Bienvenidos a mi blog de Salamanca. Escribo mucho mas en la próximo semanas a me despotrico, me deliro, y mis aventuras. Hasta en mi blog.
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Aventuras y tareas de los estudiantes de City Colleges of Chicago
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My first impression of Spain is the smell. As soon as the plane landed, I could smell the air through the vents in the Air Bus. It had a bit of an herbal smell mixed with the plane’s exhaust. As I got closer to being outside, the smell got stronger. Then I got a whiff of all the taxis outside the gate of the Madrid airport. Seeing faces welcoming incoming passengers, I nearly searched the line of cars for someone familiar. Usually, my husband or a friend comes to pick me up. Not today. Today and for the next four weeks, I am a foreigner. When I get to my new hone tonight there will be no friends; only a woman who is called “vieja”.
I don’t mean to give the term any bad connotations, but when I signed up for this trip, I wasn’t expecting a sixty-nine year old housewife. She picked me up after the bus driver dropped us off. The area seemed so … foreign. There were about twenty five people waiting eagerly to pick up their new “child” for the month. All our names were called: Jennifer, Mylie, Housien, Alison. I looked at my host mother and I was totally freaked out. This is the woman I will be living with?
Mi vieja y yo caminamos a la parade de autobus. El autobus fue viniendo y nosotros caminamos rapido. La vamos por cinco minutos y lleguemos en Paseo del Rollo. Yo digo tres frases pero muy cansada. Normalmente, hablo muchas cosas pero hoy, no digo nada. A noche, pregunto mi vieja como se llamo “Tia,” se habla “Tía” “Madre” “Victoria” como me prefiero. Me gusta “Tia,” esta muy perfecto por la ocacion.
Otra ves, el servicio esta muy profundo y tiene poco agua en espana. En EEUU, el servicio tiene muy agua y esta a poco profundo. Tambien, como tiro de la cadena en espana y en EEUU empujo de la cadena. Mi bano tiene un levabo por su nalga (badea) pero no quiero y no uso. Mi Tía no me da a toalla asi que no me seco y manana compro una toalla en la supermercado. Yo no recuerdo mucho cosas y en espana, compro mucho.
My second day in Salamanca has been quite an experience. My Tia had a wonderful selection of breakfast for me. She laid out yogurt, toast, instant coffee, Ovaltine, apples, oranges, and warm milk. I needed a cup of coffee most and I drank the warm milk and ate a strawberry yogurt. For some reason, she tells me that I eat too little. Maybe I should save my appetite for the house and not snack all day.
I just got back from my assessment test and I didn’t finish my test. I tried to guess on a couple of them but who knows what class I will be in; considering I’ve only taken Spanish 101 and 102. The instructors gave us thirty minutes to take the test. After the test, we rendezvoused at the Old University Building in the Parainfo room. Gerard, Jennifer and I arrived at the appointed place ten minutes before the opening ceremony began. Unfortunately, the security guard did not let us in. Finally, he let us in only to stand in the entry way of the classroom.
Hoy yo leo mi correo electronico en la tienda Internet. La precio es uno euro por la hora. La llamanda delarga distancia es diez centavos por un minuto. Llamo mi esposo en Chicago pero hablamos por dos minutos. No siento triste porque me entusiasmo por la viaja a San Fermin por la correo de torros. Jennifer y Gerardo y yo decidiemos a var a Bilboa y Pomplona por la fin semana. En viernes, nos vamos viajar a Bilboa a buscar el museo de Guggenheim. Museo esta muy bonita.
Hola Alison! Tienes que escribir mas entradas (entries) en tu blog. Es muy interesante! Me gustan mucho las fotos de espana. Te escribo ahora un correo electronico! Ciao, Elena
I gave in today and bought a mobile. The first person I called was my husband. I needed to hear his voice for more than two minutes while my friends were waiting for me. It felt so good to be connected with my loved ones. I felt so naked without a loved one to talk to and somehow I felt disconnected to the world. Maybe it’s a bit of co-dependency on having someone I can call who speaks my language. This was an issue that I thought about before I left the country. Here I am in Salamanca in which I feel like I know little or nothing of the language. Every country that I traveled, I have been able to make do with my English, although it’s a little difficult when you are living with someone who knows nothing of your language. I attempt to speak to my host mother when I am home and thinking back on my first day with her, I was a little embarrassed that I knew very little Spanish after completing two semesters. But everyday, my short phrases become complete sentences.
