Segovia Province

Ok, here's the excursion update:

We left early Saturday morning and drove to an area of Segovia province in Castilla y Leon. We would spend the whole weekend in this area, starting with kayaking on a river through a deep canyon where protected vultures liked to nest. It was a pretty brisk morning with alot of wind and not enough sun, but overall it was fun.

After a tasty lunch in a small pueblo nearby, we headed out to another pueblo where we were staying the night and attending some local festivities. After 30 mins of down time, there was an optional trip to see some petroglyphs that are approximately 17,000 years old.



Can you see the petroglyph?



The glyphs happened to be on a hill, so we were able to see great vistas classic to the Castilla y Leon area.



Also in the same general area is a recently discovered Roman wall that had now been partially excavated.

It's amazing to think of all the different people that have lived here in Spain over thousands of years!

After dinner, the pueblo's festivities began - an encierro de toros. At midnight 6 bulls and their accompanying castrated bulls ran through the streets, along with a few brave (or foolhardy?) young men. The encierro continued the next day at the local bull staduim. At first the bulls ran through the stadium a few times (along with the young men), but then the real show began.



One bull was let out at a time, and any young man that wanted to would taunt the bull and then run away/avoid getting gored once the bull was provoked. This continued for about 10 or 15 mins, then that bull would be put away and the next would come out. All the while the local band was playing and the stadium was slowly reaching capaticy. It seemed like the entire population of the town (about 1,000) had shown up! After about an hour of this we left, had some bocadillos (Spanish sandwiches), and headed back to Madrid.

Overall it was a very interesting weekend, and it definitely reminded me that I'm a long way from home. But that's okay.

¡Hasta hora!

Maren

Busybusy

Saludos from Madrid!

I've been really busy with my program orientation these past few weeks, but classes start on Monday so then I should have less of a crazy schedule and then I can update more often!

Today I signed up for classes, and I'm only taking 4 (which is crazy for me!) My classes are medio ambiente y sociedad (Spanish geography and anthropology), el cuento (the spanish short story), instituciones (Spanish and European government), and a language/grammar class. I don't have class on Fridays or until 6pm on Mondays, so hopefully that'll make it easier for me to travel!

Speaking of travel, I've already been invited to interview with 2 medical schools! The MD programs at UTMB Galveston and UT Houston both invited me to interview with them. However, I'm more interested in their MD/PhD programs, so it looks like I'll be declining those interview and waiting for a possible interview with their MD/PhD programs. Wish me luck!

This weekend my study abroad group is taking a trip to "Rural España". I'm not sure exactly what that entails, but I'll try to take lots of pictures and update you on Monday!

¡Abrazos y besos a todos!
(hugs and kisses to everyone!)

Maren

In Madrid!

Hola amigos!

I´m here in the center of Madrid in an internet cafe. My program orientation started today, and the other students (there are only 9 of us!) and program directors are all very nice. So far it´s pretty hot here in the city (in the 90´s) and most places don´t have AC, but it should be cooling down in the next few weeks. Wednesday evening I get to meet my hosts, and in the next few days I should know my class schedule. Tomorrow I should get my cell phone, just in case anyone feels like calling Spain!

Yesterday Clint and I had a picnic lunch in el Parque del Buen Retiro, a large park near the center of Madrid. The park is large and full of trees and madrileños enjoying their last Sunday of the August break. Today was the first day most people went back to work after taking a month of vacation during August. As the day started to heat up, Clint and I headed over to el Prado, just a few blocks from the park. Most museums are free on Sundays, so we were able to see a special Picasso exhibition at el Prado. There were works from throughout Picasso´s career, as well as several paintings from artists that inspired Picasso. It was a very interesting exhibit, and a great (air conditioned) way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Coming soon - photos from the looong trip over and el parque.

Besos!

Maren


PS - I should have fairly regular internet access, so email me -
marenyngve (at) gmail (dot) com