Almost over the hump...

So, we have our first round of midterms tomorrow: Gramática and Literatura, followed by Evolución de espanol and Historia on Thursday. It has been a really long time since I’ve been on the receiving end of a test; I think the last “test” I took was the written test for my Alaska driver’s license (which I finally passed on the third try because I thought surely I wouldn’t need to study for such a silly, easy test!!). Before that, it was probably grad school, where Dr. Eifler would always bake us cookies to eat on test days. So what am I doing right now on test-eve-night, well, writing a long overdue blog post of course! I needed a break from the memorization, and in my defense, I have been studying almost nonstop since Friday evening while other people went to Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls or out dancing into the wee hours of the night… I’m a nerd and I’m just praying that all this studying is going pay off come test time, otherwise…. I just don’t know what will happen!

This weekend was very similar to last weekend; Saturday was our trip to the pool to sip tinto, study (a little), have girl talk, and just take a mental break from things. Angi and I both got a little crispy; I definitely missed a few spots with the spf 45 and my poor Irish skin definitely was splotchy and red!

Sunday we had an excursion to Segovia, which is famous for their (still-standing) Roman aqueduct. The day was an absolute blur as our wee little tour guide (who barely looked older than some of my students) attempted to keep us on a strict schedule and keep people from wandering off and shopping (ha. sucker!). I don’t know how many times he counted us like a little (neurotic) mother hen. We went to the Castillo in Segovia, which was the inspiration for Disney’s Cinderella’s castle, checked out yet another cathedral (I’m hoping I don’t offend or disappoint anyone when I confess that after 4 weeks in Spain, I am cathedraled-out). We had about 40 minutes to grab lunch (we found a place that totally catered to my vegetarian self and was able to feed us a three course meal in record time!)  Then we hopped back on the bus to head over to Coco. By this time, we were all done. On the first part of the bus ride, I had to sit in the very back row, which didn’t go over so well and made me feel like poo the rest of the day. Despite my motion sickness bracelets, Dramamine and moving to the front row of the bus, the next two bus rides were miserable! We arrived in Coco to see their old fortress (Alcázar); the group climbed a bunch of stairs to get up into the tower, but I stayed at the bottom with the other people who were suffering from motion sickness (or they just simply didn’t feel like following the neurotic mother hen around anymore). 

The Roman Aqueduct that was built without using any cement or mortar; just stone on stone. They don't use it anymore to transport water, but it is supposedly still functional. Pretty darn amazing considering it's almost 2000 years old!

The Castillo in Coco.

Cinderella's Castle behind me!

Segovia's Castle

Stained glass from Segovia's Castle; I was told that the reason the lions' tails are between their legs is because Spain hadn't reconquered the empire back yet... (not sure if it's true, but I liked the story).

 

I am almost over the “hump”. As of Thursday afternoon, it’s going to be downhill from there. Starting next week, we will only have two afternoon activities a week (instead of four), we just have one more Sunday excursion and then the following weekend is a free three-day weekend (the beach is calling our names!!), and during our “finals week” we have a really light class load (unlike midterms this week, where we still have everything in addition to all the studying we need to do).

I’ve been telling myself since the beginning, “I can do this”, and now I’m finally beginning to believe myself! Wish me luck on these midterms; Evolution of Spanish is going to kick my culo!!