Another interesting story for you all, I swear these things only happen to us. So on Thursday night Siobhan and I decided that we wanted to go out. Alexa had spoken to two of the guys that we met on Monday night (they are from Holland and only here for a week) and we planned to meet in the Plaza Mayor around 11 to get some drinks. I will give Alexa some credit here, because shockingly she was actually on time lol. Unfortunately the boys were being lame and napping so we headed to a cute little bar inside of the plaza to get a glass of wine. We sat for about 45 minutes enjoying our wine and chitchatting and then decided to move onto another place that Alexa had already been to. As soon as we walked into the bar (which was absolutely adorable I might add, it had a lot of character, but was practically empty this early in the evening) and I made eye contact with an older man at the bar, I knew something was gonna go down. And of course I was correct. Not 5 seconds later this man whom I have yet to even speak too appears next to me with 3 extremely dark drinks in his hand. Obviously having not seen the drinks be made, there is absolutely no way in hell we are going to drink them and we politely decline. He seems to take our refusal well, returning the drinks to the bartender. I am watching closely as the bartender then calls over another woman to take the drinks and don't you know she then comes back over to us and tries to give us the drinks. We politely decline AGAIN and she turns into a bitch. In English (with attitude and a bitchy face) she says "You know these are free right?" So I very very nicely (note the sarcasm) reply back to her "Yes I understood you the first 3 times you told me in Spanish and I still don't want the drinks." She had the good sense to stalk off at this point. I am convinced that all Europeans think that all American girls are socially stupid...well sorry to disappoint. Because we felt sufficiently awkward at this point we headed out. The creepy guy that started the whole damn debacle was still outside smoking a cigarette. We actually happened to run into the boys in the street on our way out, as they had finally decided to wake up and get dressed. As they wanted to dance, we took them to a place we have been to several times, Camelot. It is an old church that has been turned into a discoteca. This was SO not the scene Siobhan, Alexa and I were going for. We just wanted to relax with a drink. Therefore as soon as we got there we were already creating an escape plan. Side note, we failed to realize the last few times that we had been there that the clientele was young. All of the people dancing on the stage (and speakers) were like 16 at most. We were a little mortified to be honest. This was clearly not the place to be. Luckily Alexa quickly came up with a fool proof plan. She walked outside for 10 minutes, came back in, pretended that her roommate had called her because she forgot her keys at home and now needed Alexa to let her in. Siobhan and I being the good friends, would not let Alexa walk home alone so we had to leave too. It was brilliant and it totally worked. Alexa went home (because honestly its totally safe to walk the streets of Salamanca at night alone) and Siobhan and I did the same. So although the evening was interesting to say the least, at least we tried to go out and have a good time.
The rest of weekend, Siobhan and I have just been enjoying the beautiful weather. For the second day in a row it has been sunny and at least 60 degrees. Yesterday we just walked around near the plaza and stopped at one of our favorite spots for chocolate and churros. Today our parents drove us to this awesome walking trail. We snapped tons of pics and tried to let our skin soak up as much sun as possible lol. I am got to Skype for an hour with the family at the lakehouse. Mom, dad, Aunt Linda, Uncle Rich, Aunt Lisa, Gram and Pop, Laura x 2, Mel, Joe, Kim....and little Miley :) It made my day to get to see and catchup with everyone. Its nice to know I have them at home cheering me on, proud of the big adventure I am taking, and anxiously waiting for my return. Currently sitting with Siobhan at Cafe & Te drinking chocolate milkshakes! Hahaha definitely going to need to hit the gym a little harder next week.
Love,
Tayler
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A weekend in Madrid
Hey all....haven't had a chance to update the blog recently. Lo siento!
Last weekend Siobhan, Alexa and I as well as our two friends Daryl and Amanda traveled to Madrid. Our program was hosting the excursion, so we decided to go hop on board for the free ride. Instead of returning the same day, we booked rooms in a Best Western so that we could stay the night and attend the Real Madrid v Levante U.D. game.
