miércoles. 10 julio

This morning we talked about going to the mercado ayer. We talked about what we saw and what we could buy there. We then moved into talking about mercados versus supermercados. We listened to a CD and followed along with different exercises. It was similar to the exercise we did about the Spaniards and Germans taking a trip. We listened to it, then we read along and then finally we read the story slowly out loud. At 11am we took an all group photo and then an Estados Unidos photo; in our U.S. photo we tried to organize ourselves using Spanish and then someone said that we all speak English. We got organized a lot faster after that! While waiting for the other countries to get their photos taken before we could start classes again I ate some Lacasitos chocolate- it was similar to M&Ms but flatter. In the afternoon we talked about pretérito vs. imperfecto and since I understand the differences on paper I was sort of bored, and the room was warms so I was also getting sleepy. My sleepiness didn't last very long because we started to practice our song/dance for the final fiesta. We all have no ideas so we all looked ridiculous but tomorrow we'll have more time to plan and make up a dance.

For lunch today we had spaghetti with hot dog sauce, it was interesting but good. For dessert we had strawberries- also very good. During lunch the discussion was centered around Alba, my younger host sister, wanting a tattoo on her arm and her parents wanting her to think about future employment options. It was very interesting to see how similar arguments can be in both English and Spanish.I then siesta'd until about 6 before I met up with some people to get dinner and go on a sunset hike. I got some of the twizzler-like cream filled dulce while waiting at the university and then helado while everyone else got pizza since I planned on returning to the casa for dinner. Colby also got a waffle covered in Nutella and the piece I tried was very good. Our group consisted of Alex, Emily, Olivia, David, Mariah, Colby, Sophie, myself, and Connor ate with us, but didn't hike. 

After everyone was finished we began our walk to the vista point outside of the walls. It was about 8:30 at this time and the sun was just beginning to set. The higher we got up the hill, the better the view became. We finally got to the highest you can (safely) get and watched the sun set. It was the most amazing experience I've had here in Toledo. Words can't even begin to describe the view of Toledo tonight at sunset; I'm not even sure if photos could either. It was a breathtaking, spectacular, heart-stopping view of a marvelous city filled to the brim with history and stories. You could see the Cathedral and the castle; and the sun illuminated everything with sunshine and happiness. There was a breeze and a band playing on the other side of the valley echoing up to us. It was a perfect night. I climbed up and around various rocks and wished I had real climbing gear to get to the less-safe looking rocks. I mostly just sat and stared at Toledo. It was breath-taking and hard to pull your gaze away. We took a lot of photos but none on them even came close to doing it justice. We probably spent close to an hour on the rocks on the hill, and I still want to go back again; hopefully with more water and possibly a picnic. I completely lost track of time and forgot how long it takes to walk back to Casco and the bus stop that I ended up being late to dinner. Sandra had been worried but understood how hard it is to leave the amazing view. I had a sandwich, fries and strawberries for dinner as well as 3 or 4 glasses of water.

Toledo at sunset; and the photo doesn't do it justice.   

Love you all!