Sunday Afternoon

Things that were said while Megan and I were out exploring:

"Well, you missed a guy playing the harmonica with his nose."
"What? I was only gone for like two seconds!"

"They were doing something over there with bubbles earlier I think."
"That doesn't sound like bubbles."
"What does that even mean??"

We went down to the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) to take some photos of the city from afar. Unfortunately I only had my iPod, not my camera, so I didn't great photos, but it was a pretty great view.

Street performers–with bubbles

Exploring

Here's some photos of the walk I took around town today. I found a couple of cute little parks, one with some really pretty trees, the other was basically a scenic viewpoint.

New boots!

People!

I just realized I have very few photos of the people I actually hang out with when we go out at night, so here's some awesome photos. Also, you should read my friend Quinn's blog post about being a tall man in Spain, he's a DU student studying journalism and I found this hilarious because it's so true. Even I feel too tall sometimes, and the poor guy is a foot taller than I am!

Anyway, photos of my friends:

Brenda, Katie, Sal, Camilla, Me!, Lucia (from Germany) and Megan (my roommate) at Irish Rover for karaoke night

Cora, a Spanish girl we've made friends with, myself, and Kristi

Me, Kristi (Pennsylvania) and Gerardo (Mexico)

Morgan (Belgium), me, Kristi, and Sophie (Belgium) on the "Spanish side" of town (instead of the "international side")

Blurry photo of Britt (Denver), Mila (Boulder), Camila (Chicago) and me during the festivals

Mila, Gerardo, Camila, Me, Samantha (Michigan), Britt, Kristi, and Quinn (Denver, who's blog I  mentioned above) during the festivals again. About half of our ISA group, about an eighth of all of the ISA groups in Salamanca this fall.

Rain, Rain, Rain

So, as every roommate I've ever had and my parents can attest to, if I have no reason to wake up, I won't. And if it's cloudy, best o' luck getting me out of bed before noon. Therefore, since it is cloudy and rainy again (I feel like I'm in Washington state) I didn't get up until just before 1 today. Oops. But I've had a really lovely day, an ending to a pretty lovely week. For example, I took this photo while I was waiting for one of my classes on Wednesday night:

Beautiful, no? I took that sitting on the steps of my classroom building. I have an hour off between classes on Tuesday and Wednesday night, which I have no idea what to do with right now. But that night I sat out on the steps and watched the novatos (freshmen) of the residencias (dorms) basically getting hazed by the veteranos in the plaza in front of the Catedral. Which is super normal here, it's super public. They just make them do goofy stuff and dress up, and you can tell them all because they have the letter "N" painted on their cheek, usually with some other kind of artwork on their faces. I guess the difference is no one seems to be dying from what they make them do. America, take note.

I also went back to the gym the next morning, and decided that either I'm at a gym that not a lot of athletic girls go to, or the girls here just don't work out super hard, because every time I go over to the weights area, all the guys stare at me. Not really in a creepy way, just like, "who is this chick and why is she using our weights?"

Last night we found out that they were showing the movie To Rome With Love in the original voices it was shot in, so part English and part Italian, with Spanish subtitles. Honestly, if I'd gone to see it in Spanish, I don't think I would've understood it. I still don't really understand it, that's a strange movie.

But back to today: While wandering around this morning, I found a wall that reminds me of my sorority back home, even if the Delta Delta Delta is covered in graffiti... 

After lunch, I went to the ISA Office to hang out with some girls from the program. We watched Pretty Woman and then went to Valor for some coffee and chocolate. Seriously, their churros con chocolate are super deliciously addicting. 

Drizzly day in Salamanca

Some of the girls I hang out with. We photograph well.

