My first week in Toledo has been jammed packed. After spending all of Sunday sleeping, I woke up refreshed for Monday morning, ready to explore the city.
Monday was an excursion day in Toledo since we didn't have class. We met at the Plaza de Padilla, then walked a little over to this place, I forgot the name of, to meet the other professors and made sure we were able to connect to WiFi. After that, we went to another part of the university where we would actually have class and saw the cafeteria and explored their building. The picture below show how the cafeteria looks.
Then we went to Plaza de Zocoder to take a tour of Toledo, which was really cool because I learned some interesting things about Toledo. A really cool fact that I learned was that this town used to have three different cultures all living together: Muslim, Christian and Jewish. They pride themselves on this fact and take any opportunity to mention it. I think that's really cool because those are such different belief systems, but they were able to put their differences aside and live together for decades. After the tour, we went to a nearby restaurant where we experienced the typical Spaniard lunch (paid for by esto). What this means is we ate in sections and sat and talked to each other for hours. They brought out each plate of food in timed intervals. At first, they came out pretty fast; one coming after the other before you could even finish the first plate. But as we got to the fourth plate, they began to slow down so that there could be room to talk to the people you were sitting with. Some of the foods they served us was tortilla (which you will have a lot while your here), empanadas, mozzarella sticks, this tuna and tomato (which isn't bad, I don't like tuna or the tomatoes here but I still tried it and wasn't disappointed), things that look like mozzarella sticks but are actually potatoes and it's mushy. In Spain, they serve all the meals with water, juice and/or wine. We spent about three hours in that restaurant, then walked back to the Plaza de Padilla and got a chance to relax before we met the other American students taking classes there. Once they got there, we embarked on a 20-30 min walk to the other side of campus, where La Fabrica de Arma is at, in 90 degree weather to play sports. My whole group didn't know about this until we got done with lunch and we were all unprepared because we wore dresses and sandals instead of shorts and gym shoes. A few still tried to play, but I was out of breath and refused to play in my sandals. We spent about an hour there, then our professor called for a taxi and we went back to Plaza de Xocoderver and searched for a shoe store because one of the girls broke her shoe walking to the other side of campus *which is why when your professor says bring thick-soled shoes you should bring thick-soled shoes*. After we found a shoe store, we finally went our separate ways, which was around 8 or 9pm. By the time I called my mom and freshened up in the bathroom, it was time for dinner, which is always served around 9:30-10pm here. After spending about an hour at dinner, I took a shower and went to sleep.
Tuesday
Tuesday was our first day of classes. I had two, so I was in class from 9am-1:30pm. There is a break at 11am that lasts 30 mins and in this time, we all go down to the cafeteria and eat something then go back up for our second class. Once I was done with classes, I went home and ate lunch with my host mom, and we usually have good conversations that lasts about an hour or more. At first, I didn't really understand her, or the rest of the family, and I felt embarrassed to ask her to keep repeating herself but it's honestly the best thing to just ask them to repeat themselves or ask what word it is that they have been saying. This is because a lot of times they phrase a question as just another sentence and then look at you to answer, so it's better to interrupt them and ask questions. After my lunch with my host mom, I had about an hour or so to relax before our cooking class, so I just laid down and watched some Netflix 'till it was time. I then went to meet up with all the students and professor to go to the cooking class. In this class, we made traditional Spanish meals; tortilla and paella, which turned out pretty good for it being our first time making it. Afterwards, we went back to our houses and I ate dinner, which consisted of tortilla, then took a shower and went to bed.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, I only had one class so when I got done, I went back home and wrote a blog post until it was time for lunch. After I ate lunch, I took a siesta, which isn't as big as Google would make it seem. When you Google Spain, they always mention a siesta and say how business owners close and go out to eat, but only a few stores in my area do that; like a comic book store around the corner from my house. I woke up a few hours later and got ready to go watch the football game with the rest of my group. Since Spain is in the World Cup, we decided to go embrace the culture by watching the game in a nearby restaurant with other locals. I was still kind of full from lunch, so I just got a pulga de jamon y queso (basically a Spanish ham and cheese sandwich). Afterwards, I just went home, got in the shower and went to sleep.
