Yesterday, my Spanish Cinema class took a field trip to Filmoteca Espanola...it's an official institution of the Ministry of Culture of Spain...its goal is to restore, investigate, and conservate the Spanish film heritage. A guy talked to us about the history of Spanish cinema and we watched short clips from early films. We also saw the theatre where they hold daily showings of short films and full-length Spanish movies. The entertainment industry here is sooo different from in the States. Its just not a big deal...very, very basic..and young. According to our speaker, its way below the rest of the European film industry, but it's enjoyed by the people of Spain. When we were walking from the Metro to the building, we passed an attractive young woman and her child. Our teacher then told us that she was one of the biggest names in the Spanish entertainment industry---Najwa Nimri. She's been in dozens of films and has a couple of CDs out. We were like uhhh..and whyyy is she able to just walk on the street with her kid and not be bothered? And whyyy aren't you freaking out that you just saw a moviestar? And he explained that its just not a big deal here...all of the main stars live in Madrid and its common to see them out and about..but no one really gives them a lot of attention. We all were really surprised to hear that---think about Hollywood and the attention American actors and actresses get...its crazyyyy. Our teacher then told us that one time he was in Sevilla (a southern town in Spain), and he saw Jerry Seinfield sitting at an outdoor cafe. My teacher studied in the States for a while when he was younger so he was a big fan of Seinfield..but the show has never been shown here in Spain..so no one knew who he was. My teacher ran up and asked for his autograph and stuff..but everyone around him was just staring. Hahaaa...I bet Jerry thought he was going to get some peace and quiet for a few days...but nooo. Anyway, my Spanish Cinema class is really interesting and I'm excited about more field trips!

-Today, our program went on an excursion to Segovia. It's about an hour outside of Madrid and a really cute town. We walked around the city and took a tour of the Alcazar. Its said that its design influenced the castle in Disney's Sleeping Beauty...it has a lot of decorative rooms and a huge tower that we got to climb up..it gave a great view of the city. After that, we went to the Aqueduct...it was built by the Romans in the last 1st and 2nd century AD to bring water from a nearby river to the city. Its huge--almost a mile long--with big arches and a trough on the top(for the water)..The Romans used no other material apart from stone to hold the structure together...nothinggg is in between each stone...and they are just as solid today as they were then. It was really cool to think about them building it so long ago..and how its still standing today. After that, we ate lunch at a cute place...salad, roasted chicken, french fries and iccccecream....We walked around the town after that and got coffee at a little cafe..It was cooold there but it was nice to get out of the city for a day! Hope you all are having a good weekend-