The Wandering Eph

Trip Number 2: Ciudad Rodrigo

2009-02-15T13:09:00.002-05:00

Well, Sarah (my Williams friend here) and I finally got our act together and traveled yesterday! Our incredibly economically-friendly trip (I think I spent all of 25 euros) was fantastic. Ciudad Rodrigo is a country town only an hour and 15 minutes from Salamanca on a very comfortable bus, and we had a great day walking around the midieval walls and looking at beautiful views. Pictures to follow soon, I promise!

Ciudad Rodrigo was a very important strategic site in the Middle Ages. It's on the highest ground in the area and it's very close to the border with Portugal. So there's a complicated system of walls that are about 900 years old now, and they are very well preserved. There are turrets, cannon and arrow openings, and the highest level of walls is open for you to walk around the city. The views are really impressive; the area of Spain where we are is very flat and the day was bright and clear so we could see for miles. We got there at about 9:45 in the morning, and the frost was just beginning to melt as the sun warmed everything up. It was so pretty! We were especially lucky because the weather has finally decided to behave, and it was the first really nice sunny day we've had. What a great travel day.

Since it was so nice we walked a TON in the morning, and got really hungry so we ventured into the town for a snack. The streets are cobblestone and gorgeously old looking, just like everything here! We wandered into the Mesón La Paloma, a bar with tapas where we sampled some potato and egg concoction and fried calamari with our coffee. Calamari is very common and cheap here; I'm really developing a taste for it! They just sell it with a little bit of lemon to squeeze over it and it was perfectly cooked and not rubbery at all ... delicious. I'm also going to have a hard time getting rid of my coffee addiction! I swear, Spanish people drink more coffee and wine then water. It's kind of crazy, but I kind of like it, surprisingly.

We were very refreshed after our stop, and moved on to find the Cathedral. It was lovely. Much smaller than the cathedrals in Toledo or Salamanca, of course, but it was very pleasant to be able to thoroughly investigate all the nooks and crannies. I got lost in the Cathedral in Toledo, but this one was much more people sized! Pictures were outlawed once again, but it was nice to see the building. It also had a very nice courtyard with intricate ceilings and lots of sun to get us warm again after the chilly church.

We picnicked on top of the wall, looking out over the countryside. (Maybe we were looking at Portugal! I have no idea!) It was very nice to just sit and talk and bask in the sun. We also wandered into a photo museum, and saw about 7 different Spanish photojournalists' work. All of them had an important societal message, so I enjoyed the pictures as well as the themes. It was interesting to see how much the important issues in the United States are issues here as well. There were exhibits on immigration, Alzheimer's, inner city poverty ... they were all gifted artists and it was a nice show.

During the siesta hours, not much is open, so we wandered into plazas and parks. Just before we had to leave, we went into a most delicious looking bakery where we met a very nice old lady who lived in Ciudad Rodrigo. We bought some cookies that she recommended (sugary and flaky, very good even if we don't know what they are) plus some annis cookies and a chocolate croissant to eat right there on the spot. So we ended our day in another park, eating the best chocolate croissant I've ever had with rich chocolate ganache filling, and took the bus home.

Well, I was too tired to do anything but fall into bed last night after dinner, but wasn't it a perfect day? Sarah and I had a great time traveling together, and we want to do it again soon. :-)

In other news, here in Salamanca I took two of my midterms. I got a 100 on one (I told you my classes here were easier than Williams!) and I get the grade for the other tomorrow. I have two more this week, and these will be more difficult because they are Emory classes, but I have plenty of time to study and I'm sure I will be fine. Pilar and Ju are doing well, and we ate the first sausage this week from the "matanza" this year, which is the annual pig slaughter. I know, it sounds gruesome, but it was amazing to eat sausage that Pilar's brother made a month ago and cured in his home. It was ... beyond delicious! As my Spanish culture professor told me, "No hay nada como lo natural" - There's nothing like natural. My carnivorous self was very happy!

This Thursday night, I am hopping on an overnight bus and heading to Cádiz in the south for Carnival! It's a huge deal here, and Carnival in Cádiz is the most famous Carnival in Spain. I'll be there all weekend, and will probably return very tired but hopefully with lots of great pictures and a very unique travel and cultural experience. I just have to get through my tests first ... :-) I'll post the update next week!

Sickness is BAD. Pilar, however, is wonderful!

2009-02-09T11:27:00.002-05:00

So, my Salamanca cold turned into a full blown sore throat, runny nose, headachey, potential feverish nightmare. I was a very unhappy girl on Friday, and all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep forever. Luckily, since I don't have classes on Friday afternoons, this was a completely plausible and brilliant plan. Pilar, my wonderful host mom, acted as my nurse as well and sent me to the drugstore for a lovely substance called Frenadol. It's the Spanish version of cold medicine, but instead of a pill it's a powder that you dissolve in a glass of water and drink. It was supposed to taste like lemon, but it was more like lemon mixed with benadryl or something ... however, it was entirely worth the slight unpleasantness. That stuff knocked me out harder than I've ever been knocked out before, and I took a two and a half hour nap, woke up and finished the book I was reading, ate dinner at 9, took more Frenadol, and was back in bed at 10:30. I woke up at 10 the next morning feeling tons and tons better, and had a very low key day. I did my laundry and was the only one in the laundromat on Saturday morning, I did some homework so I would have time to study for midterms (this week and next week! that was fast!), and I stayed in again on Saturday. So now there are no sniffles at all, and I really enjoyed my weekend in. I've been making a big effort to go out on the weekends to meet people and enjoy the Spanish lifestyle, but when it comes down to it, I would much rather stay at home with Pilar and Ju and a book than go to a dark, smoky bar. I am not putting a moratorium on nights out, of course! I just needed a break this weekend, and I'm glad I got it.

So, as I said, midterms start this week. Yuck. I have one tomorrow for grammar and one on Wednesday for my class on Women in Spain, and next week for Memory and Literature in Salamanca. However, since all my classes here are pass-fail and the classwork has been far less demanding then Williams, I am not too worried. I'm not really worried at all, actually. I will study and do my best, of course, and I'm sure I will do very well! I'm also trying to plan a day trip for the weekend, with Sarah, who is the only other girl from Williams here in Salamanca. If it works out, that will be quite fun!