As it always seems to go, the trip was awesome but there was a few low moments lol. To start, the bus left 30 minutes later than it was supposed to. And why you ask? Oh thats simple....because there really is no such thing as punctuality in Spain. Everyone kind of shows up when they feel like it. Nevertheless though we did make it to Madrid in a little less than 3 hours and after all I should not complain as I mentioned above we did not have to pay for the bus. After arriving in Madrid, we decided to first find the hotel and drop off our overnight bags. Well we did not do a whole lot of research into the hotel before booking it. We knew that it was a little out of the way as it was located near the Barajas airport, but did not realize it would take us an hour to get there by Metro. We had to change lines 3 times, got off at the wrong stop only once, but in the end made it to the hotel and checked in. Bonus was that unlike NYC you only pay for the Metro once ( 1 euro) and not every time you change lines. So while it took us an hour, it was very very cheap :) Also, breakfast was included and the hotel had free wifi (and for those of you that have been reading religiously..cough cough it better be all of you...this was a big PLUS in my book). Not to mention that it was only 10 minutes from the airport so we had to do very little traveling in the morning to take a bus back (one of the buses back to Salamanca leaves from the airport..the other in the way south of Madrid). We thought we were being very clever with this arrangement and were very proud of ourselves for doing all this without parents.
After relaxing for a little while Daryl, Alexa and Amanda took off for El Prado museum. Siobhan and I having already visited this lovely establishment, decided to make our way down to the Real Madrid stadium and walk around. We found a Corte Ingles 10 minutes from the stadium (Spain's version of a mall) and walked around for a bit. The best part however was stopping into a Hollywood themed restaurant and having "American" food. It was nice to pick what and when I ate for a change ;) After dinner though things went a little down hill. The girls were late meeting us at the stadium. With 15 minutes to go before game time, we were finally about to make our way inside. I was finally starting to relax (and to be honest starting to lose the murderous feelings I felt towards them for being so late lol). Unfortunately as we approached the ticket scanner, our tickets would not scan. I was freaking out at this point obviously. We were told (in Spanish of course) to go to Gate 37 (we were at gate 14) and simply get new tickets printed for us. Ok awesome..the man at the gate did not seem worried and we thought ok lets go get our tickets and then take our seats...no problem. WRONG! There are no people at the gate, just a machine that prints out the tickets. Unfortunately though you need the credit card the tickets were purchased with to print the tickets. We of course did not have it as our program director had bought them and we had paid him back in cash. I am frantic at this point. We quickly make our way to the next closest gate and (in Spanish) try to explain the problem. We went through 3 people before someone understood. Luckily this wonderful wonderful man (I could have kissed him really) seemed to have had this happen before. He folded our tickets to make the other barcode able to pass through the scanner. Running with happiness we return to our appropriate gate to finally check in. The freaking tickets now do not scan again. And thats when I snapped. The poor man that tried to tell us that we had to go back to Gate 37 and print new tickets.....before he could finish telling us to do what we already had tried to do....I starting yelling at him rapid fire in Spanish and told him to keep trying to scan the tickets because it had worked before. They worked and we were finally inside. Yes I admit I was a TOTAL bitch to this poor, unsuspecting man but I could only take so much. And hey at least I yelled in Spanish..that should count for something. Alexa and Siobhan were thankful but a little embarrassed. Siobhan said and I quote, "Yo I wanted to apologize to him....you yelled at him and it was not his fault. What were you thinking...he was SO cute." Apparently if he had been ugly no one would have had a problem with my behavior lol. With 3 minutes to game time we took our seats.
The rest of the night was AMAZING. Being at the game was one of the most awesome experiences of my life. Never have I gotten to see such beautiful soccer up close. And the atmosphere in the stadium was indescribable! Real Madrid won 2 - 0 and I captured the second goal in a pic! The rest of the night went off without a hitch. We made it back to the hotel and snuggled into bed.
