Ay!

It has been a few days since I wrote last, but I have good excuses, I promise. Actually, I've been sleep deprived. I want to take advantage of the time I have left in Salamanca, so I am active and go out... but that means that every second of free time I have, I spend durmiendo siesta or simply sleeping. During mealtimes, I have to manage my time efficiently (which means I scarf down some bread or meat and then RUN to my room to fit in some sleep). I've become de mal humor at mealtimes, haha.

One of our excursions in the past week was to meet the stone sculptor who renovates the old churches in Salamanca, Miguel. People call him a visionary... at one of the churches, he had to renovate some very detailed trim, and instead of following the pattern, he put in an Astronaut, a dragon with ice cream in his hand, and other contemporary things. It's only if you go up close that you can see it. He was like the 'mad scientist' of sculptors and he had the most contagious laugh of anyone I've ever met. He wore glasses, and his hands were covered in polvo from the stones he works with (which make up all of the buildings of Salamanca), sedintary rocks. He taught us how to carve stone, and then handed the tools over to us so that we could try. I asked if we could make a smiley face (cara sonriéndose), but unfortunately, 'smiley face' didn't translate correctly, and we started to make an entire face with depth and features. It was a huge task and we barely made a dent. But so much fun. When Miguel would describe cutting and hitting the rocks, he would always say, "y... PLAF!" to describe the sound. It was so great.

On Friday night, a few of us went out to a Salsa Bar called Boogaloo, as I wanted to see if I could keep up with native salsa dancers. I taught some of the students the steps to Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata. At first the club was empty (and I got to practice with someone one on one and actually go over some of the turns), but it began to fill up. Meanwhile, I was dancing up a storm, panting and sweating and having the best time ever (even though there were some sketchy fellows there). One of our professors met us there with a friend (he was the one who recommended the place to us), and it was altogether one of the best nights I've ever had. I absolutely love dancing salsa. Some of the international students were leaving that night, so we had to despedirnos and it was sad.

However, that morning our tren to Lisbon, Portugal was to leave at 4:50 a.m. of the madrugada. So those of us who went dancing didn't sleep a wink because we finished dancing at 2:30 a.m. We made it to the train station, and started our 7 hour trip to Lisboa. In our compartment (the trains have compartments with 8 seats, 4 facing 4), we met these 4 Portuguese guys who were returning from their trans-Europe trip. They spoke great English, even though we could understand their Portuguese pretty well (es parecido a español). We tried to sleep as much as we could, played cards, and chatted with them.

Lisbon itself was absolutely beautiful. We stayed at the Old Town Hostel which we had reserved days before, and it was better than I expected given the price. It had a lounge, kitchen, flat screen tv's, computers with internet, and lots of amenities. The people there were all from around Europe, and we could always find a common language, often Spanish or English.

As for touring, Lisbon is an old city with marble streets and buildings (akin to Salamanca in being made completely of stone). We took the metro from the train station very easily. We walked around, had lunch at cafes, and went on a walking tour. I didn't last (because it was 3 hours long), but Johnny and I had an adventure taking their trolleys back to the Hostel, in the Barrio Alto or old neighborhood. The next day, after my first REAL night of sleep, we walked around, found shops, and just enjoyed the area. We soon had to hop back on the 7 hour train ride back to Salamanca.

This time on the train, we were in a compartment with a portuguese woman who had a job as a factory worker in France (the final destino of the train). Her Portuguese was very difficult to understand because she would interject French words, but we managed to play card games and talk to each other. I think she cheated in those games because she always won, and the rules were never clear. What great people we met!

And after this weekend, we have had classes as normal. The grammar is getting harder and harder for me, and I often get frustrada y confundida. Some of these things I don't even know in English!

I also had my intercambio yesterday, where a Spanish student meets with you simply to meet a native, talk Spanish (and then switch so they can practice their English), and discuss differences in culture, life, and anything under the sun. My student's name was Berta, and she was 26. We got along perfectly and had a great time, going for a drink and then out for pinchos. I imagine that we will try to meet again before I leave for Madrid.

More and more, I'm falling in love with Salamanca. This is the perfect city. It's safe at night, beautiful during the day, you can walk everywhere, and the people are very abierta and nice. Our professors in the school are such great people, so sweet, always joking and laughing, giving us a great medium to practice. I am also happy to say that my Spanish is getting better each day. Sometimes can't find the right words, or I mix up pronouns or gender of words, but since Portugal, where we spoke in spanish and they responded in portuguese, I am more confident. I can express what I feel and can tell an extended historia without the fear that nobody will understand me. This place is maravilloso. I'll upload pictures later.