Pilar also tried a very typical Spanish dish out on me, and this was probably the first time that I was a little grossed out here ... you'll see. It's called cocido madrileño, and it's basically a garbanzo and veggies first course, which was delicious, followed by big broil with all the parts of a pig that normally we wouldn't eat. Luckily, there are cornmeal dumpling type things and sausage and meat in it as well, because Ju and I aren't gutsy enough to try all the other stuff. Like the pig feet, and the pig ears, and the slabs of pure fat that you cut up with your fork and spread on bread. I was not feeling it, but apparently it's a delicacy and very delicious but very bad for your arteries. I did try some of the tiny pieces of fried pig fat that you eat with bread, and they were sooooo good! However, I don't even want to know how many calories are in one tiny piece of fried pig fat. Probably more than I should have in a week.

Other than that, we've been shielded from the worst of the weather that's closed highways and canceled flights across Spain, and today it's almost warm. 12 celsius ... that's pretty good! Sorry I didn't do much this weekend, but I'll write again soon!

My gym is awesome!

2009-02-04T14:22:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to let you all know that the gym visit was a complete and total success, and I'm definitely going to enjoy it! Of course, I was quite nervous when I arrived this morning, since all the machines have instructions in Spanish. Yes, in theory, I should be able to read them, but in reality, not so much! If there's one word I don't understand I'm a total goner.

Luckily, there was hardly anyone in the gym, since 12:30 is still considered morning here in Spain, and I was able to puzzle over the mechanisms for quite a while before I discovered that it's basically the same as the States. I mean, of course, but I just wanted to be sure! And I had a nice workout with almost everything open and I think I am really going to like the whole midday workout routine. It made me feel very refreshed for the rest of the day, and to celebrate (and totally ruin my workout) I went to Valor and ate chocolate. It was a good day!

I think I'm going to try and go as often as possible, since I don't have a limit on the days I can go and I always have a gap from 12 to 2 in the middle of the day ... I really will be muscular! Woo hoo!

If I continue to go, that is! Just wanted to give you all an update on the scary foreign weights and I'll post again this weekend!

A Tuesday

2009-02-03T06:46:00.002-05:00

I officially have my first Spanish cold. Boo. That's not such an exciting thing to report, but I think it's because there is smoking permitted in every single outdoor or indoor space in Salamanca. My lungs are not used to that kind of abuse, so they are revolting. Luckily, the library doesn't allow smoking, so like the nerd I am, I go to the library a lot. :-)

Also, I have decided to join a gym for the first time in my life. I realize that in theory I could just go running or something, but I don't know if you've heard about our nasty weather. A cyclone formation (i.e. hurricane shaped thing on the radar! aaahhh!), unseasonal warm rain followed by snowmelt which creates floods, then unseasonal freezing cold with tons of snow, tornadoes: you name it and right now Spain's got it. The weather forecast is consistently depressing, but there is a gym across the street with nice warm machines that only costs 34 euros per month for a student. That is a deal I am willing to take!

So, I am going to be fabulously muscular when I get home. Just wanted to warn you all. :-)

Toledo continued, and some observations

2009-02-02T13:23:00.002-05:00

Okay, a long overdue continuation! After we ate lunch, we hurried to go see a couple of things that weren’t on our official schedule. First, the Museo de Santa Cruz, which is famous as a museum of El Greco. It holds 15 of his paintings, and they are all kept together in a little hallway off another lovely patio. It was shocking, actually, because the museum is free, and you just walk into a little, unassuming patio with examples of ancient art from Spain all along the walls, and then you turn a corner and you are inside with giant paintings of shadowy saints staring at you with intense agony or spiritual ecstasy, or something. Craziness. I could have spent hours in there, but I was with other people who wanted to keep moving, so we went up to see the Alcázar. Located on the highest point in the city, it’s a fortress as well as a military museum, but it was closed for renovations. So I went to a store and bought some earrings (pretty, silver, very delicate looking with a geometric design) and some postcards (which I’m going to send this week!), and headed back to the Plaza Zocodover to meet up with the group.

Then, we ventured down some lovely hidden streets in Toledo to see the house where El Greco lived. Turns out it’s just a best guess, and they don’t actually know where he lived. Also, the little museum that’s inside was closed. So I was unimpressed. I did, however, sit on El Greco’s potential doorstep. It was very comfy.

Our final visit was another synagogue, the Sinagogia del Tránsito, but this one was from the 6th century and is the oldest synagogue still standing in Spain. The Muslim influence was overwhelming here; I’ve actually never been inside a mosque but it was exactly as I imagine a mosque to be. Pointed arches, elaborate designs on the walls, and lots of open space. It is also home to a Jewish history museum that explains Jewish life in Spain through the centuries with some really beautiful clothing and religious articles to go along with the exhibit.

Finally, our very tired group had about an hour left to wander our way back to the bus. We walked outside the synagogue hoping to find a bench, to be greeted with the most beautiful views of Toledo yet. To make it even better, there was a park with tons of benches to enjoy the view and the sun was just starting to sink and create beautiful shadows. It really did look like an El Greco painting, because the light created pockets of intense light and intense shadow and because of the angle everything looked very long and stretched out … it was epic. We sat and talked and took tons of pictures during our last hour, met some other Americans who were backpacking across Spain (what fun!), and then crossed the river and left Toledo. A wonderful, exhausting, exactly-what-I-studied-abroad-for day.

Well, but that was over a week ago! I really think that having homework here is unfair. Like I have always thought at Williams, sometimes classes get in the way of college. In this case, sometimes classes on Spanish language and culture and literature get in the way of Spain! This has also been the week that I have discovered I will not like everyone in my program equally. This sounds obvious, but it came as a great surprise to me, and made me quite sad for a while. However, I also have one person from Williams who is here with me in Salamanca, and last night we got together and had a lovely talk. I hadn’t realized how much I missed talking to someone who understands where I come from! It was a great break, and made me feel much better about having friends in Spain.

