excursion to the north :):):)

omg this week was AMAZING. i really wish i would / could have blogged all week because im not going to remember alot of what happened.

so monday we left salamanca and went into the beginning of the mountains up north to a hotel that was SO COOL. it was by far the coolest one we went to this week. it was up on a hill and the view from our rooms was fantastic. the mountains were as far as you could see and there was a gorgeous lake right below us. so we had a few hours before dinner so we decided to go swimming in the lake! omg it was glorious. the lake was beautiful. and it was a pretty far walk, but it was nice walking with friends all the way down the mountain. and i also got over a fear! well two kind of :) so ive had many dreams over the years about me being in water where i dont know whats under me and freaking out, and so i have a fear of being in water and not knowing whats under me and freaking out lol. and also the huge rock we were swimming off of to get into the lake..it was slowly going into the water and then disappearing, and that just freaks me out as well. so i was super scared to get in, but finally i did!! and also, i freak out when im too cold. like i super hate winter because alot of the time when im outside too long i just freak out cuz im so cold, and the water was freeeeeeeeeeezing, but i still swam!! yay! and some of us were jumping off of the rock into the water, and ive done that before, but one of the girls elyse and i held hands and jumped in together and it was awesomeeeeee. so great great night!

then the next morning we left for the picos de europa, or peaks of europe, and OH MY GOSH they were breathtaking. we took this little car thing on wire haha i dont know what its called, up to the top of them and we were on the highest point in spain!! it was gorgeous and awesome and ahhhhhhhh. so our little group walked around and took a nap on one of the rocks haha. ah it was so awesome. then that night we stayed in santander which is on the north coast on the ocean, and our group of girls went skinny dipping in the ocean. it was sooooooooo great. ive never gone skinny dipping before and im glad my first time got to be with some awesome girls in the ocean in spain!! perfect. afterward we sat on the beach and chatted for a while, and it was just a super awesome day.

the last 3 days were good, but they really couldnt compare to the first 2. we went to a museum and a cathedral and a monastery which were all really cool, but im definitely museum cathedral and monasteried out for a while lol. today we went to this castle up where we stayed last night, and ben jedd, one of the guys on our trip, was apparently late, and rojas told the bus driver to leave without him haha. so we did. and we were there for about an hour and came back to the hotel and some of us were thinking he had tried to find us or something, but he was there haha. i really dont know what we would have done if he had left the hotel, because his phone wasnt working! soooo after that we went to a winery in "wine country" as rojas called it, and it was so cool! we went into the fields where the wine was grown and ate some of the grapes and they were really good. then we walked back and had a tour and tried the wine, and most of us bought a bottle! i bought some from 2006 which they one some awards for, so im really excited for it.

so basically i had an amazing time this week and am excited to actually sleep in tomorrow! we've had to get up pretty early all week. rojas also brought his daughter along, and omg she was really amazing. shes 7, and im pretty sure shes actually our age. she was so cultured and smart and had a great personality and always had something to talk about. she was soooo adorable! she loved all of us, and always made us laugh. and today when we got back to salamanca she was crying because she didnt want to leave us! it was so cute. none of us wanted her to leave either!!

also, we had SO MUCH VINO (wine) this week. holy crap. oh food also. a bunch of wine at lunch then a bunch of wine at dinner. every day. and then one day we went out after dinner for some more food! and a beer and sangria haha. and jeezy cow we stuffed ourselves. i thought the portions here at home in salamanca were crazy! but no, what we had on this trip was ridiculoussssss. we had lunch at around 2 every day, and at dinner at 9 i usually was not hungry in the least, but we still got soooo much food. and wine. haha. for example, last night for dinner we had the biggest steak i have ever seen. it was like a whole cow was laying on my plate. ridiculous.

i also bonded alot more with our group of girls :) im super excited to get to know them so much more over the semester, because its only been like 3 weeks and we're already all really close :)

but yeah, it was an incredible trip, and im so excited for the one to the south because i hear its even better :):)

haley