starting to find a home away from home

So remember when I wrote about the nice weather coming in and how exited I was about it and how it made me feel a lot better? Well I definitely spoke way too soon because the very next day, it snowed. So much for warm and sunny days, it’s back to coats and scarves and definitely shoes with socks. Not so fun.

But it was a fun week anyway; I did a lot of fun stuff. I’m realizing I only have about 4 weeks left here in Salamanca, so I’m trying to get out there a lot and do all the things that I have wanted to. I had the normal classes Tuesday through Friday- we didn’t’ have class on Monday, that was pretty cool. Hannah had a little get together at her house on Monday night, so Mike and I hit that up and saw the usual friends.

sofie and me at their apartment

Tuesday I had class, only two though, so nothing that bad. Mike, Lisa, Juliette and I met up with Hannah in the afternoon and spent some time together. Hannah had this geriatrics conference at the hospital this week, so she was really busy, but she wanted to meet up with us for just a short time. That night, I just did homework and hung around the apt with Maggie.

Wednesday I had my classes in the morning and then in the afternoon I hung around with some girls in the program. We went to a tapas bar and got some dinner and just talked and told stupid stories about when we were kids. It was awesome.

lisa and me at a cafe

After that I met the girls for our Bible study, we met at this small sandwich place. After bible study I went to meet Lisa and Katie and some other JMU kids for trivia night at one of the local Irish Pubs. I really enjoy now going out with the JMU kids. At first I couldn’t really handle it, but it’s becoming much more fun. So they have trivia at the pub and you have teams of 3-5 people and they ask questions about geography, history, literature and all that stuff, then they have a part on movies and then music. It was pretty fun, and I got home early too, so that’s always great.

katie and juliette-two girls in my program

Thursday I only had three classes because one got canceled. I hung out on the Plaza with Lisa in between classes and had good conversation with her. She’s becoming one of my really good friends here too, she’s an amazing girl and I love that I’ve made new friends from JMU. Cause I get to keep them when we get back!!

lisa and her boyfriend brantly-he came to visit a few weeks ago

After my class at 6, we headed to meet the group because we were going to go see ‘Teresa: El Cuerpo de Cristo’ the movie about St. Teresa of Avila, a Spanish nun who is famous for her visions and who contributed many important works of literature to Spanish history. It was alright. I wasn’t too impressed, and I don’t feel like it really did that much for me. Maybe it would have meant more if I was Spanish and I knew the story and how important this woman was. I think her story is interesting; she was basically a headstrong woman who fought against gender identity and role in her time. As for the movie though, I guess it was worth my time, but I’m not 100% sure.

After the movie, we went and grabbed some dinner at this great, cheap tapas place. We then headed to En Vivo, where we met up with Hannah, Matthieu, and Sofie.

en vivo

We stayed there and hung around with some of those people for a while and then headed to Sian’s because she was having a little party at her apartment. It was a Primavera themed party, so we were supposed to buy or get flowers and wear them. I decided to make mine! At Sian’s I got to talk to some girls from Italy, a guy from Mexico, a guy from Holland and I met a few more of Sian and Hannah’s friends. Gosh I am trying to take this all in before I head back, because I feel like I’m never going to have this around me in the US. I mean, when in C’ville can I go to a friends apt for a party and meet people from all over the world!!!

After Sian’s, we headed to Posada for just a bit. It’s a classy little bar that they go to a lot. I had been a few times before, but never with Hannah and her friends, who are just so much fun.

hannah and becki, friends from school


mike and me


matthieu and me
notice the flower, i made that!!

Friday I had two hours of Cine and Lit. At the end he handed us a packet of the reading we have for next week. And guys, this is not your normal packet. This is a 50 page packet, front and back, two pages of text to each page of paper. This is basically 200 pages of reading, IN SPANISH. So clearly we were not very happy with this. We’ll see how this goes.

After class Laura and I went to the Plaza and just sat for a while before lunch.

We saw Lisa walking toward us after a while and she had been sitting with her parents who had come in for the weekend to visit. So we went and sat with them for a while and talked about Salamanca and everything. It was nice to meet them!

