si prefieres Franco al chocolate...

Wow! Sorry guys! Last Thursday the computers crashed at the internet cafe, and we have been out of town all weekend, and we were too busy yesterday to stop by! I think I might have forgotten half of the things that have happened since my last update, but I´ll try to remember as much as possible.

Well, last Thursday was the final day of classes, and we took this killer Art History final that I´m pretty sure I made like a 3 on. A group of us got together to study all Wednesday afternoon, but I can´t really tell if it helped. Not to mention that we took a study break Wed. night to go see Ocean´s 13- in ENGLISH! 2 hours of George Clooney and Brad Pitt in a language I understand perfectly was just the pick me up I needed. Also on Thursday, we watched that crazy Pedro Almódovar film Habla con ella that Srta. Crowell took us to see at the Stevens Center sophomore year in high school... I could appreciate it a little bit more here 5 years later, but it was not my favorite thing ever.

Thursday night a small group of about 10 to a dozen of us went out to walk around and hang out to celebrate classes being finished- plus we got to sleep in the next morning! Yeah! We met this crazy homeless guy in a park that was absolutely hilarious, and surprisingly brilliant, he knew a ton about English literature. Who would have guessed? Friday involved lots of sleeping. Ashley and I met up with Las Chicas to go shopping in Barrio del Pilar where Kimber lives, because they have a huge mall. I finally got to go to El Corte Inglés, which is kind of like a Spanish Macy's except way more awesome. After that we met up with Mavi and El Chico at the theater for Ana´s play. It was pretty weird, but entertaining at just how bizarre it was! There was not a lot of dialogue, and the spoken words in the background music were in English, but it was sort of fluffy abstract phrases that I think were supposed to be "deep", but actually didn´t make any sense. Then Mavi took us to this nice Italian restaurant near the apartment that was AMAZING. Seriously, I´m going to look like a beached whale when I get home because of all the incredible food here. Minus gazpacho and the 800000 lbs. of ham that Spaniards consume on a daily basis.

Saturday the entire group left with our professors on a bus to spend the weekend up north and travel, which was probably one of the highlights of my trip so far- not that it hasn´t ALL been incredible. We first stopped and saw this old monastery in this tiny town, (built around 900 AD) and it was absolutely beautiful. I just love the Spanish countryside. It´s a lot like North Carolina sometimes, except with a bigger variety of vegetation and wildflowers, and with ruins of castles and churches perched on top of hills and whatnot. We stayed the night in a microscopic mapdot of a place called Ambasmestas, in a NICE hotel, and that night we trekked up the hill from Ambasmestas to attend this crazy Summer Solstice festival... it was one of the weirdest events I have ever been a part of, but super fun nonetheless. The next morning we changed locations and went to some old Roman gold mines called Las Médulas, which looked similar to something you´d see at the Grand Canyon. Tons of huge caves and mountains and just awesome. I was so tired from all the hiking, though! I can´t wait to get home and show everyone pictures so you can understand what I´m talking about! Hahaha! We arrived that afternoon in a town called Molinaseca where there were 2 places to stay- a hostel, and a Casa Rural (house). Guess who was awesome and got to stay in the house? That´s right- this chica. Over the weekend we kind of formed a "group" of Ashley, myself, Kimber and Amanda, and Brett and Miguel. I feel very blessed to be able to hang out with this group because I think we are all kind of on the same page about a lot of things. We had the entire Casa Rural to ourself, and it was beautiful. If I ever build my own home, it is going to be full of Spanish tile and huge opening windows with balconies, just FYI.

Finally, we spent Monday in León, but I think by then everyone was a little bit tired and grouchy. It didn´t help that the wind was pretty chilly. We walked around for a while though, and then we all had lunch together at this really nice place. It was also the first place we ate as a group where they didn´t shove ham by the platefull at us- hallelujiah! If I never eat ham again it will be too soon. The dessert was also sent from God himself, some kind of cakey thing called San Marcos. Yummy!

Yesterday (Tuesday) Ashley and I went souvenier shopping at Plaza Mayor one last time, and I was beginning to freak out because I couldn´t believe that it was almost time to go. I still can´t believe it. This time two weeks ago I was ready to be back in the US, but now that it´s actually time to leave, I´m kind of bummed about it. I have missed my family and friends (aka anyone reading this), being able to drive, and fabric softener... but I have this big fear that there is so much in Spain that I haven´t experienced. ¡Que lástima!

Yesterday afternoon, Mavi picked us up after work and drove us to El Escorial, which was the giant palace/church/monastery constructed by Felipe II of Spain. It kind of reminded me of the castle from the movie Ever After, except for the fact that El Escorial is surrounded by mountains! After that we went to Valle de los Caidos, where the big mausoleum to Frederico Franco (dictator of Spain during the 1930´s until... errr... sometime) and this HUUUUUGE cross on the side of the mountain stands. It was almost completely vacant, as Franco is not so popular, but amazing to visit nonetheless. I think Mavi thought we were weird for wanting to see it though. That night we got ready in a flash and went with the class to the National Ballet of España, which is not at all what Americans think of when you hear the word "ballet". A lot of it was Flamenco-style dancing, and it was amazing and elaborate and highly entertaining. Flamenco might be my new favorite thing ever. If only I was talented enough to actually dance like that! After that a group of us went to a nice restaurant where I had the BEST PIZZA EVER OF MY LIFE. I will probably dream about this pizza every night for many years to come. Seriously amazing.

Today we all met up with Nacho, Benito, and Andrés at the park and hung out and filled out course evaluations and it really hit me that the trip is over and we leave EARRRRRLY tomorrow morning. Everyone is going out tonight one last time, though, so I will probably be doing a lot of snoozing on the airplane. Mom and Dad, don´t forget- La Carreta and sweet tea tomorrow night!! ;)

Well, that is the short (haha.. yeah right who am I kidding?) version of my amazing last week in Spain. Sorry it´s been so long! Pray for a safe trip home and I will see you all very shortly!

Un abrazo muy fuerte,
Erin