SeGOvia

By Grace Carballo ‘17

We had a day trip to Segovia, which is a picturesque town about an hour or so from Madrid with a lot of cool history and a pretty rad aqueduct. I would love to say I have no complaints about Segovia because that would be really pleasant and low-maintenance of me, but like my founding father, Jorgé Washington, I cannot tell a lie. In Segovia, I had my first experience having to pay to use the bathroom and if you have ever spent more than 45 minutes with me, you may have noticed I’m big into hydration with a small, small bladder.

In my opinion there are very few things worth spending money on. Travel is one of them for sure, and experiences in general, hence my summer plans. Education is too, usually, but it can be hit or miss. Ice cream is a purchase I’m usually willing to justify, but there’s something apprehensible about the idea of paying to use a bathroom.

This shiny little number would’ve been a nice touch to my little brother, Nick’s, coin collection or maybe if it had 5 or so friends, I could’ve gotten another café con leche. But here I was paying for being a human being with bodily functions. Next thing you know, I’ll have to pay to breathe or have feelings.

It’s possible I’m overreacting to this; my thoughts and feelings are all over the place lately and often in Spanglish.  Segovia, as whole was really cool though. 9/10 would recommend with that 10th fellow being a small-bladdered cheapskate with a distaste for historical significance and I am not that guy.

The aqueduct is aging remarkably well, like I intend to. (That’s why I wear sunscreen all day erryday. To age well, and also and my family’s got skin cancer all up in our genes). This baby’s from the Roman times and if it’s had any work done on it, you can hardly tell it looks so natural.

We also went to Palacio Real de La Granja, which is a nearby castle, full of beautiful artifacts and art that I later learned you are strongly discouraged from photographing. I had to play the idiot abroad card and I’m sorry for reflecting badly on you, my fellow patriots.

How could I not take a photo of this? It reminded me too much of my pals back home, though most are humans not birds.

If you ever have the means, I highly recommend living in a palace.  The views are impeccable, there’s so much space for activities, you can grow your hair out and pretend you’re Rapunzel, you could play one round of hide-and-seek for hours and then get tired of it and quit and maybe never find your friends for weeks, and best of all, you could dye your moat seasonally or for holidays, like the Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patty’s Day.

Apparently now is the time to buy in Spain because we’ve been learning in class about the economic crisis and things aren’t looking so hot (I’m paraphrasing of course).

Some drawbacks to castle ownership, if I’m being objective, are of course the high expectations trick-or-treaters would have when they knock on your door and also it would be pretty easy to lose your phone or other easily losable things amongst the extravagance.

Segovia is definitely worth a visit, though, and if you budget about a euro or so for bathroom usage, I’m sure you’re experience will be, like all good things in life, both pleasant and educational.

Fight on forever,

Grace