Friday afternoon Laura came over and we looked at old pictures of Katie and Kelly and Notti. It’s funny how she’s such good friends with them but we never hung out. Now she’s one of my best friends here. We’re so excited to go back and all hang out together.

I miss them!!

wow- i can't wait to go back to this one

and this nut too

Friday night I went to Hannah’s house for dinner because her flatmates were making dinner for us all. It was so much fun, Matthieu made crepes, Sylvana made tortillas and Manuela and Alexandra made pasta with ham and creme. It was really fun, we ate international foods and listened to international music. What a great time.

After dinner I just hung around with Hannah and we had a sleep over which was super fun!

sylvana making tortillas


mike trying his hand at crepes


Saturday morning Hannah and I got up and did a few hours of homework, which was really great. She’s only got a few more weeks here so she’s got tons to do, so it’s good to hang around with her---she keeps me studious. After that I went home for lunch and then around 4 Maggie and I met up with Laura at the roman bridge and sat in the sun and did school work until it got cold.

down by the river
for the record, we all hate the 'kissy face'
we just do it to make fun.

We then met up with Hannah and sat on the plaza. We were going to the cinemas later that night, so Hannah and Laura wanted to go get some candy at a local candy shop. Well 30 minutes later, they emerged.

this picture is entitled- 'This was so all your fault!!'

So after that I went to Hannah’s and we ate dinner and then Laura, Hannah, Mike, Mattieu and I went to the movies. We went to see 300, a movie about Sparta. Don’t see it Mom. I loved it, a neat mix of war and art, but not for everyone.

One of Sylana’s friends was having some people over at her apartment, so we all headed over there after the movie. It was another place to meet tons of internatnioals. Gosh I love this life.

mike and matthieu deep in conversation
someone should probably tell matthieu to brush his hair

After that we went out for a bit all together because it was Sylvia’s last night in Salamanca. She’s one of Hannah’s roommates and just one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. I’m pretty sad she headed back to Italy without being able to spend much time with her. We just started to get to be better friends this week.

sweet sylvia!

Sunday we got up and hung around and then ate lunch. Then we headed back tot eh river for more sun and reading. It was a beautiful day!!!

After that I went to the Plaza just for a bit and did some more work. Sunday night we watched some of Miss España competition. It was HILAROUS watching it with Rosa nd Sylvia—they are so harsh. Each one that came out, it was, “Ella es muy fea!!” Translation= she’s really ugly. Gosh I’d never want to go on that show.

laura and i are pretty excited about lazarillo de tormes


down by the river...

So that’s been the week. I’m starting to really love it here. Could be because I’ve finally found a ‘family’ of people that I spend time with. I’ve made some really great friends and it’s hard to believe I’m heading home in 6 weeks. I start to get scared when I think of having to head home then. I know I’m really going to miss it. So it’s nice to see a change of heart in me. It’s nice to finally really be enjoying stuff here in Salamanca. But it just make it that much more painful to leave.

refreshed and ready for anything.

Gosh it’s so hard to believe it’s already the middle of March. It doesn’t seem like we’ve been here too terribly long, but I’ve been here about a month and a half, and only have about that left. Strange realization. It almost gets me started panicking about all the things that I think I should do or want to do. I’m trying to think about all the things I would regret not doing or taking advantage of when I’m back in the states and figure out when I’ll do them.

This was a very busy week academically. I had two exams on Thursday and a composition due, so I was working all week to get ahead on that so I wouldn’t be outrageously stressed out Wednesday. It’s pretty crazy when you have your first exam in March. It’s crazy when your friends are having their spring break when you’ve got your first exam. So I didn’t do much this week except study, with the occasional meeting with Spanish students to speak Spanish and English and tapas with Carol, our professor, to just chat and catch up.

Tuesday we had Rosa’s famous hamburgers and fries again. I’m not sure if I said anything about this last time we had them, but Rosa makes burgers and it’s quite an event. Maggie and I can’t figure out if she makes them because we’re Americans and clearly all Americans go crazy for burgers and fries, or if this is a food that Spaniards actually eat. Whatever the reason, these burgers are definitely the biggest ones I’ve ever seen. I think this one actually has the same surface area as Maggie’s face.

here they are, in all their glory.


diggin in.