I am very excited that I can speak with my host mother. I showed her pictures of my family and friends. I talked about Chicago and the only two seasons we seem to have. I talked about the differences between American supermarkets and Spanish ones. I asked my host mother about being scolded for touching fruits at the corner market. But again, I must remind you that it was either an incomplete sentence that I spoke or a terrible grammar mistake. My host mother doesn’t seem to mind mistakes, although, she seems very close to me when she talks.
My Tia es muy simpatico y paciente. Cuando hoy llevi en la casa, era cocinando mariscos y pescador en un salsa que aoli muy bueno. El salsa tuve chimpanones, pimientos rojos, cebollas, y aolis. No pude esperar a lo sabor. Esa noche, comi al jamon y los tomates y bebi muchas aquas. Dio muchas cerezas para las postres. Estoy muy contento a mi Tia.
Hoy estoy mi segunda dia de classes. Quiero mis profesores y mis companeros. En mi primero clase, mi profesora esta Patricia. Es muy divertido y muy comeco. Ensena lengua espanola en un diferente forma. En mi segundo clase, mi profesor esta Agustin, se parece “Senor Frijole.” En su clase, tiene hablar mucho con mis companeros porque esa clase es practicas comunitivas globales. Mi tercero profesor esta Vanesa, ensena practicas de destrezas orales. Tiene acento de Sevilla. Mi unltima profesora esta Dunia por cultura espanola. Da papel actividades.
My classes are small, about 10-22 students, in different buildings in Salamanca. On my first day, I was late to every class except the first class. I have a class that is about ten minutes away from the other and right after my second class ends, Shelly and I sprinted towards the classroom. Vanessa, my third teacher, requires all students to be on time at 12:15 on the dot, which isn’t too bad when its 68 degrees outside. When Shelley and I got to class, we were both breathing heavily and it was hot. I like having all my classes in a row so that I get my evenings free to complete my responsibilities, although, when class ends, I am starving.
I have had homework every night since I began classes. The tutoring sessions with Marta and Gaby are great. I get to ask questions that my professors did not get to or that I didn’t have to time to ask. They assist students with changing classes and give them information on the different events while we’re in Salamanca. There is an open computer lab for students to surf the internet, answer emails and do homework. Thus far, I haven’t had any problems with getting what I need and hopefully, I won’t have any problems period.
I spent my Saturday in Avila instead of going to Pomploma for the weekend. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the only tickets that were still available were first class sleepers. I guess that wouldn’t be so bad, unfortunately, it was too much to pay for train tickets. On the other hand, I did spend my weekend doing something wonderful and exciting.
Ávila de Castilla-León. Hoy Stephanie, Jennifer, Aubrey, Ella, Gerardo, Prof. Marta, Prof. Gaby, Mama de Marta, Jalal, Bianca, Kee, Ane Marie, y yo fuemos en la tren Renfe. Nos montamos a la nueve y media para la tren desde Salamanca a Ávila. La tren es limpio pero la baño es olor mal. Stephanie, Jennifer, Aubrey, Ella, y yo sientamos juntos. Encontramos dos nuevo amigos. Próximo a nuestras asientos fue Oscar de Brasil, hablamos muchos hasta de Ávila. El va a Madrid con su padre y estas studiar en Salamanca poara un mes, mismo que nuestras. Cambiamos dirección de correo electronics y número de móviles antes llevamos.
We arrived in Avila and walked to the “walled” antique area of Avila. We decided to pay to walk on the wall, with very steep steps. The walkway on the wall overlooked all of Avila and parts of the next pueblo over, El Sierra de Gredos, Ávila es poco mas de Salamanca y las comidas tienen barato tambien. After the wall, we decided to split up since some of us wanted to go to El Escorial, a small town not so far from Avila. Our plan was to get to the bus/train station by 2:00pm, before siesta, so that we could get a train out. Unfortunately, it started to rain and we didn’t arrive at the bus station until 3:30pm, the middle of siesta, and the town was very empty. We did not go to El Escorial.
