I knew this would turn into a post about food

This time, I thought it'd be cool to post a little about everyday life here in Segovia, rather than about just the really cool things. That said, everything here is pretty amazing, but now that I'm used to it all, its less of a shock. For example, when I walk by a 2000 year old Roman aqueduct on the way to school every morning. That's crazy. This thing is massive and it puzzled engineers for years on how it was constructed, and I'm just zipping by because I have to get to Paseo de Salón and I haven't finished my grammar worksheet.

The view from my internship on a rainy day

Anyway, I don't want to imply I'm ungrateful, but I do want to convey that how strange certain things are to me, coming from America where everything is relatively new. So much of this city already existed before the US was even a country. Nevertheless, I'll start with a recap of my week.

WEDNESDAY: All of us except one guy went to Madrid for a Real Madrid game against Copenhagen. RMA won 4-0 in the Champions League match, and it was a lot of fun! We were a little late to the game, but it was an awesome experience, and I'm glad I had the opportunity. We had class on Thursday, and the busses back to Segovia don't run until the morning after the game, so some of us decided to stay up all night rather than paying €30 for a hotel for a few hours of sleep. Thursday was also the 21st birthday of one of the girls (Hannah), so we decided it was a solid reason to celebrate.

Drinks in Madrid are expensive, but we went around to a few interesting places before we were too tired to function and took the first bus (6:30 am!) back here. A few of my friends didn't make it to class that day, but I managed to get an hour of sleep and a shower, and I showed up pretty chipper for grammar class. Our teacher, Luis, was kind enough to organize class in a cafe that day, rather than at the school, so I was pretty happy. There were some people I didn't see again until Friday night, though. Hah!

Santiago Bernabéu! 

The perpetually excited Laura. 

SCODUCKS (with Katie)

This is just a great moment from Wednesday night in Madrid

THURSDAY: At night, we had our intercambios with a few of the cadets, which was a nice way to end the day. Unfortunately, I was too tired to celebrate any more of Hannah's birthday, so I was asleep by like 11 o'clock.

FRIDAY: This was definitely a lazy day for all of us. I went on a walk with Hannah to go window shopping and we happened upon a group of the high school boys I work with at Jesús' shop. They're really so adorable, I just want to put them in my pocket and pinch their cheeks. The cadets were all here that night because they had another parade on Saturday at the academy, so we went to a great tapas bar here called La Tasquina where they give you massive portions of pinchos with your drink. I tried what I think was fried pig cheek or something. I don't even know, but it was so salty and crispy, and I didn't like it.

The lovely Alison

Birthday girl Hannah

SATURDAY: Here's the weirdest part of my week. My host mom invited me to go to some stores in Madrid with her sister, nephew, and her nephew's girlfriend. I didn't know where we were going but she said we'd be home by 4 o'clock so I agreed because I didn't have any other plans. This is also the first time I've been inside a regular car and not a taxi since I've been here, and that was a little bizarre. You know where we went, though? Ikea. And I had McDonald's for lunch. So that, my dear friends, is my incredibly Spanish Saturday haha. And we didn't come home until at least 7 pm, by which point I was pretty tired and cranky. Saturday night though, we went out again to celebrate Hannah's birthday, though it was a smaller group than last week.

It looks the same as in America, just everything is in Spanish.

McDonald's has never tasted so good.

SUNDAY: It was cool because we just went to a cafe and played cards and hung out all afternoon. I probably should have done my homework earlier, but I did get it done in the end. Procrastination forever!

This is getting really long and I'm not even done yet.

Okay, onwards. What I really miss about home is the food. This is Western Europe, so they have most everything you could want in a developed country. I have my laptop and Skype to keep in touch with my friends and family, and there are plenty of cute shops to check out, and the people are wonderful. And the food is good, but I miss breakfast. Some of you might have noticed me complaining about this a lot, but I really do love breakfast food. Back home, my mom makes eggs with kosher hot dogs (they're better!) and avocado and toast every weekend for breakfast. I've had eggs maybe three times since I've been here, and it's slowly killing me. My roommates can attest that I eat more eggs than a normal person, and I like them in any shape or form, as long as they're cooked. I'm like Bubba Gump, but with eggs - fried, scrambled, Benedict, over easy, hard boiled, soft boiled, sunny-side up, omelet....

At this point, my desire for a solid American breakfast is also fighting with my desire for some good Mexican food. It never processed for me that people outside of the Western Hemisphere don't eat Mexican food on a regular basis, and that's just sad. Because Mexican food is amazing. I haven't even seen a real tortilla since I've been here. What they do have is tortilla española, which isn't a freaking tortilla, okay?! It's diced potatoes fried with egg into something that resembles an omelet. And besides this whole tortilla business, avocados are really expensive here, so I haven't had one of those in a while.

All of this said, I know what most of you are looking for is pictures, so here are some from my lovely home here in Segovia, with brief descriptions.

My lunch today. You guys, there's a fried egg on top. I think my host mom noticed I was looking sad about the lack of breakfast food. 

My room

The entrance

Lovely hallway

Living room

Dining area

Kitchen

The view from the back patio. Cool because there's a freaking medieval wall in my backyard, creepy because i'm 90% sure these are the windows to the cadets' dorms. 

Love you, miss you! Huck the fuskies!