Maggie’s three fingers represent the three courses Rosa made us eat..
1.Burgers and fries
2. Fruit, which included strawberries, BIG DEAL
3.Coffee and birthday cake, left over from Teresa’s birthday.

Or I guess they could have represented the three days it took us to recover from the meal…

So Thursday, after my composition was turned in and my exams were over, I was definitely a happy girl. Mike, Leigh and I went to Plaza Anaya, near our classes, as we usually do to try to ‘pick up’ Spanish friends. Never works though, we always just end up sitting and talking to each other. Gosh, if I was a Spaniard, I would want to know us. I guess we’re learning that we’ve got to be the ones making the moves. We’ll see how that goes…. So we sat out in the beautiful sun for a while; it’s turning to spring here now, sunny and warm at mid-day to evening. It’s truly wonderful, I thought I liked springs in the US, but then I cam here. So the weather has been wonderful.

mike and me at the plaza.

So I went home for a bit after that and ate with Rosa. Then I met up with some friends at a restaurant because it was Will’s (Mike’s roommate) birthday. After that Mike and I went to En Vivo and hung out for a while. Hannah invited us over after that so we headed to her house, only to be entertained by her oh so cute French roommate Mateu (Matthew) and his impressions of Americans. His English is so bad and his French accaents is so strong, a sure recipe for a hilarious time. So we stayed over there way later than we planned, as usual.

Friday I only had one class, in which we watched a movie. We’re studying the concept of Don Juan now, so we read two interpretations of the story this week and then watched Belle Epoque, a Spanish movie with some Don Juan characteristics. I’ve got a lot of work for this class, but it’s definitely one of the best I have. My Spanish CIV class continues to leave much to be desired. Yesterday she told us about Spanish board games and asked us about our favorite. The other day she taught us a Spanish card game. What the heck??? This is not the civilization class I signed up for. I’m probably going to audit one back at JMU to catch up on all I’m missing out on now. But don’t worry, Mom and Dad, I’m learning plenty in my other classes! ; ) After class I took another walk to the south of the city and just wandered around back alleys and such. It’s fun to see where things connect up and to see what cathedral/convent/church is going to show up around the corner.

the average vista in salamanca.


yeah, they have doorways like this everywhere.

Friday afternoon Dre and I hung out with Hannah some and went to this great little university café that’s actually underground. Very cool!!

dre and me

Friday night I met up with Hannah on the plaza and hung out there for a while. Then we just went back to her flat and stayed there. We weren’t feeling that much like going out, so we just stayed in, drank wine and ate chocolate, and showed and explained to each other maps of the US and the UK. I’m the biggest dork, I stay in and look at maps on a Friday night.

hannah and me on the plaza.
oh and eliz, i bought this scarf for you in madrid, but couldn't stop myself from wearing it. hannah told me that that i had to tell you and i couldn't give you a pre-used gift, i said you wouldn't care.
so that's the truth, if you want an un-used gift, i can get one too.


view from hannah's balcony.
neat-o!!

Maggie, Stacy and Mike decided to go to Portugal this weekend and also decided to take a 2am bus to Porto, a city on the coast. So they left late Friday night. We’ll see how I fare this weekend without my Maggie.

Saturday was quite a day. I got up around 10 and then walked about 40 minutes to Laura’s house---she lives in the far north part of Salamanca. So I thought that I knew where the graffiti park was in Salamanca, near my house, but boy was I wrong. There’s a HUGE one near her house, so we strolled through it and just checked out the art work. Just astounding. Mine doesn’t hold a candle to this.

part of the grafitti park


lots of colors


laura and i felt like we knew who this was, but couldn't figure it out. we think he's cuban.
any ideas?


we felt like we really connected with this one...