Some things that I have been noticing, now that I’ve been here for a week and have begun to get in touch with the Spanish crazy:

People here eat EVERYTHING with utensils. Very occasionally at a bar you can eat pure finger food, but it’s amazing to me the things that are eaten with a fork and knife. I feel myself growing embarrassed when I use my hands to eat things. How funny is that? Examples: fruit. They peel oranges with a knife, cut them into four or eight sections (when oranges grow with sections pre-made!) and then eat the sections that they have so carefully cut with a fork. Odd. Apples are the same way; they are peeled and sectioned before eating. I don’t think they get the concept of just biting into an apple. However, I now make a point of doing so because otherwise I just feel weird. Also, french fries. I had fried potatoes with this delicious saucy thing at a bar for tapas and they gave us all forks. Really?

Lack of a concept of “take-out”: well, I shouldn't say a total lack, because they do understand the idea behind cheap food that you take home to eat when you don't want to cook. But if you have leftovers at a restaurant, then you just leave it there. You don't take it home. I was comparing these two concepts of restaurant with my host mom and her sister-in-law yesterday, and they were totally baffled by the idea of taking stuff home. Then, as they thought about it, they said oh yes, we do that here. Only it turns out they were thinking about wine. They said that if you order a nice bottle of wine somewhere and don't finish it, then you can get it corked up again and you can take it home. Unfortunately, then I was the one who was baffled. I had to explain to them that actually, we don't do that in the States. They then made some slightly disparaging comments about the difference between wine that a Spaniard would order and that an American would order that I had to agree with, in general!

I also discovered that I had done the homework for three days for my culture class accidentally, because our homework schedule is all weird. I would like to chalk that up to cultural differences as well, but I think that might be my fault. Oops. :-)

Anyway, I'm starting another week, and I realized that I've now been here a month ... wow. How time flies! More to come soon!

Holy Toledo!

2009-01-26T13:51:00.001-05:00

I know, it’s cheesy, but it’s what Rick Steves kept saying in my guidebook and I have to agree. What a place. I’m writing this up in my bed trying to keep my eyes open for long enough to get everything down, because I had a very tiring but great day. Toledo was the first seat of a bishop in Spain, and hence has Spain’s oldest cathedral site. It was also the first capital of Spain, and continued to be of great cultural importance throughout the era of the Muslim caliphate and during the empire of the Catholic kings. However, during more recent centuries Madrid has become the cultural and economic heart of the country, and Toledo slowly faded into the background. However, Franco did quite a lot of refurbishing (he was really into showing off the power of Catholic Spain, after all) and in the past few decades the entire city has been renovated in an attempt to refresh the site but maintain the look of ancient Toledo. The entire city is now a national monument, and it lives off of tourism. But with the most famous cathedral in Spain, the chance to see where El Greco lived and worked along with many of his most famous paintings, and a remarkably preserved Renaissance Spanish feel, I can understand why people from all over the world come to see Toledo.

Now, this was only a day trip, and so I had to be on a bus at 7 o’clock this morning. Not only was this far too insanely early for me, but on my way to the meeting place I ran into three very confused Japanese girls who were also looking for the bus. In our less than stellar Spanish, I explained to them that we had to keep going and pass the hospital, while they kept insisting, “No hay calle!”, or in other words, there is no street. They had not been able to find the right turn, but luckily we ran into some Americans headed the same place, and we discovered that we actually had to descend down some stairs and walk under a bridge to get to the right street. No wonder those poor girls were confused. So we made it just in time, in spite of all the confusion, and about 70 very sleepy international students boarded the two busses and headed to Toledo.

I was not prepared for a getting lost saga so early in the morning, but I got to take a little nap on the bus to refresh myself. It takes about three hours to get to Toledo, and during most of it we were driving through Castilla y León, the “autonomous community” that contains Salamanca. It’s the equivalent of a state in the US. Big, flat open expanses of fields and grass and cows are really all there is to see in Castilla y León; it’s still a very agricultural and livestock based economy. So I didn’t miss much as I slept, but I got to see the sun come up over windmills (the latest project of the Spanish government to try to get Spain completely energy independent) as we entered Castilla La Mancha, where Don Quijote takes place and, more importantly for today, where Toledo is located.

We drove up to the city, hopped off the bus, and were immediately treated to one of the most exquisite views of the city. Old central Toledo has a river as one of its sides, and we were on the other side of the river looking at the old buildings, the tiny streets, and the towers of San Juan de los Reyes, built for the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabel, and the Cathedral itself. Don’t worry; I got great pictures of all of this stuff! :-) It looks just like an El Greco painting: steep hillsides, big clouds, lots of bright sun and deep shadow. Just beautiful. Then we crossed the river on a very old but surprisingly sturdy-feeling stone bridge to arrive at San Juan de los Reyes for a tour. I was lucky enough to be on the bus that was led by the International Courses art history professor, and even though I realized how few art history terms I know in Spanish, I could understand enough to really appreciate all the places we visited. San Juan de los Reyes is a beautiful church with a convent attached, and was to be the official church of the Catholic kings until they decided to move their central operations because of the Reconquista. Because of this, there are shields with the coat of arms of Castilla and Aragón everywhere (the official Catholic kingdoms), but it’s also a rare time capsule. Only a few years after the church was completed, the Muslim kingdom of Grenada was captured, and the coat of arms was changed to include the symbol for Grenada. This made a lot of sense at the time, because conquering the entire Iberian Peninsula was a huge deal for Catholic Spain, but the shields in San Juan de los Reyes are like the version 1.0 of Spain’s coat of arms that got booted out of favor only a few years after the giant church was finally finished. Kind of unfortunate, but also very interesting. I also learned, thanks to Professor Quique, that Spanish churches are generally much shorter, have shorter arms, and have a wider central nave than other European churches. This is a holdover from Muslim mosque architecture, which was the model for holy buildings for centuries. So architects just decided to meld the mosque architecture with European Gothic to get a wide central space with a lot of emphasis on the appearance of height. It’s a unique architectural type of the Iberian Peninsula. Sweetness! There were also beautiful orange trees in the central patio, which looked beautiful and also made me very hungry. :-)

