I'm recovering from a little cold (turns out the usual confusion a cold brings is not great for communication when you have to think a lot about the language you're using, but I'm on the up and up again!) so I'll keep this one short and sweet with some highlights from the week:
Tuesday:
A very exciting day for me! I was voted as the winner of our second Operación Español contest, in which students, professors and staff vote for the student who has immersed themself the most in Spanish culture, been using the most Spanish, and creating an environment of companionship within the university. The prize included a Spanish flag, some merchandise from the school, and a gift certificate for a Spanish tapas dinner in Toledo! It was definitely a very exciting moment for me!
Friday:
We had another day trip this weekend to Segovia! Upon our arrival, we toured Alcázar, a medieval castle that apparently served as Walt Disney's inspiration for the castle in Snow White! It was a great tour of an amazing castle with gorgeous views of the city!
Then we walked around the city and saw the Roman aqueducts that are still in use today, over 2000 years later!
Some people from our group were headed to Madrid to catch flights or trains instead of returning to Toledo so I spontaneously decided to accompany them and spend the evening in Madrid! I found tickets to go see La Función Que Sale Mal (The Play That Goes Wrong) which I've seen before in English with my family—a definite favorite of ours! It was just as funny in Spanish and a wonderful time, save for the grumpy older woman next to me who kept trying to get the audience (and me, especially) to laugh quieter, which I'm not sure is possible. She was smiling by the end so hopefully the show lightened her heart a little at least? Nevertheless, it was a great experience and the hardest I've heard a Spanish audience laugh thus far!
Saturday:
I spent most of the day resting in bed with my aforementioned cold, but in the evening I was determined to make it to the Notre Dame Club of Spain's game watch in Madrid! We had received an email inviting us to a restaurant in Madrid where they would be streaming the Notre Dame football game for any Notre Dame students or alumni in the area so a few friends and I headed out to Madrid to join them! There was 15 of us total, which was a bigger turnout than I had been expecting so it was great to meet some ND alumni and hear about their time on campus! And Notre Dame won! It was closer than it should have been, but a fun night nevertheless! The organizers have yet to send us the group photo we took, but once they do I'll be sure to upload it!
Sunday:
Spent the day resting up and doing homework! Hope y'all had a great week and I hope you voted! It's been a little unusual watching election results come in with the time difference here, but it's always gratifying to see our democracy in action! And Arizona even got a mention on the Spanish news as the world waited on our Senate results haha! Election results a little too stressful for you? Would highly suggest watching British drama instead as I have been all week with the new season of The Crown! Amazing how often the Royals have made an appearance in this blog, considering I am 1,000 miles away from the UK...Regardless, it's been nice to relax a bit this weekend even if I was a little under the weather for a good part of it, hope y'all are staying safe and warm as the weather begins to change!
Los amo y los extraño a todos,
Bryce