3 x 5

Thursday, 6:07 p.m.

I wrote the following while staring out the window on the drive home:

There is so much beauty in Spain, and photos won't do the scenery justice.

Ever listened to John Mayer?

In 3 x 5 he sings:

"Didn't have a camera by my side this time,

Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes."

We're on the bus home from Burgos right now, making our way through the Spanish countryside, and I can't even begin to describe it's beauty. Photos don't do it justice - and believe me, I've tried to capture the beauty.

To continue John Mayer:

"Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame."

I did. I realized that some things can't be captured. Too often I find myself looking at everything through my camera rather than actually appreciating what's right in front of me. Some moments just need to be enjoyed without anything distracting us.

Right now I see lush green hills with grass rolling like waves as the wind moves it along. Heavy gray clouds are casting dark shadows on the grass, creating a mottled black and green pattern. The hills are dotted with trees, flowers, and the occasional quintessential Spanish home - small and white with a red roof. Cows and horses graze and roam, contained to their pastures by low stone walls.

It's peaceful and beautiful. Here's the one shot I snapped with my phone before realizing that some things just have to be enjoyed:

Excursión: Segovia, Toledo, y Burgos

Saturday, 5:50 p.m.

I am currently writing this on my phone as an e-mail to myself while on the bus back to Segovia from Toledo.

Follow that?

I don't want to forget anything I've seen this weekend, and with three amazing cities in three days (Burgos on Sunday), I figured I needed to start documenting now. Or yesterday, if I'd planned better.

On Friday morning we left Santander for Segovia, a five-hour bus ride. No big deal for most, but for me -possessor of the world's tiniest, most responsive bladder - it was an issue. We had a planned stop two hours in, and then were expected to make it the rest of the way sans pit stops.

Ha.

First of all, Spain is extremely lacking in the public restroom area. Try are few and far between, and are either dirty and free or clean and 20€ cents. And they don't believe in bathrooms on buses, even the charter one we take.

I don't get it.

But anyway, as the miles (excuse me, kilometers) rolled by, I more and more urgently needed a potty break. I finally risked being the annoying one holding up the group and requested a stop, which my advisor graciously allowed (she was understanding because I had already explained my issue to her).

We finally got to Segovia, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and went to lunch. I struggled to choke down one of my least favorite meals (green beans with tomato sauce) for the second day in a row.

After lunch we met up with a tour guide and got a brief glimpse of the city. Segovia is home to an amazing aqueduct:

An amazing castle...

Which had an amazing view…

And an amazing cathedral...

We toured the inside of the castle and the cathedral and got to see some very cool architecture and paintings.

Afterwards we wandered the city until dinnertime, where we fed what I was told tasted like Chef Boyardee (thank you for never feeding me that, Mom!).

After dinner I was too tired to do anything except read and go to bed. We got up early this morning and left for Toledo, making another emergency restroom stop (not for me, although I heeded Uncle David's advice and didn't pass up an opportunity to go to the bathroom) on the two-and-a-half hour drive.

Toledo might just be my favorite city. It was absolutely beautiful. Please note the view:

We had another guided tour by a very animated old man. He was great and very excited about his job.

We saw so many cool things, like this Abbie-sized door:

And pretty buildings:

We ate paella for lunch (better than what my host family cooked for me):

I learned to make an origami turtle...

And then wandered the city before heading back to the bus. I finally found the fedora I've been searching for, and beat the heat with a lovely scoop of lemon gelato.

Now we're on the bus, headed back to Segovia for the night. It started raining literally as we were boarding the bus, and right now we're driving through a huge downpour/thunderstorm.

Tonight brings dinner at the hotel, and maybe a bit of city exploring if the weather is decent. Tomorrow morning we leave Segovia to get a tour of Burgos before returning to Santander. Busy busy weekend!

Sunday, 5:45 p.m.

We just finished our tour of Burgos and are headed home, hitting the road only 32 minutes behind schedule (quite a feat with a group of 26 students in a foreign country and even more foreign city).

Burgos was a bit cold but lovely all the same.

We saw a monastery, which was pretty but kind of boring…seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all! Not really…but this one wasn’t anything spectacular, it was freezing, and we had a guide who spoke too quickly for us to grasp all of what she was saying (we were touring with a group of Spanish speakers and didn’t want to ask her to slow down for our account).

