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Saturday, September 7, 2019

Un Paseo y Una Fiesta

 I got my class schedule today!

 First, I had a placement test to take in the morning. It wasn't too bad.

 After a few hours, based off of the results and my requests from earlier in spring, I got my schedule! It's a little crazy because I have four classes on Monday, no classes on Tuesday, and four classes on Wednesday, and no classes on Thursday and Friday! So, the good thing is that I have two extra days to travel on the weekends. But, I have a long Monday and Wednesday. So... we'll see how this goes.

 About an hour later, we had lunch. We had paella. It was the version without seafood, which was a bit disappointing, but I understand why, and I can get the seafood version another time. And guess what! I have a picture. Ha.


 Then, after staying a while and talking, my roommates and I talked about random stuff and listened to fun songs in Spanish. Then, Maggie and I headed out for a walk around the city.

 First, we were searching for a particular supermarket, but then it was closed. So, we started looking for another one, but then we got lost. Then, we decided to get a snack and sit at the plaza. We got some oranges and people-watched. It was great.



 We walked around some more to places we hadn't been to before. We found a massive, ornate library that, unfortunately, was closed.

 While we were next to the huge library, the view in front of us amazed us. We took a few pictures and then walked towards it to see what else was over there. We discovered that it was a park! We asked our friend, Google, and he told us that it was called Paseo Miradero, meaning a lookout stroll (that's a weird translation but that's what I got. Hopefully it makes sense.)


 Roll Tide! I kept seeing decorative elephants at souvenir shops and said "Roll Tide!", explaining the phrase to Maggie. I also told my friend, Dawn that even though I didn't go to the game, or know the score, or know how we played against yesterday... (I know, I'm bad.) I still supported Alabama in another country with my shirt! I definitely planned this... 

Then, we decided to make our way back to the foundation for a meeting we had to be at in about an hour. We took some turns, and basically... we got lost. We had consulted Google once again for some help. He's better at reading maps than we are. At least we tried, right?



 We had a fun meeting about information about the semester. I'm actually not being sarcastic when I say that it was fun. The staff is so great and energetic, that it was actually enjoyable.

 Then, we had a party. We saw on our orientation schedule that there was to be a fiesta de bienvenidos, but I don't think we really understood that it was a real party. It was awesome. There were fancy tables out in the courtyard with small appetizers everywhere and one table with wine glasses to drink soda. I thought that this was especially awesome because when I would look up this program throughout the summer, I saw people in this same courtyard, doing the same thing! It seems like they throw this party every year! We all got a plate and filled it with what looked pretty and delicious. We all picked somewhere to sit and talked and ate our tapas. 




 A little later, we were asked to move because there was going to be a surprise and we were in the way. We were all confused, but just moved and continued eating.

 When five men came out with Spanish guitars, dressed in typical Spanish musicians' clothes, I knew this was going to be an actual fiesta de bienvenidos. They got us to dance, serenaded Mari, my roommate, and included two of the guys in our program, who sang a few words in Spanish. These musicians were really entertaining and energetic.



 I'm not sure what happened after that, because as the introvert I am, I took a shower and called my mom, brother, dad, and friend with Face Time. Then, I went to sleep, excited for another adventure in the city of Toledo.

 Kthnxbai!

OH! ALSO- First, if you are reading this, you are awesome. Thanks for making it this far down the page and in the blog. Second, if you would like to send me letters, I'd like that too. I've got the information you need for that. So you can just text/ direct message me on Facebook/ Instagram/ GroupMe/ and however else and I can get that to you!






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