¡Bienvenido a Salamanca!

La Catedral Nueva (Built in 1600s)

I was so surprised…that Salamanca is absolutely gorgeous.

Well, we finally made it to Salamanca. Let me just recap what happened after that last blog (which I typed yesterday, even though it’s being posted at the same time…sorry): So we waited for that bus I mentioned...apparently in the wrong place. We ended up missing the bus we paid for, buying another ticket (50 euro for both, ugh), and meeting a really sweet guy.

Seriously, this dude was so nice and helpful. We had to call T&E, the program we’re here with, to have them let our host family know we’d be later than expected. My card wasn’t working at the payphones (which I have successfully learned to use in Spain), so we were running out of options. Suddenly, this guy walks up and asks if we needed help. I work my Spanish magic to get out that we need to make a call and he goes ahead and does it for us on his cell phone. I mean, I could’ve explained it to the lady myself, but I guess the guy thought we wouldn’t be able to communicate with her…Anyway, he gave me his business card. Not a big deal.

After that experience, we moseyed over to the bus parking lot (really?) and eventually got on, rode the 2 ½ hours to Salamanca, and got in the car with our host “mother” Yolanda, and a very happy Giana—she’d been with our host family practically all day by herself and was feeling a little overwhelmed.

I love our living situation. Sure, it’s kind of a long walk when you have to do it several times a day, but it’s really a nice walk anyway. And our family is so nice. We don’t really know the names of the other people in the house—they never introduced themselves—but they’re very patient while we try to answer and ask them things, and they really take the time to make sure we’re having a good stay and that we understand the customs of the house.

The house, by the way, is kind of more of an apartment—I’m not sure how to describe it. Really, I’ll just say it’s mostly like an apartment. We live on the second floor of four. There isn’t a lot of space around the house—narrow walkways, skinny rooms, etc.—but it is nice, and we’re told that most Spaniards live in close quarters. It’s just how they live. Our room is tiny. And yes, we all share one room. Seriously, our three beds take up the entire space from one wall to the other, leaving maybe 40 square feet between the door and the other wall—not including the desk and tiny wardrobe we share. Basically, we’ve converted the desk into our “bathroom supplies” area, and have to stow our suitcases, full of other random things there’s no space for, under the beds. But it’s really not that bad. 

About 3/4 of our bedroom...

It’s really strange adjusting to the Spanish way of life already, and the fact that we’re completely surrounded by the language 24/7, but we’re working on it. We got up this morning at 8, had breakfast (consisting of two slices of toast) at 9, and were led to the Plaza Mayor straight after. Lunch was supposed to be at 2 at home, but we didn’t get back in time. Instead, Giana, Caroline and I bought stuff in a small shop—it was siesta time, meaning that practically everything was closed, and we had to take what we could get. We had a very healthy lunch of cold hot dogs, Lay’s potato chips, Coke, water, and weird wafer things Caroline bought. Oh, and we ate it on a bench off the street. The Spaniards were definitely looking at us funny for that—especially since we obviously look like tourists. But it was fun, and Giana and I rediscovered our love for cold hot dogs. 

Here we are, looking really cool...

I won’t bore you with all the details of our day, but we got a tour, and also wandered around a little on our own after siesta. The city is gorgeous. The buildings are just so beautiful, and so Medieval and Renaissance. The churches we’ve seen are absolutely stunning—so much intricate work with the stone—and the streets are so clean. It’s beautiful. I love the city a lot, and being forced to use Spanish all the time has already made me feel, if not more confident, then maybe a little more comfortable, with it. It’s intimidating talking with people who don’t even know English and who speak the “purest” Spanish (apparently the language was mostly developed here, not a big deal), but they tend to be very patient, it seems.

Sorry this is so long, but there was just so much to tell! And there’s so much more I feel I’ve left out, but it’s really only relevant to us here, so I won’t relate it. Also, I’ll try to get some pictures up as soon as we find some internet—there is absolutely none in the house, and we haven’t found an internet place yet. For now, know that we’re here, we’re enjoying ourselves, we’re struggling a little, and we’re learning a lot. And we may go to a tapas bar tonight—we’ll see. If so, it won’t be too late, since we have our placement test at 9 tomorrow. But again, we’ll see.

Hopefully we get internet before I end up having to post three posts at once…¡Hasta luego!