Holy Toledo!!

Hello everyone!!

This week has been pretty awesome. We had a full week of classes which was nice, I felt like I actually learned something. Even though we haven't taken a few days off we have still done a ton of stuff. With all the things we have to do for school, we stay pretty busy. We have a class called Madrid walks, all we have to do is walk around Madrid and a few other things. Its pretty fun! We also have to interview a bunch of random people from the city to get to know the culture. Most of the things we have to do are just to help us interact with others. Like we have to find out how much it would cost to send certain stuff. The other day we walked into a store of womens shoes to find out how much boots would cost and how heavy they were to send them. The girls in the store were laughing super hard the whole time, they thought we were crazy... which we are. I went by myself this week to search for a nun to interview. A few people sent me to a "convento" Im not sure the english word for it but its where the nuns live. Although I didnt know that this certain "convento" was where the nuns that dont leave live. They stay inside always, and they cant talk to anybody on the outside. Except for a few very seldom personal visits. So I knocked on the huge old wooden door hoping for success. An old lady spoke to me through the intercom, she didnt understand my pupose very well so she let me in to learn more. A loud noising was coming from the door so I figured that was her unlocking it for me from far away. So I opened the door slowly cause the door was creaky and super heavy. I stepped into a dark cold room when a lantern on the left turned on followed by one on the right side of the room. I sat there waiting for a bit thinking "This is creepy! What do I do?" Then all of the sudden a small wooden window started creeking open. It revealed one of those things that you put things on then spin them aaround to the other side. That way you dont see the person you are giving something to. By this time I was about ready to run, but then a nice old ladies voice said "Hello?" I answered telling her that I was a student form "Alcalingua" and that I needed to interview a nun. She politely rejected and sent me to the town hall. So I practically left running thinking "That place was nuts!!" The scariest part is that I was all by myself the whole time.

The best part of the week was this one:

For our trip this week we had a day trip to Toledo, hence the blog name. This city was really cool! I love how every city we have been to has been way different. This city is famous for a few things one of them is that they make the best steel in the world, or so they say. Here is a picture of it from a hill nearby:

The city is like a labryinth the streets have no pattern whatsoever. A few of us got lost more than once. The cathedral in the city is the second biggest in Spain, on the way there I took a picture of it from the widest street in the downtown area:

Your right!! its not a very wide street, but dessert was good:

Yesterday we spent the entire day in Madrid, we did a few things worth mentioning. First off we totally crashed a catholic wedding... that was a first timer for me.

Its kind of a wierd picture but as you can see I witnessed my first catholic wedding. If you look at the top you can see the dome. It is one of the 4 biggest domes in all the world. The basilica was actually really cool. Here is a picture from the outside:

Afterward we went to the largest bull rings in the entire world... obviously its in Spain:

So yeah this week has been pretty awesome! A lot of pretty interesting things have happened, and I have seen a lot of interesting things. Quite honestly the most exciting thing that has happened is that we found an awesome family form Africa that are very interested in the church. They almost came with us today, they invited us over to eat. So we are planning on getting the missionaries over there somehow. Seriously though Its so exciting!!!!

I love you all!

Basque Country

This week was great!
I named this post Basque Country because that's where we went. Basque country is pretty much just northern Spain, the only difference is that most people speak Basque. Which is way different from Spanish, most everybody speaks both languages though. The week started off with an amazing lunch called Paella, its the one thing that Uncle Steve said that I needed to try. It was really good! A total change to the food that we have been normally eating. Here is a picture of my plate:

This week was sweet because we only had two days of school. On Wednesday we left to northern Spain for the rest of the week. We stayed in nice hotels and ate pretty well, Profe (What we call our Professer) gave us 10 euros (13 dollars) for food each day. We first went to a place called Burgos, which had great food and a cool Cathedral. (Like every other city) Here is a picture:

After we ate we got back on the road toward Bilbao where we stayed the night. Before nightfall we went to a really cool modern art museum. It is called the guggenheim, one of the four in the world. The building was far more impressive than any art inside of it haha. I know that sounds weird but check out the building:

After we went through the museum we walked around downtown looking at cool buildings until we found food at a nice restaurant. We stayed in the hotel then left toward San Sebastian. This is probably one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. It's right on the beach and has an amazing view. I took lots of pictures but here are few to give you an idea of what the city looks like. We stayed here two nights and three days including our trip to France.

I really enjoyed the two days we stayed here because we didn't go to a single museum or Cathedral it was pretty much all going to the beach and hanging out downtown. Even though it rained the first day we went swimming and the water was surprisingly warm, none of us wanted to get out because it was warmer in the water than out. San Sebastian is known for its very rainy climate, so we were lucky to have a lot of sun (the second and third day). The last day we were there we went paddle boarding, that was way fun! We also did a lot of body surfing and cliff jumping. While we were up north we decided to go to France. So we drove about thirty minutes and stayed half a day in San Jeanne de Luz. The crepes

were amazing! We also stayed at the beach most of the time. It was fun to walk around without understanding anybody. I felt like I was just getting to Mexico again. We were only there for a few hours so it didnt really matter though.
One of the things that northern Spain is famous for is the food. They have theses things called pintxos. They are like little appetizers that are out on the counter. You can eat as many as you want you just need to keep the toothpicks that are in them to show the cashier. That way they know how much to charge you, it was a really cool experience.

honestly it was fun to just walk around and see cool stuff like giant dogs made out of flowers:

Yes that is a dog shaped flower. Or a dog made of flowers. haha its cool.