Again, our group split up and ended wondering around town. For the most part, I had a lot of fun, the rain didn’t stop me and the town was beautiful. But for now, I am just a little bit of bored of looking at antique buildings all the time. (Like when I went to Cambodia, and I got tired of looking at temples all day.) I think the next weekend, I’ll have to get into the city and look for some contemporary art and sights.
It’s Sunday and I have officially been in Spain for an entire week. I cannot imagine deciding not to come to Spain. The country is beautiful and the people even more so. The food here is amazing, so flavorful and no nonsense. I want to reflect on my feelings, thoughts, and experiences of the past week in my home.
My host mother is wonderful. She is like my own mother, staying up to wait for me, heating up food when I am hungry, and always asking if I want food. She is very considerate of my feelings and I want to be of hers as well. She makes me a packed lunch, which consists of a “bocadilla,” fruit, and a juice, to take to school when I don’t come home for a siesta. For dinner she always has fruit for me but there is almost always, a heavy meat dish as well. Her cooking if fabulous and she makes the infamous Spanish tortilla for me.
I tell her what my day is like so that she would not worry about. I know I’m an adult but it’s nice that someone cares enough to ask where you are going and when you’ll be coming home. I have never been away from any family members for this long and it’s making me just a little homesick but that’s why I have my phone. My host mother also knows when I come home because in the morning, if she did not help me open the front door, she will mention what time I come in. Kind of like a mother in a weird but wonderful way. She is a very nice lady.
Cuando ven a la casa anoche, mi “tia” introducía otra estudiante que esta viviendo in su casa. Su llama es Stephanie. Ella tiene catorce años, es muy joven. Stephanie es francés y he estudiaba español para un año, como mi. Vives in la otra cuatro, próximo a mi cuatro. Ella no habla mucho, solamente uno or dos francés. Su escuela tiene una programa para ella. En domingo, estudia desde a las diez en la mañana a uno en la tarde. Después de va a la pascina y vuelve a la once. Tiene muchas cosas hacer.
I am thoroughly enjoying Spain. I am in love with the culture and feel that I would like to go o studying Spanish. I know it’s going to be an uphill battle when I get to the EEUU but I guess I can find people to do a language exchange. I have decided that I am going to the performance at Colegio Fonseca for “Iberico-Flamenco.” I can’t remember for the life of me who I am going to see but I think I´m going to make the effort of going to cultural events in Salamanca to fully understand the different styles of dance, music, plays, etc.
Last week, I was complaining (maybe not complaining, but having second thoughts) about one of my teachers, Vanesa, that has a difficult accent to listen to. Well, I realized today that I really love her class. She’s a hipster and really into talking about relevant tourist-y things with us. I know I was upset when I approached her about using future tense but Chris and I finally brought up future tense with our grammar teacher, Patricia, and she said she will review it with the students. Well, she reviewed future tense today. Everyone but Chris and I did not know it and Patricia had the other students write it on the board. I felt like I had been in the dark about it. I am not that upset that I never learned it and that I am learning it now. In the United States, there are obviously stylistic differences between Spanish. I just hope I can catch up to the students. Otherwise, everything is fabulous.
Hoy enseño el futuro verbos con mi profesora Patricia. Ahora sabe como escribió en el futuro tan escribiré en mi futuro. En 2020, viviré con mi esposo en América Latín, quizá en Chile o Argentina. Terminare mi maestría a Colegio de Maestros en la Universidad de Columbia en Nueve York. Mi esposo y yo querremos un hijo porque la populación tiene mucho gente tan prefriéramos un hijo. Si tendré un hijo, se llamare Jonah y si tendré una hija, no se. Tendríamos dos perros, una labradora rubia y una labradora negra. Trabajare enseñara los niños pequeños tan mi profesión es maestra. Nos viajáramos el mundial y enmendáramos mas lenguas.
