What I Leaned in Spain

1. If you plan to major in Spanish, you NEED to live abroad for AT LEAST a semester. When you're immersed in a culture for an extended period of time, you learn so much so fast because you're forced to learn new vocabulary and perfect grammatical concepts to express yourself fully.

2. I'm not as much of a wordly traveler as I initially thought! I was homesick a couple times while in Salamanca, and there's just something about being home that is really special. I think one month in Salamanca was a perfect amount of time for me.

3. I'm pretty shy around foreigners. I was very extroverted around my IES friends, but I had to work hard to force myself to forge relationships with the other international students. I'm sad I didn't do more of that because I learned a lot about the world when I got into conversations with other students from France or Brazil or Australia.

4. If you really want to, it IS possible to become fluent in Spanish. Sometimes during my Spanish education, I listen to my professors and can't imagine myself being able to speak at such a high level. But the more you practice speaking around other Spanish speakers, the more you find yourself becoming comfortable and confident with your oral skills.

5. I learned about how other people around the world perceive America and Americans. Of course their opinions were primarily based on stereotypes and they were somewhat varied, but I think you learn a lot about your country by looking through the lense of another culture. If that makes any sense!

OK, well this is my last entry, and I'm signing off now because today is my first day or classes at F&M. It was fun writing for you and I hope you enjoyed my blog!

Adiós amigos,

Drew

Al final, he terminado mis examenes!

Hola a todos! Finalmente, he terminado todos los exámenes. No sé exactamente mis notas, pero, por lo general, los exámenes eran más fáciles que había pensado...que es buena cosa, no? Ahora necesito hacer la maleta y otras cosas antes de salir para F&M! Probablemente voy a escribir de lo que he aprendido de mi experiencia aquí cuando regrese a EE UU.

Hasta luego, amigos,

Drew :)

Disculpeme!

Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't posted lately. My life hasn't been all that exciting these past couple days and I am taking my exams right now. My first grammar exam went really well because it was just on all the different verb tenses. I had my culture exam this morning, and it was very easy, so I'm not worried about that. The only thing I'm worried about is my second grammar exam on Monday morning because it will cover a lot of specific concepts. However, I'm not going to worry about that until Sunday afternoon...So, tonight, my entire grammar class (profesora incluída) is going out to dinner a las nueve y media (9:30) at this restaurante se llama "Patio Chico." It's popular for having different barbecued meats like salchichón and churizo (kind of like pepperoni). After that, I think we're going to try to convince our professor (she's like 28) to go clubbing with us. Haha! Saturday, I'm going to sleep in, then go to the pool hopefully and read for a bit. Saturday night, I might go out with my friends from IES. And then Sunday, I'll probably go to church in the morning, then I think we're going out for churros con chocolate, and then STUDY TIME!

I'm getting excited to come home. I'll be leaving at 6 am Tuesday morning and getting back to F&M around 9 or 10 or 11 that night. Mi tiempo en Salamanca ha pasado muy rápido, y no creo que casi esté terminado.

I've been thinking lately about what I've learned in Salamanca, and what I will take away from this experience. But I'll save that for next time.

Hasta luego :)

Fotos de flamenco que se me olvidaron de poner aqui (con tilde)

