It’s been a while since I last updated the blog and a lot has happened since then. First of all, on Saturday we arrived in Salamanca and moved into the residencia. Seeing all of us carry all of our huge suitcases up four flights of stairs must have been pretty amusing. The woman who runs the residencia is named Pilar and she is very nice and so funny. Pilar doesn’t speak any English so whenever we are around her and at the kitchen table we have to speak in Spanish the whole time. It’s been less then a week and I can already understand her better than I could on the first day. We all can speak Spanish better than I expected and usually it carries over after dinner and Pilar laughs at us from the next room over at some of the “Spanish” phrases we use.
After doing a lot of touristy things and taking tours this weekend we had our placement exam on Monday morning and then started classes on Tuesday. I placed into Advanced Spanish grammar and in addition to that I have a class on culture and a class on conversation. Combined this makes four straight hours of class each day, five days a week. I think that’s more time than I spend in class per week at Stonehill. This is because this is part of the semester early start program, the academic year for Spanish college students doesn’t start until the beginning of October, and my schedule will change then. But for now it’s four hours of Spanish, everyday. On our first day of classes we left twenty minutes early and got to class ten minutes late. It turns out that our classes are actually much closer than we originally thought and we walked in a huge loop to try and get there. Our teacher didn't mind and now we have no problem finding our building. I really enjoy my classes though I think they are very interesting and I find it easier to pay attention when you constantly have to be listening to understand a different language. All of the professors are very energetic people and have fun teaching the classes.
Today (Thursday) is a holiday in Salamanca because it is the day of the patron Saint of the city. There are fiestas going on everywhere, there were fireworks and a concert last night and there is something happening almost every night this week. We are also in the process of figuring out where and when we want to travel to! We realized we only have about fourteen weekends here in Europe and when we looked up airline tickets they were very cheap! If any others who have already studied abroad and have suggestions about where to go please let me know!
Today we went and saw a local soccer game during the day. At halftime we started walking home as we saw a huge group of people sprinting up the street. Naturally there were people with huge paper mache heads chasing after them. Apparently this is some sort of tradition and they parade trough the city as kids join on their parade as they pass by. We are thinking that tomorrow we should follow them all throughout the city. Tonight after dinner we went to the Plaza MAyor for the huge concert that took place. We looked a little out of place when everyone in the audience was singing along with the songs and we had never heard them before but it was still really fun. Attached are a few of the many pictures I have taken so far. Enjoy!
The courtyard of the University of Salamanca
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