Next to Sinagogia de Santa María de la Blanca. Yes, that is a very confusing name. Built in the 12th century as a synagogue, after the Reconquista it became a church. Now it is simply known as the Synagogue of Mary the Pure, but this is just another example of the layering of religious and cultural identities over long centuries in Toledo. This one was rather small, but it also looked quite a lot like a mosque, with typical Muslim arches and geometric designs. This is apparently typical architecture of the Sephardic Jews, or the Jews who lived in Spain for centuries before their forced relocation under the orders of the Catholic kings. To this day, Sephardic Jewish communities build synagogues with a lot of Muslim-influenced designs and speak a sort of pidgin language that mixes 15th century Spanish with Hebrew and some other things that I can’t really remember. But isn’t that crazy? It was the history behind the building that really fascinated me; it wasn’t much to look at but what a story.

Then, the cathedral!!! Oh my goodness it was so beautiful. It was HUGE, of course, because that seems to be a requirement for a cathedral, but it was also a really complex layering of time periods and architectural strategies and art. Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, it’s all there and all larger than life. Spain is also really big on pain and suffering and darkness. When I write it out, it sounds terrible, but the culture is simply fascinated, as a whole, on the darker side of life. Sometimes to the point of pessimism, but more like devotedly realistic. So the elaborate walls and paintings often had contorted gargoyles and martyrs, and all the depictions of Jesus suffering are … well, I guess exactly what a crucifixion would have been like. It took my breath away. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed (what?!), but I took a highly illegal picture of the organ for my uncle because some of the pipes come out of the wall sideways! I also touched a stone where Mary stood and talked to Saint Ildefonso and lit a candle for my family. So it was a great visit, even if it had to be sans pictures.

Then it was lunch time, which has never been more welcome! Of course, Pilar packed me a banging lunch that consisted of a sausage sandwich (the sausage was homemade), some weird milk-and-pineapple drink which was surprisingly delicious, and chocolate cookies. Of course, I also had to try some marzipan, which is a delicacy in Toledo. They are supposed to make the best in Spain, so I had to try some. I went to Santo Tomé, which Rick Steves says is the best, and tried a uniquely Toledan candy: marzipan coated in pine nuts. I know, I was skeptical! But it was delicious, and their marzipan is far less sweet than in the states. More creamy. I loved it! I took a picture of their fabulous display too, so check it out! Warning: it’ll give you a hankering for candy.

This is a good place to stop, I think, especially since I’ve been writing this update since Saturday night when I got home. Sorry if stuff I wrote doesn’t make sense; I haven’t proofread at all, but my computer is about to die and I really wanted to put something up tonight. I’ll finish tomorrow or Wednesday, and in the meantime check out the first round of pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/sceley. None of them have captions yet, but I’ll get there, and at least you can see something of what it looks like here. More to come!

A very rainy week

2009-01-23T12:30:00.002-05:00

So much rain and grey and even snow ... this is nasty. And it's supposed to rain all this weekend and snow again on Monday. So still gross. I haven't done much besides go to class, eat, be outside as little as possible ... :-)

This Thursday, our weekly outing was to the movies, at the Cines Van Dyck. Yeah, kind of like Dick van Dyke, only pronounced with a long e in Spanish and the V is a B so more like Ban Deek. Which now that I write it out looks pretty hilarious! We saw a German movie dubbed in Spanish, La Ola (The Wave). I was more than a little apprehensive because it was dubbed, and it is far easier for me to understand Spanish when I can also see lips moving, but it actually turned out to be far easier to understand than I expected. Spanish tv is far more difficult; I guess sitcoms and the news move at a faster pace than a movie does. And it was a great film, but very disturbing. It's based on a true story that actually happened in the US. A high school teacher was teaching a section on autocracy, and he decided to create a mini autocracy in his classroom as a kind of group experiment. The class actually responded very favorably, but of course the experiment got out of hand ... lots of violence and unforgettable lessons later, I very much appreciate that I do not live under a fascist regime. However, I was also literally shaking as I left the theater. I need to look up the word for "disturbing" in Spanish, because it was really hard trying to explain to my host family what I thought about the movie.

So I guess it was a good movie if it could elicit that kind of an emotional response, but I felt a bit upset (guns were involved). I hung out with some Emory kids after that, but there is one kid here who I am having clingy problems with, so I didn't have as much fun as possible, but that's okay. I think he is just severely socially insecure, and his tactic seems to be to attach himself to one person at a social gathering. Unfortunately that was me last night, but I think this is only temporary, since none of us really know each other. At least I hope so, and at the very least I have other people here who are willing to rescue me if it gets too ridiculous.

Now here's the very exciting news of the week: Toledo is ancient Spain's capital and the entire city is protected as a national monument. It is famous for swordmaking, it was El Greco's home and a major site for seeing his artwork, and has one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Spain. And I'm going to visit tomorrow. :-) :-) !!!

It was very last minute; there was a very poorly advertised trip that the International Courses at the University of Salamanca was offering, and I just heard about it on Tuesday. I thought I was going to try to maybe see some of north Spain with some Emory people, but that fell through, so on a whim I decided to check and see if by some miracle they had tickets left, and they did! It's actually a really great deal. 38 euros for transportation there and back, breakfast, and all the museum entrances. I'll take tons of pictures and borrow somebody's camera cord to finally get some pictures up online, and I can't wait to see the city. It's supposed to be breathtaking but perfect for a long day trip, and boy will it be long, but I'm sure I'll love it. I'm meeting the bus (not waking up, meeting the bus) at 7 tomorrow morning, which is far too early for me but I think it's worth it. I'll write something up about Toledo on Sunday! I'm excited! Next time I write, I'll have great stories!

Today is gross.

2009-01-19T13:59:00.002-05:00

Rain everywhere, and I forgot my umbrella. Plus I took a nap and woke up late and was 10 minutes late to class. Plus I told my poor mother the wrong hour for our skype date. woops.