In the morning we woke up and had a really great breakfast. We packed up our stuff and headed to the airport to catch the bus. We were feeling good, now appreciating how close we had stayed to the airport (which was a 30 minute Metro ride from the stadium). We walked into Terminal 1 and went to buy the bus tickets. Only one problem, we could not find the kiosk. After asking about 5 different people and getting a different answer 5 times, we finally found an information stand. Bad news...while you can take a bus back to Salamanca from the airport on Sundays, you cannot buy the tickets there. Yeah I know...makes perfect sense to me too. Not accepting defeat...we realized we COULD buy tickets for the train and take that back instead (it takes the same amount of time). So we bought our train tickets, got back on the Metro for 30 minutes, got on the train and made our way home. We made it home! We were so excited when we stepped out onto the streets of Salamanca. And then God had to give us one more obstacle. I kid you not the moment we stepped out of the train station and onto the street the skies opened up and it POURED! Alexa, Siobhan and I (forgot to mention Daryl and Amanda stayed behind in Madrid, opting to return later in the evening) burst out laughing. That was all we could do. After the events of the 2 days in Madrid it almost seemed like a perfect ending to the trip....a 20 minute walk back to the house in the pouring rain. We treated ourselves to a nice, warm cup of coffee on the way home lol to ease the pain ;) Drenched we came back into the house, put on comfy pjs and relaxed for the entire rest of the day.
A crazy weekend, but I would not take one moment of it back. I will forever remember that trip and am so happy I got to share it with friends :) Parts of the trip might have been miserable in the moment, but in the end at least I was able to have such a cool opportunity :) Although I have been a little homesick the last couple of days, it is these experiences (good and bad lol) that keep me going. Studying abroad..its a once and a lifetime thing and I am so grateful for it.
Love,
Tayler
Last weekend Siobhan, Alexa and I as well as our two friends Daryl and Amanda traveled to Madrid. Our program was hosting the excursion, so we decided to go hop on board for the free ride. Instead of returning the same day, we booked rooms in a Best Western so that we could stay the night and attend the Real Madrid v Levante U.D. game.
As it always seems to go, the trip was awesome but there was a few low moments lol. To start, the bus left 30 minutes later than it was supposed to. And why you ask? Oh thats simple....because there really is no such thing as punctuality in Spain. Everyone kind of shows up when they feel like it. Nevertheless though we did make it to Madrid in a little less than 3 hours and after all I should not complain as I mentioned above we did not have to pay for the bus. After arriving in Madrid, we decided to first find the hotel and drop off our overnight bags. Well we did not do a whole lot of research into the hotel before booking it. We knew that it was a little out of the way as it was located near the Barajas airport, but did not realize it would take us an hour to get there by Metro. We had to change lines 3 times, got off at the wrong stop only once, but in the end made it to the hotel and checked in. Bonus was that unlike NYC you only pay for the Metro once ( 1 euro) and not every time you change lines. So while it took us an hour, it was very very cheap :) Also, breakfast was included and the hotel had free wifi (and for those of you that have been reading religiously..cough cough it better be all of you...this was a big PLUS in my book). Not to mention that it was only 10 minutes from the airport so we had to do very little traveling in the morning to take a bus back (one of the buses back to Salamanca leaves from the airport..the other in the way south of Madrid). We thought we were being very clever with this arrangement and were very proud of ourselves for doing all this without parents.
