I've survived my first day of classes and our first excursion!
The first two days of classes went really smoothly. My classes don't start until 10:40 AM, so I get to enjoy my bed until about 9:00 AM every morning. The students in Spanish Civ & Culture aren't as fortunate! :P My first class of the day is SPAN 470: Advanced Oral Spanish/Conversation. Dra. Pak had us informally interview a classmate whom we did not know previously and proceed to introduce them to the rest of the class. After each introduction, we reviewed everybody's name, making it easier to put faces with names (something I struggle with on a daily basis, haha!). We reviewed how to ask for information in Spanish using the conditional tense and 'vosotros' (basically the "y'all" form of verbs in Spanish). We also gave our first official oral presentations; we had to introduce ourselves in greater detail for 2-3 minutes--simple, but a bit nerve racking, being our first presentation! Today, we worked on expressing our opinions. IN SPAN 455: Spanish Phonetics, we have already covered a TON of information--classifying vowels, syllabification, accents, various definitions, etc. I'm SO thankful that I've had experience with a phonetics class in the past; otherwise, this class would be extra difficult.
Our group excursion to Toledo on Thursday proved to be quite... interesting! I was so very happy that the temperatures were going to be in the mid- to high-70s in Toledo, but I certainly didn't expect the weather that came with it. The worst storm I've ever experienced in Europe blew through for almost the entire time we were in Toledo. My umbrella was practically useless! First, we visited the Cathedral of Toledo. It's one of my favorite cathedrals in the world! By the time we left the Cathedral, the steep, sloping streets of Toledo turned into rivers, and we were pelted with dime-sized hail while we ran from the Cathedral to see the Greco's masterpiece. Unfortunately, the museum containing the Greco's painting had closed due to the storm, so we kept running to the final stop--the synagogue! It was there that we realized we were missing a student! Talk about stressful! After a short return to the bus to eat lunch and try to figure out what happened to our classmate, our professors lead us back to the main plaza where we could have 2 hours of free time to shop. Naturally, I went to Santo Tomé to buy boxes of world-famous marzipan for myself and my loved ones. I also bought a few little gifts for peeps. Check out my pictures below to see the beautiful view of Toledo, the Catedral, and the Synagogue! Unfortunately, I couldn't take many pictures of the outside of the buildings because of the rain.
Tomorrow (Saturday), our group is going to Madrid! We'll mostly be just walking around, checking out the main sites/areas together, and then around 1:00 PM, we'll be free to explore on our own & do what we'd like. The vast majority of students are going to spend the weekend there in hostels. As for me, I'm going to return to Segovia Saturday evening after exploring the Prado museum for a second time, doing a bit of shopping, and having some delicious chocolate con churros at the famous Chocolatería San Ginés! There are going to be SO many people in Madrid for the Pride Festival, which would be awesome to attend, but big groups aren't my thing. Madrid is a great city, but I've already seen the vast majority of the highlights. There is going to be a craft beer festival with food, music, beer, and more here in Segovia on Saturday evening, and I'll probably go check that out, in addition to going to the cinema at some point this weekend.
My first week in Segovia has proven to be full of surprises and fun times! I'm excited to see what next week has in store for me! :)
The first two days of classes went really smoothly. My classes don't start until 10:40 AM, so I get to enjoy my bed until about 9:00 AM every morning. The students in Spanish Civ & Culture aren't as fortunate! :P My first class of the day is SPAN 470: Advanced Oral Spanish/Conversation. Dra. Pak had us informally interview a classmate whom we did not know previously and proceed to introduce them to the rest of the class. After each introduction, we reviewed everybody's name, making it easier to put faces with names (something I struggle with on a daily basis, haha!). We reviewed how to ask for information in Spanish using the conditional tense and 'vosotros' (basically the "y'all" form of verbs in Spanish). We also gave our first official oral presentations; we had to introduce ourselves in greater detail for 2-3 minutes--simple, but a bit nerve racking, being our first presentation! Today, we worked on expressing our opinions. IN SPAN 455: Spanish Phonetics, we have already covered a TON of information--classifying vowels, syllabification, accents, various definitions, etc. I'm SO thankful that I've had experience with a phonetics class in the past; otherwise, this class would be extra difficult.
Our group excursion to Toledo on Thursday proved to be quite... interesting! I was so very happy that the temperatures were going to be in the mid- to high-70s in Toledo, but I certainly didn't expect the weather that came with it. The worst storm I've ever experienced in Europe blew through for almost the entire time we were in Toledo. My umbrella was practically useless! First, we visited the Cathedral of Toledo. It's one of my favorite cathedrals in the world! By the time we left the Cathedral, the steep, sloping streets of Toledo turned into rivers, and we were pelted with dime-sized hail while we ran from the Cathedral to see the Greco's masterpiece. Unfortunately, the museum containing the Greco's painting had closed due to the storm, so we kept running to the final stop--the synagogue! It was there that we realized we were missing a student! Talk about stressful! After a short return to the bus to eat lunch and try to figure out what happened to our classmate, our professors lead us back to the main plaza where we could have 2 hours of free time to shop. Naturally, I went to Santo Tomé to buy boxes of world-famous marzipan for myself and my loved ones. I also bought a few little gifts for peeps. Check out my pictures below to see the beautiful view of Toledo, the Catedral, and the Synagogue! Unfortunately, I couldn't take many pictures of the outside of the buildings because of the rain.
Tomorrow (Saturday), our group is going to Madrid! We'll mostly be just walking around, checking out the main sites/areas together, and then around 1:00 PM, we'll be free to explore on our own & do what we'd like. The vast majority of students are going to spend the weekend there in hostels. As for me, I'm going to return to Segovia Saturday evening after exploring the Prado museum for a second time, doing a bit of shopping, and having some delicious chocolate con churros at the famous Chocolatería San Ginés! There are going to be SO many people in Madrid for the Pride Festival, which would be awesome to attend, but big groups aren't my thing. Madrid is a great city, but I've already seen the vast majority of the highlights. There is going to be a craft beer festival with food, music, beer, and more here in Segovia on Saturday evening, and I'll probably go check that out, in addition to going to the cinema at some point this weekend.
My first week in Segovia has proven to be full of surprises and fun times! I'm excited to see what next week has in store for me! :)