That's okay, not every day in Spain can be perfect, I suppose! And sorry it's just been a downer day, so let me think of something good ... uh, I took a nap! That was good. And I don't have class til 9 tomorrow! Also really good. My psych professor is at a conference in Galicia, so no class at all this week. Unfortunately, lunch today was not so good. Not bad, but it was pasta and Pilar is a great cook but my dad definitely cooks better tomato sauce! I guess great sauce is more of an Italian thing.

Yup, I had a few minutes so I just figured I would give a very boring daily update. More interesting things after our trip to the movies on Thursday, I'm sure!

Spanish chocolate. Heck yes.

2009-01-18T14:33:00.002-05:00

So far, still very good. Lord, how I love Spanish food! And I actually feel busy now, which is a really good feeling to have. When we first got here, we were all strangers to each other, so you didn’t really know who to call if you were bored. But now it’s much easier, since we are getting to know where we live, what the city around us is like, and where some good places are to go hang out. I have found that the strangest thing for me has been the constant movement, and the living away from home. I am such a homebody; sitting at home reading a book is my idea of the perfect afternoon. But here, electricity costs a ton and heat is controlled by the apartment building, so it’s always cold and dark. I have spent a few evenings with my head lamp and a book huddled under the covers (nerd alert!), but clearly this society is geared toward getting out and going places. This is not something I usually do. And arriving at a city full of strangers makes it hard to have a destination, but it is getting better. Yay!

Yesterday was Desi’s birthday, and we went to the best and most expensive chocolatería in town. It was so worth it. It was called Valor: Placer Adulta, which literally translated means Worth or Value: Adult Pleasure. Not sure if that has the same connotations in Spanish as it clearly does in English, but it doesn’t matter because I was in heaven!

In Spain, there’s an old tradition of chocolate con churros. Not churros like the fried, sugar covered things that they sell in the States at fairs. The similar part is the fried dough; it tastes sort of like a funnel cake but in the shape of a thick stick, and no sugar is needed. Why? Because of the chocolate, which is like pure melted dark chocolate, but mixed with something to keep it fluid, and they give you an entire coffee cup full of it with about four churros. You dip the churros into this fantastic chocolate stuff, and then when all the churros are gone, you finish off the chocolate by actually drinking it. All my life I have dreamed of an excuse to drink melted chocolate, only to discover that in Spain, they’ve been doing it for centuries. How civilized.

Of course, the quality of the chocolate and the churros depends on where you go, but Valor is famous for chocolate con churros. They also have a ridiculous menu with various kinds of drinkable chocolate with different things added to it (one of my friends tried the Aztec Spices Drinkable Chocolate), truffles, cake, cold chocolate drinks, chocolate fondue … unbelievable. Yes, it costs 4€, but it’s worth it. I think that might be a once a month treat for me. I have to sample some more things on the menu, after all. Or maybe once a week. :-)

We went out for tapas after that, and this time I tried patatas ali-oli, which I basically only ordered because the name sounded cool. It’s fried potatoes with a kind of aioli-ish sauce made with mayonnaise and garlic and salt. I really liked it; it’s probably not very good for you but this is Spanish bar food, after all. And then we just sat around in a bar with Spanish wine (highly delicious) talking til 3 in the morning. Probably my favorite night so far, actually. Yay!

Today we went to our favorite wifi cafe and tried to do some elementary trip planning. It looks like I'm headed to Cadiz for Carnaval in February, a legendary Spanish holiday, and maybe to the north of Spain as early as this weekend! I'm excited to get some ideas on paper, or at least tentatively, because we all really want to take advantage of being in Europe as much as possible while we can. Nice work us.

Successful weekend, not too much homework, and off to dinner with Pilar, always a good thing. Love to all and talk to you soon!

Una noche en Espana

2009-01-17T09:53:00.002-05:00

Just to keep you all updated while I have time, last night was one of the girls in the program's 21st birthday! Very exciting! So to celebrate we went to a latin dancing club, that has salsa and merengue music and it was so fun. I guess it's more of a South American than a Spanish thing, and it was also a lot of older people, but there was a whole group of us so it was fun anyway. The only bad part of the night was a random guy from South Africa who tried to introduce himself to me, spilled beer all over me in the process, and then seemed to think he could get me to come to his apartment. Yeah right.

Other than that though, we salsa-ed very badly and got really tired and it was great. Some of the guys in our group know how to dance really well! Plus there were a couple of Puerto Rican/American students who were really good too, so we just danced with good people and bad people .... awesome. I also did laundry for the first time here, and although it feels incredibly weird carrying bags of my dirty laundry through the city square, the guy at the laundromat speaks some English and was very understanding of my confusion. So that's good! I have clean socks!

This afternoon, as it's still Desi's birthday, we're going to a chocolateria (chocolate shop!) and then maybe to see a movie! Dubbed in spanish, but hey, we're supposed to be learning it, so that's cool. Another update tomorrow!

One week down ... yesssss!

2009-01-16T13:51:00.000-05:00

Well, phew. I will definitely never have a lack of things to do here!

What that means: classes have begun with a vengeance. I’m exaggerating a bit; I just have a lot of class time early in the week (5 classes on Tuesday!) so beginning my first full week of actual real school was just sort of a shock after the vacation-y feeling that I’ve had so far. You know, we got to see what Spanish food was like, and speak a little Spanish, but it definitely didn’t feel like college! I sort of forgot that I actually have to like, learn stuff. Whoa. :-)

Luckily, my classes and my professors are all really great. I don’t have a class larger than 18, and only one that’s more like a lecture. The other four, which are by far more difficult, are also completely discussion and participation oriented, which is right up my alley. All I really have to do is read to prepare, and then we just talk for an hour or so. It’s kind of awesome! The only problem is that my day here is just really long. I always have class from 9-12 in the morning, so I get up at 8:15, but some days I have class until 9 at night. It’s a long haul, and from Monday on I’ve been ready to conk out at 12 or 12:30, not to mention feeling like a nap would be great around 3:30. Highly lame for a college student in Spain, but I figure sleep is more important than bar hopping!

