Espero que estén bien.
Last night was quite a night!! The IES staff people had a pizza party for us at a bar called El Savor. It is the only Latin American style bar in Salamanca. They play Latin American music and teach Latin American dances like salsa and meringue. During dinner, (Oh and did I mention we were given one free drink with dinner? The sangria was delicious.) a traditional Spanish band called Tuna de Medicina de la universidad de Salamanca serenaded us. A "Tuna" is a group of university students, professors, etc. that wear these old traditional clothes, like tights with bloomers, play string instruments, and sing old Spanish and Latin American folk songs. Our Tuna was from the Medical school at the University of Salamanca. They were pretty awesome. I will post a link below if you wanna check them out. After their performance a Venezuelan lady gave us a salsa class!! It must have been quite a sight. 24 American students dancing salsa in a Spanish bar. Oh the things that happen while one is abroad.
Not much happened today. We attended a "charla" (or lecture) about the cultural differences between Spain and America. This was a very interesting talk. David, one of the IES staff, lead the discussion because has studied abroad in America in California and also dated an American girl for seven years. He asked us what things we have noticed since we have arrived here. The main things we have noticed from what I remember from the talk is that here in Spain people are much more physically affectionate in public. Young boys and girls make out all over the place, which is fine I guess. You can choose not to look. But I love how all the middle-age and old couples walk around the street arm in arm or holding hands. It's SO CUTE! You don't really see that too often in America. Also, people here are just more rude in general. We are not suppose to smile at people we see on the street, especially if you are a girl. DO NOT SMILE AT A BOY! That means you are in to him. At restaurants and stuff the waiters and waitresses do not come and check on you and ask if you need anything. They take your order and bring you your check and that is it. And they aren't even nice when they ask what you want. I need to learn how to not take these things personally because that's just how the españoles are, but I always feel like I'm doing something wrong when I don't get a more positive response from people. Then a psychologist came and talked to us about culture shock. He explained the process of adjusting to the culture here and then re-adjusting to our own culture when we return home. Fun stuff. It actually was pretty fun because he made half of us pretend we were españoles y the other half act as Americans and interact with each other. After that our student orientation leader gave us a quick tour of the campus of the University of Salamanca and the Pontificia universidad de Salamanca. THEN, a couple of my new friends and I went and had churros con chocolate. OM NOM!!
MISS YOU ALL AND LOVE YOU!!!
Hope
video of Tuna de Medicina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EsECKpVhYY&feature=related
I wish you try to have a least a little fun while you are in Spain, Hopey. Thanks for the posts. It makes it easier to know you are doing well. We have to set up a skype date.
ReplyDeleteTu madre ..... Ay ay ay... Lo siento "Sergia(o)" ... Discúlpala. Me encanta tu blog y el reportaje detallado con las fotos. Ojalá que yo pudiera ir a España por la primera vez otra vez. Parece que te diviertes mucho a lo español y eso es bueno, muy bueno. Tu segundo día y ya estás envuelta en las cosas de allá. El choque cultural es normal y fuerte y el sicólogo tiene razón. Por ejemplo, en los restaurantes, a los camareros(meseros) no se les dan propinas grandes como aquí, así que no tienen tanto interés en que tú comas rápido. El estilo de comer es a un paso lento y para gozar el tiempo con amigos y comida y no quieren molestar tanto como aquí. En parte es posible que sean rudos pero puede ser en parte esto también. La comida es la cosa más importante en el mundo para los españoles. Se dice -Tú, tranquila-. Ellie, MG, Ellen y yo te mandamos besos y abrazos fuertes. ¡Disfruta!
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