School: Round Two

Well today I was supposed to have three classes, but the first one got cancelled so I went shopping instead. Turns out, my All-American Girl flare jeans aren't as popular here, even for going to class, so I decided to go searching for cheap jeans. 16€ isn't too bad of a deal.
I had my other two classes later that day, and they mostly went well. I did end up being in the half of my French class that didn't quite realize that we'd magically missed the professor coming in, so we waited outside for 20 minutes for him before we realized the class was going on inside the room. Oops. He wasn't mad, on the bright side.
After class, we came downstairs and realized it was raining. It was me and two other girls from Colorado, so obviously we had no clue if there was any good way to navigate this. Luckily, we ran across a gift shop that was selling umbrellas just a block into our journey home, so we were covered for the rest of our walk home.

First Day of (Real) School

So today was slightly terrifying. Because today I had to begin classes at the actual university, not the silly culture-conversation-grammar classes I took with International Courses when I first got here. And I swear, I was more afraid to go across town to my first class than I was to get on the plane.

The street my music classes are on–I was too nervous to take a closer photo!

But the first class went really well. I know that I definitely didn't understand everything he was saying, but I got most of it. And when he asked me a question in front of the whole class, I was actually keeping up enough to answer it. Even if I didn't know how to say trumpet. Turns out it's trompeta so I felt really smart after that, but at least I wasn't that foreign kid who's just like "uh…" the whole time. And I made friends with a girl from Granada and another girl from Salamanca. Win.
The other fun thing about being an exchange student is that errybody knows who you are, because the professor always asks you something about where you're from or what kinds of music classes you've had before (uh, roughly none), but no one else. My second class was a lot more terrifying than the first, partially because the professor asked what kinds of musicology classes I'd taken and I had to say basically none, and we actually started on the material. Here's a fun fact: the Spanish don't take notes like Americans. Most of them had notebooks with either blank sheets or graph paper (I was the only one with a lined notebook) and instead of bullet points, they basically write out entire sentences. It's insane, I do not understand how they do it. I couldn't even do that in English!!
But on my way home, while in my Spanish-fog-headache, I overheard some lost American tourists, so I stopped to help them out. I was basically the farthest thing from helpful, since I had no idea where the restaurant they were looking for was, but we totally had a small-world moment when I found out that one of them was from Steamboat Springs, CO! Plus, her daughter is best friends with one of my sorority sisters! Plus, that sorority sister is currently studying abroad in Sevilla, another town in Spain. Small world indeed.

Today, It Rained

So when I was about fourteen, my cousin Maggie was visiting and we decided we wanted to bake cookies. Unfortunately, there were no chocolate chips in the house. So, being the super independent 14-year-olds we were, we decided to bike to the store to get them. As we were leaving, it was kinda cloudy, but not something we were worried about because we were A) young and stubborn and B) in the middle of Colorado where rain is not a real thing. But of course, halfway there, it started raining. Two minutes later, it started pouring. And there we were, stranded literally halfway between home and the store, in the middle of the rain. We ended up walking into the store completely soaked to get our chocolate chips, much to the joy of the employees responsible for keeping the floors clean.

I'm telling you this story because it basically describes our morning. Megan heard about this market kinda far away from our house where we could buy cheap stuff. Obviously, cheap is a convincing factor. So we got all ready and went to leave for this market. As we're leaving, David told us it was raining, and we basically blew it off, figuring that we'd figure it out. Because it wasn't actually raining right then. I'm pretty sure it rained earlier that morning, so I was assuming it wouldn't actually rain again, just be cloudy and kinda chilly, maybe sprinkle a little.

We didn't find the market. We walked wayyyyy up the street Megan's friend had marked on the map, no luck. When we finally decided to turn back, the wind was kicking up. And then it started pouring. And at this point, we just didn't care. So we walked home soaking wet, through the rain. We had to stop once at a gas station and look at the map again, we got honked at twice, Megan's shoes kept falling off, and we didn't really know where we were for like half of our walk home. When we finally found the Plaza de Toro, it was like finding the promised land because we finally knew both where we were and that we were close to home.

Moral of the story is, I need to find my umbrella and listen to David when he warns me about the weather.

Also, we went to see Total Recall at the theater today (I think Sunday movies may just become a habit) which was really good. I don't think I picked up enough of the details to figure out the "twist" of the movie, but the big picture is good enough that I enjoyed it! I very much recommend it in English. 

