Home for a week

Well, today marks a week home from Spain.  It has been a whirl wind.
My friends and I lugged 80 pounds each through the metro in Spain at midnight and finally made it to the airport with plenty of time, 7 hours to be exact.  We were planning on not running or stressing on our flight home.  Well, we arrived in London and had to run from gate 1 to the last gate 42 to make our flight home.
I feel like I have hit the ground running since returning.  Gwyneth left for camp 4 days after I returned so we had to get her ready and it's just been crazy.  In Spain there were not a lot of responsibilities.  Of course at home there are tons.  It was weird sitting on the plane from London to DFW thinking that only 7 hours before I'd been walking past Plaza Espana and living the Madrid life.  My sister Regina said enjoy every minute even though you want to go home because it will end very quickly and you don't know when you will be back.  It all seems like a dream to me, but I know it happened.
So, onto real life... hopefully with new perspective and renewed spirit.

ow... my body hurts!

We woke up after the bike tour and were SOOOOOOOOO sore.  My hinny was not happy with me.  Don't know how people do it all the time.  

After breakfast we got on the bus tour and saw lots of wonderful things.  We stopped at the top of Florence and saw the replica of the David along with a wonderful view of the city.  It was pretty warm, but not too bad.  We then hopped back on the bus and saw the rest of the tour and then went to the museum where the real David is.  We waited in line for about an hour and then Cristina and I made it in.  We saw some wonderful marble statues.  There was one in particular that had the eyes fully done and looked like it was looking at us and could just start talking at any moment.  Then we came into the area where David is.  It was great.  They had places you could just sit and admire.  So we did.  We spent on hour in line, we better enjoy David.  I couldn't believe how big the statue was.  His right hand was enormous.  We sat looking at the front for about 15 minutes and then when to the back and did the same.  We couldn't take pictures, but they wouldn't have done it justice just as many of the other places we've been.  After that we walked around a little, had some gelato and rested.  It was Monica's birthday so we went out for a nice dinner.  We have learned to find out if there is cover charge for sitting down at a restaurant. After we went to Hard Rock cafe and had a blast.

at dinner

Monica's birthday

the fake David

at dinner

The bike tour

So when we were planning our trips, Mary suggested we go on a Tuscany bike tour when in Florence.  I persuaded to of my friends, Cristina and Rosa, to come along.  It was amazing. After running, for our warm up, to get to the place we took about 45 minute van ride to a castle.  We toured the castles wine and olive oil production areas and climbed to the top to an amazing view.  Pictures really can't capture how breathtaking it was.  We then tasted wine, olive oil and a little dessert pizza.  I bought a small bottle of olive oil and a bottle of wine.  We were then fitted for our bikes.  Each bike had a name.  My was Obama, Cristina's was yo mama, Rosa - Ace Ventura.  Our professor, Dr. Rosado decided to join us and got P Diddy.  It was a pretty good size group and we had a lot of fun.  The beginning of the ride was down hill and I've decided I really like downhill versus flat or a little hilly because the rest of the ride was flat or hilly.  We stopped for lunch at a little place and I had pesto pasta.  It was delicious.  After lunch was very difficult for me and I'm grateful my professor was behind me for motivation.  Towards the end of the ride there is an enormous hill and they recommend getting in the van for it.  So we did.  Everyone who attempted it either ended up walking or getting in the van.  The last part was downhill and up to the castle.  The views were magnificent and I'm so proud of us for making it 13 miles.  We then went back and rested and then had dinner.  Our hotel was in a very nice plaza so we went out there and had a the bottle of wine I bought.  Unlike at home, you have alcohol just about anywhere.

have finished 1/4 of the ride

our group

I'm ready to go

ready to ride... at the top of the castle

wine barrels!!!

really old barrels

the view

before the tour and biking

running and biking - the story of Florence - part 1

Just a short little blog for today... Friday, yesterday, we had class and then rode the metro to the airport.  My friend Cristina found out she had the wrong boarding pass and it was a big run around the airport.  We got to Bologna and ran to the bus to take us to the train.  We didn't know really where to go and where running there so we didn't miss our train.  We found the train and got on only to have 2 hour delay.  We heard a little bit of a conversation and it might have been because there were student protestors on the tracks somewhere.  Once in Florence, our hotel is a 5 minute walk from the train station.  We went to restaurant and had yummy pizza and I had prosecco.   This morning was a myriad of going to the wrong way and running to get to the bike tour place.  But we found it.  I will do another blog on the actual bike tour, but I did successfully make it 13 miles on a bike today.  My motivation was that I had talked my friends into doing it and I wasn't getting on the van and that all the sibs would have yelled at me to keep going if they had been there.  We are now recovering and deciding what to do tonight and try to plan out the next day and a half.  We are in the home stretch to home and I think everyone here and at home are ready for us to come back.  Until next time...

