A pocos más detalles

Even though I've only been here for 12 days it feels like much longer.  I have a good relationship with my host parents (which I'll talk about later) school is well on it's way, and we've already visited another city - Salamanca - with Madrid our next destination (this Saturday).  I also know my way around Segovia fairly well.  I have now ventured into New Segovia and even developed a few favorite restaurants, cafes, and bars.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  First, the most exciting story.

I saw a fight!  I know this isn't cultural or anything, but it was exciting and I was lucky enough to have my camera with me.  At the time I was walking to one of those favorite cafes I mentioned earlier... a place called "La Niagra" to do homework with a few friends.  Two minutes after leaving my apartment I saw two people somewhere around 30 yards ahead of me clearly arguing on the sidewalk.  I thought to myself that any intelligent study abroad-er would avoid the situation entirely, which is why I should at take another path to my destination, or at least cross the street and walk on the other side.

That was before I remembered I had my camera.

With camera in hand I walk towards the fight, planning on taking some pics from a distance, then quickly sneaking by, undetectable to the preoccupied Spaniards.

Before I could activate my camera, the more aggravated of the two threw the first of many wild and inaccurate punches.  The other fellow's reaction was to throw his arms up to block, and then follow that devilishly clever move with a surprisingly powerful shove which literally sent the first man flying through the air and finally to the ground where he landed with an almost audible plop on his rear.

Man number two, lets call him Pablo, decided that man number one, Carlos, would not be in a good mood upon standing up, so he decided to book it.

It was then that I realized just how truly un-athletic both of these men were.  As Carlos heaved himself to a standing position, Pablo had covered maybe 10 yards in his attempt to run away.  I was sure that Possibly-The-Most-Awkward-Runner-Ever-Pablo would be quickly run down by a now fuming Carlos, but Carlos was no olympic athlete himself.  At this point I was able to snap a pic of the chase.

Carlos in the orange chasing Pablo in the black

Carlos was able to catch him after a short and thrilling chase.  Pablo seemed to not want to fight, as he put his arms up as if to plead "Please!  Let's talk this out!"  But Carlos' rear reminded him of the shove. Carlos continued his attempt at punching Pablo, but was so bad at it that I couldn't help but laugh.

I tried and tried to take a video of the physical exchanges that were taking place, but my camera would not work.  Unbelievable.  It works when I want to take a panoramic shot of some boring scenic site, but fails me when I randomly encounter a street-side scuffle.  Oh well.

Pablo gives up the run and tries to sweet talk Carlos

"Please!  Let's talk this out!"

After not much time a car drove by and opened it's door, assumingly to chew them out for fighting on the street.  Carlos and Pablo then walked away together, still arguing. And thus ends my exciting fight story.


I'd like to talk a bit about my host family situation.  First off, it's going great!  Angeles (host mom) and Juan (host dad) are both fantastic hosts, and I really don't think I could have been given a better situation.  I am able to talk plenty with them, or relax in my room if I so choose.  As I mentioned before, the food is fantastic.  It's not like I haven't eaten good food before, because my mom is a wonderful cook.  The food here, however, is different than what I'm used to.  It's Spanish food first, and European food second... both of which consist of food in which I'm not used to.  The quality of the food is through the roof.  I am convinced that many of the dishes Angeles prepares could easily be featured in a fancy Italian restaurant, or marketed for how healthy they are.  How she finds the mix of delicious and healthy food is something I am looking forward to enjoying for the next three months.

One thing about my host family is that they are always at home.  This isn't a problem what-so-ever, but it made it difficult for me to take pictures of the place.  I'm sure that they would have been fine with me taking pictures, but for some reason I just didn't feel comfortable doing that in front of them.  It wasn't till a couple days ago when I came home from class with a friend and found an empty apartment.  While they were grocery shopping I was able to snap a few pics.

Looking out my bedroom window

Bedroom

Living room - I've never seen it used 

Kitchen

Where we eat and watch TV

It'd take an army to break into this apartment

In addition to attending classes in Segovia, every weekend for the first two months we will be traveling as a group to varying Spaniard cities.  Last weekend we went to Salamanca for a day.  It wasn't very exciting, as it rained the entire time we were there, and thus were only able to check out one church... which we did with incredible detail (as we had nothing else to do).  It was truly enormous.

This weekend we will be heading to Madrid, which most of us are really looking forward to.  We will be staying in a fancy hotel (from what our director has told us) for two nights.  I'm hopeful that I will fall in love with Madrid because Segovia is a fairly small city and after a couple months I might desire some new scenery.  Madrid is about an hour bus ride (or half an hour speed train) from where we live, so if I ever wanted to explore Madrid a bit more, it wouldn't be too difficult.

If there's anything anybody would like to know about which I'm not already writing in my blog, just make a comment and I'd be happy to write about it.  I'm probably forgetting a bunch, but for now, this will do.