Luckily, I usually have plenty of time for naps, which helps divide up the long day. I also really like everyone in the program, and it’s nice to have people to call when I have a blank spot in my day or want to do something on Friday night. It’s not quite the same as Williams, but that’s ok, and the food is definitely better!

So yeah, I feel like most of my week has been reading about Spain and talking about Spain and doing homework about Spain, but this week we also went to visit the historic university building in Salamanca. In the 13th century, when the University was founded, the cathedral and its chapels were the classrooms, and the academic building that we toured (one of the oldest purely academic buildings in Europe) was built at the end of the 15th century. It’s really beautiful, even though it’s all outside in the open air so a bit chilly, and I took lots of great pictures that I can’t upload because I’m an idiot and left my camera cord at home! I know, huge bummer. But I’m going to see if anyone in the group has a cord that I can use before I panic and get really mad at myself. :-) The façade is legendary; it’s the picture that is most often used to describe the University in brochures because it’s a beautiful, pre-Renaissance stone carving. It’s basically academic and religious propaganda, with Isabel and Fernando los Reyes Católicos (the Catholic Kings) supporting the university, the seal of the Pope on top, the dangers of lust for students, etc, but also very elaborate and detailed. The rooms inside are now only used for special occasions, but among the highlights were the preserved room that was (somewhat) the original classroom from the 16th century, the room where Fray Luis de León defied the Inquisition by translating the Bible into a modern language, the library where we weren’t even allowed in because there are millions of dollars in rare books inside, and the University chapel, where graduates of the university can get married if they are willing to wait for a couple of years! All in all, a great visit, and I found out that I can get in for free any time I want with my student ID, so I might go back when it’s a little warmer and I have time to look at things without shivering. I also found the frog on the façade! There’s a very tiny frog as part of the decoration, and legend says that if you can find the frog then that’s good luck for the rest of your term at the University. So no worries, I’m gonna get all As! If you are a tourist and you find it, then it means you will come back to Salamanca one day. Since I’m kind of a tourist too, I guess I’ll be back again to say hello. Yay! :-)

Last night, I finished all my homework super early, and I went to a bar with some German, Italian, and Dutch people. Zach, a guy in my program, met some of them at a café, and they said they would take us to a good, cheap bar. Very nice of them, not only because the touristy places are really expensive, but also because they were willing to put up with a couple of Americans asking tons of questions about Salamanca! :-) They all live here in the city now, after having traveled around quite a bit, and they all know like 5 languages which was a little intimidating at first but they were all super nice. Then, the rest of the Emory group showed up too, and we had a really good time, until about 2 when we realized that we had class at 9 in the morning so all the sensible ones of us went home. I think some others went to yet another bar, which is very Spanish of them, but I got tired. As usual. But I’m glad I met some new people who aren’t Americans, and I’m glad I went home too, because trying to understand the subtleties of Spanish grammar is difficult enough even with plenty of sleep! I took a nap this afternoon after class, and now I feel great and well-rested. I’m going to the laundromat this afternoon, because I don’t have a single pair of socks left, and then we’ll see. I’ll probably end up in another café, because that seems to be the thing to do!

Two things I’ve learned/noticed: there’s a ton of red graffiti on all the University buildings, and I learned during the tour that those are victor signs. Back in the old days, when students took their exams on their own, if they passed they threw a huge party for all their friends in the country that of course involved bullfighting. More like bull running, actually, because it was usually a baby bull. Sadly, once they were done with the bull running, they roasted the poor baby bull and it was the main course at their feast. Very sad, I know. After the feast though, when everyone was good and drunk, they would come back into the city, make paint out of the bull’s blood, and paint their name and a victor sign on the wall of the university. A victor sign is something you’ll have to wait and see pictures of to understand, but it combines all the letters of the word “victor” into a logo-like thing. So basically, it was 16th century blood graffiti! They still put the victor signs of famous people on the walls of the old university after they have done their great deeds (not in blood though), and graduating students can pay to have a very tiny sign on the newer college buildings. I totally wish I could have a victor sign! And secondly, at dusk, all the birds in Salamanca (it seems like) roost in the towers of the historic University. It’s a little eerie but very beautiful to be walking by these medieval buildings as the sun goes down and to hear tons of bird calls in the sky. When you look up you can see whole flocks swooping into the towers. Although it might sound like a scene from The Birds, it’s gorgeous, actually.

So summary: beautiful buildings, I sleep a ton, and despite what they say, Europeans are very willing to put up with Americans as long as they are polite. And according to the façade I will ace all my classes and come back to enjoy my success. My first full week!

One more! My first weekend!

2009-01-11T12:14:00.003-05:00

On weekends, I have lots of time to be on wifi, so I can post a lot. Yay!

Bars here are very fun. Friday and Saturday we did the Spanish bar hopping thing, and it was great! We just sort of wandered, and I really like the people in my program, so it was a good time both nights. I was out til 1 last night, way early for Spain, but I went with the girls this time so that was good too. We went to this place with lots of americans called Jacko's, which had American music which was always fun. And there were some Spaniards there, so it was sort of legitimate! And also to Clavel Ocho, which was more genuinely Spanish but so smoky! I am still not used to all the smoke here; smoking is really common and pretty much permitted anywhere, so after last night my scarf and my coat reeked. Ew. :-)

I also went to Mass at La Purisima, a church right around the corner that is old and beautiful! I didn't know any of the prayers, which was kind of odd, so I just muttered them in English. I'll have to learn them! Today everything is closed, because it's Sunday, but cafes and bars are always open, so I'm in my good old coffee place. It might be a while before I post again, but so far Spain is beautiful. Very different, and an adjustment, but a great place to live and study. More to come!

Okay, food. :-)

2009-01-10T12:10:00.002-05:00

I could write a book, but it's time I give at least an overview so that I can talk about it in passing from now on and people will know what the heck I'm talking about!

Food is CRITICAL here. It's a part of the culture, plus everything social revolves around food. You don't stay home a lot, and you don't go to people's houses to hang out. People go to cafes, bars, or restaurants to eat and talk and be together. So home is more like a place to eat and sleep. That's it!

