oh dear. oh dear. it's been over a month since my last post. I have definitely not reached the Avid Blogger Status that some of you might have anticipated. That aside, my lack of communication should probably be taken as a good sign - I'd be here all the time if I wasn't so busy out having fun! Let's try some bullet-style catch-up so I don't get too overwhelmed!
(You'll remember I left you just after the weekend spent in Valencia with friends...)
- On Sept 20 I went with a couple friends on an organized trip to Ávila and El Escorial, two historic towns roughly to the west of Salamanca. We had beautiful weather, and enjoyed spending time in the beautiful royal gardens, and walking around the streets of the cities.
- From Sept 23 - 27 we had a break so I flew to Norway to visit and meet extended family on my Mom's side. I still don't know the name for the way we're all related, despite the popularity of this topic of conversation during those days. All I can say is that the girls who are the same age as me have the same Great Great Great Grandfather as I do! It was a fantastic trip - everyone was so welcoming and warm, and made me feel right at home. (Plus I got to eat pounds of chocolate!) I can't wait to go back again and spend more time getting to know everyone.
(Sidenote: on my flight back, I had a 7 hour layover in the Amsterdam airport, so I decided to go into the city for a couple hours to meet up with a friend - a fun, rather spontaneous side trip!)
- The next weekend (3&4th of Oct) there was a planned excursion to Toledo and Madrid for the girls on my study abroad group. Basically we saw a lot of art. We did a fly-by tour of Toledo, then spent the night in Madrid. (Here we took advantage of the opportunity to party at the seven-story club in downtown Madrid - Kapital...what a place!) The next day we saw both the Reina Sofia AND the Prado. I saw some really amazing pieces of artwork, but our lack of time and lack of sleep probably did not allow us to do justice to those museums. All the same, it was great to have the chance to see new cities, and just spend some time all together as a group.
- The NEXT weekend (10&11th of Oct...and you'll note this is the fifth weekend in a row that I did not spend at home!) three friends and I bought tickets for a trip to Portugal organized for international students in Salamanca. This was a great trip - lots to do, but also lots of free time, and good parties organized at night. I really enjoyed the Portuguese language a lot more than I expected - I was constantly fascinated by how similar it is to Spanish, and yet how different it sounded. We spent time primarily in Coimbra, Lisbon and some nearby areas but Coimbra was a clear favorite - very much like Salamanca...but in Portugal! I also enjoyed getting to know some people outside of my study abroad program – though we had a lot of fun among ourselves as well!
- The next weekend (17&18th) I was actually home, and enjoyed reacquainting myself with my daily routine, and spending time in Salamanca. By this weekend we had just finished our third week of (semester-long) classes, and I was starting to get a feel for them. I am taking five classes: Women in the History of Spain, Spanish Cinema, Spanish Language, Spanish Culture, and Spanish Art. I really enjoy almost all of my classes and professors, all for different reasons, but Cinema and Culture are probably my favorites so far. In terms of difficulty, I am not finding the classes to be very challenging…er…at all. Granted, I have midterms coming up right now, and I may soon be eating my own words, but so far I’ve gotten by with a very minimal amount of pain outside of class. It’s a very interesting contrast to being at school (at home) where I feel as though I live my life in between going to class and doing work, whereas here it’s more a feeling of going to class in between living my life! It’s great, actually, because it gives me the opportunity to make the most of my time here, but I also know that next semester I will have a very big reality-check when I return to 10 page papers and projects and entire books to read. …So I do my best to appreciate how relaxed I am here. J
- Finally, we’re getting almost caught up! In the past couple weeks I visited Segovia for a day, ate at a great restaurant with Fantastic drag queens that perform after dinner, celebrated my friend’s birthday with another lovely dinner out, and…celebrated Halloween!! Anyone who knows me knows how good I am at procrastinating, so about two hours before I was due to meet up with my friends, I was still without a costume! Luckily, Salamanca is FULL of “dollar” stores which were full of cheap cheap costumes. I walked out with a 3euro pair of angel wings, wore all white, and was set for the night! (Granted, the wings broke after about four hours, but I was actually pretty impressed on that count!) Although Halloween is in no way a Spanish holiday, Salamanca did not let us down – the Salamantinos love to dress up for any occasion, and the bars know that there are so many international students that it’s worth the effort to decorate and lure us in. (And that they did, quite successfully.)
Well folks, that’s about it for now! I’ve got another friend’s birthday coming up this weekend, a new volunteering opportunity in a Spanish school, and possibly a wine tasting tour on Saturday! I’ll do my best to keep you posted!
Hasta Luego! Besos!
