lunes, 22 de julio de 2013
July 6: Free Day
This day was certainly a long one. We began our Saturday morning with an exhausting scavenger hunt. I know scavenger hunts sound like something little kids do, but it was actually really fun and helped me understand where everything in Salamanca is located.
We were required to find important locations, take pictures of landmarks, get answers to random questions, or buy items. Jaime, Milo, and I comprised our team, and we started at the Plaza Mayor and were then told to find all the things on the scavenger hunt list in under 2 hours.
July 4: The Fourth of July Overseas
Clearly, because we were in a foreign country, it did not matter that this day was the 4th of July. However, when I woke up, I found the need to remind my roommates about it sleepily.
July 3: Sorpresas y Carbajosa
My roommate and I decided to run every morning. So today, we ran to a nearby park called the Parque de las Jesuitas. It is a gigantic park, and it actually made for a good run because it is so big, and there is actually outdoor exercise equipment there (yeah, like you would find in a gym). So we ran through the beautiful park, tried to figure out how to use the equipment, and then ran back. It was pretty good.
School went well. Because it was already the third day, I was getting into the swing of things, and I could feel myself talking more in class and becoming more comfortable in class.
Apparently, on every wednesday at ISLA, they have a "sorpresa" during break, which is where they serve food in the courtyard to lure everyone into the same space to mingle. They do it every week because so many people come and go every week that it's nice to get to know people halfway through the week that you hadn't met before.
They served us cerezas (cherries) and cafe con leche (my favorite). They were so tasty and our group of Americans bravely tried to mingle with new international friends. Something striking to me was that they offered us champagne (before realizing that we were minors and from the USA). For me it was a huge wow moment that I thought was pretty funny.
After school (and after lunch), we were to meet to go to Carbajosa, which is a town
School went well. Because it was already the third day, I was getting into the swing of things, and I could feel myself talking more in class and becoming more comfortable in class.
Apparently, on every wednesday at ISLA, they have a "sorpresa" during break, which is where they serve food in the courtyard to lure everyone into the same space to mingle. They do it every week because so many people come and go every week that it's nice to get to know people halfway through the week that you hadn't met before.
They served us cerezas (cherries) and cafe con leche (my favorite). They were so tasty and our group of Americans bravely tried to mingle with new international friends. Something striking to me was that they offered us champagne (before realizing that we were minors and from the USA). For me it was a huge wow moment that I thought was pretty funny.
After school (and after lunch), we were to meet to go to Carbajosa, which is a town
July 2: The Tortoise
We woke up to a tortoise outside our window, crawling across the neighbor's porch. So cute!
PHOTO
Anyway, we had already woken up late so we couldn't spend too much time appreciating the tortoise. My roommate and I had told ourselves that we would run every day before school, and today our plan was to run to the park and explore, but that didn't go so well. We quickly realized that we had not listened well enough when our host mom told us the directions, absolutely no idea where we were going when we left the house. Instead, our morning run ended up being a run in circles up and down the street.
It was a scorching day, so a few of us decided to go to the pool for the first time. Chris had suggested that we go to a pool across the Río Tormes, and had even drawn abstract circles and lines on a Salamanca map to show us exactly where to go.
PHOTO
Anyway, we had already woken up late so we couldn't spend too much time appreciating the tortoise. My roommate and I had told ourselves that we would run every day before school, and today our plan was to run to the park and explore, but that didn't go so well. We quickly realized that we had not listened well enough when our host mom told us the directions, absolutely no idea where we were going when we left the house. Instead, our morning run ended up being a run in circles up and down the street.
It was a scorching day, so a few of us decided to go to the pool for the first time. Chris had suggested that we go to a pool across the Río Tormes, and had even drawn abstract circles and lines on a Salamanca map to show us exactly where to go.