Breakfast is super small, generally a cup of coffee with milk (cafe con leche) that is very strong but so much better than in the US! Plus something small and sweet, like toast and jelly (tostada con mermelada) or a pastry (galleta). I always have cafe con leche and some weird sweet biscuity thing; I don't know what it's called but it is delicious! Then lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and it doesn't happen until 2 or 3. I eat at 2:15. Always two courses or one huge course of something special and heavy, like paella. Example: today, my lunch was soup with little tiny bits of pasta first with bits of ham (ham is huge here) that were like pulled pork. Then, a breaded pork filet. They don't eat desert here except on special occasions, but many families, like mine, have a piece of fruit after lunch. We seem to go between apples and oranges.

Usually, after this huge meal, I am stuffed. Plus, my host mom is very motherly and she always tries to get me to eat more. :-) Very nice, but I get so full! Luckily, dinner isn't until 9, and for some even later. On weekends it's typical to eat dinner as late as 11. But it's small. Usually we have something like a piece of toast with chopped fish and tomato on top, plus a couple of tiny stuffed pastries called empanadas with tomato or meat inside. And maybe a yogurt, but that's it. I'm usually not even hungry because lunch is so huge. Luckily, I walk a lot here, or else I would weigh 200 pounds by the time I left!

Of course, that's a lot of hours between meals, so at 12 and at 6 a lot of people go to cafes (of course, because that's where Spaniards live) and have tapas, small plates that are sort of Spanish bar food and they're really good. Plus a cup of coffee or a small beer or wine. When people go out on the weekends, they often skip dinner and "ir de tapas" (go out for tapas) and go from bar to bar, ordering a small beer and a tapa in each place. You can do this all night if you want, and that's what I did last night. It was super fun. By 2 or so, it's less food and more beer and wine, but people don't drink to excess, they just drink as a social activity. Unless you go to a bar for "giris" (foreigners), which the Spanish try to avoid. If you go to the student bars, you can stay out until 5, 6, 7 in the morning. Apparently lots of people do that on weekends and basically become nocturnal for a while. I cannot imagine how they do it, but I went home at 3 last night and my host mom commented on how early I was home. ??? :-)

So that's what's normal, and my host mom is a great cook so I've really been enjoying the food. But the first day I came was Dia de los Reyes, a huge holiday here that requires that you get together with family, just like Christmas. And in Spain, of course, that means a meal. So I meet my host mom, and right after I get there and meet her she tells me that it's a big family day, so she is eating lunch (the big important meal) with her brother and his wife and her cousins and their kids. So I tagged along, and even though everyone talked incredibly fast, it was super fun and the food was to die for! So here's a taste of what Spaniards eat on a special occasion: first, salad with tuna, fried calamari, fried fish, and other bits of fried seafood. Then ham that the family cures themselves, cheese, bread and bacalao, which is Portuguese and is a sort of fish casserole that you cook for hours and hours and so the fish just sort of crumbles. It has onion in it too, and maybe bread, I don't know. THEN, baked shrimp that were in a bed of salt and oil. They tasted really different from your typical shrimp; less rubbery and more dense. Plus they had their heads on! And all of this with two bottles of really really good wine. Finally, limoncello and "roscon", a special cake only served on Dia de los Reyes that is like a sweet bread cooked in a ring and cut in half. Then cream in the middle, the top back on, and candied fruit and almonds on the top. Unbelievably good! It also has toys hidden inside, like our Epiphany cakes.

Of course, I almost died my first day in Spain from too much deliciousness, but it was really fun even though I couldn't understand a lot. The family and my host mom are really nice and open, and .... yeah. I like Spain!

So that's food here. Tonight, I think we're going to the student tapas and bars section of town, so I'm pretty excited! More later!

And I discover wifi.

2009-01-08T16:23:00.002-05:00

This is NOT an internet friendly place to live unless you're a student with wifi in all the university buildings. Unfortunately, my homestay has nothing to speak of internet wise, but I just found a totally awesome library that has very good hours and wifi and a (sort of) protected place to skype where I don't feel too weird, so yay!

I got the results of my test, and they are good, I guess ... there are tons of sections in the International School, divided into A, B, C, and D levels, and lots of subsections within the levels. We only had to get into an A level or one of the high Bs, and I got into the second highest section, A2. Ay, caramba. It's not that it's a bad thing, I just don't know if I'm going to be comfortable there. So I might switch, depending on how tomorrow goes. Today, there were a couple of people who couldn't speak that well but must have done really well on the grammar test (like me), but apparently lots of people move around to be comfortable in whatever level, so we'll wait and see.

My other classes seem like they'll be really good. I'm taking a section on Women in Spain which sounds interesting (and much easier), plus I'm switching out of my speaking practice class into a class on Spanish culture, which should be great. It's taught by my supremely awesome program director, so that will be fun. I am also in a psychology seminar on memory in English, which will be a nice break and looks very interesting, and a class on Spanish literature that looks to be hard, but I love lit, so perfect.

I'm still super tired all the time, but now I think it's just a running around thing, not a jet lag thing. Finally! Plus it's all just orientation and stuff like that, so next week I'll settle down into a schedule that will be a lot easier. And I will know what to expect, instead of trying to find new buildings and running around like a crazy person. :-)

It did in fact snow in Salamanca yesterday, which shocked everyone! I kept laughing, thinking about snow-covered Williamstown! Apparently it was the coldest fall in 10 years, and it'll only be this cold for a bit, but still. How disappointing for tropical Spain. :-) At least all the locals were as surprised as I was, so it probably won't happen again. Perfect!

Everything is still good with my host mom and the program. I have tomorrow afternoon off, so I think I'll go to the main square and explore some, plus maybe some shopping and some pictures! I'm sure someone will go with me. So all is well in Salamanca, and I'll have my first taste of tapas and bars this weekend ... lots to look forward too!

2009-01-08T16:20:00.001-05:00

Written Jan. 7, 3:30 pm (that's 15,50 here!)