So after that we noticed some guys climbing up this grassy hill near it so we just assumed that we follow. So we got up there, it lead to train tracks, so we followed them for a while and then realized that we pretty much found the end of the city and before us were fields and fields of grass. So we ran as fast as we could toward it. Just kidding, but we wandered up a few hills, only to find just more and more after it. So we strolled for about 40 minutes and finally decided to just sit and relax in a big field of grass. And this grass was almost as green as Uganda, that’s green!!! It was one of those moments when you just stop and think, “Where the heck am I and what the heck am I doing here? Whose life is this?” And that’s a good feeling. When we decided to head back we were overtaken by this little car driving on the dirt road with 5 greyhound dogs following it. We weren’t quite sure what was going on, but nevertheless, I took a picture of it.

treking up a hill


laura was pretty excited about all this grass.


laura and the dogs

So after that I went home and ate lunch and then, of course, took a nap. Laura came back over around 5 and we went to Hannah’s to meet up with her and her roommates. We all went to the Plaza Mayor and just sat in the sun and talked till the sun went down and it was too cold to stay out. That’s the really funny thing here-- heat doesn’t stay in the atmosphere that well. You can be wearing a skirt and sandals and a t-shirt and be hot during the day, but as soon as the sun sets, you better grab your coat, pants and shoes and socks, and don’t forget the bufanda (scarf) too. It’s just crazy.

So Saturday night was pretty fun. Most of the other students from JMU were out of town this weekend, so there were only 6 of us girls. So we met up and all went out together. In the spirit of Saint Patrick, we went to a few Irish bars and all got some Guinness. But really, I don’t even know if Guinness is truly Irish. But we felt like it was the appropriate thing to do. After a while, some of our intercambios, Miguel, Sergio and Eduardo met us and we went out with them for a while. They took us to this nice little Irish pub that was really quiet. We were able to just sit down and talk. Miguel wants to be an English Literature professor, so we talked about our favorite authors and books and such. He thought it was very cool that I’m from C’ville, where UVa is, as one of his favorite authors is Edgar Allen Poe. So that was fun, we got to use a lot of Spanish and hang out with probably the most ridiculous Spanish boys I’ve ever met.

Sunday was fabulous. I got up around 10 and went to Hannah’s. We made tea and sat out on her balcony and took in the sun. We spent some time sharing our struggles and what we were really going through and then we spent some time in prayer for each other. Great way to start the day. She’s only here for another month. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she leaves; she’s become one of my best friends here. We’ll see.

hannah- my british soulmate

After that I went to the plaza mayor to meet up wit Dre, Laura and Dr. Harllee. Little did I know that the government had organized a little dance off between all the old ladies and gentlemen of different cities in Spain. Well, actually, I don’t really think that’s what it really was, but apparently all these groups of Spanish dancers had come to Salamanca for the day to perform in the Plaza Mayor. They were all wearing traditional dress and dancing to drum beats and flute type instruments. It was the coolest thing; there were so many people there.

dancing in the plaza


more dancing in the plaza

So I met up with them because we had planned to go on an adventure. If we were going ot stay in Salamanca, we sure we’re going to have a good time! We all packed lunches and wanted to go to some park or by the river and spend the day outside. It was a simply marvelous day and we wandered down to the river, near the old Roman Bridge and the statue of the bull, and found a nice little spot in the sun. Thankfully I had brought some fabric from Uganda to Salamanca to spice up my room, so I brought those and we just sat out on them and ate our sandwiches and fruit and talked about everything. It was so wonderful. We talked about our lives, politics, even Spanish grammar. It was the best thing I think I could have done. Three hours outside by a beautiful river with some really cool people and really good conversation. Not bad, Claire.

river veiw.


So you all knew that i'd been having trouble these last few weeks, with being content here and knowing my purpose. Well, this past week I feel like I've been completely changed from who I was in the past few weeks. When we got back from Madrid, I just felt so renewed and refreshed, like I was finally thankful and happy to be in Salamanca, and I could see why I was here. I've been able to get a lot closer to a few girls here and really see how I could be used to love them. So I'm feeling wonderful now and I'm finally joyful in being here. And having that Joy back is the best feeling ever.

That's in for now, love you all, miss you all!!

maggie says i should call this blog entry 'madrid madness'.......so here it is..... "Madrid Madness"

This wasn’t quite as busy as a week as I had last week, mostly due to the fact that I was sick because of the week before and didn’t want to do anything. So I learned my lesson about pushing it too hard, to say the least.