After relaxing for a little while Daryl, Alexa and Amanda took off for El Prado museum. Siobhan and I having already visited this lovely establishment, decided to make our way down to the Real Madrid stadium and walk around. We found a Corte Ingles 10 minutes from the stadium (Spain's version of a mall) and walked around for a bit. The best part however was stopping into a Hollywood themed restaurant and having "American" food. It was nice to pick what and when I ate for a change ;) After dinner though things went a little down hill. The girls were late meeting us at the stadium. With 15 minutes to go before game time, we were finally about to make our way inside. I was finally starting to relax (and to be honest starting to lose the murderous feelings I felt towards them for being so late lol). Unfortunately as we approached the ticket scanner, our tickets would not scan. I was freaking out at this point obviously. We were told (in Spanish of course) to go to Gate 37 (we were at gate 14) and simply get new tickets printed for us. Ok awesome..the man at the gate did not seem worried and we thought ok lets go get our tickets and then take our seats...no problem. WRONG! There are no people at the gate, just a machine that prints out the tickets. Unfortunately though you need the credit card the tickets were purchased with to print the tickets. We of course did not have it as our program director had bought them and we had paid him back in cash. I am frantic at this point. We quickly make our way to the next closest gate and (in Spanish) try to explain the problem. We went through 3 people before someone understood. Luckily this wonderful wonderful man (I could have kissed him really) seemed to have had this happen before. He folded our tickets to make the other barcode able to pass through the scanner. Running with happiness we return to our appropriate gate to finally check in. The freaking tickets now do not scan again. And thats when I snapped. The poor man that tried to tell us that we had to go back to Gate 37 and print new tickets.....before he could finish telling us to do what we already had tried to do....I starting yelling at him rapid fire in Spanish and told him to keep trying to scan the tickets because it had worked before. They worked and we were finally inside. Yes I admit I was a TOTAL bitch to this poor, unsuspecting man but I could only take so much. And hey at least I yelled in Spanish..that should count for something. Alexa and Siobhan were thankful but a little embarrassed. Siobhan said and I quote, "Yo I wanted to apologize to him....you yelled at him and it was not his fault. What were you thinking...he was SO cute." Apparently if he had been ugly no one would have had a problem with my behavior lol. With 3 minutes to game time we took our seats.
The rest of the night was AMAZING. Being at the game was one of the most awesome experiences of my life. Never have I gotten to see such beautiful soccer up close. And the atmosphere in the stadium was indescribable! Real Madrid won 2 - 0 and I captured the second goal in a pic! The rest of the night went off without a hitch. We made it back to the hotel and snuggled into bed.
In the morning we woke up and had a really great breakfast. We packed up our stuff and headed to the airport to catch the bus. We were feeling good, now appreciating how close we had stayed to the airport (which was a 30 minute Metro ride from the stadium). We walked into Terminal 1 and went to buy the bus tickets. Only one problem, we could not find the kiosk. After asking about 5 different people and getting a different answer 5 times, we finally found an information stand. Bad news...while you can take a bus back to Salamanca from the airport on Sundays, you cannot buy the tickets there. Yeah I know...makes perfect sense to me too. Not accepting defeat...we realized we COULD buy tickets for the train and take that back instead (it takes the same amount of time). So we bought our train tickets, got back on the Metro for 30 minutes, got on the train and made our way home. We made it home! We were so excited when we stepped out onto the streets of Salamanca. And then God had to give us one more obstacle. I kid you not the moment we stepped out of the train station and onto the street the skies opened up and it POURED! Alexa, Siobhan and I (forgot to mention Daryl and Amanda stayed behind in Madrid, opting to return later in the evening) burst out laughing. That was all we could do. After the events of the 2 days in Madrid it almost seemed like a perfect ending to the trip....a 20 minute walk back to the house in the pouring rain. We treated ourselves to a nice, warm cup of coffee on the way home lol to ease the pain ;) Drenched we came back into the house, put on comfy pjs and relaxed for the entire rest of the day.
A crazy weekend, but I would not take one moment of it back. I will forever remember that trip and am so happy I got to share it with friends :) Parts of the trip might have been miserable in the moment, but in the end at least I was able to have such a cool opportunity :) Although I have been a little homesick the last couple of days, it is these experiences (good and bad lol) that keep me going. Studying abroad..its a once and a lifetime thing and I am so grateful for it.
Love,
Tayler
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Announcement.....
I am very happy to report that Siobhan and I have finally joined a gym! With all the food we have been consuming (some by choice, some....well lets just say our host mother is a bit of food pusher) we thought it best to try and combat weight gain from the beginning. The gym is only like a 10 minute walk from our house, and we can go anytime between 7 am and 1 pm. We had a great first workout yesterday and are very excited to go back tomorrow for pilates class. Oh btw there is a hot tub and a sauna in the gym that we are free to use.....Yahtzee!