Trece de Julio en la trade, Stephanie, Lalo y yo iremos a Madrid hasta quince de Julio en las noche. Ayer, compremos las billetes en la estación de tren. El mostrador fue muy simpático y fue me ayudó. Él está el hombre amablemente. Somos empezar para la ultimo fin de semana, iremos ver “Guggenheim” en Bilbao pero ahora no sabemos. En Bilbao, podrimos ir a la playa desnudos y comeremos muchos mariscos. Me gustaría mucho. Con optimismo, pensaría ir a Bilbao, quiero mucho.
Después de la sección de practicar con Marta y Gaby, Lalo y yo fuimos a la cine. Buscamos a la película llamada “Café solo.....o con ellas.” La película está muy cómico y nos reímos mucho. (stop reading has spoiler) So this movie is about four grown men who are in differerent aspects of a relationship, one has no girlfriend, the other just recently dumped by his girlfriend, one playboy, and one that has a steady girlfriend. The essential plot to the film is their experience during this time period. The men go through trials and tribulations dealing with their significant other. Throughout the enitre movie, there are the familiar slap stick comedy shorts, like a traditioanl grandma who is overbearing, fart jokes, sex jokes, and the like. I really liked the film, it was pop-y and edgy like most Spanish film. The film ends with a happy ending, typical to most hollywood films.
Quiero buscar más película que estoy en la clase de cultura. Mi profesora de cultura es muy aburrida porque ella hablas muchas y los estudiantes escriben todos se dice. Everything she says in the class are statistics of the various autonomous regions of Spain. I can read, I´d rather have a class in writing instead of listening to this woman lecture on population, products, and various rivers. I hope the next group of students will get to take a writing class because Marta and Gaby´s class covered the same material but in a much better way. Or better yet, maybe we should end at 1:00pm like most students because I do feel rushed running from one class to another. Another idea is to have maditory excursions around Salamanca so that we aren´t always doing the same thing. Thus far, I been having an amazing time, there are always a few things that aren´t perfect but what is.
This past weekend, Stephanie, Lalo, and I went to Madrid. We left Friday after class and arrived around 7:00pm to our hostal. We stayed in a hostal two blocks off of “Calle Gran Via.” We bought a Guia del Ocio, a weekend guide to Madrid and it helped with navigating our plans. Friday night, we bar hopped and ate the most delicious “pinxtos” ever in this bar south of Madrid’s Plaza Mayor. We went to four bars before we bumped into Kelvin, Nicholas, Alejandra (Nick’s roomie), Jalal, Ann Marie, and Paloma. We got back to the hostal early so that we could get a good night’s rest because the next day was going to be a fairly long day.
On Saturday, we woke up fairly early and went for breakfast. I was so excited to see a Starbucks. If anyone knows me, I drink one every morning. Obviously I had to go and get my usual drink. Boy do I miss having soy in my coffee, the half pasteurized milk isn’t doing it for my bowels. I wanted to drink more, though, I’m not sure my existing company would enjoy having me bounce off the walls.
Stephanie, Lalo, and I went for some light shopping. Shopping can be such a workout itself. We walked everywhere off of Gran Via and passed some interesting stores. We saw about five sex shops, many gambling stores (called jeugo something), bootleg CDs and DVDs, and prostitutes soliciting clients. It was quite an interesting sight to see when it was so blatantly out in the open. On top of that, there was a police station not so far away, so obviously the people committing crimes don’t care police.
Nos fuimos a FNAC, una súper tienda de libros, música, y DVDs, probé usar mi tarjeta crédito pero la dependiente no acepta mi tarjeta. No compré CDs español pero he compra dos libros de cocina. En la calle de Gran Vía, compramos muchas cosas. Lalo compró dos par de zapatos y cuarto cartelas de artistas español. Stephanie compró zapatos violeta. Compré dos par de zapatos y un vestido. Quiero ir a compro mucho cosas porque tengo comprar regalos para mis compañeros y mi familia.
Saturday afternoon, we trekked to “Museo de Reina Sofia” for it’s free afternoon for the week. Marta and Gaby really did a great job with introducing Spanish culture to me or else I would not have known about the various museums in Madrid. We spent six hours looking at different exhibits, napping, and shopping. We saw “La Guernica” in real life and other art works by Picasso and Dali. On the third floor of the museum, there was this exhibit we kind have found by accident. They were art works by a man named Carlos Pena. He had these amazing, shocking, disturbing, and realistic works of art. I remember quite a few pieces of artwork that seemed so childlike and innocent but had a very adult twist to the artwork. Please Google this man when you get a chance. He’s amazing.