We went to a restaurant for a traditional Burgos lunch featuring morcilla, which is rice that has been mixed with pig’s blood and is then fried into a sausage-like food.

Gross, right?

I had tried it with lunch two days prior, not knowing what it was…I didn’t like it, even when I didn’t know I was eating fried blood, so I felt justified in passing on my share of morcilla when it was brought out.

After lunch we toured la Catedral de Burgos, which was incredible. Words don’t even explain it, and the photos don’t do it justice…but here are a few of them anyway:

We took a quick walk through the city before returning to good ol’ Barney for our ride home…it was such a busy weekend! And to round out all my beautiful photos, here is one of my favorites…I took it outside of a men’s restroom. Clearly.

nueve de mayo

7:03 p.m.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I have been quite a busy girl lately, and my down time is used to read (what else?).

The lack of internet is annoying when I want to get in touch with people, but it's something I've started to welcome when it means wasting less time. I am astounded at how quickly I can get through homework without the distraction of my computer (unless the homework requires internet, in which case it becomes a long process of finding internet and using it efficiently).

This weekend was nothing special. Almost everyone (save for Sara, Kyla, Becca, and myself) spent it traveling, but we spent it in sleepy little Santander. On Thursday after class we went to the beach for a few hours, and that night we went to karaoke with a group of students learning English at Universidad Internacional de Menendez Pelayo (UIMP, pronounced "wimp"), which was fun. Us true English-speakers know how to pick karaoke songs ("I Will Survive" is a way better crowd-pleaser than "Other Side". The Red Hot Chili Peppers were not meant to be karaoke-d).

On Friday I spent the day running, reading, relaxing, and shopping. I bought an adorable dress that is going to be my "big" purchase this trip, and that should serve me well this summer.

On Saturday it was more running, reading, and relaxing...Sunday was more of the same. What can I say? I find things to do that work for me, and I stick to them. I'm definitely a creature of habit.

Which is why I started this week a little disgruntled and out of sorts. The problems my class has been having with our grammar teacher, Isabel, have led to us having our usual classes during the week, as well as two extra hours in the afternoons on Mondays and Tuesdays.

At first, I was peeved - why should I have to go to two extra classes a week (and not receive any extra course credit) just to learn what I fully grasped the first time around? I was also peeved because it would interrupt my schedule - I was completely adjusted to going home, eating, studying for a bit, going for a run, going to Skype Jonny, doing homework, and having dinner.

After actually having the class this afternoon, I feel a lot better. I'm still a little annoyed that I have to go to extra class for no additional credit, and I'm still peeved that my schedule will be out of sorts, but the class itself was actually phenomenal.

Last week we were told we wouldn't be learning anything new, just reviewing what Isabel was teaching us, but that turned out to be incorrect. Manolo (the best teacher at the university, according to students and staff alike) is a great teacher, and today we learned a new concept that would have taken weeks for Isabel to teach us. Not to rag on Isabel or anything...she's really smart, just used to teaching big groups of native Spanish speakers.

The new material was easy for me to grasp, which makes me feel a lot better about how slowly we've been going through things with Isabel. With the concept we've been covering being hashed and rehashed for the past six weeks, I was starting to wonder if I was missing something. It turns out, I'm still as smart as I thought I was (not to toot my own horn or anything), and I still feel like learning a new language comes naturally to me, even with more difficult concepts being presented.

So, despite being out of sorts due to a new schedule, I'm not complaining about the extra class. Unless it's sunny. In which case I will be staring wistfully outside, wishing I was at the beach for the duration of my two-hour class (it goes form 4:00 to 6:00).

This week is another busy one - I have three sizable projects and papers I want to get done before our big group excursion to Toledo, Burgos, and Segovia this weekend. I probably should take advantage of the mercado's internet and get some research done.

Hasta luego!

♥ abigail

cuatro de mayo

Wednesday, 7:55 p.m.

This week is flying by. I can't believe it's already Wednesday! I wrote a post yesterday but it's currently hanging out on my laptop and I'm on a school computer at the Paraninfo, so I'm just going to try to remember what I wrote yesterday and then go from there!

Yesterday was a pretty good day school-wise. My class arrived at school to find out that our professor was sick, so we received worksheets to work on during our class time. I, being the annoying over-achiever that I am, took advantage of this time and actually did the worksheets, then spent my time catching up on correspondence (aka Facebook and e-mail time).