I am also very happy to report that this Saturday Siobhan, Alexa and I will be traveling to Madrid...to attend the Real Madrid game! I am very very excited and am looking forward to hooking myself up with some gear :)
Love to all,
Tayler
I am also very happy to report that this Saturday Siobhan, Alexa and I will be traveling to Madrid...to attend the Real Madrid game! I am very very excited and am looking forward to hooking myself up with some gear :)
Love to all,
Tayler
Monday, February 14, 2011
Just a little something...
Not too much has happened since the last time that I blogged. Siobhan and I attempted to go out on Saturday night....attempted being the important word. At about midnight Siobhan and I had just finished watching Ladrones de Mentes...a horrible film starring Wesley Snipes. We had run into some of the girls earlier in the day, who had mentioned that they might be going out to a local bar for wine. They told us that they would send us a text and let us know for sure. So as I said...Siobhan and I finished the movie at midnight. As we had not heard anything from the girls, we assumed that they had decided to stay in. Changing into our pajamas, Siobhan and I went to work uploading some new Alejandro Sanz's music into our itunes libraries (complements of our host parents.) All comfy, relaxing in our beds, and don't you know this is when the girls decide to text and let us know that they were in fact going out and wanted us to be meet them. Not really wanting to go, but not wanting to look like bitches more lol we quickly threw our clothes back on and made the 15 minute walk to the bar. They are nowhere to be found. As we struggled to make our way through the incredibly packed and smelly (BO) bar, we cannot find them. Side note: I swear there are no fire codes in Spain. The amount of people in this one little bar was unreal. Back to the story.....so we cannot find the girls and after finally making our way back out of the bar (into the fresh air...and by fresh I mean does not smell like BO not clean..because with the way the Spaniards smoke there is no way the air could be clean) we walked the couple extra steps to La Plaza Mayor to see if perhaps they were waiting for us there. Nope...no luck. We sent a text to them...and after about 20-25 minutes of waiting we headed back home. Approximately 5 minutes from our house we received a response text with their location. Siobhan and I both laughed hysterically and........went back to our warm beds. Clearly it was just not ment to be....no hard feelings. There was one positive of the night however, Siobhan and I spoke Spanish to each other the entire way to the bar, while we were waiting, and the entire way home :)
In other news, we also saw a single stripper heel abandoned on a street corner today...Oh the irony I know ;) Took a picture of course.....
Happy Valentine's Day to all <3
Love,
Tayler
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| Picture I took after we returned home...sums up the night! |
In other news, we also saw a single stripper heel abandoned on a street corner today...Oh the irony I know ;) Took a picture of course.....
Happy Valentine's Day to all <3
Love,
Tayler
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Culturally Confused...
So I am currently sitting with Siobhan in a modern little place called Café & Té, where we are you guessed it drinking coffee and munching on double chocolate chip muffins. Based on the menu, the muffin looked very appealing and I was anxious to have a taste of what I thought would be some homemade goodness. I was wrong....out with the coffee comes a prepackaged Otis Spunkmeyer muffin. So not exactly what I was anticipating, but pretty delicious nonetheless. However, the situation has become increasingly awkward. Since taking our seats, I have listened to the Black Eyed Peas, the "Friends" theme song, among many other American radio tunes. If this was the first time I had heard some music from home while here in Spain, I probably would have been excited...happy to have a little piece of home. However, since arriving in Spain, American music is pretty much all I have heard and it is starting to grate on my nerves. Every discoteca and many of the stores play Lady Gaga and Beyonce, Katy Perry and Usher. Like seriously?!
We also went out exploring again on Friday, taking plenty of photos to share with you all (I will be posting them to Facebook shortly), and last night we watched a terrible scary movie called "Darnkess" with our host parents. All in all not a bad week :) Its supposed to rain for the next few days starting tomorrow, so Siobhan and I are actively researching some activities to keep us entertained lol.