July 1: El Primer Día de Clases
I honestly thought that classes would suck. I'd been in a spanish immersion class before which had consisted of a bunch of Americans crammed into a room, asking the teacher to "slow down" when whenever s/he spoke. My greatest fear was that I would hear loud American voices all day instead of Spanish ones. So not to say that I was pre-judging the class, but I had my doubts.
There were a few things, though, that immediately assured me that this school really would be cool:
1. When I stepped outside to where the students congregated, I heard at least 5 different languages flying through the air
2. There were only 6 students in my class
3. My teacher demanded that we use "tú" instead of "usted" to talk to them.
Two Italian girls, one German guy, one British guy, and two other American students comprised my class. We began the class with introductions about where we were all from, what we like to do, how old we are, yadda yadda yadda.
Class flew by that day, and before I knew it, it was 2:00 and time to go home. We had a lovely lunch and then had a bit of free time before meeting up with the group. My roommates and I decided to explore the city.
First, we stumbled upon the famous Casa de las Conchas. I had really been looking forward to seeing this building, so I demanded that we sit on the stairs and just stare at it for a while. So be it; we sat on the stairs for a solid 15 minutes, just gaping at its awesomeness.
After that, we continued exploring up the little cobblestone street we were on. I can honestly say I have no idea how we found it, but we discovered a beautiful secret garden that reminded me of The Secret Garden. It was filled with overgrown ivy, rose plants, and love letter-covered walls. It was really romantic and adorable.
I discovered an old fountain/well type thing that was completely enveloped in all typed of locks. The locks were covered with initials of couples who had been lucky enough to visit Salamanca in the past. I thought it was really adorable to look at all the little love notes scribbled on the locks, on the walls, on the sidewalk, and on the trees. The entire garden was magical to walk around in.
There were a few things, though, that immediately assured me that this school really would be cool:
1. When I stepped outside to where the students congregated, I heard at least 5 different languages flying through the air
2. There were only 6 students in my class
3. My teacher demanded that we use "tú" instead of "usted" to talk to them.
Two Italian girls, one German guy, one British guy, and two other American students comprised my class. We began the class with introductions about where we were all from, what we like to do, how old we are, yadda yadda yadda.
Class flew by that day, and before I knew it, it was 2:00 and time to go home. We had a lovely lunch and then had a bit of free time before meeting up with the group. My roommates and I decided to explore the city.
First, we stumbled upon the famous Casa de las Conchas. I had really been looking forward to seeing this building, so I demanded that we sit on the stairs and just stare at it for a while. So be it; we sat on the stairs for a solid 15 minutes, just gaping at its awesomeness.
After that, we continued exploring up the little cobblestone street we were on. I can honestly say I have no idea how we found it, but we discovered a beautiful secret garden that reminded me of The Secret Garden. It was filled with overgrown ivy, rose plants, and love letter-covered walls. It was really romantic and adorable.
I discovered an old fountain/well type thing that was completely enveloped in all typed of locks. The locks were covered with initials of couples who had been lucky enough to visit Salamanca in the past. I thought it was really adorable to look at all the little love notes scribbled on the locks, on the walls, on the sidewalk, and on the trees. The entire garden was magical to walk around in.
There was also an amazing view of Salamanca, and we took looked out at the impressive view for a while before leaving the garden. We found out later that the garden is called El Huerto de Calixto y Melibea.
We were to meet around 6:00 to get our international phones. We all walked to a store called Yoigo and one by one entered the tiny store to buy our 10€ Spanish phones.
While one of us was inside, the rest were outside talking. Due to the fact that we had only really begun to know each other that morning, this time served for everyone to get to know each other better, and soon enough, the chore of acquiring new phones turned into a good time. We observed spanish people, and wondered in our loud American accents why spanish people were looking at us questioningly.
Once we had all been given our new spanish phones, we exchanged numbers and walked back to the Plaza Mayor. It was starting to get dark, and it was about time for dinner. Many of us were still feeling jet-lagged, and we all retreated home for tasty dinners and a good night's sleep.
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