Weekly Roundup

• Sunday–we stayed in most of the day and I was finally able to Skype my mommy and catch up on all the Broomfield gossip. Always a good time. Later, we went el cine (movie theater) and saw the movie Las Aventuras de Tadeo Jones. We were the oldest people in the theater who didn't bring kids, but we could actually understand this movie, so it was all worth it. It was a cute movie too. Apparently it's known as Tad, the Lost Explorer in 'Merica, so just imagine that in Spanish. Except the song "That's What Makes You Beautiful" is still in there too, don't worry.

• Monday–we had to run down to the ISA office to pay for part of our Morocco trip, so that was a fun time. And then we went shopping again, because it's just too easy to do on our way home. On the bright side, growing up with my mom means I shop nothing but sale racks so I'm not broke yet! Woo!
• Tuesday–Megan had to work all day, so I went wandering all over the city. Really nothing exciting happened today, sorry team.
• Wednesday– Today I realized that a) I was out of eyeliner and b) I have no idea where I'd even buy makeup. They don't sell it at supermarkets. Thus began my exploration of (slightly expensive) makeup stores in the city. I finally found one that sold cheaper eyeliners, and lucky for me it's right on the way to the Plaza from my apartment so I'll actually remember where it is!
  Also, I went to this gym that María was telling me about and finally got a semi-decent workout in. I was still super nervous despite the fact that it's basically all the same equipment as back home (the directions are even in English on half of them...), so I didn't get a super great workout in, but it's a start! I'm going to try to go again when it's not so busy so I can get a workout in and figure out the gym a little bit better.
• Thursday–I went back to the gym in the morning, got a real workout in and felt awesome! In the afternoon I had a tour with ISA of the various buildings on campus so we'd know where our classes are on Monday. I have one right across the plaza from the Catedral Nuevo, and another kind of by the building where our intensive classes we just finished are. I know that means relatively nothing to those of you reading this blog, but that's okay! I'll take photos sometime.
  And it rained today! Finally a little bit of relief from the heat, plus I love the rain so much.
• Friday–So today there was this ceremony and parade in the Plaza Mayor in honor of the military, which David (my "brother") was going to be in so María was over-the-moon excited to go. It consisted of a lot of standing around and listening to speeches in the blistering Salamanca sunshine, but it was kinda cool to see. María and I went separately, so I ended up being alone watching it and had a conversation with this guy who was there to see his son, so he kept pointing things out to me so I wouldn't get too confused. I also realized that I don't know the Spanish national anthem, but when they play the British one (see the flags they put up in the photo below) I sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" instead of "God Save the Queen". Thank you, elementary school music classes.

 Flags of Portugal, Spain, France & the United Kingdom

Stage where all the speakers sat

Some of the military. Don't worry, they just swing their arms really high, they don't actually walk like that!

The guy in the middle there is my super-serious host brother David being super-seriously serious. He was very entertained by the fact that I told him he looked angry in the photos I took at the parade.

Miss Lauren

Today I got to have lunch with my friend Lauren from high school!! It turns out she was taking a day trip with her abroad program (she's in Madrid for the semester) to Salamanca, so I went on down to the Plaza Mayor to meet up with her! I got to actually feel like a local (except that I had no idea where to go for lunch) and show them around a little bit. We went to lunch on the Rúa Mayor, one of the biggest streets in town that leads from a church by the Plaza to the Cathedrals. Today I learned that a Caesar Salad in Spain includes mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, and tomatoes. Fun fact.

Yeahh we're adorable. We also went down to the river where there was this little fair thing happening, where lots of tent stores were set up.

Unfortunately, a lot of them were closed for siesta at this point, which is totally valid because I'm pretty sure it was a thousand degrees outside.

Also, yes that is an entire pig roasting there. Pleasant, of course.

Anyway, it was a fun, although very warm, day, and I was very happy I got to see Lauren!!

Corrida de Toros

Mkay team, here's how bullfights in Salamanca go, as told by a few of the 100+ photos I took. And a video. I may have overdone it slightly. Be warned, I am talking about them actually killing a bull, so if that's not your thing, maybe don't read this.