We then started our España Actual class, which is going to be really interesting. We're learning a little about the history of Spain mixed with current events by reading articles and stories, as well as giving presentations in class. It seems like an easy A...but forget I said that, in case it jinxes me.

Next we had our culture class and got our tests back. I got an A and was quite pleased with myself. I like when my studying pays off, and this time it really did. A lot of people in the class didn't do as well as they liked, an occurance that they blamed on the class being 'too hard', but was something I attributed to their lack of studying.

I got home for lunch on my 'I just got an A' high, and my host mom could tell. We talked during lunch about my classes and how I'm doing well. She was singing my praises, telling me that it's so great that I have the ability to balance everything in Spain, from classes and studying to actually enjoying myself. Being the nerd that I am, I told her that I actually enjoy studying, to which she responded that she can tell. I'm that big of a nerd...I'm just going to go with it!

There are a lot of people on this trip who I feel are struggling with finding a good balance. I'm usually pretty good at managing my time, and here I'm even better at it. The lack of internet coupled with the motivation to do really well in all of my classes are all it takes to force me to buckle down and work hard. I never feel too crunched for time, even when I have a lot going on, because I know that I have enough time to do everything.

My time management has allowed me to start and finish seven books here (If my count is correct. And I've only been here for five-and-a-half weeks, so I'll let you do the math), while in Corvallis I can usually only finish one or two books a term...I guess this means that when I'm back in school in Corvallis I need to limit my internet usage and TV watching and my senior year can be an enjoyable time rather than a stressed one.

We'll see if that ends up happening. Old habits die hard, you know?!

I went for a run along the Paseo before returning home to study and (surprise, surprise) read before bed.

Today was another decent day. My teacher was sick yet again, but we had another teacher come in and teach us for an hour. I spent the remaining 45 minutes of class in the computer lab figuring out my schedule for next fall. I used the new 'MyDegrees' program and was thrilled to see that I am right on track for graduation - success!

We had España Actual, which went well, but then there was culture class...and that's where it all went downhill. Not that it was that bad. I was just extremely frustrated the entire time. A lot of my classmates were talking during the entire class, and it was really starting to irritate me. I find it incredibly disrespectful to the teacher and the other students. I was so distracted by the talking and eventually took to shooting people dirty looks (though I was tempted to chuck my eraser at someone) before finally resorting to shushing people (an act I try to avoid, as it makes me look like more of a goody-two-shoes than I actually am and reminds me far too much of high school).

I went home for lunch, went for a run, had a nice little Skype date with Jonny, then headed to the Paraninfo to get some serious internet time in. I'm currently trying to find a job in either Eugene or Corvallis, but it's proving to be difficult from so far away. If anyone hears of anything, feel free to let me know!

Tomorrow brings the last day of school for the week. My grammar test has been officially moved to sometime next week, so I have a nice homework-free night ahead of me. Book number eight has been started...I think I'll see how far I can get before bedtime!

♥ Abigail

Fin de Semana en Madrid

Monday, 9:43 a.m.

Let me start this post by saying I am absolutely exhausted right now! I got very little sleep last night (more on that later) and it is taking everything in my power to not crawl into bed right now and sleep the day away. Today is a holiday in Spain (more on that later too) so I don’t have classes, but I’m pushing through the day (at least until siesta time) so I don’t throw off my sleep schedule too much! And let me also say that this post is LONG. I’d split it up, but am far too lazy to do that, so grab a snack and then get started :)

Let me start at the beginning…

On Friday morning, Sara, Kyla, Becca and I left our houses at 6:20 a.m. for the bus station. From there we took a bus to the Santander airport and boarded the 8:05 a.m. plane to Madrid. The plane ride is an hour long, which was the perfect naptime for me!

We arrived in Madrid, took a bus to the bus station, and then took a cab to our hostel, which was in the center of town in an area called Sol. There are a lot of shops, restaurants, and plazas in this area, so it was always incredibly crowded. You couldn’t walk without running into someone, and in some spots what appeared to be a sidewalk was also a street cars could drive on, so we had to stay on our toes.

We settled in at our hostel, which was really nice for the price we paid! We had a private room for four with its own bathroom. Our room also had a balcony overlooking one of the busy streets, and free Wi-Fi, which I loved. We also had a TV, where I was able to catch a snippet of the Royal Wedding. I only watched a little of it on TV because it was hard to pay attention to what was being said in English with the Spanish commentary, but I used my handy-dandy iPhone later to watch highlight videos and read articles about it. I’ll give you my two cents real quick – Kate looked gorgeous and was clearly born to be a princess!

