post weekend bliss

Well after a fabulous first weekend in Toledo, today marked the first day of classes. I'm really excited to start classes and actually be able to get on a semi-regular schedule. Right now my schedule isn't set in stone but I'm pretty sure about most of my classes. Since the program is on a semester I'm in 5 which is terrifying because Carleton is always just 3. Not sure how that whole transition is going to work. The ones I'm for sure about are a grammar class (the least interesting of all), an art class called Master Painters which includes 3 guides tours on Fridays in Madrid (incredibly exciting and I've heard a great class) and a history class about Spain in the 20th century. After that I'm debating between taking 2 lit classes (20th century writers or a class on renaissance writers) and taking another art class that focuses on Toledo. I don't have to decide for a week so I'm going to pull the classic Carleton move and just go to extra classes for now.
This weekend we checked out the local bar scene and I was pretty impressed at how busy it was (even though it's a small town). On Saturday morning I rolled out of bed for a guided tour of Toledo with the program which was really interesting. We took a bus to this incredible overlook on the other side of the river and were able to city the city from a bird's view. Definitely not a bad overlook. 
Saturday night brought some more adventures and confirmed the rumors that Spaniards really don't sleep much on the weekends. The discoteca (outside club) started getting busy around 3am... Fortunately siestas exists in full force here - with people actually closing down their stores for 2-3 hours to honor the tradition. 
I woke up early on Sunday to go to church with my host mom. Thank goodness I'm Catholic because it is a great conversation starter. The apartment has rosaries/crosses/pictures of saints in every room. We showed up to mass earlier and chatted with the priest for a little bit (which of course is one of my host mom's best friends). Then came mass. I knew when to sit, when to stand, and when to walk but couldn't decipher the prayers/homily much. Hopefully in time it will become a little easier. In the afternoon I wandered into the walls of the city and got lost for a little while which was nice. It is pretty impossible to actually get lost in the old part of the city since it is surround by walls and is fairly small. I ended up in the old Jewish quarter of the city and stumbled into one of the oldest arches into the city (the last remaining structure from the Muslim period). I decided to camp out on a ledge overlooking the city for a few hours for an afternoon read (and of course siesta). Apparently I looked like I knew what I was doing because a had multiple tourists come up and ask for directions. Unfortunately I wasn't able to help but I hope that someday soon I'll be able to respond with some authority. I guess all will come in time.

Here are some pictures of the city 

La Catedral - one of the main sites in Toledo - with good reason 

The main plaza - Plaza de Zocodover  

One of the many shops around the plaza - where pretty much everything is overpriced - total tourist trap

View of the city across the river

Not a bad place to post up for the day at all

Close-up of some of the classic architecture seen in Toledo - this is a picture of convent in the city

Look-out onto my neighborhood where I live just outside the city walls

Sunday wandering right into the route of Don Quijote

Not a bad place to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

Adiós for now.