Saturday night was an adventure, we looked for a karaoke bar for Lalo but instead found two bars that we quite fascinating. One was a normal bar and the other a Moroccan restaurant with hookahs. We shared a apple tobacco hookah and headed for home. Most of the bars and restaurants we have been in have played only English music, from Christmas music to jazz music. It’s kind of strange, I’ve been trying to find the “cancion de la verano” but with no luck. I was fortunate enough to get a compilation CD of music from this past year.
La mañana de Domingo, Stephanie, Lalo, y yo fuimos al Rastro de Mardid. Tuve mucha gente y muchedumbre. Compré dos cartelas de películas: 2046 por Wan Kar Wai y Volver por Pedro Almodavor. Me gustan muchos mis cartelas y son muy bonitos. También, compré otra maleta porque compré muchas cosas. Mi esposa será ir matar me por comprando demasiado y mi maleta no tiene bastante. Pero está mi primero tiempo en España y no sé cuando el próximo tiempo estoy en España. En la estación de tren, compré dulces por mis compañeros al colegio de Harold Washington. Necesito comprar, comer y dormirme. Siempre compré, comí, y dormí me. Está la vida.
Let´s talk about customer service in Spain. I´m not sure whether it´s part of the culture or if people are just indifferent about it. I´ve been to stores where as soon as I step inside, the store keeper´s are shooing me out to close the store. Or one time, I went to pay for products and the clerk just stood there talking on the phone while I waited to check out. I know it´s probably just one instance but I guess I´ve been experiencing the lack of customer service. Maybe I am just used to country´s where customer service is such a large aspect of selling a product that customer service just comes naturally with going into a store. Consumerism is such a part of the American culture that I feel slightly sicken by it in Spain, although it doesn´t keep me from shopping.
As for customer service in restaurants, that´s another story. It takes a while to get a waiter but as soon as you get one and order, the food comes very quickly. I haven´t ordered anything special recently like I would in the States. Let me clarify the word ‘special’ for you, to me it means without onions or something else I prefer not to eat. I´ve been eating everything here plus more. Normally I don´t eat desert, but I love it in Spain. Food is so amazing here, especially the food that my host mother cooks.
Mi Tía cocinó buenas comidas, por ejemplo, paella Valencia, tortilla española, y bocadillos. Me gustan muchos sus bocadillos porque eso tiene muy sabor y diferente ingrediente. También, esperó a mi cuando fui llegar tarde. Mi Tía es muy considerada por mi y siempre hablas a mi. Su hospitalario hace eso fácil a vivo en su casa. No sé si le hablar pero mi Tía es muy fabulosa. A veces, viene mi cuarto por cerrada la ventana y orden mi cuarto pero no mente.
I finally to the Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral in Salamanca. Erica invited me to go with her and her mother, Susan. I like them very much and plus she´s the first friend´s mother I have ever smoked with. Kind of weird since I´ve been smoking for awhile now. The Cathedral was amazing. We spent 3€ each to go up to the roof of the Cathedral. I cannot believe how beautiful Salamanca is. I saw part the city limits and it was so mind boggling. The Cathedral is probably a couple of hundred years old like the University of Salamanca. I hoping to see more in the next week.
Last night, I went with Marta, Gaby and Andy to a play in Edificio Fonseca, where Marta and Gaby currently live. The play was about a fascist dictator and the soldier that let him go. The play is called “Soldados de Salamina.” Essentially the play was about Spain before and after the Guerra Civil following the writer who is looking for the soldier who let Sánchez-Mazas escape. Although, I wasn´t sure what the play about until Marta fully explained the play to me. The actors were speaking so fast and no having any action to contextualize the actual events of the play. The play was beautifully performed and I thoroughly enjoyed it eventhough I did not know what was going on.
Después de al teatro, Marta caminó con mi a mi casa. Marta es muy simpática y aprecio todas las cosas que tenía hacer por mi. Todos los días Marta y Gaby tenían que muy ayudarme durante los tutorías sesiones. Hoy, hecho ir al cine a miro una película llamando “Bajos de las Estrellas.” Me encantan todos las películas español y la cultura de Salamanca. Me encanta mi experiencia en España.