 So first, we walked up to the Plaza de Toros, which apparently is kinda like cathedrals in that every major city tends to have one. It's basically an old-style stadium. 

Ta da! Apparently this is also the kind of thing that people tend to dress up for. That goes on the list of memos Corinne didn't get. Oops. At least I'm not generally a sloppy dresser? At least not while I've been living here.

Slightly Absent...

Hey team, sorry I've been slightly MIA, my week just hasn't had too many exciting bits for you, so I'm combining them into one entry today! Woo! So, here's the hilights from the last few days!

• Went to an intercambio where there are students like myself who are learning Spanish, and locals who are learning English, and we all get together and attempt to speak real good together. Actually, this one was pretty good because we're all so advanced and awesome like that. And we got free tapas & soda, always a win. It was slightly awkward, but overall pretty fun.
• I ate more ice cream. Please see the photo below to understand why it's so difficult to walk by all the ice cream counters here and not have some! Plus, it's sooo warm walking around town all day. It's quite the dilemma. 

Today I got dulce de leche but my other favorites include lime & mint.
I want to try apple and orange though!

• I had to take a test for class. Boooo. I did alright on it though, just no one loves tests.
• I registered for my "real" classes! These are the ones at the actual university, not with International Courses, which my last two weeks of class have been. Those are kind of a joke (they're two weeks long and we spent half of that watching YouTube videos in my culture class...) but the ones I just registered are the real deal. So I ended up with three culture classes: Hispano-Hebrew Culture, Music in Spain, and Music of the 18th Century. Something like that. Not sure why I have two music classes, it just kinda worked out that way. Heh. And I'm taking intro to French, so I can start on my totally random 3rd language. But it seems like a fun schedule. The nice thing about being here is that I can pretty much take whatever classes I want, and try new things like a new language or a random music class, because I came in with enough AP credit that there aren't specific college credits I have to fulfill.
• I went to Karaoke Night at this bar near my classrooms. And, while we were looking through the book (for things other people were going to sing) I jokingly pointed out the Celine Dion song from Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On". Obviously, that led to me being onstage singing that song.  Awkward. Fun. But awkward.

Yeah we're on their Facebook page, we didn't take this

• That's most of what I have for this week! I also went to a bullfight today, but unfortunately I don't think I'm going to have the time to write everything I want to about that tonight. Stay tuned for photos of that tomorrow!!

Circus & Such

So can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that we watched all of the videos below in my culture class today and they were all relevant?? Fantastic stuff, I tell you.

Above we have the traditional dance of the Basque country, called Aurresku, which basically consists of several very serious men doing cheerleader kicks. Also, my teacher demonstrated this last Friday when the internet didn't work, and it's a thousand times better in person.

And this is a flamenco song that she showed us because it's kind of adorable, the bride surprises her fiancé by singing this during the ceremony (the chorus is one that she belongs to when she's not getting married) and if you watch it, you get to pretty much everyone in the church start crying over the cuteness of the whole ordeal, including the sniffling of whoever is filming. It's fantastic. Also for the original, click here.

Also, when we got to the Plaza after class today, there was some kind of fair/circus thing going on, so obviously we had to stop. And get the only tall guy in the group to take photos for us because we were too short to get a good shot of the baby tiger. Pobrecito, I'm pretty sure he had to take a photo for everyone in the group because we are all super short. We're not really sure why there was this fantastic circus, but it was a nice little surprise after class.

Above, that's the stage they've set up in the plaza, bajo el reloj. That's where they've been having all the concerts all weekend, in honor of the festivals.

After lunch, Megan and I went to meet up with our friend Katie to get some helado (ice cream, which there are incredible amounts of here) at the Plaza before Megan had to go to work. This time I got lime flavor. Also one of the greatest things I've ever tasted, just saying.

Mi Casa

Mkay, I got photos of the apartment. Only a few, but there's not a lot of spaces to take photos of here… It's still adorable and cute though. 

