Friday:
Our conversation
“test” went fine this morning. Our topic was food and drink, and
there were a few moments with awkward silence when we were trying to
rapidly think of something to say, but I think it was all right
overall. I went to a bank with Bailey where she had exchanged
dollars into euros before, but this time they told her they couldn't
do it. Fortunately, she asked the professors where to go and found
another bank that did it.
Lunch: Ensalada
con huevos, tomates, atún, y patatas, y mejillones y melocotones al
lado: a salad with eggs, tomatoes, tuna, and potatoes in it, and
mussels and a peach on the side
After a super
short siesta we laid on the beach for awhile. There's a herd of
ducks that travel around the beach quacking and honking. They're not
afraid of people at all and will gather around people's towels if
they don't shoo them away.
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| Castle in Peñafiel, the hill we climbed |
Later, we went
to the school to book a hostel for Barcelona, and also tried to
figure out what would would be the best way to get to Madrid for our
flight home. Since our first flight on our last day leaves at 7 in
the morning, there's no train from Valladolid that morning that would
get us to Madrid early enough to check in at 5. We originally
thought we'd have to take a train to Madrid the day before and spend
a night there ($), but then I thought to look into a bus. So, on our
last day we're taking a bus that will take us straight to the Madrid
airport from 12:30-3:00 AM before taking three flights home. We'll
probably be grumpy and exhausted, but we'll definitely save money
that way.
We met Zou for
supper. We were really hoping to get either pizza or Chinese food,
but although we had a general idea of where the places were, we
couldn't find them, so instead we stopped at a Japanese place called
Nippón that Sergio had recommended. It was right next to the
cathedral and we sat outside. We shared a couple different dishes,
and I tried sushi for the first time ever. I've always been afraid
to eat it because it looks weird, but I liked it a lot. Also, I
think it's really cool I've eaten sushi next to a Spanish cathedral
:)
Tomorrow:
Peñafiel!
Saturday:
Bailey and I
went for a run when we got up: 1.75 miles
We met Jon, Zou,
and Alex at the bus station at 10:15 to catch the 11:00 bus to
Peñafiel, a little town about an hour away from Valladolid. Another
student, José, joined us as well.
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| Wine tasting in Peñafiel |
In Peñafiel, we
knew we wanted to go to the castle, and we could see it above the
city so we made our way toward it. Once we got to the bottom of the
hill that the castle was on, we hiked up the steep side instead of
following the long switchback road. It was a little difficult
considering most of us didn't anticipate a hike and weren't wearing
appropriate shoes, but it definitely shortened the walk.
We took a guided
tour of the castle, and then attended a wine tasting, which was free
provided we already bought a tour of the castle. The tasting was
interesting, and the white wine tasted better than the reds, but I
still think wine is gross in general.
 |
| My pizza at La Romana |
After the
tasting, we walked down the hill to a park just below the castle and
ate our lunches there. Most of the students from our school went to
Peñafiel today, just on different buses, so we also met up with
Blanca, Nathaniel, Brandon, Dede, and Regina at different
times. We explored a couple shops in town then took the bus back to
Valladolid.
For supper,
Bailey and I went to a pizza place Sergio suggested, La Romana. We
had a lot of trouble finding it. He said it was in front of the
cathedral on a corner, and it really was, but we must have walked
past it four times because it was a small place and its name wasn't
on the building above the door. I even used my maps app on my iPod
and asked a man in a kiosk before we finally found it. It was very
good pizza though. They put it all together in front of us and
cooked it in a brick oven. My pizza had shrimp, tomato sauce,
garlic, and oregano on it. It was definitely worth the delay.
After eating we
just sat on a bench outside the cathedral, surfed the internet, and
people watched before going home to bed.
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