España

It's been 8 months folks, and I'm proud to say that I've finally changed my Blogger profile. For the past year, you've all been reading my blog and clicking on my profile page to meet this so-called Travelbug. And what did you get? Nada. No pretty picture of me, no description, no nada. (Yes, I did just use a double negative because you did get a lovely picture of a beautiful white flower that I took with my camera about 2 years ago.) This morning, I took approximately 5 minutes to upload a new picture and a brief (and I mean brief) description. You can also now see that I'm a female from the United States. I hope no creepers take advantage of this, but when I look back at all the detailed info I've written in my actual blog, I've probably lost whatever security I already had to begin with.

Moving on to Spain. If you've been following my blog lately, you already know that I went to Spain a little while ago. And if you haven't, the secret's out and we're all up to date. My week-long voyage to the land of el Greco and churros started Tuesday AFTER school. I'm just gonna emphasize AFTER one more time because I could have sworn they said "before." Like it should have been. I still believe the vacation would have been a bazillion times better without 8 hours of staring at a blank sheet of paper right before. . .

It was an overnight bus so of course everyone took that advantage to be loud and annoying and sing songs all night long. I, on the other hand, was a good, quiet little bus-goer, who got plenty of hours of repose and because of that, was cheery and spritely the next day in Zaragoza while the others were all groggy and cranky.

Zaragoza (Saragosse in French) was a pretty city, but I still prefer the cities in the south. We were only there for a day, but we visited the most important places: the Aljafería (which has many similarities to the Alhambra in Granada), La Seo Cathedral, and the Plaza del Pilar. I pretty much lone-wolfed the whole day because I still didn't know anyone, but I managed to shift in and out of groups for meal times and such.

After another 5 hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Toledo, where we would be staying in home stays. I stayed with an older couple and they were very open and welcoming. The Señora spent all week trying to get me to roll my r's, without success of course, and she seemed amazed that there are people out there who are unable to do it. For me, saying my r's normally is impressive enough; it took me about 7 years and speech therapy to get to where I am now!

We spent the week visiting museums, small towns, big cities, chocolateries, the works. There were day trips to Madrid (el Prado, Reine Sofia - Guernica, Plaza Mayor, Cortes Ingles...), Saragossa (freezing and rainy), Consuegra (old windmills and a castle), and Chinchon (a charming little town of 3000).

Being in Spain again (first time in 2009 for 2 weeks) made me realize that the whole country is built around a lie. Every time you head on over to Spain, everyone's all like, "Ooh - it's so hot and sunny there!" Let me just give you one advice: DON'T BUY IT. It is neither hot nor sunny. Spain's always complaining about all these problems of drought, but I'm not seeing it. Torrential downpours continually for 3 weeks is not exactly what I'd call a drought. If you want the sun, take another piece of advice and head on over to Yuma, Arizona.

Since this post has gotten pretty long, I'll end it with some photos. There's always more to say, but that's it for the day. Cause a refrain about torrential rain in Spain has me drained and I'm practically turning into Mark Twain or Lil Wayne. Boom.

South America in Zaragoza

Aljafería

 Toledo

Consuegra

Segovia

Chinchon

Me and my señora

Bedroom Decoration :/

Impressive