Sorry I wasn’t able to update for the past two days. The day before was my roommate, Dana’s, birthday so we were out until almost midnight and when I got home all I wanted to do was sleep. Yesterday I moved into my homestay and they have internet but it isn’t working for me or Dana.
So let’s start from where I left off. On Saturday we went to Toledo, a city that is almost 3,000 years old! It was so beautiful! The first thing we did was go on a hill behind the city and just took in the view. It was so incredible; the pictures I took cannot begin to describe what it was like in real life. Our tour guide took us around the city, to a beautiful old cathedral and then to a synagogue turned church with a mosque-type decoration. This last building describes Toledo almost perfectly since it is known as the Jerusalem of Europe. Lastly we stopped by a church that housed the most famous painting ever painted by el Greco. It was very cool to see it in person because I had studied it in my Spanish class last year. We then had free time for lunch and we got gelato.
Our hotel was well away from the city but it was okay because it had a pool! It was a very hot day and the pool was very crowded. We then had a meeting at 6 where we talked about academics and proper behavior in our homestays. As a mentioned before, it was Dana’s birthday so we took a taxi back to old Toledo and had a lovely dinner where I tried paella for the first time! After all that it was midnight and I was tired so we took a taxi back to the hotel to sleep.
The next day we woke up early and headed to El Escorial. El Escorial is a very famous monastery and is one of the biggest in Europe. The tour guide told us that if we walked to every single room in the entire building we would walk 16 kilometers. They had some beautiful paintings, especially by el Greco. All the kings and queens of Spain are interred underneath the alter and we visited their resting place. There are no more open spots and this is a thing that concerns the Spanish people greatly because they do not know where their king will lie once he dies. The king says it is not his problem. Let me explain; the marble coffin are only one meter long and cannot house a whole person in one piece (yes several of the earlier kings were cut into pieces in order to fit) so the bodies are placed in the “rotting room” for 50 years and then their bones are placed in the casket. It is not my idea of a happy afterlife. There are currently 3 empty coffins in the royal burial chamber but the royal persons that will one day rest there are otherwise occupied in the rotting room.
After this happy time, we had lunch and continued our journey to Salamanca. Our host father was waiting for us at the bus station and gave us the customary kiss on each cheek. We then walked to another bus stop and took the bus to our new home. We live in a 7 story apartment building and we have a room on the 2nd floor. Our host family resides on the 6th floor and we will take all our meals with them. They only speak Spanish and told us that they expect only Spanish to be spoken at the dinner table. They gave us so much information and took us up to their apartment and asked us questions for more than an hour. My brain was on Spanish overload, but I was pretty proud of myself because I understood most of what they said. Meal times are very different here in Spain. Breakfast is at 8, lunch at 3, and dinner is at 9. We are expected at every meal unless we tell them beforehand that we will not be there.
This morning we took our placement tests and took a short tour of the city. Now I'm off to find an ATM! Have a fantastic day everyone.
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