Ahorra, no sé donde el sitió haré visitar pero sé que yendo en alguno parte. Esa mi ultima la fin de semana. Necesitará algo.
My plans for this weekend are still up in the air. It´s freaken weird because it´s my last weekend and I am not sure whether I want to leave but maybe I can take off on Friday and then get back Saturday night.
I cannot beleive I´ve already been here for two and a half weeks. It seems like the time has flown.
I took a pre-exam today before my final next wednesday in my grammar class. Talk about a crash course. I learned preterite conditional, future tense, perifrases, and a lot of new vocabulary words. These classes are so intense because it goes so quickly. Though it´s been difficult, it´s been a rewarding experience.
So last night, I went to see Bajos las Estrellas and it was an amazing movie. I understood probably baout 75% unlike the other movies I have seen. Angela, Marta, Lalo and I went to have café after the movies.
Anyways, I´ve got one more day of class before the weekend starts. Hopefully I can get everything I want taken care.
While in the States, my Spanish 101 professor recommended a few things for me to do if I got to study abroad in Spain. When she received the news, I was ecstatic and I couldn’t contain myself. She wrote a list of the top five things to do in Spain, since she studied in Spain for a few years. The top thing she had on the list was to visit Bilbao and San Sebastian. Unfortunately, I did not make it there but I did go to the three top places and the must sees in Madrid. Toledo was number five on the list and it only felt right to go there because many people have said really nice things about it.
This weekend I went to Toledo with Lalo and spent the night there. We traveled for a little less than three hours and it felt like a waste if we didn’t see the most of Toledo. We got to Toledo around 9:00pm on Friday and Toledo seemed to have many tourists hanging about in the Plaza de Zocodora. Our hostal was half a block away from the Plaza so Lalo and I got ready to go out on the town. We walked past the Cathedral and most of the bars that had terraces. The streets were really narrow and cars would drive through them like the streets were highways. There were times where we had to stand in the doorway of an apartment building to keep from being on the streets. But everyone seemed to know how to navigate the cars and motorcycles coming through the streets. As soon as I heard a car coming I would be ready to take cover.
En la noche, Lola y yo fuímos a la sitio. No decidemos para cenar así que tuvímos a la restuarante marroqui. Cenémos a shawarma pollo y shawarma falafel. Nos gusta mucho porque todos los dias comíamos comidas espanol. Las comidas espanol son muy rico pero todos los dias esta bastante. Queiro algo mas. Despues de comer, Lalo y yo fuimos a los bares y tuvimos bebidas. Nos encanta Salamanca mas que Toledo.
En sabado, Lalo y yo fuimos a ver el Greco pero no abre de Museo del Greco. En vez de fuimos a Museo Victorio Macho. La exhibicion fue muy bonita pero fue tener muy pequeno. Tocamos muchos fotografios de el Rio Tijo y la Puente de San Martin. Despues del Museo, fuimos a la Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca. Tambien, comemos a la restuarant Juderia. Lalo y yo probemos el menu del dia. Esa muy ricos. El menu del dia tuve muchas cosas por ejemplo, bebida, primero plato, segundaria plato, cafe, y postre. Comemos muchos y tuvimos una siesta. Pero salemos a Toledo a las cinco y viente y cinco.
We arrived in Madrid at about six o’clock and decided to go back to the tapas restaurant we had a week ago. We took the metro to Calle de Gran Via and began walking to Plaza Mayor and through the busy shopping area. Most stores were still open and we went to a few stores. Although we bought nothing, there was much to see in Madrid. There were many street performers like ones you would fund on Navy Pier or Michigan Avenue. There a couple who looked like a old clay statue that were doing skits with each other. Other man was dressed like a business man in the very windy situation, like most of us when it gets windy in Chicago. Also, a ballerina performing on a five by five piece of cardboard on the ground, the ballerina actually looked like a man dressed in a women’s dress dancing.
