I hope it is quite obvious that I have made it to Salamanca, as I have not entitled this post "Whoops," or, "That Time I Tried Unsuccessfully To Make It To Spain." Where to even begin! How about this picture of the sun rising somewhere over España?
The long flight went well. I made friends with my seat mate, a high schooler from Baltimore who was headed to Spain for a vacation of sorts with a host family. We shared several laughs over the random sitcom episodes they put on for us occasionally and I dished out my fair share of college advice. (Who would think I'm at the level of expertise or experience to share college advice I don't even know, but regardless... I guess I'm old now.) We joined forces in conquering the airplane dinner choice of pasta or "chicken" however, I put chicken in quotation marks because I'm not quite sure what exactly I ate three spicy bites of. Not the best plan considering my brilliant reading material for the plane was a book on the woes of food product manufacturing. Not surprisingly I got next to no sleep, although I did accomplish snuggling with my super trendy inflatable neck pillow for five or so hours with my mind racing with thoughts like, "I should be asleep. Am I asleep? Obviously not." Essentially I just lost track entirely of any conception of time, day, or place.
We arrived in Madrid just a little past schedule and I got my way through customs no problem, and my Maryland friend and I stood at the very front of baggage claim exhibiting just about every sign of extreme anxiety of our bags not arriving. But after an agonizing, I don't know, 8 minutes, they did, and we went our separate ways. Spotted a bright orange T-shirt and a few "War Eagles" over at the Delta claim and met up with Auburn folk no problem! Although we all miraculously made it to the airport on time and found each other, we had to wait together several hours for the bus to Salamanca. We filled the time by taking up an obnoxious amount of room by the vending machines playing name games and just generally being a big ol' group of Americans.
We have such a wonderful group of people here, and I am so excited to get closer to everyone. I couldn't ask for a better group of peers to explore Spain with. And since there are not a ton of us, we can more easily hang out and get to know each other. It's a bit odd being one of the more "advanced" (supposedly) Spanish students, but I ain't flaunting it.
The bus ride was a few hours long and literally all I can tell you about it is that I briefly remember noticing that there are a lot of windmills (you go, Spain, with ya natural energy) and then we all zonked out.
Here's the first thing I have to tell you about the Spanish experience so far--jamón. Ham. Ham in every form possible. Ham sandwiches, specifically. I ate three of them yesterday. I suppose that is my diet now? Much better than airplane chicken byproduct.
Melanie, my roommate, and I met our host family soon after arriving and they are almost indescribable. La madre, Isabel, is very exuberant. She has an apartamento not too far from the Plaza Mayor--about a 15 minute walk. It has been very easy for us so far to get to and from the center of the city on foot. Her daughter, Cristina, lives with us and is 22. There is another student here from Seattle who is also our age and taking classes. From the second we walked in the door I've felt comfortable and at ease. Everyone is so easy to talk to and down to earth. It was a bit difficult for me to understand la madre at first, because she has a strong Spanish accent and speaks very fast, with a very husky voice. But once I adjusted I now have a better understanding. Communicating has been MUCH easier than I was anticipating, because the extent of my Spanish speaking comes from American classes and one AP oral exam experience. I've found it pretty natural and easy to chat and communicate with mi familia. Isabel is very funny and I think pretty amused by us as well--her favorite phrase to us is, "Te tranquilas!" or, "Calm yourselves!" She really wants us to enjoy ourselves while we are here.
The only thing that has truly given me culture shock so far has been the eating--the schedule, specifically. Spaniards eat a very light breakfast; this morning we were served pieces of sliced bread (standard Wonder bread type) with jam and, check this out, "cafe descafeinado" - decaf coffee with lots of warm milk. Melanie and I are both a bit shell shocked by this and I hate to be that person but I think I might die without some caffeine, at least for this first little bit. We then have to wait until almuerzo, which is the biggest meal of the day and served around 2 or 3 p.m. We are all finding ourselves very hungry in the early afternoon! Following almuerzo is siesta, "nap time" when everything in the city shuts down and relaxes for a few hours. Me encanta siesta. With all the walking it is much appreciated! Then dinner is not eaten until 9 or 10 p.m., and is usually pretty small. So my appetite is still adjusting but, nothing that can't be fixed with some churros o chocolate snack.
Drinking is a whole different story. We do not drink nearly enough water for how dry and hot it is! Americans are so spoiled with all of our free ice water. I don't think I need to explain that alcohol is prominent here and definitely an indulgence. We went out our first night to watch the FIFA Brazil - Spain juego de fútbol (soccer) and got cheap drinks. Unfortunately Brazil won, but it was fun to observe the dynamic of sports fans in the city. And, hey, get a few drinks in me and claro que sí I'm fluent in español!
We took a placement test at the University to determine what level classes we'll all be placed in... it was multiple choice followed by an oral exam, in which I chatted with a profesor in the hallway for five minutes answering probably ridiculously to whatever questions he threw at me. They also held a little induction reception for us with free drinks and local food samplings. We'll start classes tomorrow.
So far my two day Spanish experience has been bueno. I adore this beautiful city already. Everywhere you look and every walk is pretty breathtaking.
Apologies for how wordy and information-loaded this post has been, in fact I'm surprised if you've made it this far! (Hey, mom) Thanks for reading and stay tuned for less overloaded posts.
Hasta,
Lindsay
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