We took a quick siesta and then set out to explore the city. Madrid’s street signs are even cooler than Santander’s – in addition to being on the sides of buildings, these ones are just pretty! Observe:

We passed a lot of street performers on our walk. This guy (these guys? I wasn’t sure if they were both statues) made a pretty convincing statue. We passed a Neptune “statue” taking a smoke break and weren’t quite as impressed…but these guys were impressive:

We passed so many gorgeous buildings – every single building in Spain is pretty, I swear! This is a church near Museo Nacional del Prado:

At lunchtime we felt like total Americans as we ate at places like McDonalds (I had carrots for the first time in over a month and was so thrilled) and Starbucks. We would have loved to experience the “real” food of Madrid, but didn’t want to fork over the money – fast food is incredibly cheap and easy. Don’t worry; eating McDonalds is definitely not going to become a habit! And my sweet host mom sent me to Madrid with plenty of food, so I stayed somewhat healthy.

Our wanderings took us to Real Jardín Botánico, a lovely garden near the Prado museum. We explored the garden for a while. It was so pretty! A lot of the flowers weren’t in bloom, but it was still really nice. It smelled incredible too.

Of course I had to get a picture with some roses (Abigail Rose, get it?):

We eventually ended up at Prado, “one of the world’s top museums”. Thanks to Rick Steves, we knew when to go to be able to explore the museum for free. We saw several masterpieces and I was reminded of my love for paintings. The museum was huge and we were hungry so we only stayed for a little over an hour, but we still got to see a lot.

We wandered back to our hostel where we turned in pretty early – we were all really tired! It was strange going to sleep in such a busy city. It was literally loud outside until 6:30 a.m.

On Saturday morning we set out around 10:00 to see some more of the city. We walked to Palacio Real, a huge palace – this photo is only a tiny part of it:

I was saving my euros (this weekend was incredibly expensive) and opted out of touring it, but Sara and Kyla said it was absolutely gorgeous on this inside as well.

Next we headed to Los Jardines de Sabini, the gardens on the backside of the palace. They were pretty and a nice place to walk around for a bit:

Then we went and saw Templo de Debod, a fourth century temple that was a gift from Egypt to Spain after Spain helped construct one of Egypt’s dams. The temple was cool in theory, but I’m glad we went during free visiting hours.

There’s a park behind the temple, where we took advantage of the view for a photo opportunity:

We returned to the hostel for lunch and a siesta before wandering again in the evening, this time to La Reina Sofia, a museum filled with abstract art. Apparently abstract art isn’t my thing (which makes sense, given my very literal personality), but I still enjoyed the museum. Seeing Pablo Picasso’s Guernica was very cool – it’s gigantic!

After the museum we got dinner and once again called it an early night. I’m really not a “going out” type of person. I knew that before coming to Spain, but being here has solidified it. I’d rather stay in any day, even when I have the opportunity to check out the Spanish nightlife. On top of that, Madrid is so incredibly crowded. The streets are always packed, and I don’t do well with crowds…needless to say, big cities are not for me! Give me sleepy little Santander (which is plenty big to me) any day of the week. Or, even better, give me sleepy little Corvallis! (Only 32 more days, for anyone else who’s counting.)

On Sunday we took our time getting up because we had to check out of the hostel at noon. Luckily the hostel’s manager was very nice and let us keep our bags there so we didn’t have to carry them around the city all day.

We headed to Plaza Mayor in the morning, one of the oldest spots in the city:

From there, we went to El Rastro, a huge flea market. We’re talking streets so packed that it’s normal to get stuck and be unable to move in any direction in parts of it. We were all very careful with our bags (I went as far as to wear my backpack on my front rather than my back) and made it out of the market with all of the things we had arrived with.

Unable to return to the hostel for a siesta, we went to Plaza del Sol and relaxed by the fountains for a bit:

We then continued our wandering, seeing more pretty buildings of Madrid:

Eventually Kyla and I split off from the group, braving the metro to go to Plaza de Toros to see a bullfight.

First of all, the building itself was another masterpiece:

And the bullfight itself was also quite a masterpiece. I know what you’re all thinking – Abbie at a bullfight? Does she know they kill the bulls at those? (To answer your question, yes, I did know.)

