Me estoy aprovechando

We visited the two main cathedrals of Salamanca, the old and new ones. You really can't find anything like that in the United States. The architecture is almost taken for granted by all the people in the city. I am known for how little I enjoy taking tours of places of interest, but now I am enjoying every second of the time we spend going through the old city. I think I characterized Salamanca as a ski-resort town, but 10 times bigger, in that it's quaint buildings and cute shops. Who knows.

At a cafe chain, I tried this drink called leche merengada. It looked like a milkshake on the menu, but I knew it was some milk drink. Turned out it was a milk-sugar-merengue-cinamon drink and it was absolutely delicious. There is no American equivalent. I also enjoy every second of the time I spend sleeping during my siestas, because I've come to rely on them more and more.

I understand now why the Spaniards are considered the craziest partiers of Europe. The sleep schedule is unbelievable, and now that we have gone out at night, I understand even less how these people function at school, work, and staying awake. In the US, college students rush out at 10:00 - 11:00 pm, drink a ton, and stumble home at 1:00 am completely trashed. Here, people take their time. Since dinner is at 10:00 p.m., la gente chills at a table outside after dinner, and has a beer or a glass of wine slowly through the evening. They don't even think about going to the bar until about midnight. But even so, once they get there, it isn't just a frenzied mess of activity to get drunk. Spaniards are mostly there to socialize and talk to each other, maybe have a drink or two, and dance. It seems like they almost look down on people for being drunk.

We went to a few chupiterias and a discoteca and had a great time. Most of the employees can spot us americanos from a mile away, and end up speaking English to us anyway. We had a great time, and dropped out around 2am. It was so hard getting up at 8:00am for class, and we didn't even stay out half of the amount that Spaniards do. The siesta is keeping us all alive at this point, or at least alive enough so we can still salir come nightfall.

It's time to start thinking about what classes we're going to take at the University once we get to Madrid. We will be having academic advising meetings to choose the clases, but once we get to Madrid, the teachers will basically sell their class "shpiel" to us. They sit us down and explain why their class is worth taking.

This afternoon we will be taking a culture course at the school, and we'll have tuition-sponsored tapas for dinner. Thursday nights are big nights to go out, so I think our entire group will go clubbing together. It should be a really great time. Maybe we'll run into the other international students (like German, Slovakian, French) at the clubs like we did the other night.

Clases

Things are heating up, literally. During the day, we walk around the city and if you walk in the sunlight, it's like a sauna. The mornings are freezing, but by mid-day everyone is begging for the shade. The sky is always an electric blue, and things are even brighter reflecting off of the stone buildings. It's days like today that make siesta so appealing. We now have our cell phones, so we don't all have to walk around together and die in the heat.

Last night, we went to the Plaza Mayor (like most nights) to have a drink out in the square, and listen to the traditional Spanish bands. We had our sangria and enjoyed people watching. It's even more beautiful walking at night because all of the cathedrals and old buildings are illuminated, so you can see the littlest detail.

This morning we started clases at the Escuela International. It's not REAL class in that our grades are moot and these aren't real teachers. But it's fun to be forced to study grammar again. There are other international students there, some from France, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany. It's so cool that our only common language is Spanish because I'm so used to it being English. We have a little tarea to do tonight, and a mini test each Thursday. It's cute.

And we went to tapas today instead of the cafeteria lunch. It was delicious a very nice experience to have cerveza with lunch and share our dishes. I should have looked at the prices, because I seem to have picked the most expensive tapas steak on the menu... I'm pretty sure that when I said solomillo I meant the cheaper one. But those waiters will always charge you more if they know you're not a native. Spaniards would never fall for that, oh well. It was delicious nonetheless.

Now it's siesta time, and then tonight we're taking a tour of the newer cathedral (12th century is new, huh). Until then!

Situada!

Today has been two days for me. My travels started at 6:00 a.m. on August 23, where I traveled from Newark to Atlanta to Dulles to Madrid to Salamanca, and ended at 2:00 p.m. on August 24. I finally arrived and it's UNREAL. Madrid airport was probably bigger than where I'm from. It took us at least 30 minutes to even walk to the train that would take us to the baggage claim... eventually.

On the way to Salamanca, we passed the mountain that the dictator Franco's grave is on... you can see the gigantic cross even from miles away. Everyone was trying to take pictures from the bus, but we'll go there eventually.

Our group is a great mix of people! We're all talking and finding out about each other, as well as making plans to explore the city. This is great.

I'm working on my acento castililano. Everyone is trying to remember years of vocabulary at once, as well as respond quickly to what is said. It feels like a test and everyone, at first, was sizing each other up. I believe that we came to the conclusion that we're in this together, and it's the first 30 hours of our trip. Let's do this as a group. No judging to see who is proficient, because we will all improve drastically in a matter of days. I seem to understand everything going on, but my response time and vocabulario is rusty. Pretty frustrating at first...

...until we put our stuff down and went to explore Salamanca. Manuel showed us through the town (even though on Sundays, the downtown area is almost deserted because the shops are closed). Salamanca has old architecture, dating back to the 8th Century or 12th Century, like this cathedral? I wouldn't know.

The entire plaza is granite cobblestone, everywhere. Everyone was sitting out in the Plaza Mayor where the huge Ayuntamiento is located (just like in most cities). People everywhere, dogs, pigeons, tourists, families. We had coffee and enjoyed the view. Since then, this was my first time to shower and truly sit and relax in over 30 hours of being awake. In the Residencia, our rooms are doll-house sized. We'll see how that goes!

I'll upload the pictures later :)

Preparándome

I put the 'list' in estar lista because I have been packing for over a week. I know exactly how many pairs of underwear I possess.

In two days, I begin my journey to España. I'm flying from Newark to Atlanta to Dulles, and then our group is flying to Madrid and taking a bus to Salamanca. I don't know what to expect, but I know this semester will be an adventure. I'm keeping an open mind and a passion for cultura nueva. I hope to record here some of my experiences here, as well as photos, anecdotes, and social commentary.

Stay tuned!