After a short (by American standards) night of clubbing, I dragged myself onto a bus to Segovia, Spain. Waking up wasn’t easy, but Segovia itself was definitely worth a couple hours’ visit. The program through which I was studying organized a bus ride from Madrid to Segovia as well as tours of the Iglesia de la Vera Cruz, the Alcázar de Segovia, the historical section of the city, and the famous Roman aqueduct.
La Iglesia de la Vera Cruz
The coolest part of this church is definitely that it was built in 1208. This was definitely one of the oldest buildings I’ve ever been inside! The architecture is also really interesting; it’s hard to tell from the photo above, but the church is dodecagonal, giving the interior a circular appearance.
The Alcázar de Segovia is any amazing sight to behold from the outside. Inside, it’s even prettier, with gorgeous tiles like those pictured above and fascinating sights like Queen Isabel I’s bed. It didn’t look very comfortable, but who I am to judge? I especially loved the chance to look down onto the intricate garden on one of the Alcázar’s rooftops.
The aqueducts and old-fashioned carousel (pictured above) were probably the highlights of the city. I’d never before seen an aqueduct, let alone been so close to anything built by the Romans. If you need a good day-trip from Madrid, Segovia is worth exploring, although I personally found it to have fewer activities than cities like Salamanca or Toledo.
I meant to use this website a lot more in the past few weeks, but it’s been really busy (and I only just charged my computer). Currently, I am on the sixth day of my six weeks in Madrid, Spain, where I’m taking two classes and living in a residence hall at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The picture above is the beautiful view outside my window as I am typing this. Classes started yesterday, so there’s not too much I can say yet, but one is an art history course on the art in the Prado Museum and the other is a history class on Madrid’s history as a city. Classes here meet Mondays through Thursdays for about an hour and forty minutes each. Since I’m not taking any classes to learn Spanish, just to study in Spanish, both courses are completely in the language, which is awesome. Additionally, each course is half-lecture, half-field trip based, meaning Mondays and Wednesdays we learn about specific paintings and eras of Madrid’s history, then travel to the Prado and to another museum on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My program with which I’m traveling is called International Education for Students, or IES. They organize tons of activities to supplement classes and help us explore the city and the surrounding area. Last weekend, we traveled to Segovia, and this Friday, we have a day trip to Salamanca.
Here’s a brief look at the dorm room, which is so much nicer than anything you can get in the United States purely because there’s a sink and cabinet in the room itself. I don’t know why this isn’t a thing at the University of Michigan, but getting ready for bed is much easier when you can brush your teeth in your room. The one downside is probably the lack of air conditioning. This was really just an issue for me when my window was stuck and couldn’t open beyond a tiny crack. Otherwise, the fan is perfect, and it’s cool at night (probably high sixties, low seventies). Beyond that, it’s also great to have a single. I guess people here understand that sharing a room can be too much of a strain sometimes.
The “Cats” club (which we didn’t go into).The famous “El Oso y el Madroño” statue in the Puerta del Sol.Metro de Sol entrance.Some weekend highlights!
In terms of why I haven’t been writing/updating, I’ve been abroad since my semester classes finished at the end of April. I traveled on a Birthright trip to Israel from May 2 to May 12, after which I had a week in between Israel and Spain to spend time with my mom in the countryside around Nice, France. Both places were limited in Wifi capabilities (mountains and deserts). I’m very backlogged with everything I want to record for this site, but I promise to keep working and share lots of the photos I’ve taken over the past month. Especially my food photography, although it will be tough to write about without feeling jealous of my past self who was eating such great food. I’m still working on finding good places here in Madrid, not to mention I’ve mostly been eating in the dining hall, which is… interesting.
Addictively Addy 