So I heard that on every study abroad one couple will get married afterward. Well this study abroad is a little different because, one couple just got engaged last week. haha

Things are going really well with my roomates and I. I love it because we can have good gospel conversations and teach each other. They are really good guys and I can see our relationships lasting much longer than this study abroad trip.

So I need your help, the three of us are planning on going somewhere for the free weekend we have. We don't want to go far because it gets more and more expensive. Where should we go? We will go to Rome and Italy after the program and Paris is too far. We are thinking either the Canary islands, Portugal, or another cool place in Spain. Whats your opinion? Can you think of a different place we should go to?

Alright one more picture...

Ok I promise I'm done... for this week. I love you all thanks for reading my blog of adventures!

Segovia trip!

I hope you enjoy looking at pictures rather than reading stories, cause this time I have lots of pictures but not a lot to say.
So yesterday we went to an old town in the mountains called Segovia. This town was one of the bigger cities of the Roman Empire. Now it is much smaller but has very many tourist sites. A guide took us through most of the city starting with the Roman aqueduct, it starts in the mountains and goes all the way across town to the castle. At one of the lower parts of the city the aqueduct is built way up like in this picture.

 The aqueduct would still work to this day but some of it was destroyed. After seeing the aqueduct, our guide took us over to the main plaza and showed us the cathedral that was built in 1525. Here is a picture of it.

Next was the Alcazar which is a castle believed to be built in roman times

The castle was really cool we got to go through it and take a few pictures. It had a plaza with a fountain and in one the rooms we were in our guide said that was the room in which Cristopher Columbus asked permission from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand for his voyage. Then we took a few fun pictures below the castle.

Segovia was way too cool, I still cant fathom how awesome this trip is. Everyday I randomly think to myself "Oh yeah, I'm in Spain!" It makes me smile every time. 

So my legs are feeling a little sore today, I have probably run more in this week than ever in my life. Because on Sept. 28th there will be a half marathon in Madrid. A lot of us are going to run it, most everybody else has run more than me so they're helping me out. I'm super excited it should be way fun. 

Next week we'll be going north, after school on Wednesday we'll be headed to Bilbao, San Sebastian and a few other cool places in northern Spain including the beach. 

Dyaln's adventures!

I have oficially created a blog!

I started this blog mostly because I want to share with everyone my awesome adventures. The only problem is that my family is too big to talk to each one every week (which is what I would do if I could). I decided that having the whole family and others check out my blog each week is the next best thing. I will post pictures and stories and really just what I'm doing over here on the other side of the world.

The long threee plane rides here turned into 4 because I missed my flight from Newark to Spain. So they sent me to London a few hours later and then to Madrid, without charging me anymore, just sleep. I arrived on thursday afternoon, on friday I slept a very long time. So we finally got out on Saturday to see the city. One of the things I keep saying to myself as I walk around is "That was built before my country was discovered!". So I have two roomates, the first is from Reno and is named Kyle Norton, the second from washington state named Josh Taylor. They are both returned missionaries and really awesome! Its funny lastnight we had like a companionship inventory without even realizing it haha.

The family we live with is very nice. We live on the top floor of thier house, the house is very skinny but very tall. Thier are four floors, including the garage on the bottom. The Mothers name is Isabel but were call her "Mamita" She has four kids Josue is the oldest and lives out of town, Carlos lives here in the house but is a lawyer in Madrid, Martha lives here and is studying tourism in the University, the youngest is Andrea who is just starting the University. So yeah its a full house, Mamita does everything the food, laundry, works, and cleans the house. She is pretty awesome we try to to the dishes but she just gets mad. We just decided that were going to keep trying until she gives up.

Classes started on Monday, I am taking 13 credits and 5 classes. Our religion proffesor is Faustino Lopez, who is an ememritus seventy and the ambassador for the Church in Spain. Mondays class was awesome! The other four classes are in a University named Alcalingua. Its an old school that is for foriegn students only, we see many other students from a lot of different places. The Proffesors are from Spain and speak only spanish. The classses I am taking are Madrid walks, Iberian culture, Intro to spanish Lit, and Panoramic Spanish Lit. Our Proffeser for Madrid walks is Dr. Alvord from Springville. All we do for that class is get to know Madrid and its people. The other classes are also pretty easy so far, little homework and a lot of fun. They understand that were here more for being here rather than study in a classroom all day.

Yesterday we went to Madrid for the first time... its kinda big... I mean really big... I mean really really big! We had a tour guide to teach us where the train station is and a few attractions but thats about it. It was cool to hear him say stuff like "In the 6th century this was the super market" or "This church was the biggest Cathedral around the 12th century". We have a bus/train/metro pass to get around in all of Madrid and its surroundings, which would be the equivalent to not just D.C. but its surrounding cities as well.

Chruch on Sunday was fun, I was able to bear my testimony in spanish again. In our city thier is only one ward but it seems very strong. There are 6 missionaries right now in the ward four Elders and two Sisters. They have been baptizing alot compared to other moments in church history here. Its funny though I got to know a few of the investigators and recent converts and not one of them are from Spain haha They are all from Latin america or Africa, no Mexicans... yet haha

Its funny after speaking with anybody for just a few moments they always say "you speak way mexican" or they ask me "are you mexican?" I usually say yes and take it as a compliment haha!

 This is the inside of the Catholic church in Madrid

 Just outside of the same catholic church

 This is my roomates and I at the temple, on the right is Kyle Norton from Reno and on the left is Josh Taylor from Washington state

 Here is main street in Alcala de Henares. We study in a school one street over.