Thursday
Not too much happened Thursday. I had two classe,s then ate lunch in the cafeteria and walked around until it was time to meet with my group. We had all decided that we wanted to go to the supermarket so we meet up at a restaurant called La Flor and our professor took us to one nearby, and we spent about 45 minutes in there looking at the types of items they had and we got a few things we were craving. After we left the supermarket, we walked across the street to a restaurant where we had patatas fritas and talked for hours. Then we parted our ways and went home, but on the walk home we heard loud music and decided to follow it. We were expecting there to be a concert but we were presently surprised when we found out it was an outdoor Zumba class. We took off our bookbags and joined the rest of the people dancing.
Friday
On Friday we went to a café that specialized in churros and chocolate. These aren't the regular churros that are in America. They don't have sugar on them, and this is because they give you a cup of chocolate that you are supposed to drink and dip them in. Another thing to note is that there are two different types of churros here: churros refer to the type that kids eat whereas porras refer to what the adults eat. After the restaurant, we went back to the Plaza de Padilla, sat for a few minutes, then those of us that had class, left. After class, we meet up in the cafeteria to plan a trip to Portugal. Then, we walked with one of the girls back to her house to get something and since we had to wait on people, we decided to grab a quick bite at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, we braved the immense heat (it was reaching 100 plus degrees) and headed towards a community pool. We spent a few hours here then left.
Saturday
Saturday was an excursion day and we went to Segovia, Spain. We went to a cathedral, a castle, a restaurant for lunch and then had an hour and a half to walk around. The cathedral was very cool, everything was very detailed and had multiple rooms containing pictures depicting biblical events. When we went to the castle, I learned that there were black rulers of Segovia and that Spain's history is split into different time periods based on the culture that was popular at the time. For example, when Segovia had black rulers, it was because at the time Muslims were ruling Spain. As a black woman, it's really cool to know that my people were kings and queens all over the world. The restaurant we went to in Segovia had some really weird food. I'm not sure if what this restaurant was serving was common in the Segovia area, but I didn't like it. For the first plate, they had jamon and melon, which was literally a piece of melon with strips of jamon on top and on the side. Then they had some bean and meat dish that I had *Beware: they don't cut all the skin/fur off of their meat. I let some of the people in my group try my dish and one of them found a piece of meat covered in fur*. They also had some wasabi ice cream dish that a few people had and they liked it and like two other dishes I couldn't understand. For the second plate, they had things like deer and potatoes (which is what I got), some type of sirloin pork that was supposed to be filled with cheese, something with salsa and some other dish. Most of us didn't understand the menu, so we kind of picked the safest option; it was me and two other people eating the deer and pretty much the rest of the group had the sirloin dish. After lunch, we walked around a bit and did some souvenir shopping until it was time to go on the bus and go home.
Sunday
Sunday was my first off day since arriving in Toledo, so I spent most of the day in my bed. I would go out and eat my meals with my host family, then go back in my room and watch some Netflix. Two of the girls in my group were going out to a near by restaurant and I decided to join them. After we drank our lemonades, we walked around looking at the souvenirs they had in the Plaza de Zocodever and then went home.
Monday was an excursion day in Toledo since we didn't have class. We met at the Plaza de Padilla, then walked a little over to this place, I forgot the name of, to meet the other professors and made sure we were able to connect to WiFi. After that, we went to another part of the university where we would actually have class and saw the cafeteria and explored their building. The picture below show how the cafeteria looks.