It was such an amazing experience though. Was it uncomfortable to watch the bulls get taunted and then killed? Yes. But did I appreciate the culture and history of it? Yes.

Bullfighting is really an art. It starts with the weight and brand of the bull being displayed to the spectators. I don’t know kilogram conversions, but these bulls were huge – the biggest was 590 kilos.

After this, the bull is let into the ring and the first fighters (I think they’re more amateur, but I don’t know for sure) tease the bull to get him riled up. They take turns waving their pink capes in front of the bull, dashing behind protective barriers and sometimes hopping over the wall to avoid getting hurt.

[[These are going to be my last pictures from the bullfight. I took more, but don’t think everyone would like to see them…if you want to see them, I’ll show you when I get home.]]

After this initial teasing, two horses are ridden into the ring. The horses are blindfolded, and I assume sedated as well. They are decked out in some pretty impenetrable armor. The bull, seeing an animal near its own size, charges at the horse. The rider’s job is to use a spear to stab the neck of the bull (above its shoulders) in order to force it to lower its head. This happens twice, and then the horses leave the ring. The final bull (the biggest) ended up knocking the rider off the horse as it almost lifted the horse completely.

It was amazing to watch the teamwork of the bullfighters here – if ever anyone is in danger, they run out from their hiding places, yelling and waving their capes so no one gets trampled by the bull (although the first bullfighter got partially run over during his first fight. He was fine, but it was really intense to watch).

Next, three different fighters use their bodies to attract the bulls as their try to stick the bull with barbed sticks. After these are in the bull, he is sufficiently riled up – snorting, dragging his hooves in anger – and the final fighter enters the ring by himself.

The final fighter is what I would consider the “master” fighter. He has a red cape that he uses to taunt the bull, and his goal is to stab it with two different swords right above his neck. I know this seems mean, but it really is a calculated art form. The way the fighter moves is almost like a dance, and it looks very graceful.

Finally, once the bull has been stabbed twice, three other fighters come out and help the one with the red cape to confuse the bull enough until it falls over and is then put out of its misery.

Doesn’t sound like something I’d like, right? I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Yes, it seems rather cruel to torture a poor animal, but I love how rooted in tradition it was, and how innately Spanish it was. I was really amazed by it, and glad I went.

After the bullfight, Kyla and I met up with Sara and Becca to pick up our bags from the hostel. From there we took three different metros to get to the airport (way cheaper than the bus/cab combo we used to get from the airport to our hostel on the first day). We couldn’t check in until about 4:30 this morning, and spent the night on the airport floor.

Thanks to my ability to sleep anywhere, I got a decent nap in…I woke up at least once an hour and probably only got three-and-a-half hours of sleep total because, let’s be real, the cold, hard tile floor of the Madrid airport is not comfortable. My friends don’t have my ability to sleep anywhere, so they stayed awake and made sure we didn’t get mugged. There were so many people camped out in the airport with us – looks like no one wanted to pay for a hostel the night before an early flight!

We flew out of Madrid at 6:40 a.m. (I slept from before take-off and through the landing, sans Dramamine!) and arrived in Santander at 7:45. We shared a cab home, where I immediately ate breakfast, took a shower, and unpacked.

All in all, it was a great weekend in Madrid. The girls I spent it with and I have become great friends, and we really enjoy each other’s company. Madrid itself was nice too – more English was spoken than I would have liked (it seemed like most people in shops and restaurants, as well as police officers and museum workers could speak English), and there were a lot of tourists (we heard accents and languages from all over the place while we wandered the city). I sometimes have trouble wrapping my mind around the concept that people actually live in the cities of Spain – the lack of actual houses and the fancy-looking apartment buildings make it seem like every building is some hotel or important government residence.

Oh and Zach, just so you don’t miss a shout-out, I got your present this weekend :) You too, Jonny, Grandma, Gwen and Dru, Tanya and Vern, and Dad. Mom, you are still proving to be the most difficult person in the world to shop for – thanks for that!

Today is a lazy day here, which is much needed after the hubbub of this weekend. May 2 is a holiday in Spain, so the city is pretty quiet. Madrid probably isn’t because it was there on May 2, 1808 that Luis Daoiz and Pedro Velarde lost their lives attempting to take back control of Madrid from France. This battle started the War of Independence against the French. Or something like that…anyway, the Plazas were starting to get bleachers and things set up in them yesterday afternoon, so I’m assuming stuff was happening there today.

