¡Llegué a Salamanca*!

*la semana pasada.

Our ISA group left Ávila last Monday and arrived in Salamanca after a short bus ride. After reading Megan's well-researched post about Oviedo, the city where she is studying abroad this semester (found here: http://meganannkingery.blogspot.com.es/ ), I felt like I should give some background information about Salamanca. It seemed like such a shame to duplicate information that's already out there, though... so if you're interested in a well thought out and detailed description of the city, you can find that aqui: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamanca.

Here's my own Cliffnotes version: Salamanca is a "college town" of 150,000 located in the northwest part of Spain. The University of Salamanca was founded in 1218 and is the oldest university in Spain and 3rd oldest in all of Europe (pretty cool, eh?). Roughly 30,000 students attend the university, including around 2,000 international students. The University of Salamanca and the city have a good reputation for being a good place to learn Spanish, so Salamanca attracts students from various countries all around the world. Tourism and the universities are the biggest income-generators for the city. It is in the top 20 for most bars and most churches per capita in Spain (I guess that balances out, right?).

Plaza Mayor en Salamanca

When we arrived in Salamanca, our host mom was there to greet Jack and I and take us back to her apartment. Jack is my roommate for the semester. We are staying in a cozy apartment just north of the downtown area in Salamanca. We are staying with a retired couple, Patro y José. They both seem really nice and have been patient with Jack & I as we practice our Spanish. Neither of them speak any English, which is excelente because it forces me to practice my Spanish! After a week, I feel like my Spanish has improved already (or maybe just my confidence has). I can't talk politics with them yet, but we can at least hold a conversation... and I have a feeling that they would love to talk politics with me as soon as I can!

We jumped right into things once we got to Salamanca. The morning after we arrived I took a placement test to make sure I'll be able to handle courses with locals. They haven't sent me back to the States yet, so I must have done OK. Wednesday (the day after the placement test) I started classes! For the first 3 weeks I'm taking 3 "intensive" classes with other International students: Spanish Language, Conversation & Grammar, and Spanish Culture. Spain's second semester starts in February, so that's when I start taking courses with locals.

San Isidro, where I have 2 of my classes

The original University of Salamanca building
(now just a museum)

I don't know why I put intensive in quotes, because so far my classes have been fairly intense! I only have 4 hours of class a day, but I also get a few hours of homework every night. My grammar and conversation classes are basically a review of everything I've ever learned in Spanish class. I'm glad I get a chance to practice before the classes with locals start, because some of my verb conjugations were a little rusty. The culture class is interesting as well. I didn't expect Spain to be so different than the US, but is definitely a completely unique culture!

The joke about not selling Colgate toothpaste here isn't true!

After finally having enough confidence that I could find my way back to our apartment (which looks exactly like the other 1000 apartments in a symmetrical circle around the center of the city), I went on a run for the first time this morning. It was crazy how deserted the city seemed at 7 in the morning. I barely saw any cars or people anywhere! Normally it's the complete opposite, with the streets and downtown packed with people of all ages walking around. Most places don't open until at least 9 and typically people seem to sleep in more here. I could get used to that!