We passed more stores and paid more attention to them. We walked into a piercing place and it was so crowded with people. Everyone was getting a piercing on Saturday. The store had walls filled with different types of piercing jewelry and many different types of people who in there waiting for their number to get pierced and tattooed. The area reminded me the different parts of Los Angeles, especially in the tattoo and piercing parlor. There were a bunch of kids hanging about with their friends, hoping that their number would get called soon before they changed their minds.
I really enjoyed my weekend in Toledo/Madrid and I cannot wait to get back to Salamanca for a good night’s rest and a slow Sunday. I cannot believe that this is our last week here in Salamanca. It felt like e just got here and we are getting over our jet lag. In a small way, I wish that Spain was a little closer to Estados Unidos so that if I wanted to come back, I would just have to hope on a plane for a few hours really than a whole day.
En Domingo, fuí al Rastro de Salamanca. Mi Tia no va conmigo porque la nina frances fuí a la casa por ella misma. Tia me mostró donde el Rastro esta en la mapa y paseo conmigo. Andé para quince minutos y llegue al Rastro. El Rastro fue fabuloso y tuvo muchas rebajas. Compré dos pars de zapatos. Tengo cinco pas de zapatos y necesité comprar uno más maleta.
While I was at el Rastro, I heard some noise like someone was racing motorcycles. I walked over to the park and there was a race of remote control cars. I watched for about fifteen minutes while grown men were racing their remote control cars. I thought it was the weirdest thing ever. On top of that, there was an announcer. He announced all the places of the cars and when the cars went for a pit stop, like a real racecar race. Also, the same people who race the cars didn’t do the pit stop and changing of tires. There were also people watching them.
After that, I went to the playground next to it and found men playing soccer. It was like a league game in the United States. There were six people on each team, with a goalie and one referee. They played for twenty minutes for each half. There were plenty of people watching the game. When the game ended, the next soccer players changed in the park, out in the open. I didn’t stay for the next game but I thought the league game was very interesting.
I am looking forward to doing my homework tonight at the café that Chris told me about. At the café, you get free wireless while having a cold cup of cafe. YEAH!!! I don’t have to be at Edificio San Boal. That place can get so freaken hot.
This is my second to my last day here in Salamanca and I am very sad that I am leaving. I guess a month seemed like a long time when I first started but now, it’s seems like I’ve barely spent any time here in Salamanca. I finished all my exams on Wednesday and I felt a little freaked out by it because we learned so many vocabulary words before the exam. I was trying not to get all my conjugations and verb tenses confused. It was really difficult at the beginning to get the classes straight and not confuse them with each other. During the exams, I was freaking out a bit. I was stressed and I think I gave myself an upset stomach because I haven’t had any stomach problems until the exam.
Today, the CCC students have Gaby a gift and some chocolate cake for her, her husband and the new addition to the family. She is so beautiful with her growing belly. All the students showed up and shared a piece of cake with her. I thought it was so charming to have a little celebration for Gaby especially being in Spain a little pregnant.
Later, Gerry and I went to get some last souvenirs for our loved ones. We bought key chains, t-shirts, fans, decorative bulls, and some jamon. Not that I am planning on sneaking it over to the States but it would be nice to have some on the plane. On our way home, we bought potted plants and flowers for our host mothers. The hospitality they have shown us is so generous especially hearing some awful stories of other host families.
The best part of my entire trip was learning Spanish. I feel so much more comfortable with speaking it. I knew coming to Spain, my Spanish was sub-par but I learned to make mistakes while shopping and ordering food at restaurants. I had wonderful friends who would let me struggle with my Spanish until I figured what I was going to say. The experience is amazing and the classes that follow ours are going to have an incredible experience.
Gracias a todos los personas de Colegio de Cuidad Chicago para eso experienca increible. Quiero Salamanca, quiero Espana, quiero Europea, quiero Estados Unidos. Eso experiencia me hace cambiar mi sentimiento de Estados Unidos. Creci desde Espana y continua crecir cuando vaya a Universidad de Maryland – Parque Colegio. Estoy buscando adelante a compartiendo mi experiencia con mi familia, mis amigos, y mis companeros de Colegio de Harold Washington. Muchoismo gracias para todos. Muchoismo gracias a mis profesoras de Chicago, Gaby y Marta. Estoy en duedo con todos.
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