My First Week

First of all, it’s been wonderful to hear from a lot of you that had comments about my trip so far. Thank you for reading J

I have gotten to see so much more of the city since my last post. The class that I am taking this week is a one credit orientation-like class before my real classes start called “The Spanish Student Versus the American Student”. On Friday, we went to a dancing class and learned flamenco! It was so fun, but also challenging. I now know I will never be a professional flamenco dancer.

This is a popular song we heard in class from the Spanish Idol runner-up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EJNR-0N0vo

We also went to 4 different tapas restaurants and people in my class ate pig ears, mouth, cheeks, ribs, cow tongue…basically any part of an animal. At first I thought it was slightly gross and strange, but we eat bacon and hot dogs and who really knows what those are made of. I have been eating seafood almost everyday for lunch (which I usually never eat, but without seafood here, being a vegetarian would be very difficult). Lunch is the main meal in Spain and it is around 2:30. The other day Pilar made an egg omelet saturated with calamari and a crab salad. I finished ¾ of it, but when I don’t eat it all she asks, “you don’t like my cooking?” but I do appreciate the meals. For breakfast this morning she made delicious elephant ear/French toast-like treats.

During the month of July, Salamanca has “rebajas” which are massive clearances when the stores are trying to get rid of all their merchandise. I bought pants that every girl seems to have in Salamanca. They are bright, colorful, fun, and resemble a mixture of Aladdin’s pants and MC Hammer’s. (picture coming soon)

This morning my friends and I ran to the river and rented paddleboats. Later tonight, we are going to another free jazz concert in the nearby garden. We are taking advantage of all the free opportunities – such as museums that are free on certain days of the week, concerts, and theater plays.

I am beyond excited for the trips that I have planned. Next weekend, I am going with the U of M group to Toledo and Burgos. The weekend after that I am going to Venice, Italy with my parents, which is going to be absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to see them. Then, I am headed to Paris, France to visit my friend Stephanie who is interning there this summer!

The weekdays are also fun because Carlitos comes over to play. My senora said that he has a crush on me, but I didn't understand what she was saying at first, so a game of charades followed. He is also obsessed with playing with Hotwheels cars, so I too have taken up the new pastime.

This first week has been really fun, but I am ready for classes to start because I am a nerd. and I'm here for study abroad, which could easily be forgotten with how little studying has gone on so far.