We are only eight days into October and things are already starting to move much more quickly. You may have noticed this since my blog posts have sort of dropped off since the last one in October. Partly this is because of the field trips that are beginning to spring up in our school schedules. For every class there are two required field trips; most of mine overlap, so I have something like 5 or 6, instead of 8, that I have to attend. I'll probably end up going along on all of them, though, since they're an easy and free source of travel once a week. Last weekend's trip was not required for me, but it's been one of my favorite Spain experiences yet. We visited Soria, a small town about 2.5 hours drive away from Alcalá. The town is absolutely gorgeous, and extremely hilly. (I swear the entire time we were walking up hill-- I have no idea how we got back to the bus.) The day was spent walking, talking with other students and teachers, and visiting architectural sites, some of which date back to the 8th century! Near the end of the day we walked to a castle that's built into the side of a cliff (see the picture below) which had one of the most breathtaking churches I have ever seen.
Well, at least it was the most breathtaking church until our field trip to Escorial yesterday (just outside of Madrid. It's a monastery where Felipe II lived during his reign, and also the burial site of former kings and queens.) Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures, and my camera had died anyway, so you'll just have to google that one (or come to Spain and see it in person!) Walking into the church was like being punched in the chest by the fist of beauty. I couldn't breath, couldn't speak, couldn't comprehend how something so beautiful could actually exist in the real world. I am starting to realize that this feeling is going to happen a lot while I'm in Spain.
Today, Jenn and I are going to Madrid to pick up our tickets from tomorrow's bull fight. We recently got our "bonos" (not to be confused with Sonny or the lead singer from U2) which are one-time-payment passes for all the buses, train, and metros in Alcalá and Madrid. Needless to say, gratuitous trips to Madrid are happening more and more frequently. Then it's back to Alcalá for lunch, then to the Festival de Cervantes which started yesterday! I'll try to blog again soon, but my wonderful boyfriend Jared will be here in less than 40 hours (!!!!!!!) so we'll see how that goes.
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