North Carolina State University Athletics
Meredith and Katie's Summer in Spain: Week Two
5/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
NC State rising juniors Meredith Parilla and Katie Ruiz are spending the summer in Segovia, Spain as part of the study abroad program. Both Spanish majors at State, the soccer playing duo are keeping a blog for GoPack.com this summer and will keep the Wolfpack nation in tune with their experiences both in and out of the classroom.
May 22, 2008
11 days already??? I feel like we just got here. Today we took a tour of a glass factory and a whiskey factory, it was very ... interesting. We had to wear these dorky goggles at the glass factory and wear ear plugs so we didn’t hurt our ears since it was so loud inside. Everyone thought it would be funny to remind me I only needed one (because I'm deaf in my left ear) .. haha not so funny!
All of our excursions involve a ton of walking, mostly up and down hills, so all of us are exhausted when we get back. I now know why the "siesta" (nap) is so popular in Europe!! I'm still trying to figure out the reasoning behind eating dinner at 10:30pm though, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me but I still have another two weeks to figure it out.
Yesterday I watched the UEFA Championship game and it was AWESOME! There is a sports bar right near my apartment here in Segovia and the people were going crazy. I missed a little bit of it though because my family here does not watch soccer and chose to watch The Simpsons during dinner instead (what great luck - I come to Europe where everyone loves soccer and I get the one family who doesn't!). It was a really exciting game and I was pulling for Manchester United but I hated that it came down to PKs. Regardless though it was fun to watch and if Cristiano Ronaldo happens to read this, call me!
That's all for now, time to get ready and have dinner before the group gets together to hang out tonight.
Adios!
Meredith
May 21, 2008
Not much has been going on here in Segovia for Ru and I. We have class every day from 10:30-1 and then are free after that. Usually we will go back to our house and hang out, call home, take a nap or do homework and lunch is served around 2:30pm. After lunch we meet up to go for a run and after that we will either hang out at Rus house or go shopping here in town. Between the two of us it looks like we will need to buy another suitcase to get home .. WHOOPS!
Yesterday when we went for a run we stopped at the field first to stretch and there were little boys playing soccer. They kept staring at Ru and I but when I asked if we could play they clearly were not interested, they just giggled and ran the other way. Were hoping we can find a group to play with while were here but who knows.
Tomorrow we have an excursion instead of class but its suppose to downpour and that wont be much fun. Im hoping the rain holds up and we can still enjoy the day.
We have planned our trip while were here in Spain for our free weekend. Were going to go to Madrid and stay with my good friends Wipe and Beli who are studying here from Guatemala. I am very excited to see them, its been a year which is entirely too long. It will be a lot of fun and since Wipe has been living in Madrid for 6 months now hell no where to take us and what to show us. Que bueno!
Time for class ...
Meredith
May 18, 2008
Ru and I had a very busy weekend here in Spain. Friday we were supposed to meet up with everyone and play soccer but it was thundering and lightening so we decided to save it for another day. I also had to move houses which was not so much fun. My "madre" here in Spain was going to the Cannes Film Festival in France for a week so I had to move to another house while she was gone. My new "madre" is very, very nice but the house doesn't have the internet so I am struggling just a bit! It's hard to get in touch with the other students to see what they're doing because we don't have phones here so the internet is the only way we can get in touch. I'm at Katie's house right now just hanging out laughing about our weekend.
Yesterday we went to a monestary, a few castles and a vineyard ... they were all beautiful. We left at 9:30 am and didn't get back until 7:30 pm so it was a long day. The castles were incredible and the views were immaculate. Ru and I are actually thinking about moving into one, which would be lots of fun :)
After our long day we took a nice run through the city and finished through the valleys, it was really pretty. When I swore to Ru I was going to die she just told me to look at the mountains in front of us and when I did I got another boost of energy. We have the most amazing views here everywhere we look. It's an experience we will never forget.
Today the two of us are just relaxing and hanging out. We had school the next three days and then another trip on Thursday :)
Ciao