Tuesday
Tuesday was our first day of classes. I had two, so I was in class from 9am-1:30pm. There is a break at 11am that lasts 30 mins and in this time, we all go down to the cafeteria and eat something then go back up for our second class. Once I was done with classes, I went home and ate lunch with my host mom, and we usually have good conversations that lasts about an hour or more. At first, I didn't really understand her, or the rest of the family, and I felt embarrassed to ask her to keep repeating herself but it's honestly the best thing to just ask them to repeat themselves or ask what word it is that they have been saying. This is because a lot of times they phrase a question as just another sentence and then look at you to answer, so it's better to interrupt them and ask questions. After my lunch with my host mom, I had about an hour or so to relax before our cooking class, so I just laid down and watched some Netflix 'till it was time. I then went to meet up with all the students and professor to go to the cooking class. In this class, we made traditional Spanish meals; tortilla and paella, which turned out pretty good for it being our first time making it. Afterwards, we went back to our houses and I ate dinner, which consisted of tortilla, then took a shower and went to bed.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, I only had one class so when I got done, I went back home and wrote a blog post until it was time for lunch. After I ate lunch, I took a siesta, which isn't as big as Google would make it seem. When you Google Spain, they always mention a siesta and say how business owners close and go out to eat, but only a few stores in my area do that; like a comic book store around the corner from my house. I woke up a few hours later and got ready to go watch the football game with the rest of my group. Since Spain is in the World Cup, we decided to go embrace the culture by watching the game in a nearby restaurant with other locals. I was still kind of full from lunch, so I just got a pulga de jamon y queso (basically a Spanish ham and cheese sandwich). Afterwards, I just went home, got in the shower and went to sleep.
Thursday
Not too much happened Thursday. I had two classe,s then ate lunch in the cafeteria and walked around until it was time to meet with my group. We had all decided that we wanted to go to the supermarket so we meet up at a restaurant called La Flor and our professor took us to one nearby, and we spent about 45 minutes in there looking at the types of items they had and we got a few things we were craving. After we left the supermarket, we walked across the street to a restaurant where we had patatas fritas and talked for hours. Then we parted our ways and went home, but on the walk home we heard loud music and decided to follow it. We were expecting there to be a concert but we were presently surprised when we found out it was an outdoor Zumba class. We took off our bookbags and joined the rest of the people dancing.
Friday
On Friday we went to a café that specialized in churros and chocolate. These aren't the regular churros that are in America. They don't have sugar on them, and this is because they give you a cup of chocolate that you are supposed to drink and dip them in. Another thing to note is that there are two different types of churros here: churros refer to the type that kids eat whereas porras refer to what the adults eat. After the restaurant, we went back to the Plaza de Padilla, sat for a few minutes, then those of us that had class, left. After class, we meet up in the cafeteria to plan a trip to Portugal. Then, we walked with one of the girls back to her house to get something and since we had to wait on people, we decided to grab a quick bite at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, we braved the immense heat (it was reaching 100 plus degrees) and headed towards a community pool. We spent a few hours here then left.
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| Churros |
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| Porras |
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| Chocolate |
Saturday
Saturday was an excursion day and we went to Segovia, Spain. We went to a cathedral, a castle, a restaurant for lunch and then had an hour and a half to walk around. The cathedral was very cool, everything was very detailed and had multiple rooms containing pictures depicting biblical events. When we went to the castle, I learned that there were black rulers of Segovia and that Spain's history is split into different time periods based on the culture that was popular at the time. For example, when Segovia had black rulers, it was because at the time Muslims were ruling Spain. As a black woman, it's really cool to know that my people were kings and queens all over the world. The restaurant we went to in Segovia had some really weird food. I'm not sure if what this restaurant was serving was common in the Segovia area, but I didn't like it. For the first plate, they had jamon and melon, which was literally a piece of melon with strips of jamon on top and on the side. Then they had some bean and meat dish that I had *Beware: they don't cut all the skin/fur off of their meat. I let some of the people in my group try my dish and one of them found a piece of meat covered in fur*. They also had some wasabi ice cream dish that a few people had and they liked it and like two other dishes I couldn't understand. For the second plate, they had things like deer and potatoes (which is what I got), some type of sirloin pork that was supposed to be filled with cheese, something with salsa and some other dish. Most of us didn't understand the menu, so we kind of picked the safest option; it was me and two other people eating the deer and pretty much the rest of the group had the sirloin dish. After lunch, we walked around a bit and did some souvenir shopping until it was time to go on the bus and go home.
Sunday
Sunday was my first off day since arriving in Toledo, so I spent most of the day in my bed. I would go out and eat my meals with my host family, then go back in my room and watch some Netflix. Two of the girls in my group were going out to a near by restaurant and I decided to join them. After we drank our lemonades, we walked around looking at the souvenirs they had in the Plaza de Zocodever and then went home.
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| Segovia is famous for its Aquaduct |
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| This is only one of the black rulers of Segovia |
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| Castle |
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Ceiling in castle
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