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Published: September 9th 2008
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What's this?
Looks like a discoteca or something, huh? Nope, it's Baggage claim. Well, I’ve been here for just over a week, but it seems like much longer. IES has packed in quite a bit for us to do in such a short period of time. I think I’ll start at the beginning.
On the flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia I sat next to a really nice guy who was ultimately flying back to Pittsburgh to get back to med school. Funnily enough, though, he had been in Alpharetta for the weekend,
and he went to Spain last winter (though not to Salamanca). Once the plane landed, I turned around, and guess who was sitting a row behind me?! Nisha! I went to middle and high school with her. We were really good friends in middle school, but we haven’t really talked for awhile. She was on her way to Paris to study abroad. Quite the strange plane ride, huh?!
On the plane from Philly to Madrid, there were a whole bunch of study abroad students. I would say at least 20%! (MISSING)I overheard a girl saying that she was going to Salamanca, and I immediately introduced myself. It turned out that Claire and I were with the same program. Such a relief. The
Three Flags
Spain is in the middle, then Madrid's on the right and E.U. on the left.
At the Madrid Airport plane ride was super long. Seven hours may not seem long if you can sleep on the plane, but if you can’t, it’s pretty bad. I can usually sleep on planes, but I was just so nervous and every time I tried to go to sleep I kept thinking of words that I didn’t know in Spanish, wondering what my family would be like, which made it really hard to sleep.
Claire and I were airport buddies when we landed, so we found baggage claim and the IES meeting point together. Customs in Spain is really strange. They stamped my passport, I got my bag out of baggage claim, and then I went through what they call “Customs”, but it’s nothing like the Customs I have experienced. You have the choice of walking in a room to declare something, or you can just leave. And I just left. It seemed very lax. Unless of course I did something wrong.
I found out when I met the IES contact at the airport that I was supposed to have a roommate, but she cancelled, so now I'm alone. I guess that’s okay with me, though it would have been safer walking home
En Route
Some town surrounded by mountains...so pretty! at night if I had a roommate.
Once everyone had arrived, we got on a charter bus (a super nice one), and made our way to Salamanca. There’s basically nothing on the way from Madrid to Salamanca. One or two towns, a wind farm (super cool, I had never seen one before), and some huge boulders. Oh, and farms here and there, but small ones. Almost everyone slept, but I was the tourist, taking pictures and only sleeping for like 30 minutes of the 2 hour ride.
When the bus stopped in Salamanca, a group of ladies started to swarm at the door. At first I thought, “Umm, this is not the bus to the mall or anything…why are all these ladies walking toward the bus?”, but then I realized that they were our host moms. Duh. I was obviously extremely sleep deprived at that point. I was the last one off the bus, too, so I had plenty of time to get really anxious. When I met my host mom, Jeny, I got my two bags, and her husband drove us home. After I unpacked, I was wondering where my third bag was. Oops. Left that one on the
Wind Farm
I'd never seen one before, so I thought it was pretty cool bus. Don’t worry, though, I was able to get it back the next day.
The house I'm living in is so different from my house in the US. First of all, it’s an apartment (well, they might own it, but I don’t know). Second, it’s tiny. There are 5 bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. That may seem like a lot, but my room is maybe 7 x 9 ft. All the rooms are really small. We don’t have a dining room, and the kitchen’s not much bigger than my room, and we eat in there, too. Having a home this small not a rare thing either. Everyone lives in an apartment here. There are no separate houses. Even though it’s only a city of 160,000, it seems really big because the entire city is buildings of 6-or-so stories. It’s really densely packed.
Being densely packed makes it easy to walk everywhere, though. Everything important is a maximum 40 minute walk, but it never seems like that long because there’s always a lot to look at, and I usually walk with a girl who lives nearby. I really like that I can walk everywhere. I feel less
Landscape
On the way to Salamanca rushed, and it’s less of a hassle to get places since I don’t have to rely on a bus or someone else to get me there. Not to mention that it’s good exercise since I walk probably 4 or 5 miles a day without realizing it.
Overall I really like it here so far. I'm learning a lot in my intensive Spanish class and from my host family, and I'm starting to know my way around the city. I miss you guys!
P.S. My first night here my host father was having snails for dinner, and offered me one to try. And, surprisingly they’re actually pretty good.
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dan
non-member comment
lol sounds likes its a blast! you dreamin in spanish yet?? cant wait to hear more