Living Room

Left door is our bedroom, the right door is the kitchen

The front hallway–the first door is the kitchen again, second is our bedroom. The room at the end is the living room

Doors on the other side of the hall–bathroom & María's room

View from the back window of the kitchen

The kitchen from one angle–table & back door

Other side of the kitchen–oven, kitchen sink, etc.

View of our clothes drying from our bedroom window

And that's the place! It's fairly little and dense but very cute and livable. Not too far from the plaza, but far enough that things like the nightly concerts during the festivals don't bug us even a little bit.

Movie Time

Today, because Megan works at a movie theater in Tennessee, we decided to go to the movie theater. Also, everywhere we could shop and whatnot was closed because of the festivals. (Although we did go to the Plaza in the morning to see them ring the bells, and I got mojito ice cream, which was super yummy). 

Anyway, Megan and I ended up going to see a Sherlock Holmes movie that was out here. Probably not our smartest idea, because the real Sherlock Holmes does not run around shooting people and whatnot like Robert Downing Jr. does. So we were pretty confused, I'm still not 100% sure what happened in that movie. Actually, I'm roughly only 60% sure I'd say. But I will say that Sherlock got the girl, I think he caught the murderer, and Watson was actually a doctor in this one so that was cool too.

Moral of the story is, no more spending money on movies until we know we'll understand them. Still a fun adventure though.

Los Festivales

So I'm still not 100% sure if there's a real purpose to these festivals, but it mostly seems like an excuse for the ENTIRE CITY to flood the Plaza and surrounding area. I mean, there's the thing about it being the day of their patron saint, Virgen de la Vega, but we're not sure if there's more to it than that or not. I will say though, that the Spanish can give a fantastic fireworks show. Even though we were behind a lot of people and a row of very tall trees, we still got a great show! Here's a video, enjoy.

Also, here's a photo of the Old Cathedral at night because it's beautiful.

Also we went to a free concert in the Plaza afterwards, this guy Carlos Jean was playing. Cordis, if you ever actually read my blog, you should check him out. It was pretty good music, just super crowded so we didn't end up staying for more than an hour.

But we walked by the Plaza later at night and got to see the result of an entire town packing into the Plaza. 

Today's Adventure: Swimming

So today, after class and a lovely siesta, I decided to go work out. María told me about this olympic-size pool that was a decently short walk from our piso, so I figured it couldn't be that hard. And it really wasn't that bad… I just got lost for a while… and when I asked someone for help they weren't from Salamanca… then it was super busy at the pool so it was hard to actually work out… and I forgot my flip flops… and a towel… moral of the story is, I may not have died or anything, but it was a little bit of a mess. On the bright side, I now know what to do and what not to do. Half the battle, right?

That's really the most exciting story I have so far. My mother requested a photo of my living quarters and my host mom… here's the living quarters, I don't have one of María quite yet. I'll work on that. See if I can get a whole family photo with Megan & David too. That just requires everyone being home at the same time… which could be difficult!

So that's my side of the room. There's a little closet to the left where, miraculously, all my clothes fit. The bed is kind of messy right now because I just kinda dump my stuff and then clean it up before I go out at night or go to bed. There's a bunch of books on the shelves that others students have left, so I won't run out of reading material! And those are Megan's legs, I think she was sky ping with her boyfriend when I took the photo. Also, the calendar is from some other students she had, but it's a Colorado calendar! It sounds like she's had a lot of students from Colorado, both Boulder & Denver. Oh, and they're kinda hard to see, but on my bottom shelf there's a tumbler glass from Jamba Juice, and Megan has one on the right edge of the photo. A student left María those so that the students can fill them up before they go out for the night, and then they don't have to worry about waking up María if they want water when they get home! Genius, those kids.

Also, I just realized from going through some of my other posts that you already have photos of the bedroom. Currently I'm super shy about taking photos of the apartment because I dunno if María would be okay with it (yes Daddy, I know I should just ask her) but I'll try to get on that!! 

I'll hopefully take some photos of the free fireworks and free concert tonight, so I'll post those tomorrow! Chau!