute favorites:

El Escorial

1) The Tombs. We got to see the place where all of the Spanish kings have been buried, along with other members of the royal family. This had as much gold and marble and whatnot you'd expect to find in a royal burial chamber.

  

2) THE LIBRARY. I wanted to steal it all. I even broke the No Pictures rule and whipped my camera out of my pocket, aimed wildly and snapped a photo as subtly as I could (Read as very unsubtly). Now this photo turned out about as good as you would expect a wildly aimed picture to turn out, so it unfortunately didn't make it onto this blog. You cannot be more distressed than I am. The library was absolutely breath-taking, and I wanted all of it. The ceiling was painted with different Important People of various subjects such as  theology and geometry and philosophy. And books! And globes! And this one globe-universe thing that portrayed the Earth as the center of the universe. Ah, 16th Century, trying to be all science-y.

My friends and me dressed as Americans

This weekend was also El Carnaval, which is a pre-Lent celebration which was great. It's closest to Halloween in terms of American holidays, so we got to dress up in costumes! Naturally, we went as Americans after finding American flag headbands. We all dressed up in red, white and blue to represent the good ole US of A. Other highlights of this weekend include me taking a "Chupito Fuerte" which is a flaming shot. On fire. 

I swear I'm a responsible adult.

Abrazos y besos,

Emily

(Hugs & Kisses)