Anyway, this means that shops are closed, and with the clouds that are filling the sky right now, I’m guessing that the streets are pretty empty as well. This afternoon I’m hoping to be able to find Internet somewhere and post this so you all can see what I’ve been up to!

It’s been a busy weekend and I’m glad to be “home”. I’m also glad to have reached the halfway point of my trip (it came and went on Friday). Don’t get me wrong – I like Spain. I love that I’m able to spend a lot of time here, getting immersed in the culture rather than only being able to experience a few weeks’ worth as a tourist. I just know I don’t belong here.

A lot of people on this trip love everything about it and aren’t even looking forward to leaving. This trip has solidified what I already knew about myself – I’m a homebody and I crave being near my loved ones. It also solidified something I didn’t know for sure – I don’t like big cities.

I’m really glad I’m on this trip, and that I’ve toughed it out during the rough moments. But I know that home is where the heart is, and my heart is always going to be in Oregon. I know that sounds cheesy…but I also know that it’s true. I believe that there probably are people who are born in one place but find somewhere they belong somewhere completely different. Luckily, I was born somewhere I know I belong. I don’t have to see any more of the world to know that, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore more.

♥ Abigail

lunes

5:20 p.m.

Nothing that exciting to report here...I am writing this from Mercado del Este. When I'm here, I'm always waiting for someone to come up to me and ask why I'm stealing their internet. I figure WiFi is advertised on all the entrances, so someone might as well be using it...right?!

Today I walked to school in a torrential downpour. It was raining so hard and was so windy that I arrived to school almost completely soaked (my North Face rain shield and cheetah-print umbrella helped the top half of me stay dry, although I looked rather touristy). My paints were drenched and took several hours to dry, and the entire contents of my backpack were soaked. My pristine notebooks now have wrinkled pages and torn corners from being wet. I guess this weather is what I get for missing home, huh? Thank you Spain, for my taste of Oregon...

Classes today were boring and gave me plenty of homework. This week is sort of like midterms-time at Oregon State. In these next three days I have a presentation (it was supposed to be today, but I don't mind having the extra time to prepare), two tests, and lots of homework. I like being busy, but that's a lot of stuff to be doing at once! Especially in a foreign language.

After class I returned home for a delicious garbanzo bean-chicken noodle-soup. With carrots. Carrots! I was so excited to see a vegetable I didn't even mind that they were all mushy and cooked. I ate, then proceeded to spend the next few hours working on my vocabulary list for my culture class. Now I'm at the market, borrowing internet until I go over to Kyla's to study later.

Even though I don't like not having internet for communication purposes, there's no denying that my lack of it keeps me more productive. I spend my time actually doing homework, and when I don't have anything else to do, rather than waste time, I spend it reading. I'm going through books really quickly here, and welcome any suggestions of new books to download on my handy-dandy Kindle!

Hope all of you had a lovely Monday!

♥ abigail

Semana Santa

Friday, 7:51 p.m.

This post is going to be pretty photo-heavy, and light on the words – I’m feeling a little under the weather (I’ve been fighting a low-grade temperature since this morning), and sleep is more appealing than anything else right now. Also, the pictures I have really speak for themselves.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a big to-do in Spain. Kids are out of school, stores are closed a lot of the time, and the whole town – Catholics and non-Catholics – is extremely invested in what this week represents.

There have been processions all week, usually taking place in the evenings. Churches each have their own “float” that they take through the city, accompanied by drums and incense and huge flocks of people.

I’ve caught the small ones here and there throughout the week. Thursday’s procession was enormous. It consisted of all the churches that have participated thus far, plus additional drums and instruments, to make a huge procession. Each group started from their own church and met up in a spot on the Paseo to start the procession.

The sidewalks were packed full of people eager to see this intense form of art and reverence all rolled into one. Last night’s statues weren’t the intense ones processing tonight (my not feeling well and it being a little rainy outside are keeping me from seeing it), but they were beautiful, as you can see:

The procession took around an hour-and-a-half from where I watched it, but it was such an incredible sight to see.

This morning (Saturday) a group of us who stayed in town this weekend went to the nearby town of Castro Urbiales. Every year since 1985 the town has put on an reenactment of the Passion.

