Exactly a month ago, I was in the same position.  The packing position.  The messy position.  This position:

Repacking

There are more questions swirling through my head than there are items of clothing heaped on the floor.  Where’s my toothbrush?  How many pairs of socks do I need?  Should I really bring my laptop?  (Correct answers: in the ziplock bag with the Neosporin, as many as I can stuff in, and heck yes!)  Even when I come to conclusions like these, I still feel a bit like this:

Eep!

But at least now, after a month of Spanish literature classes and real-life Spanish use, I know how to express how I feel.  Estoy agotada– I’m exhausted!  My twin sister, Mandi, is flying into Paris on Saturday and arriving in Madrid on Sunday.  While she adjusts to the time difference, which took me practically two weeks, I plan to relax.  In the month that I haven’t been posting, I’ve taken eight classes and visited three other cities– Segovia, Salamanca, and Toledo.  Here are the highlights:

El acazar 

El Alcazar of Segovia is a Fortress-Palace from the Catholic-Muslim wars of the Middle Ages.  As you can tell, it was getting pretty gloomy!  The trip to Segovia, during my first week in Spain, was the only time I’ve ever been rained on in Europe.  Not a drop since.

Cathedral door

This cathedral in Salamanca was absolutely gorgeous.

Washed away

In Toledo, the workers didn’t care that there was a tour group of 100 people standing at the bottom of this staircase.

Catedral de Toledo 

Toledo is famous for its gold jewelry, its marzipan, and its amazing, enormous cathedral.  An unguarded little doorway led us off the street and into this little corner of the cathedral, for free!  As you can guess, we didn’t get terribly far, but the view was worth every penny we paid.

Palacio Real de Segovia

The Royal Palace near Segovia was ornate and gorgeous, surrounded by lovely garderns.  But the tour through it was a long, drawn-out snooze!  “This chandalier is a baroque French style.  The small etchings in the crystal indicate that … .”

Segovian Apartments

These apartments in Segovia were too beautiful not to photograph.

Now I’m off to Portugal, then across the south of Spain, back through Madrid to Barcelona, and then who knows?  As I said, I’ll have my laptop with me … provided I can stuff it back into my suitcase!

P.S.  I did eventually stop crying.  And then I started again.  The waterworks still come on every few days, without much prompting.  A fellow classmate commented that it was so sweet that I was so homesick and missed my family so much.  I do love my family, but the fact is I’m just a crier.