I’m here! Wahoo!!!! :-)

Well, it’s been an eventful couple of days, and I’m still quite a bit under the effects of jet lag, but I am a thousand times more excited now that I’ve finally arrived. I got into Madrid right on time, and faced my first challenge as I was supposed to get a taxi and get to the hotel on my own. Everything went really well though; it just took me a while since I am not the most aggressive taxi hailer! But I had a very nice guy who had just arrived in Spain from the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory off the coast of Northern Africa. The hotel was incredibly beautiful too, and although I didn’t have the guts to wander around too much on my own, what I saw was lovely. The program has a very nice deal where we arrive in Madrid, but only for one night, and then we don’t return to see the museums and the culture until the very end of the program. Besides being very practical, since it’s the only nearby international airport, it’s a nice bookend to the program, and we’ll only explore Spain’s capital once as new arrivals and once as seasoned Spanish visitors. I like that plan!

That evening, I met my classmates as they began to arrive. Only 13 of us on the program, which is small, but since we also have classes with other international and Spanish students, it’s a good size for trips and things. Everyone is very nice; most of us don’t know each other so the atmosphere is very open and friendly. We just talk to each other all the time, and explore together, since classes haven’t started and we have no other friends yet. I’ve found two people, Daniel and Zach, who will go to Mass with me in the giant Spanish churches, so that will be fun. And huge!

Maica (short for Maria Carmen) is our program director and Carlos is our program assistant, and they are both fairly young Spaniards who speak both Spanish and English and have lots of experience with the Emory program, so they are a great resource. They also smile all the time and always ask how we’re doing, so I like the support! The program is really good about helping us just enough; they don’t spoon feed but neither do they throw us out on the street to fend for ourselves. They have little walking tours of the city to show us around to our classroom buildings and the university libraries, since there is no campus but just buildings scattered around the city. We have a nice little program center too, with a couch and a table for some of our classes and three computers that we can write papers on, so that’s good. No internet though. No internet anywhere here; I have to tote my computer to a library for wifi, which is a pain but could be worse, I guess.

So yeah, that’s the program. We got here yesterday, and I met my host mom, Pilar. She is so sweet; she’s always calling me “mi niña” (my girl) or “mi cariña” (my dear) or “mi corazón” (my heart). It’s adorable. She’s single and 36; she used to take care of her mother but her mother died last year, so now she has me and another student, Ju from Japan. Ju and Pilar are both about five feet tall, so I always feel like a giant walking around the house. J Ju is also very nice; she didn’t know any Spanish at all when she got here in September but now she’s really good. She also attends the International School at the University of Salamanca. There are a ton of Japanese students there, actually, which I did not expect. Is Spanish useful in Japan? I don’t know! And I have a very cute room all to myself, even though they don’t heat buildings as much here and it’s pretty cold all the time. I’ve gotten used to the sweatshirt look. It’s really not that cold compared to Williamstown either; it’s been about 30-32 F today, but it kept flurrying, which is apparently very rare in Salamanca, so everyone was very surprised. It only feels cold in the wind though, and it’s fine as long as you’re walking! And WAY better than the Berkshires!

Tonight we find the results of the placement test that we took this morning, and then we’ll know exactly which classes we’re taking. I’m writing this at home, but I’ll zip by a library to post this afternoon. I’m really happy here; the students are great, the city is breathtakingly beautiful, and I live right in the middle of the historic district. Yesterday was a big holiday here, El Día de los Reyes, and Pilar took me to eat lunch (the most important meal in Spain) with her brother, cousins, and cousin’s kids. Everyone talked super fast, so I didn’t understand a lot, but they were all so hospitable and it was great to be a part of their holiday. I’ll write an entirely different post about the food, but suffice it to say, it’s unbelievable! I had three cups of coffee yesterday, which with all the café living seems pretty typical here, and it was all really good coffee. Awesomeness.

I haven’t taken nearly enough pictures, but I’ll post those on Picasa once I take some more, plus a food post when I can. I have to go to a meeting about my Literature class now … Yay! So far, everything is exciting, and I think I will be more than happy here.

¡Ciao!

Okay, I lied, one more ...

2009-01-03T20:15:00.002-05:00

I thought I could do just one more post before officially landing in Spain, since it is the night before I fly and I'll be in Madrid at 10:15 on Monday morning. Or 4:15 on Monday morning, if you were back here in the states. :-) I am incredibly nervous, to the point where I am second-guessing my decision to go, but I know that once I arrive at the hotel in Madrid, I'll feel ten times better.

I am completely and totally packed, except for some last minute additions that I will throw in tomorrow. I am bringing my camera, my beautiful new iPod, and all in a gorgeous suitcase (those last two were Christmas gifts, and they are so perfect!). I know that my host mother's name is Pilar, and I've got an address, so I'm mapquesting it in a second. I'll meet the others on my program on Monday, have course orientation and meet my family on Tuesday, and have a placement exam and start classes on Wednesday. Craziness! It will be an intense and wonderful couple of days, and by Thursday, it seems I will be following my class routine that I'll stick to for at least two and a half months. So it's an important week too, and I'll definitely find a good internet cafe to let you all know how it's going! Les echa de menos! I'll miss you all!

And here we go!

2008-12-09T15:29:00.001-05:00

And in less than a month, I'll be sitting in what will be my room for the next five months in Salamanca ... scary thought, no? :-) But an exciting one as well, and I look forward to using this blog as a way to keep up with everyone at home. I am a notoriously bad correspondent, but I'll try to add this to my daily checklist along with my e-mail, so that I can let everybody know what is going on, and be able to hear from all of you as well. I'm sure I will be homesick, so comment away! I'll depend on it!

Of course, I'm not there yet. I'm still in the boring paperwork and preparation stage. Tomorrow morning, for example, I'm waking up at 6:30 am (far too early for a college student) to head to Boston to pick up my visa. 7 hours to get a piece of paper seems a little silly, but if it means they will let me in the country, I'll do it gladly. And I'll bring lots of coffee and my neuroscience notes too.

I'll start posting for real once I take off on January 4th ... woooooo!