It was a little different because we had some friends in. Maggie’s bro and Ali were still in town and Jill arrived a few days after them, so we spent time with them. Brandon and Ali went to Valencia on Wednesday, so Jill came to stay with us, which was very fun. I went to stay in Mag’s room and Jill and she stayed din my for the week, so that was a fun switch up. Also, my friend Lisa’s boyfriend was in for the week, so we got to hang out with him some.

jill and maggie chowing down on some helado

Toward the end of the week I was feeling better, which was wonderful because things began to get very busy. Wednesday night Hannah invited me over for dinner since I’d been sick, and she knew I don’t like to eat friend meats when I’m sick. So we made a delicious vegetable soup with plenty of greens! Boy, t hat was very exciting. After that we went over to Alyssa’s for just a little time to spend some time together.

look at all those veggies!!!

On Thursday, I had the normal 4 classes and so that keeps me on my toes enough, but to add to that, it was Alyssa’s last night in Salamanca and we had a planned group event that night. So I was rushing all around all day. We went to see Julieta Venegas, a Mexican pop singer who’s very popular here. It was very fun. It was at this gym/arena type thing, and there were tons of people there. I’m really glad we got to go, it was fun music and it’s so very cool to see a new part of Spanish society.

julieta venegas


my friend justine and me at the concert


if you can't tell, she's playing the acordian.
trust me, this girl was cool.


the crowd and stage

So after that was over, we rushed across Salamanca, (because this concert was on the other side of town, like really the other side of town), because we wanted to catch Alyssa at En Vivo before she left. She’s back in the states now I guess, living on the West coast and fighting forest fires. Pretty cool, huh? Maggie and I told her we were going to start a fire in VA so she’d have to come put it out and we’d see her. We’ll see what happens….

So we got home crazy late and had to get up like 4 hours later to leave for Madrid. Will I ever learn??

Friday morning we left Salamanca around 7am and drove to Madrid. First thing we did was the Prado Art Museum. It’s pretty sweet, I’d been there before, but I’m still able to catch more than what I did before. We saw lots of Goyas, Velazquezes (?) and some Picassos.

outside the prado

After that we checked in to our hotel and had like an hour to eat lunch. We stayed in a 4 star hotel. It was absurd. In the afternoon we went to the Thyssen Bornemisza Art Museum. It had a lot of different stuff and we had about an hour and a half to just walk around to what we wanted to see. That’s definitely more my way of seeing art. I’m not so good with guided tours of 35 people. So I basically saw everything, from 14^th century religious art to modern art from New York. It was a nice combo.

outside thyssen bornemisza

After that we went back to the hotel and showered and such. Leigh and I are apparently the favorites in the group because we had a noticeably bigger and nicer room than all the others. We had a huge window in our room and mirrors on all the walls. So we opened up our window and enjoyed the most amazing sunset I’ve seen here yet from the comfort of our 4 star hotel.

madrid sunset from our hotel

After that we had a nice dinner in the hotel and then headed to a theater to see a Spanish version of ‘The Producers’ an American play. Or maybe it was a movie first, I’m not sure, but it’s a movie and a play in the US, about two men who want to produce a hit play. With a combo of the fact that I hate musicals, I only got 4 hours of sleep the day before, and that the play involved making fun of Hitler and Nazis at a ridiculously inappropriate level, I wasn’t so pleased with the night. I would have preferred to have gone to a café, sipped on tea and read a good book all night. But that wasn’t an option, so I dealt. Sorry to any of you who loved The Producers, but I hated it. Sorry.

So Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast in the hotel and then headed to the Palacio Real. We toured that for an hour or two in the morning. It’s a neat place to see. I had been already, and we didn’t see anything different, but it was still kind of interesting. It’s a very elaborate place, soooo extravagant. And it was constructed at a time when Spain was in financial crisis. Way to go Spain-you’ve really got your priorities straight.

front of the palacio real


the church in the palacio


one of the chandeliers in the palace, doesn't look real does it?


cathedral directly across from palace

We had some free time on the patio after the tour and we jus sat and talked to these crazy Italians who came up to us. They spoke a combination of Italian and very broken English, so it was quite entertaining.

