Segovia

¡Hola a todos!

Ayer visitamos Segovia, una ciudad muy rural y pintoresca.

Yesterday, we visited Segovia! A cute little city out in the middle of nowhere. However, it is a very historical city. As you can see above, there are two very important structures there. One is a roman aqueduct which literally runs through the middle of the town. The other is a palace in which Fernando e Isabel lived. FUN FACT: This castle was Walt Disney's inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disney World! So yes, I was very very excited to have the opportunity to see it and tour it. Unfortunately, it was extremely cold outside. Like -5 degrees C. Which I think is like 27 degrees F. Anyway, I was freezing the ENTIRE TIME. So Segovia was not as enjoyable as I imagine it would have been on a warmer day. Besides visiting the aqueduct and the castle we passed a couple of churches, the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, and some other little places of historical importance. I am not sure what everything was because I was not paying very close attention. My attention was mainly focused on trying to get my feet warm because I literally lost feeling in them.

The best part of the day by far was when we stopped at a restaurant on our way home to eat some authentic Spanish cuisine! Not that I am not eating that everyday now. But this was a very nice restaurant called El Rancho de la Aldegüela. First they brought out some appetizers or tapas for us to eat. In the picture above you will see croquetas caseras, pimientos rojos asados, and pan tomaca. Croquetas caseras are sort of like mozarella sticks, but shorter and fatter and I don't think cheese is on the inside. I think it's some kind of creamy thick milk mixture filling. Anyway, they were delicious! Pimientos rojos asados are roasted red peppers. And pan tomaca is like Spanish brushetta. They crush up the inside of the tomato and mix it with olive oil and salt and put it on top of thinly sliced toasted pieces of bread. SO GOOD! We also had tortilla de patata, which is sort of like a potato omelette. Next, they brought out the ensalada mixta y pollo asado (mixed salad and roast chicken). The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce, onion, boiled egg, olives, tomatoes, and tuna. It was tossed in olive oil and vinegar. The roast chicken was by far the best roast chicken I have EVER had. So juicy. So tender. OM NOM NOM! For dessert we were treated to a local delicacy, Ponche de Segovia. It tasted like a combination between tres leches cake and creme brullee. The cake was spongy and soaked in some kind of sweet milk, filled with vanilla pudding, spiced with cinnamon, had slightly carmelized sugar on top, and was dusted with powered sugar. I literally said, "This must be what heaven tastes like."

Last night was pretty fun too. All of us went to a bar called the Irish Rover (yeah, I think it's a pretty American place to go because they have weekly beer pong tournaments there). It was really cute though. Most of the girls ordered Sangria because it was only like three euros per glass. We had fun dancing and we knew all the songs because they were all American songs by Lady Gaga and Rihanna, etc. Also, we arrived at the bar early and left early. Got there at like 11pm and left at 2am. This is very unusual. Spanish people usually don't get to the bars until like 12:30-1ish and stay out until like 4am or later. So when Julia and I told our Señora we had arrived home at 2:30am. She said, "Ay, tan pronto!" or "Oh, how early!" Haha. I told her I liked to sleep.

So that was my exciting Saturday! This morning I went to Mass. A very interesting experience. But I'll have to talk more about that later!

¡ABRAZOS PARA TODOS!

Hope

¿Salsa en España?

¡HOLA A TODOS!

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

Dia Dos

¡Mi segunda dia en España fue muy interesante!

Today was the first day of orientation, which lasts for a pretty long time. Classes do not start until the very end of January. So for the next couple days I will be listening to más charlas (talks where they tell us about safety and registration, etc.), registering for classes, and exploring this beautiful city. Most of the charlas were really boring and because everyone was so jet-lagged we kept falling asleep, or at least I did. However, we did go on an awesome scavenger hunt which allowed us to walk around the city for the first time. I TOOK SOME GREAT FOTOS! Salamanca es muy muy bonita. All the old buildings are of Greco-Romano architecture and are absolutely gorgeous.

Lunch today consisted of a dish that, if I heard correctly, is called Comida Madrileña.

I think it was boiled celery, garbanzo beans, and some type of meat of what kind I am not sure. My Señora also added chorizo (Spanish sausage) to the mix. ¡Fue muy delicioso!

Tonight was a momentous occasion because I taught Julia (my IES housemate), Javier, and Sergio how to play Dutch Blitz. The kids loved it. It was hard to explain in Spanish since I am still getting the hang of speaking the language, but everyone did finally get it and we had a great time playing tonight. Javier y Sergio want to play again tomorrow night as well.

What did I begin?

Necesito dormir, pero escribiré más mañana.

LOVE AND PRAYERS!!!

Hope

p.s. The pictures are of the Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral in Salamanca. Plaza Mayor is like a huge town square.

¡Estoy aquí!

¡HOLA HOLA HOLA!

¡Mis amigos y mi familia!

Right now it is 10:53 your time but it is 16:52 (4:52pm) my time. Needless to say, I am exhausted and want nothing else than to go to bed right now. But I wanted to inform you all that I have arrived safely at my destination and miss you all dearly! The flight was fine and there were two girls going to Salamanca sitting in rows near me so we were able to figure out what to do at the air port together. Once we arrived, we found some other IES Salamanca students who had landed with us at 6:30 that morning and we waited for 3 and half hours to be picked up. IES is hardcore and will not speak to us in English. But this is a reason I chose this program, right?

Meeting my host family has definitely been the highlight of my day so far. Rafa, my host dad is really funny and works for a local TV station. María Jesús, my host mom made us a lovely dish of pasta and chorizo for lunch and was very welcoming. I can't say I understand exactly everything they say yet, but luckily my housemate, Julia, seems to. Julia is SO NICE and goes to Penn State.

Rafa and María Jesús have two boys, Sergio (10) y Javier (12). THEY ARE ADORABLE!!! And they love talking to us! They literally interviewed us all throughout lunch about what we like to do and what is our favorite color and what kind of food do we like to eat. They both love soccer so I am hoping I will be able to get to play with them a bit!

The plan for the rest of the day is to chill out and take a little siesta and then later go on a walk with mi familia and they are going to show us Salamanca! Salamanca is, by the way, a beautiful little city with old large churches, parks, and lots of people. I think I'm going to really love it here.

Tomorrow orientation starts and lasts until the 30th. Hopefully, I will not fail my Spanish grammar placement quiz.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU DEARLY!!!

Getting ready to go!! (¡Me estoy preparando para ir!)

Okay, so when you create this blog thing it makes you feel like you have to post something RIGHT AWAY. So this is gonna be short and simple. I am leaving in 10 days for SALAMANCA, SPAIN. I have not started packing. I have only looked at the list. But that's okay, not worried...yet. I have however finally found out who I am going to be staying with over there! Mi familia consists of my Señora, Mariaje, her husband, Rafa, and their two boys, Javier (10) and Sergio (8). I AM SUPER EXCITED to meet them! I get a room to myself, but luckily another IES student will be in the same home as me. I am looking forward to meeting her as well.

That's all for now!