Trip to some smaller cities

Holy Smokes.
Ok, first of all, look at this picture I took walking back from class the other day. It´s been really windy lately, and the temperature is sure dropping, but hey, this sky was a little angry.

Alright, so we took off last Thursday afternoon for several hours on a field trip to some small cities east of Santander. They were important because of some old buildings you could find there. So, the first town (with which I fell in love) was called Comillas. This little town looked new enough to be nice, and old enough to be the perfect picture of the Spanish pueblo you could imaging. It was a beautiful cross between new developement and classic look and feel of Spain. It kind of reminded me of San Clemente, California for some reason. It was somewhere I definately want to return to. It was even a pretty ugly day out. That didn´t matter though. When driving about to leave the city, we were driving past this amazing, but small, cemetary when all of a sudden, on our right the hills disappeared, and the raging ocean popped into view, splashing massive waves against a sheer cliff face. Then, a second later, the coolest beach came into view that look like it was something out of a movie. Cookie cutter Spanish scene is what it was. Someone told us this place was packed with people during the summer months. Aparently everyone else sees the beauty in Comillas. But anyways, here was the palace we visited. It wasn´t too big, but it was pretty. It was built like 100 years ago by a guy who got rich off the slave trade and decided he needed to build a people´s college (located behind me in that shot of the palace) in order to undo his wrongs done through the slave trading. Classic example of how lost most of the Catholics are. It´s all about works for them. At least the college got built. One girl I know here said it´s been her favorite builging she´s gone in here in Spain. We didn´t get to go in though...sad.

Also, just next door to this palace, we got the chance to look at another Gaudi building. This one´s called "El Capricho". It´s pretty cool what all this guy did.

After we left Comillas, the weather really went south. We hit the city of Santillana del Mar next. It turned out that I left my windbreaker at home...along with my sweater, so it was just me and the cold rain. Actually it wasn´t that cold, and I missed the rain. It made me feel like I was in Oregon, minus the cobblestone streets from the Middle Ages, and the Roman Cathedral. This next city we visited was ok, but nothing like my new little favorite...Comillas. But the cathedral there was pretty cool I suppose. It was a classic example of Roman cathedral architecture, if that´s interesting to anybody. I just like the adjacent cloister. Here´s a couple shots of it after dark. Cloister 1. Cloister 2. Here´s a picture also of my history of Spanish art teacher. Her name´s Ana Belén. She´s super super nice. The lucky lady remembered her umbrella.

Well, after the small cathedral there in town, we all went and got some warm drinks in a little café bar nearby. I got some really really REALLY thick hot chocolate stuff. It was no Swiss Miss though. I´ll tell you that much. Some things we do better in the US. Hot chocolate is one of them. Really old buildings is not. But here´s some fun pictures from the Bar. This one´s of Danica and myself. This next one´s me, Laura and Lisel. Lisel, by the way is doing a very extravagent pose...she´s normally the nicest, most easy going and laughing person you could meet. She´s not the glamour snob she looks like in this photo. Haha, not a chance. This last one´s just a look at the interior of the bar, as we were all stepping up to the plate to order our drinks.

Not much else to tell really. Actually, something big. Man! This is actually huge. So I´m still planning on going to Angers, France to study for 5 months after Spain, but as of right now, I´m several thousand dollars short. This means that I either get a big loan from the bank, or I don´t go this year, which would bring me right back to OSU to finish out these next two terms while I get a job and work really hard to stay on top financially. So that´s something serious I would invite you all to pray for me about. Ok, well that´s it for now. Hit me back with some tasty comments!