¡Holy Toledo! (And Segovia)

¡Hola todos!

This week has already been more exciting than last week (said Wednesday Emily. I tried to write this not-all-at-once so I would remember things better). Maybe. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Anyway, I have a plethora of kee-rap (my dad's version of "crap") to tell you all.

The beginning of the week led to some annoyance on my (and my mommy's) part due to credit card companies. Apparently most people don't buy three plane tickets right in a row in order to continue a European Adventure. Due to impatience concern, my mom called the credit card company and acted like me to clear up the situation.

An open letter to cops/federal agents/people involved with the law:

Dear cops/federal agents/people involved with the law,

You might say this is "fraud" or some such nonsense. My mams cosigned the credit card thinger, so she shouldn't have had to do this. Someone at the bank or company or something messed up. So calm yourselves.

Best wishes,
Emily

Anyway, they called my mom's bluff because she didn't know the code on the back of the credit card. So I got a talkin-to via the phone at 1AM on account of her fear that the company would cancel my tickets. This led to us Skyping while she cleared up the matter. Neither of us was particularly pleased, but everything got fixed for the better. And during the Skype call, our feist (similar to feisty, but a noun) was calmed to normal levels. And all was well in the world. Or something.

Wednesday night, we had a talent show at the Fund. I didn't participate because my talents aren't the kind you can put on a stage. You don't believe me?

A List of Emily's Talents

-Drawing
-Taking naps
-Changing radio stations while driving (You might be under the impression that this isn't a talent. Clearly, you've never ridden with me)
-Being short
-Procrastinating (Why yes, I have written an eight page paper the same day it was due. BOOM.)
-Ruining part of a Game of Thrones for the guy I had a crush on (See also: Being a nerd)
-Getting tan on only one half of my body

Anyway, this was probably one of my favorite Fund events. I was constantly impressed, whether it be by my classmates courage just for being on stage or their actual talents. I became quite aware of my own deficiencies and have decided to take up singing, dancing, playing guitar/train whistle/cello, doing magic tricks and being amazing. Actually, I can cross the last one off the list because I've got it down pretty well.

Because it was my friend Coral's birthday, we went to a nearby bar to celebrate. The bartender knows us, and put up a "Feliz Cumpleaños" sign for her and even gave her a free bottle of champagne. Unfortunately, I had class early the next morning so I wasn't out as long as I wanted to be but it was still an extremely fun night and I won't forget it soon. (As predicted, Thursday morning came too soon.)

 Although Thursday wasn't really exciting, it made me realize how quickly my time here has gone by, and how little I have left. For my Art in Toledo class, we had our final visit (to the University here) and my final for that is in less than a week. *Gulp* I can't believe I only have two more weeks here, and while I am ready to see my family and friends, it is painful to think about leaving Toledo. So generally I try to ignore this doom and gloom outlook on things and focus instead on other stuff. Fun stuff. Like how I spent the entire day in a tank top and skirt while it just blizzarded in Minnesota.

On Friday, we hopped on the bus for our last Fund excursion to Segovia. There were some awesome parts to this trip although, overall, I wouldn't say this was the prettiest city I've been to in Spain. (The more I travel around Spain, the more I fall in love with how gorgeous Toledo is. Other cities are great, but the don't have the medieval atmosphere and beauty that I find here.) In any case, we did visit some marvelous parts of the city: namely a great castle and some ancient aqueducts. The castle was, like always, called the Alcazar, which means it housed royalty and some military stuff and I didn't retain everything, so hopefully that is all. This one, in Segovia, was actually the inspiration for the Disney logo and castle. It used to be defense-oriented but then one of the kings (Felipe Something? Carlos Something? There are too many kings with the same name...) decided to make it look pretty and added the pointed towers that we tend to associate with castles. At the end of the tour, we were allowed to go up the highest tower and view the entire city.

A brief note: I am very excited for America in a few respects. One of them is in regards to stairs. There are eight bajillion stairs in Europe and going up the tower was no exception. Obviously they had to be the tight spiral kind of stairs, too. The kind where you keep going in circles and eventually you get super dizzy and think you are going to fall backwards and take all the other people down with you. Those kind of stairs. As a child, I wanted them in my house because they looked so majestic. To which I tell my childhood: No. A thousand times no.

When we finally made it to the top, everyone was having trouble breathing on account of the stairs. But, man, was it worth it. I will obviously be adding pictures because we all know I am lazy bad at writing descriptions. It was the perfect day for this trip as well, weather-wise. The sky was extremely blue and the sun decided to hang around making it even better.

Afterwards, we headed to the Plaza Mayor and got a good glimpse of the Cathedral. We had seen it from a distance, due to the tower, but seeing it up close was even better. We didn't have enough time to go inside, but it was enough just to enjoy the exterior. Then came probably my favorite part of the trip: the aqueducts. I never really thought of them existing in places outside of Italy, but, whadda ya know, they do. These ones were apparently built in the first century and some of the best preserved. They are made completely out of stone and don't even have mortar or anything keeping them together, which makes them even more impressive. I also had no idea they would be so massive, but they definitely are.

After lunch, some relaxing, and hanging out near the 'ducts, it was time to get on the bus once again and return to Toledo. Cue in the siesta.

Saturday brought the amazing weather to Toledo. I have been walking around today in a skirt (Shocking, right?) and a tank top because it was that nice. I can't actually say it was a really exciting day but it was just good. I decided to wander around Toledo and do some actual tourist shopping. I've neglected buying presents for some of my friends (Sorry T and Carly!) but today I actually got around to it. That is more or less what my day consisted of: meandering around tourist-filled streets by myself to finish "chores." It was nice to just spend some time with my own company (said the introvert). After a while, I decided to grab my Nook and find a quiet spot to read. Sadly, I got tan on only one side of my body.

What are we doing tonight? I have no idea, actually. We might go out or have a movie night. I am no longer the leader, so I ignore these "planning" things. If something interesting happens tonight, I'll let you guys know.

You probably won't hear from me for a week.

Lies, you actually will hear from me. It is approximately (exactly) 3:38AM and I just got back from La Nuit, the discoteca here. We all had an excellent night, starting out at Dragos, our bar. It was incredibly fun just to hang out, especially knowing we have to savor our last couple of weeks here. From the bar, we headed out to the club to finish off the night with some dancing. My dancing skills could definitely use some improving, but I got to practice my Spanish skills with some of the Spaniards tonight. It was a good night, but I am exhausted. I'm super excited to wake up early and study tomorrow....

¡Hasta Luego!