Alcalá Week 3

Jackie wanted to see a photo of the storks, so here they are! I actually climbed to the top of one of the towers of the school for this shot.

Yes I know this post is 3 weeks late, but it will only cover the dates between January 26 and February 1. I promise tomorrow I will do the subsequent week and then the one after that...

• On Friday the 29th I traveled to Segovia with some American friends, a city about 30 minutes north of Madrid by "AVE" a high speed train. The train station was about a 35 minute walk from the actual city, and on the journey in we stopped to feed a horse that was hanging out on the roadside. He rejected all of the food we offered.

Our trip to Segovia, as dictated by Rick Steves

• My absolute favorite part of Segovia was an ancient Roman aqueduct- we started at the beginning where it was only about waist high, but the further along we traveled, the bigger it got until finally we got to the old city walls where it was 3 stories high! It was much more impressive and magnificent than any of us could have ever imagined, and we spent at least 2 hours photographing it from every angle possible. Here is only a sampling of our group's many many photos:

It starts out small...

Then gets larger...

Omg!!

• It would be remiss not to mention ponche, the city's trademark dessert. It is a sort of layered cake with burnt sugar, sponge cake, pudding and cinnamon wrapped in a sort of uncooked dough. Very rich and very delicious.
  

I'm pretty excited to eat this ponche

• That night I went to the Mexican restaurant Burrito, which featured a live mariachi band! I am obsessed with their guacamole.

• Saturday I ventured into Madrid to check out Kapitol, a famous 7 story nightclub. Every floor featured different types of music but the 7th floor was this serene lounge with white couches and fountains of trickling water. When the club kicked us out at 6am we headed across the street to a diner filled with all the club goers. I had coffee, orange juice and a tapa- the perfect end to a fun night!

• Finally, I spent Sunday trying to explain Groundhog's Day to my Spanish roommates, which when I thought about it is a pretty weird holiday. First, they didn't know what a groundhog IS, so my description was something like "well, a beaver-like animal comes out of his home, and if he sees his shadow we have 6 more weeks of winter. But if he doesn't see his shadow, spring will come early." This holiday plus the fact that I eat peanut butter straight out of the jar all the time probably has my roommates thinking that Americans are crazy.