La Ruta de Don Shanjote

First, before I dive too far into my typical blogging rigamarole, I would like to inform you all that I have uploaded some of my best photos from my Eurotrip to Flickr for your viewing pleasure. (web address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shantron5000/) Actually, it's for my own selfish reasons, but that's beside the point. I put them up so I could get some feedback on which ones you all like in order to help me decide which ones I should submit for the photography contest at the university here in Alcala. I am only able to submit 3 pictures, and I think I have to submit them by the 15th or something like that, so if you could check them out before then and let me know what you think it would be greatly appreciated. Make a comment on Flickr, on my wall, send me a message, etc., with which one(s) is (are) your favorite(s). I will take everyone's considerations, as I am really trying to win this thing, despite what my skewed and biased opinions of my own photos may be. Also, please note that the last three photos (car wash, scooby doo, and jessamine county bridge) are not for consideration in the contest. Thanks a million! Now, back to your regular programming...

So now that I've caught up from two weekends ago I shall now fill you in on last weekend, so that I can then fill you in on this weekend and the upcoming weekend. Still with me? Good. So On Friday I went on a li'l field tripski on what the spanish refer to as the "Ruta de Don Quijote." If you are unsure what that means, don't worry, I am about to tell you so you can stop freaking out. What it means in english is... wait for it... the "Route of Don Quijote." Astonishing, I know, but I'm not finished yet. What it really means is that once upon a time this somewhat crazy, self-absorbed and (depending on the time and the work) talented author named Miguel de Cervantes wrote a little novel, the first ever actually of the modern variety, and he called it "Don Quijote de la Mancha." The real title is a bit longer, but you get the idea. Anyhow although this loco Don Quijote was not a real person, per literary tradition of the time period, Cervantes wrote about him as though he were a living, breathing, person who traveled about the spanish countryside in search of grand adventures. Thus we still have today various places which were well-enough described in the novel to merit the placement of their existence to actual locations throughout Spain. On this field trip we visited two of them: Puerto de Lapice and Campo de Criptana.

Puerto de Lapice is a tiny little town which, sadly enough, might not have even existed today were it not for my man Cervantes. The reason being that in this little pueblo lies one venta, or hotel, in which supposedly our favorite crazy man Don Quijote was (un)officially knighted. On the field trip we got to see the courtyard and the trough where supposedly this action took place. We also performed a bit of a skit/dialogue which we had created, with none other than yours truly playing the esteemed role of Don Quijote, in all his pre-knighthood glory, replete with a plastic, child-sized suit of armor. I will post pictures for you to laugh at and ridicule post-haste. We didn't hang around long after this production, as like I said, this town is tiny and doesn't have much to offer outside of this historical hotel. Onward to the windmills!

Campo de Criptana is, as my history professor described to me while we were there, another little town that more than likely would no longer exist were it not for good ol' Cervantes. That being said it was a bit larger than Puerto de Lapice, though it was not what I would call a 'bustling metropolis.' What it lacked in entertainment value and sheer population size it made up for in an amplitude of windmills of the medieval variety. I mean these things were huge, and entirely composed of wood and stone, as per the building and fire codes of the century back then of course. We got to take a tour of one of them which had been fully restored to functional capacity, and it was actually pretty cool. Didn't do too much there, but we did have another little theatrical production in which Abram ran into one of the windmills as Don Quijote, which was pretty fun to watch. (Don't worry, he's fine).

In the week since then a lot of shite has gone down, including but not limited to my self-proclaimed fantastic performance on a radio show in Alcala, done as part of an assignment for my media class here. I don't think it will be posted online unfortunately, giving you one less thing to ridicule me about (I promise, the other photos will be uploaded soon), but I can assure you it was just a rip-roarin' good time. I got to play the part of Lope de Vega in yet another little theatrical production, this time being a script which we read with altered voices for the entertainment of the discerning peoples of Alcala. It went really well though, and I got a few compliments on it, so my self-esteem was still intact as I walked out of the studio, and remains so to this day.

Also of note is the fact that I have since moved out of Isabel's house for the last month here due to complications, and by that I mean her and Carlos really didn't get along well. Like, at all. So without bashing anyone too much or putting the blame on any one person, it is safe to say that although the new house is farther away from everything (about a 30-minute walk), I am much happier with my new family and everything else that goes with it. Hopefully no one was worrying too much about it. I have an unfortunate habit of posting my daily events as my facebook status when I don't have time to write anything else, which I suppose leaves a lot of people wondering. And no, it's not a literary tool that I employ to get you all in suspense for reading my blog, although it's not such a bad idea...

Anyways I have just been hanging out with the fam this weekend, getting ready for my big Italy trip, about which I am very excited. I will be leaving Monday, and flying into Milan. From there I will be heading directly to Venice, then to Florence, then to Rome for two days, then to Pisa, then to Genoa, then back to Milan for the last night, so I can catch my flight back at some ridiculously early time in the morning. Hooray! I hope to take lots of pictures (some of which could be candidates for the photo contest), eat lots of delicious italian food, and try to relax a bit before I have to go back to school and hand in the homework my jerk professors assigned to me for doing over spring break. I may or may not be able to get online during my time there, no promises, but if not I will update when I get back. I hope it's been as much of a pleasure for you to catch up with my current events on here as it has been a chore for me to write about them. (I didn't mean that). Ciao for now! :)