A lot has happened!

It's been a busy week! We are already in our 4th week of classes--that is just so hard to believe!

Last week I went to "Intercambios" for the first time. Every so often here at the university they have nights where students who are learning Spanish can come and speak with Students who are learning English. All of the Spanish-learners sit on one side of the table, and the English-learners on the other, and then you speak for four minutes in English and for four minutes in Spanish. After four rotations, there are refreshments and you can mingle with whoever you'd like, and a lot of people exchange numbers or e-mail addresses with the people they conversed with so that they can meet again for coffee or something and continue talking. I was really nervous about it at first, but I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I talked to five different people, and it takes away so much anxiety to be speaking to someone who is also learning and making mistakes. It's also interesting to hear the reasons why they are learning English--they all told me that here it is critical to know English, because it is the language that so much of the world is using now. They thought it was funny, though, when I told them how valuable it is in the U.S. to learn Spanish.

This Saturday I went with a group of friends to Toledo, and it was a lot of fun. The bus ride to Madrid is about two hours, and then from Madrid to Toledo is a little less than an hour. We had a lot of layover time, but that's when bonding takes place! I think I might have liked Toledo better than Segovia--it was EXTREMELY hilly and all the roads were very steep so it was hard on the knees, but other than that I just liked the layout and the scenery and the buildings...and really everything about it. While it was still relatively touristy, I thought it was less tourist-oriented than Segovia. The only dissapointment was that the Casa Museo de El Greco (where El Greco lived and where many of his paintings are displayed) was closed so we weren't able to see it. We did, however, go to another museum where some of his paintings were displayed, and they were pretty amazing. We got back to Valladolid around 2:30, and although we were all exhausted, it was totally worth it. The pictures are up on Webshots!

Yesterday I ate octopus for the first time, and then got sick, so I think that I will not eat octopus anymore. Everything else though is going well. Katie, Ashley, and I leave for Brussels on Thursday morning and we couldn't possibly be more excited. It seems like we've been planning it for so long, and now it's here all of a sudden. We will be in Brussels until Saturday night or Sunday morning, and then in Amsterdam until Tuesday morning. There are so many things to see in so little time! I can't wait to write about it!

Hope all is well with everyone! :) Hasta luego!