Going to Salamanca?

This is a list of random stuff that I think would've given me a running start in my abroad life, had I known them beforehand. It's very personal, and tailored to my exact experiences, and if you're going to Salamanca you should feel free (and encouraged!) to find more places, to find your own little niches and hole-in-the-wall places for food or coffee or anything else. But if there's anyone out there like me, who's scouring the internet for information about studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain before they go, then I hope the internet somehow guides you here so you have a few trade secrets in your pocket!

PS–I made a Google Map of all of these places. Click here! (or just look at the bottom)

Food & Drink in Salamanca

• One of the best coffeeshops to hang out at between classes is called Mandala, it's right across from the entrance to the Universidad Pontifica on C/ Serranos. I recommend café bonbón… but I'm addicted to that one. They have fantastic milkshakes, coffee, chocolates… It's a great place if you need a place to sit at a table and visit for a little while!
• Coffee to go is really good from Pancake, a tiny green shop down the street from Casa de las Conchas on C/ Compañia. A small café con leche is 1 euro.
• There's a bomb tea shop on Rúa Mayor, right before you hit Plaza Anaya (in front of the Cathedrals), called Montón de Té. If you're a tea person, (or even if you're not) go there! Plus the lady who runs it is super nice.
• Good ice cream is under the clock to the right (if you're facing the clock) at a place with yellow cups. Honestly, I don't know what it's called, but the lime flavor is the best and I'm told that mango is pretty great too, if you're into that sort of flavor.
• There's a little green Confetería on Rúa Mayor that sells awesomenapolitanas, pastries filled with chocolate.

Tourism

• If you need another map, the tourism office is the one with wooden paneling on the West side of the Plaza Mayor.
• Explore the city on your days off. Download a podcast or some good music, and just go walk! I found a ton of cute little things when I got bored and just walked around.
• Tourist Attractions:
• Facada de la Universidad de Salamanca–find the frog! (If you don't, there's an info panel that'll tell you where it is in the plaza)
• Ieronimous–also known as the Cathedral Towers. Costs money but the view is so worth it!
• Cathedrals. I've only been inside the ground level of the Catedral Nueva, and saw the Catedral Vieja from above when I went up the towers. If you're super into cathedrals, the Catedral Vieja does cost money, but it looks like it would be pretty interesting on the ground level too. Otherwise, the Catedral Nueva is always free. Also, look for the astronaut at the door!
• Automotive Museum–a useful outing if you have condescending teenage boys in your group. Or just bored dads. It really is a cool museum though, even I enjoyed it as a girl who knows relatively nothing about cars.
• Casa Lis–something that generally girls will enjoy more than guys, but it is fun to see. It's an art museum of a lot of little trinket-type things. Small sculptures, dolls, bottles, things like that. Fun to see, and the café in the back is pretty cool because it looks out the famous stained-glass windows.

Nighttime

• There are two sides of town in Salamancan night life: the international side and the Spanish side. The international side is through the Plaza Mayor and out the exit that goes past Burger King. The Spanish side is directly opposite and down a hill.
• The Chupiteria on the international side is the main attraction for a lot of people, because it's where almost everyone passes through at least once, just to see who's there. Basically it's where people go when they're bored.
• Paniagua on the Spanish side of town is a good place to go for litros, and they play pretty good music. There's also signatures and printed photos of people from the bar all over the walls, those are fun to read.
• Don't be afraid to explore the Spanish bars. The city is chock-full of international students, you're not the first ones they've seen.
• Our favorite bar we found for just chilling out was Jacko's, the Michael Jackson themed bar. You can get a litro (I recommend the Thriller, that was my favorite because I'm a citrus addict and it has lemon and lime juice in it) and sit at a table or play foosball, and just talk. It's much better lit and the music isn't quite so loud as most other bars in the city.
• Karaoke night? Irish Rover on Wednesdays.
• Themed parties? Perla Negra–they're always having a special on something to get people to show up. This wasn't my favorite place, but it might be worth checking out if you're just arriving.
• If you need fast food at the end of the night, you can go to the kebab place Isatis (next to the Perla Negra) or Leonardo's across the street. Or anything in the Leonardo's chain is good, there's a few of them all over town.
• Watch out for the guys who basically make foreigner-hunting a sport.

School

• Find the libraries early on. You don't have to go study there right away, but find it just so you know.
• If you need a book for your class, don't put that off either.
• Double and triple check with your professors what your finals responsibilities are.
• I recommend typing up your notes so you can study easier from them. In my experience, most Spaniards take notes on graph paper or blank computer paper, but I have a hard time following the logic of my notes if I'm trying to re-read them later. So I typed them all up so they'd take up less space, and I could read through them more easily.
• Don't procrastinate. Rushed work in a foreign language is ten times worse.

Host Moms

• Tell her if you're sick. Don't feel like you have to accept all the tea she tries to force on you, but be gracious about it.
• If you come home late, BE QUIET. Something my mom couldn't say enough about me and my roommate is that she was glad we didn't wake up the whole building by climbing the stairs in our heels or slamming the door when we got home.
• Don't be afraid to speak Spanish to the family because you're afraid you'll say something wrong. The point of living with a family is that youtry to say things and they will correct you. It's a safer environment than the classroom or the street sometimes, because they'll understand more.
• Say thank you. Like, a thousand times. The woman cooked for you for a couple months, she deserves some love!

Program Excursions

• Don't be the jerk who's late to the bus.
• Also, don't be the jerk who throws up on the bus from a combination of being carsick and hungover. Drink water, not alcohol, and just take some Dramamine if you need it.
• Don't just sit in the hotel lobby because there's wifi. Seriously, put your stuff in the rooms when you guys get there, and go explore the city. If you're in a group of friends and bring a map, you should be okay. Just remember some kind of landmarks by your hotel.
• Take pictures. Tourist time is the best!

If you go to Morocco…

This is kind of a program-specific section, but if you're going, some of this might help!

• Be VERY careful of things that were rinsed in the water.Trust me, you don't want to catch the Moroccan plague.
• If you slip up and get sick, buy Suerosal or Citrosal from a pharmacy when you get home.
• Buy water like the apocalypse is coming. Dehydration won't help anybody.
• I recommend some kind of sleeping aid if you have a hard time sleeping on a bus. The trip is overnight, and I only got 3 hours before we got on the ferry, and it was absolutely miserable.
• Pack light. And don't forget shorts & short sleeved shirts. You will be in the desert after all. They overplay the coldness of the night a little bit, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't throw in some sweatpants and a hoodie.
• Talk to the locals! It really is interesting to learn about people whose lives revolve entirely around the tourism business and have learned something like six languages just from talking to tourists who come through.

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