Andalucia

This past weekend, I went on a Universidad de Salamanca-organized excursion to the Andalucían cities of Sevilla and Grenada. We left Friday morning at 6 am and arrived around 1:30 pm. When we got to our hotel in Sevilla, our rooms weren't ready, so we were given about an hour of free time to roam around, eat lunch, etc. I went with some friends and wandered about El Corte Inglés, a humongous department store chain in Spain (any maybe the rest of Europe...I don't know). I ended up buying new face lotion because the one I had been using had alcohol in it and was sloughing off of my face. Pleasant; I know. Sorry about that. Haha. Annnyway, when we got back to the hotel, our rooms still weren't ready, so we went ahead and visited La Catedral de Sevilla, the third largest cathedral in the world with a really cool Muslim-inspired tower that we climbed. The cathedral also houses a "supposed" coffin shrine of Christopher Colombus, but no one really knows for sure where he's buried. After that, we walked back to the hotel, and finally our rooms were ready. As compensation, they gave us all singles instead of doubles! Sweet! Once I checked in, I took a 20-minute nap, showered, and went out shopping and sightseeing in Sevilla. Sevilla is probably my favorite city in Spain. The architecture is so colorful, and the city is so clean. You have to go visit sometime! After that, I went to bed around 11 pm. The next morning, we checked out of our hotel, got on the bus, and visited a palace in Sevilla, but I somehow forget the name of it. The important thing about it was the beautiful gardens with complex irrigation systems. After that, we drove about 3 hours to Grenada, where we checked into another hotel (this time in double rooms because our rooms were ready on time). Then, we visited the Capilla Real, a relatively small church with a gorgeous white stone interior. We were hassled by some Gypsies on our way in. They basically harassed us, waving pine needles in our faces, trying to make us pay 20 Euros to let them tell us our fortunes...One German girl got roped in and she was told how "generous" she would be in the future. Hahaha. Oh man. After that, we returned to the hotel, napped for a bit and then ate dinner at a Kebap place (Turkish food). Okay, here's the drama: So, we first sat outside because the restaurant was SO HOT. Then, like normal people, we ordered off the menu. We went in to order and were told we could only order from a very small part of the menu. So, we rethought our opinions and went up to order again. When we did, we were told they didn't have French fries, which were on the appropriate menu side. So, whatever, we thought, and just picked something else. Surprisingly, we got our food very fast, but as we were eating, potatoes started falling from the sky. That's ironic. We asked for fries, and now we're getting potatoes thrown at us. We realized they were coming from a window across the street. Firguring it was the result of stupid teenage boys, we moved inside and mentioned the incident to the manager of the restaurant in a joking manner. He responded with, "Oh, right, that is just the crazy old lady who lives across the street. She does that all the time...I don't really no why." So, that was our dinner in Grenada. Fun, right? After that debacle, we traveled out of the city a little bit to see an authentic Flamenco show, which was amazing! The dancing was really raw and passionate. We took a tour around that area beforehand while we were waiting for our show to start letting people int, and we were able to see La Alhambra, a really old Muslim castle, lit up at night. It was gorgeous! And there were these three guys playing música de la calle (street music...improvised like jazz) around us, so I sat down and listened. A wedding was just getting out of a church there too, so it was so cool to witness. The next morning, we woke up at 6:45 am because we needed to get to the Alhambra in time to wait in line a bit. Supposedly 3 million people go through there each year. It was pretty huge and its gardens were amazingly beautiful. After that, we took a long 8-hr bus ride home. Delightful. It actually wasn't that bad because we stopped a couple times for food and bathroom breaks.

Here are some photos!

Sevilla



Grenada

Pictures from Day Trip Last Wednesday

Miranda




La Alberca









Ciudad Rodrigo








My Leather Bag from Zara I Bought

Ciudad Rodrigo; La Alberca; Miranda

Hola amigos! Yesterday, me and my study abroad group took a day-trip to three different smaller pueblos (towns) in Spain. Each was about 45 minutes outside of Salamanca. The first two pueblos we visted were La Alberca and Miranda, which were SO much different than Salamanca. The houses made of concrete, stone, and wood were clumped tightly together, squeezing the streets. It was so cool because it seemed like a not-so-touristy area, and I like that. In Miranda (I think), the town celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Mary in Heaven. It was crazy as the town square was packed with people dancing and watching the religious ceremonies taking place outside. Unfortunately, once again, our tour guide was very boring and droned on and on at each building we stopped at. However, this trip we were allowed more free time, which made us feel like young adults and not elementary schoolers. Fotos coming ASAP :)