The Conquistador Express

By: Steven McLaurin

So after a long flight I am in Spain. I am getting a lesson in culture shock 101 it is so hard to communicate with my host family but they seem really nice. I have already had the infamous 3cours meal here it was so good it was called cocido. it consisted first of like noodle soup then a bowl of garbanzo beans then some really good meat for the last portion, I so full.

So Spain is awesome. I walk about 1.2miles every day to class down a really cool street lined with tons of shops and neat stuff. It is under construction so it is very noise but it is funny to see how do it. The equipment is so small almost like toys compared to what we have in the USA but yea I think I have the route down

 

 

 

So today I walked around the Alcazar of Segovia It made me think if a simpler time when a few hundred years ago there were simple farm people look up at the Alcazar from the place I stood. We went to the edge of the city and went down about 100 steps to a small river that flows around the Alcazar. It was awesome they have turned it into a place to jog and walk. It was a picture perfect place and I got some great ones.

 

 

So I just had a good conversation with my host mom. She was telling me about her husband who was a mystery at his point I totally thought she was a widow but yea she told me about Oscer and then I was able to tell her about my my girl friend Dasha and how she was leaving for Brazil and how I was love sick at least that what I think I said. I also showed her picture of my dogs after she told me her dog was like 15years old which explains why it is so crazy and barks all the time but he is a good dog.

 

 

So we went to the Alcazar today and it was amazing is totally a fairy tail castle with towers and dungeons and all the thing you wold expect. On thing I was not used to is when we walked into the castle there was a huge mote type thing that went down over like 200ft.that we had to walk over what I guess at one point was a draw bridge it was very cool. So five mins into the tour I am informed that this is the castle that Columbus came to to ask for money for his trip which he discovered America on.it was crazy to think about how I was standing where Columbus once stood. I don’t think that I have ever been I in a room that had some much influence on the history of America. It was amazing.

 

So I had a great day I went to class in the morning. Then I had lunch which is the biggest meal of the day. After my siesta I went out and played soccer with some people from the trip then we asked some Spanish boys if we could join them to have a real game it was so much fun and I got some really good videos and pictures of it. After burning all those I had to get something sweet so me and Debbie went to Valor the chocolate store/restaurant and I got some curo and chocolate it was so sweet and fresh I have never had such good chocolate in my life.

 

So we went to t he cathedral today. they did a good job of humbling me and reminding me that I am so small In such a huge world. The amount of effort that went into the construction is unmanageable there were some of the original tools that they built it with in the church that looked so old and like they barely made the job easier. I am so happy I got this opportunity to go and see this amazing structure.

 

 

So I visited a glass factory today. So the factory has been around for a few hundred years and used to be for the royal palace right down the street but now it is a school and a place where they still produce some of the finest glass stuff in the world. I was really cool they had some neat modern art that I really enjoyed. The was one piece in particular that I like the most it was a bull made out of different colors of glass that had been frosted it was really cool. It was very interesting to see how they produced stuff like windows 200 years ago it seemed very dangerous and time consuming. At one point I was able to watch some one there make a bottle and a horse out of glass it was so hot in that room but it was amazing to watch some mold something like glass in to a flexible material then work it into something useful. It was really cool.

 

So we visited Toledo to day and it was a lovely little town with lots of jewelry shops and interesting stuff. We went to a synagogue that was very old on the thing about Toledo it that for a long time people from three different religions live in harmony there for a while, Jew, christens and Muslims. It was neat to se the influence that each culture played in the development of this little town. We went tot this church that had a lovely light display and told the story of Toledo. I got some really nice jewelry for my girl friend there and yea it is a really nice town that I would suggest everyone visit at some point in there life.

 

 

My spainsh entry:

 

Me gusta Espaina mucho.Mi famailia es muy paciente y simpatica. La comida es muy buena y hace buen tiempo. El Escorial es magnifico. No quiero salir, espero regresar con me novia Dasha.