North Carolina State University Athletics
Meredith and Katie's Summer in Spain: Week Three
6/2/2008 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.
More rain here in Spain! From now on just assume we had a rainy day and if it changes I will be sure to share the good news :)
Yesterday we went on an excursion to Granaja where we visited a palace and a glass factory. The glass factory was really cool because we actually got to see the glass being made by hand and saw the workers blow each piece themselves. Our tour guide was lots of fun and chose Ru and I to help him out with something, which was quite comical.
After the excursion we came back to Segovia, had a quick lunch with our families and went to class. The day was very long with lots of walking around but Ru and I felt the need to make it longer and went to a hotel to use the gym so we could workout. The 30-minute walk itself was a workout and somehow we managed to walk uphill both ways which I didn't know was possible but apparently it is here in Spain!
There was only one treadmill so Ru let me use it first and I wanted to run our treadmill program. I felt very fit and couldn't wait to tell Coach Kerrigan that I was running on 9.1 for my jog and 13.0 for my "slow" sprint with no problem. I mean I just couldn't wait to hear how proud she was of me and brag to all my teammates how easily I got fit this summer. Well then common sense rolled around and I realized the treadmill was not in miles per hour but kilometers per hour. Oh well .. for those 5 minutes that I thought I could join the cross country team I felt really great :)
Class just got out and I'm about to have lunch with my "madre" then work on my final project, which is due next week. Time sure does fly by here! Only 12 more days and I'll be back home in New Jersey (and 14 until my birthday .. incase anyone was wondering). Time for "almuerzo".
Hasta Pronto
May 26, 2008
I forgot how wonderful a hot shower really is!! Before we left for Madrid this morning I took my first shower in my house since moving back in last night and it was nice to have hot water again :) I'll be very excited though to get back to New Jersey so I can have the luxury of a shower head mounted on the wall at the front of the shower, not the middle. Here in Spain most of the shower heads are hand held and all of the faucets are in the middle of the shower ... I haven't quite figured out why though.
We had an awesome day today and it only rained for one hour - definitely a bonus! Wake up was at 8 am and the bus left at 9 am for Madrid. We spent the entire day in Madrid and I am very happy that Ru and I decided to go there for our free weekend because there is SOOO much to see and we didn't have enough time to do it all in just one day.
A tapestry factory was our first stop, it was short and sweet. We watched the workers make rugs and both Ru and I deemed there is no way with my attention span (which is similar to that of a three year old for those of you who do not know) I would be able to accomplish such a tedious and time consuming task. Some of the rugs took years to make! Our tour guide told us the rugs cost 1.000 euros to make (around $1,600) per square meter, can you believe that!?
After the factory we had some down time, then onto a museum followed by lunch and more down time. The city was beautiful and a lot of fun to walk around. You have to be careful what you say though because the majority of the people are bilingual unlike where we live in Segovia, some of us found out the hard way :/
The rest of the week is filled with excursions and then Thursday everyone leaves for their free weekend. I can't wait to see Wipe and I'm excited for Ru to meet him. It will be fun!
Hasta luego
May 25, 2008
Finally!! I have moved back into my regular house. My "madre" got back from France late last night so after breakfast this morning she picked me up and I moved all my stuff back into my house ... I missed it!
Yesterday we were out all day in Salamanca and Avila visiting Cathedrals and sightseeing, it was beautiful. Salamanca was great and the Cathedral there was incredible, I've never seen something so amazing. I keep meaning to get up and go to Church here but never wake up in time. Hopefully Wipe will force me to get up next Sunday while we're in Madrid because I heard the Cathedrals there are amazing too.
Avila was nice too but it poured on us the whole time so we didn't see much. After awhile we all just accepted the fact we were going to get soaking wet and did away with our umbrellas. I felt like I was swimming in an ocean or something. It would've been nice to see Avila because it is a really cool town. The entire town is surrounded by an old wall built in the 11th century to help protect the people inside, it was very pretty.
Today I am just going to unpack a little bit and catch up on some emails before I go run. It's supposed to rain all next week so I will try and enjoy my rain free run today.
Ciao
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