Hola chavales! Welcome to week 4 of my experience in Madrid, Spain as a Puerto Rican student from Pitt. This week I explored the beautiful city of Segovia and the Sotosalbos municipality. I will also talk about my struggles with the assimilation of me in the workplace and the country. If you haven’t checked out my previous blogs, I encourage you to check them out. I explored Valencia, Cuenca, and the diverse work behaviors in my workplace in the liquor industry.
To start things off, I want to talk about the top struggles I encountered in Madrid and the workplace. The eating schedule and the language differences. The sleep schedule, I adapted quickly, that is, within the first 3-4 days of when I got to Madrid. However, the eating schedule is something I struggled to assimilate myself with. As I stated previously in previous posts, I starved waiting for it to be 9 pm to have dinner when we usually eat every 5 hours. Now, you may say that how can it be challenging for me to assimilate Spanish with Spanish? With the difference in language culture, I sometimes have to stop and pay more attention than normally to understand any foreign incoming slang words. If I doubt a word, I always don’t hesitate to ask either the person at my workplace or my host family’s house. When I try to have a conversation with the host family or someone in my workplace, I first use my Puerto Rican words which some of them use in a different context and it always results in a dubious conversation. For example, I was talking with the boy from my host family about the trip to Segovia and he asked me “Te regalaron cascos?”, I was very confused because the word cascos, is helmet in where I am from, but for them the word casco is earbuds. Even though I speak Spanish, I still need to talk slower and accommodate my Spanish to make it the most common way possible for them to understand.
To continue my week 4 journey, Segovia has been by far the most fascinating place I have gone out of all of them. Me and my host family left their house in the small municipality of Sotosalbos. Even though this place is not recognized by most people, it is a very calm and cold area about 20 minutes from Segovia where all there are are small rock houses and rock ancient buildings surrounded by farm animals, fields, and mountains. We enjoyed the evening at one of the host dad’s friend’s house and shared the time with their families and watched the Eurocup Spain game against Croatia. We then enjoyed the night next to a campfire and enjoyed some marshmallows with it.
The next day it was time for Segovia! But first, as our first stop, we went to a small town near Segovia called Real Sitio de San Idelfonso. There I could see the Palacio Real de la Granja or in English, the Royal Place of the Barn, where Phillip V stayed during retreats or vacations when he wanted to separate himself from governing. He built beautiful gardens filled with sculptures and fountains that reminded him of his childhood. That is by far the biggest scenery of a royal garden that I have ever seen. At that time I imagined myself living in that palace and having that amazing garden as my backyard, with tremendous sights towards the mountains and fields.
After visiting the Royal place of Saint Idelfonso, we finally went to Segovia. There I was dropped off by the host family right in front of the Roman Aqueducts. The aqueducts supplied water from the Frio River to the city. It is now a huge sculpture made out of rock without its function. Even though it does not work now, it is something to be kept as one of the most historic Roman pieces in Spain.
Moving along the beautiful city, it was all uphill and surrounded by mountains. With every step you took in those stone pathways, you could see a fascinating view of the fields around it and the town of Zamarramala. I finally reached location number two of Segovia, the Plaza Mayor of Segovia which was packed with people seated in restaurants around it.
In front of the Plaza, you could see one of the last structures of Gothic architecture ever built in Spain, the Segovia Cathedral or “Lady of Cathedrals”. This Cathedral holds unique Gothic and Renaissance styles while holding beautiful altarpieces, chapels, and religious artwork. The cathedral also houses notable relics, including the tombs of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Alfonso VIII of Castile. I then, went up 190 steps up to the bell tower where you could see prepossessing views.
Following along the trip, I went to the Alcázar of Segovia and saw it from outside. I wanted to have the full tour of it but my train was leaving shortly so I did not have any time left to do so. This medieval fortress is one of the most iconic and well-preserved castles in Spain, known for its unique shape resembling the bow of a ship. The Alcazar has served various purposes throughout history, including as a royal palace, a fortress, and even a military academy. A fun fact about it is that it had a role in inspiring the design of the Disney Cinderella Castle.
With that said, I conclude my Week 4 of Madrid, from difficulties in the assimilation in the workplace to have a 2-day trip in one of the most delightful cities in Spain.
See you on the next one!
Hasta Luego!