We arrived at 8:30 a.m. and made our way to the cathedral, the first spot of the reenactment. The reenactment started at 10:00, and by then the place was packed. Since our group was so early, we managed to snag some really good spots right up front.

Watching the reenactment was amazing. Around 600 people in the town were in it, playing roles from Jesus and his disciples to Pontius Pilate to prostitutes to townspeople to lepers. Dramatic music played the entire time, and the cloudy weather and circling seagulls overhead really added to the somber atmosphere.

The reenactment went through the town, so I didn’t get good spots for all of the scenes. Here are a random assortment of pictures, ranging from Castro Urdiales itself to the crucifixion:

There were some incredibly intense moments – like Judas hanging himself (pretty convincingly) to Jesus being lashed 40 times (not as convincing, but he was being hit with whips dipped in paint, which adorned his back like real blood). It was all done so incredibly well and I was very impressed.

Even though I didn’t always understand exactly what was being said, I found that I was able to pick up on the general idea of things thanks slightly to my Spanish ability, but more significantly due to my growing up in the Catholic church. Not to mention my family’s Easter tradition of listening to Jesus Christ Superstar – I was singing the songs in my head as the reenactment was taking place, so I could refresh my memory about the story.

We took the bus home and now I’m waiting on dinner, then am promptly going to bed. This fever needs to be gone by tomorrow because I have a presentation on Monday that needs my attention!

♥ abigail

el catorce de abril

Thursday, 4:27 p.m.

This post is brought to you by my friend Kyla...I am currently at her apartment, sitting on the terrace with her while we "work on our project". Basically, we're hanging out and I'm borrowing her internet. It's nice.

Today was a quick day at school (only two classes). We took a quiz in grammar - I didn't find it too difficult, but that doesn't really mean anything. After a break (in which I sent a few e-mails because I still don't have internet at my apartment) I went to my conversation class. Today we had an oral quiz - we had to talk to our teacher individually for 10 minutes about a topic of our choosing. Naturally I chose books (Samantha, Kendall, Marissa...you can stop laughing anytime. Please and thank you). That conversation went well and I was good to go by 1:20 - later than I'm supposed to get out on Thursdays, but that's what I get for having a last name at the bottom of the list! Next time I get to go near the beginning.

I was home before 2:00 and got to eat right away - a random yet delicious mix of rice, chicken, and a fried egg. I read in my room for a while before heading over to Kyla's. We're listening to country music on her terrace that overlooks the quiet city (it's lunch time, so no one is out about about right now).

I don't have anything planned for this weekend, except for a few projects and papers I have due next week. Other than that, I'm hoping to get some serious beach time and relaxing in.

This week has been nice - I settle into this city a little more every day. My friends here have been a great help, as has everyone back home. I was spoiled with mail this week - a letter and a card from my sweet boyfriend, Jonny, plus the packages from my grandma and parents. Not to mention the e-mails I get all the time from everyone back home. Everyone's love and encouragement really means a lot! It makes my time here a lot easier.

Continue to hope and pray that internet returns to my house soon!

♥ abigail

Showering in Spain

I know I've only been in Spain for a few weeks, but I already know what is going to be my favorite purchase of the trip.

Meet Bob. Pronounced in Spanish ("Bohb"). As in Bob Esponja (yes, he's even more annoying in Spanish than in English, thanks for asking).

I bought Bob at Lupa today for 0.59 euros (85¢). I've been having sub-par shower experiences while in Spain. Until now.

The sub-par experiences come from the fact that the shower is teeny-tiny. I have to stand at an angle in order to avoid bumping my elbows while washing my hair. I also have to bring my shower items in every time because there aren't any shelves or places to put bottles. It's not that big of a deal. Until your leg is covered in shaving cream (which doesn't last long if I don't stand exactly right to block the water from rinsing it off prematurely)...and then you realize that your razor is down the hall in your room.

But I digress.

The real source of my sub-par showering experience is that I didn't bring a loofah with me. I only use body wash (not bar soap), and it really requires some sort of loofah in order to create a lather that actually cleans me.

I've been missing the lather.

But today I found Bob. I brought him home and used him right away.

I love Bob. He's covered in some sort of soft fabric that creates a gentle exfoliating experience that is just lovely.

Seriously. Best purchase ever. I might buy some more Bobs (he comes in a variety of colors) to bring home.

He's that good.

♥ abigail