Acala'

Today after class we went to Acala which is right outside of Madrid.  It was the home of Cervantes.  We also were able to see storks.  It was beautiful and historical as always.  It was a very laid back tour and we were even able to stop and all have a beer and tapas together.

I was thinking at dinner tonight that it might be a little difficult to adjust to the schedule of life when I get back next week.  Here in Madrid, we get up at 8... eat some toast leave about 8:45 for our 9:00 class (sometimes a little later on the leaving) and walk VERY quickly to class at 9:00.  We eat lunch around 1:00 and maybe a snack here or there and then dinner at 9:00ish.  We walk just about everywhere so eating that late at night has been too bad.  I would love to walk more at home, but there's really no shade and right now it's way too hot.  Everyone said it would be really hot here in Spain, but it's been at least 10 degrees cooler here than at home with a cool breeze.  Two nights ago it got really chilly in the evening the mornings have been chilly too.
We have our last classes tomorrow.  I got a certificate today for completing the course.  We leave for Florence about 4:30 our time. I plan on typing everything up in an orderly manner that I have learned and study it all the time.  Jeb and I have discussed getting Rosetta Stone for both of us and then maybe I can take some more classes as well to continue my journey of learning Spanish.  Here are some pictures for a couple of days including today.

the neighborhoods were divided by religion

we went canoeing!

the are we were in the boat

real live storks!

in Toledo - it was beautiful

my friends

these walls are from the 14th century!

the lion didn't bite me... so I'm faithful to my husband!

Don Quixote and me!

Flamenco

Today was a fun day.  School has been harder this week which is good.  I really should be studying, but I'm tired and will be going to bed soon.  After class we went to TGI Friday's!  Last night our house mom made us tacos and they were yummy but we still wanted a little bit of home.  We are about ready to come home.  We then came back to the apartment to work on homework.  I have write a diary in Spanish each day, turn it in and then once it is returned to me analysis my mistakes.  I think I'm making great progress in writing and speaking and my friends and professors agree. I'll have to practice every day when I get back so I continue to get better.
This evening before dinner, so our show was at 7:00, we saw a flamenco show named Carmen.  It was fantastic.  I really loved it and would go see it more than once if I had the chance.  I bought some souvenirs before the show.  Claudia and sped through the Plaza de Sol, where the student protestors are and got home for dinner right about 8:45.
We met our new house mate.  She is from Russia and speaks Spanish beautifully.  We had another house mate that left on Saturday from Russia as well who knows 5 languages.  There are so many people from so many countries learning Spanish.  It's so wonderful.  It's amazing to me that more people in the U.S don't know, want to know or understand why learning another language is beneficial.  Almost all the people we have met who are learning Spanish are learning it as their 3rd+ language.  They almost all know English.  I could go on and on as this is a soapbox topic for me, but just wanted to share a little bit about that.
Tomorrow we are going to Acala de Henares (?) after class which is suppose to be beautiful.  It's not very far from Madrid so I'm sure we'll have some time to look around.  Friday we leave for Florence after class.  Pray for Ryan Air to be on time as well as the airport participating nicely so that we don't miss our train from Bologna to Florence.  We are going on a bike ride of the countryside to taste wine and olives and lunch and such on Saturday and I can't wait.  We only have a week left.  As my housemate and great friend Cristina says we only have 7 sleeps left.  Not really any pictures today... I'm sure I'll have some from Florence.

pictures in random order

wine was not good

waiting for the plane

my octopus

yummy port

at the beach with just a little rain

my boo boo

one of the phone booth pictures

in the rain with new umbrella

on the boat

on the lift thingy above the city