We are happy to announce that we have officially booked our tickets for Valencia and cannot wait to see everyone in just 18 days! So much is happening that it is difficult to include/remember everything here on the blog. I will do my best to keep you all updated on the good and the bad....and the hilarious of course ;) Siobhan and I have had some good laughs in the past 2 weeks...one of my favorites has to be seeing a women walk by us on the street carrying her puppy in basically a Baby Bjorn. The dog was strapped to her chest with its little feet sticking straight out in front. As not to be the stereotypically rude Americans, we resisted the urge to take a picture...Sorry guys :(
Love to all,
Tayler
Siobhan and I have kind of laid low this week, mostly because I came down with a bad cold last weekend and didn't much feel like venturing out at night. Feeling much much better now though..thanks to the Spanish cough medicine I picked up at the Farmacia, which by the way tastes 600 times better than Robitussin).
Have no fear though...we were not complete hermits. On Wednesday we went out with just the girls for a little vino.
We also went out exploring again on Friday, taking plenty of photos to share with you all (I will be posting them to Facebook shortly), and last night we watched a terrible scary movie called "Darnkess" with our host parents. All in all not a bad week :) Its supposed to rain for the next few days starting tomorrow, so Siobhan and I are actively researching some activities to keep us entertained lol.
We are happy to announce that we have officially booked our tickets for Valencia and cannot wait to see everyone in just 18 days! So much is happening that it is difficult to include/remember everything here on the blog. I will do my best to keep you all updated on the good and the bad....and the hilarious of course ;) Siobhan and I have had some good laughs in the past 2 weeks...one of my favorites has to be seeing a women walk by us on the street carrying her puppy in basically a Baby Bjorn. The dog was strapped to her chest with its little feet sticking straight out in front. As not to be the stereotypically rude Americans, we resisted the urge to take a picture...Sorry guys :(
Love to all,
Tayler
Thursday, February 10, 2011
55 degrees and sunny...
A beautiful beautiful day in Salamanca. Classes are finished for the week and I could not be more excited. Siobhan and I had big plans for this afternoon/evening, but unfortunately things did not pan out the way we thought they would. We had planned on watching a movie version of Lorca´s "La casa de Bernarda Alba" and then follow that up with a Mediterranean style cooking class. However, the dvd became jammed in the dvd player, making it impossible to use. We did make a friend though...Ian from Missouri. Further, we discovered that 10 people did not sign up for the cooking class (btw we were never told by our coordinator that this was necessary) so it would not be taking place. Nevertheless, Siobhan and I refused to accept defeat. Instead we spent 2 hours roaming around the city in the amazing weather, taking pictures and getting caught up in the indescribable charm. We finished our walk with a stop at our favorite local spot Cafe Novelty for chocolate and churros, sitting at a table in the sunshine on the outskirts of La Plaza Mayor.
Overall a great day :) We are hoping to take a tour of the cathedrals tomorrow and do some more exploring. Also trying to finish booking tickets for our trip to Valencia in about 2 weeks as well as plan out our other weekend adventures for the semester.
One of those days where you really realize how fortunate and lucky you are for such an amazing experience....totally worth it.
Love,
Tayler
P.S. our host family´s oldest son is coming for a visit this weekend...can´t wait to meet him!
Overall a great day :) We are hoping to take a tour of the cathedrals tomorrow and do some more exploring. Also trying to finish booking tickets for our trip to Valencia in about 2 weeks as well as plan out our other weekend adventures for the semester.
One of those days where you really realize how fortunate and lucky you are for such an amazing experience....totally worth it.
Love,
Tayler
P.S. our host family´s oldest son is coming for a visit this weekend...can´t wait to meet him!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Catching up....
