by Sarah H-K. Hello again! The second week of classes is now well under way after a fun weekend. On Saturday we took the bus to Los Truenos, where we biked around an old salt reserve with a tour guide then switched to kayaking on a river, and finally taking a lunch break in between which rather lessened the biathlon feel of it all. We then walked up to the nearby beach where the water was weirdly warmer than the beach in Cádiz, which made swimming much more fun. Tired out from our athletic endeavors of the previous day, we took Sunday as a rest day, only getting out of bed for chocolate con churros with the group. Afterward, some of us went to mass at the very old, very large cathedral that we often meet at. I went because I really wanted to see the inside of the cathedral, and it was well worth it, as the interior was nearly as amazing as the exterior. 
That afternoon, some of us went to the beach to hang out, then my roommates and I were more than happy to have our “noche en casa” where we ate, lazed, and watched the World Cup final with our host mother. Monday we had a special class in which we took the bus into New Cádiz to experience a huge flea market there. We completed a scavenger hunt, then were free to look around. Some of us also went to the huge supermarket nearby to pick up some snacks. That afternoon I had photography, where we practiced with our teacher’s camera to manually focus the photos on the subject before we took the shot. We took pictures in the park, which consists of a row of giant shaped trees and shrubs culminating in a structure with a cave underneath, a walkway over it, and a fake pond in front of it which is fed by waterfalls and contains some fake dinosaurs and some very real ducks. I am never quite sure what to make of the whole thing, but it’s pretty awesome. 
Monday night we had tapas for dinner, splitting into groups to test out some of the different restaurants. My group of nine sat down at a table and started a list of what we would order so we could try a lot of different foods. The list gave us an impressively delicious dinner and looked a little something like this: 
Today, Tuesday, we had class, then this afternoon we climbed the Torre Tavira where a periscope similar to that of a submarine reflects onto a screen on a table. The guide moved the periscope around to give us a guided tour of the whole city without moving. It was amazing to see the city from above and hear about its history from that perspective. We then climbed even more stairs to stand on the very top of the tower and see the view directly, plus get some pictures. 
The trip is now more than half over, which is crazy, but I am so excited for the week and weekend to come. Adios, Sarah