Sorry for the lack of blogging folks. I cannot believe that I have almost been in Salamanca for 2 weeks! Siobhan and I have adjusted nicely. We have begun to explore more of the city a little and have started to do a better job taking pictures. Classes are still going well, but the homework is beginning to increase. Speaking of homework, Siobhan and I were not successful in completing our homework assignment for our cine, prensa y television course (aka project get a Spanish boyfriend). However this was not for a lack of trying. We spoke to two very nice young men who at first glance appeared to be hispanic. Unfortunately upon further conversation we discovered that they were in fact from France. Yeah I know...we felt like idiots and to not make them feel unimportant/hide our disappointment we took their pictures and numbers lol. The funniest part was that we also ran into them a few nights later (they were up on the stage of the bar dancing). Siobhan and I had a VERY good laugh that night. Back to my classes, I learned the arabic alphabet today in my class el mundo arabe en el mundo hispanico. Let me tell you...SO hard. We all attempted to write our names in arabic...and as the arabic alphabet does not have a "y" or an "e" it was a little difficult to spell my name. My teacher, who I am convinced speaks arabic and knows everything there is to know about the language/culture (well as she is teaching the class I suppose she SHOULD), somehow managed to show me how to write my name. Im still trying to figure it out. In other news, made a new friend today. Her name is Lizzie and she is from Massachusetts. She is a freshman and this is her second semester here. Yes your thoughts are correct folks....the very first university that she ever attended was the University of Salamanca in Spain. She has been applying from here to schools in the states for when she returns. Ballsy! I am very excited about this new friend because not only is she sweet, but she knows a lot of girls that our native to Salamanca. We exchanged numbers and she said she would invite Siobhan and I out to coffee or something with them so we could make some only Spanish speaking friends. So pumped....this is exactly what we need!
Thats all I have for now...will be updating more frequently promise! For those that are curious..here is a photo of me and my "boyfriend" jajajajajaja (thats hahahaha in Spanish)
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| Me and Mr. France |
Tayler <3
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
You mean I actually came here to study....
As I mentioned in my previous posts, classes began yesterday. I am taking 4 classes - lengua española (Spanish language), el mundo árabe en el mundo hispánico (the arabe world in the hispanic world), la mujer en la historia de España (the women in the history of Spain) and Cine, prensa y televisión en España (movies, press and television in Spain). All of my professors are fantastic and based on the first lectures, I think every class is going to be very interesting. I am pleasantly surprised with how much I am able to understand in class and I have already forced myself to participate! So far I don't have too much homework, just a little reading, however I did get one particularly interesting assignment for Monday. My professor for Cine, prensa y televisión told us that over the weekend our homework is to find a Spanish speaking boyfriend. We must be able to produce a picture of ourselves with said boyfriend as well as be able to provide his phone number. If we can accomplish both tasks, we get 10 extra points on our final exam. Obviously because it is a homework assignment I have to do it ;) Not to panic dad.....it is not necessary to actually date him, but her point was that the best way to learn Spanish is to become friends with the native students here in Salamanca. Not only is it a very inexpensive way of learning the language, but also a way to ensure that we are constantly using it.
Luckily, I only have 2 classes a day with the exception of Friday..YAHTZEE! Its great to have free time to explore and I definitely plan on doing so.
Hasta luego...and much much love,
Tay
Luckily, I only have 2 classes a day with the exception of Friday..YAHTZEE! Its great to have free time to explore and I definitely plan on doing so.
Hasta luego...and much much love,
Tay
The First Night in Spain
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| Restaurant where Siobhan, Alexa, and I ate dinner. We were joined by our T&E coordinator Marta and the 3 other girls in our program. Great food and even better company! |
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| First drink of the trip! |
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| After hours and hours of traveling, we look pretty damn good if I do say so myself ;) |
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| A bar that we went to after dinner. Apparently these chupiterías are all the rage (basically all they serve is shots!) |
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| When in Spain........ |
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The City
Over the past few days, Siobhan and I have really begun to find our way around. Although we end up at our destinations at times by accident, we are proud of ourselves nonetheless lol. Luckily for us our Spanish mother and brother gave us a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the city and we are able to use the various buildings and monuments that they pointed out to us as reference points on our excursions alone.
The city of Salamanca is absolutely breathtaking and there is in an almost indescribable character. All of the streets are made of cobblestone and all of the buildings are constructed using the same colored stone. While the stone appears to be a shade of tan, we have been told that depending on the weather and the reflection of the sun the buildings vary in color from a lighter tan to a deeper orange.
Have not taken too many pictures yet, but I will definitely be stepping up my game as the days continue. Now that we have a better understanding of how to get from point A to point B, I feel more relaxed and am more willing to wander around, stopping to take in the sights around me.
More descriptions of the city to come as well as some PICTURES! Will also be filling you all in on how classes are going (they started this morning :) )
Love,
Tayler
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