After that we went to the Centro de Arte de Reina Sofia- the current queen. There’s a ton of really cool art there, including the Guernica, by Picasso, one of his most famous and definitely his biggest paintings. It’s really amazing to see it in person.

guernica


So after that we had free time for the rest of the afternoon. It was a simply beautiful day, warm and sunny, so Dre, Ali, Stacy, Stacy’s friend Emily, Emily’s friend Matt and I went to the Plaza Mayor and had lunch out on the terrace of a café. Emily and Matt were in for the weekend from Rome where they are studying.

the plaza mayor in madrid

So after lunch we just walked around the center of the city. We walked to the Puerta del Sol and then up to Gran Via which is one of the most commercial streets in Madrid.

I saw this poster when we were walking. For those of you that don’t’ know, Tilly and the Wall is an American band that I have seen in concert a few times. It was funny to see that here in Spain!

tilly and the wall poster!

I was meeting with my friend from JMU who is living in Madrid now at 6, so I left them around 5:15 and walked back to meet her at a metro stop. Natalie was one of my small group leaders and is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. I hadn’t seen her in about 9 months, so it was soooo exciting to see her again. She’s living in the neatest piso near a plaza and is working at an elementary school teaching English. So we just hung in her apartment for a while and she made me an amazing fruit salad and tea. Around 9 we decided to go out and find some dinner, so we just walked around and around Madrid looking for a cool place to eat. Neither of us were really hungry at that point though, so we kind of just wandered, enjoying each others company. Around 10:30 we decided to go to this place near her apt that she really likes a lot, but there was a 40 minute wait, so we just put our names down and went back to hear apt and ate olives and watched the Real Madrid/Barcelona football game. Around 11 we headed back to the restaurant and had a nice little meal which included lots of veggies! We walked around a little more after dinner, but we were so tired, so around 1 I hopped on a Metro and headed back to the hotel. It was so wonderful to see her, it had been so long and we had so much to talk about. She’s such a comforting person for me, almost like ‘home’ for me, and so after feeling like I have been for the past few weeks, it was such a blessing to be able to unload on someone who knows me so well and cares about me so much. It was the best night I’ve had in a long while.

NATTY!! I love this girl!!!

Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast and then were out of the hotel by 9ish. We drove to San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a small town outside of Madrid, where "El Escorial” is. It’s a palace/church/school/tomb/monastery and it’s a very famous/important landmark in Spain. It was constructed in the mid 1500’s and has the shape of cross. It’s a beautiful place.

el escorial and the gardens


old old old book at the library at el escorial

On the way back to Salamanca, we drove by the Valle de los Caídos, a monument constructed in honor of all the soldiers that died in the Spanish Civil War. I wish we had gone up to it, it’s so unbelievable. It’s a huge cross in the side of the mountain and the view from it is amazing. But here it is, from far, far away.

valle de los caidos

We also stopped on the outskirts of Avila on the way home and got to take some pictures. Avila is known for the walls that surround it. They are huge!

avila

We got home to Salamanca around 6pm, so we had all evening to catch up on stuff and get readjusted. In comparison to how I felt coming back from Barcelona, I wasn’t as excited to be home. The weekend and travel wasn’t as exhausting and so coming back I felt a little sad to be back. But as the night went on, I actually felt like the weekend rejuvenated me and I still had a new appreciation for Salamanca. Like I was back to take it on! I didn’t know if that was just a feeling I was going to have last night, but when I got up this morning I felt the same. I went to a park this morning and just sat in the sun and studied and it was so wonderful. I feel like I’m finally ready to take in all there is to offer, I’m content and happy to be here and I’m ready to keep on going. I just feel like there’s joy in my life again and I’m truly appreciative of where I am. So that’s really sweet.

Today was Teresa’s birthday, so we all were here for lunch and after lunch we had a birthday cake. We all sang and had a jolly good time.

teresa's b'day cake


teresa


So that’s the news for now. This week will be a little less busy, as I’m totally cutting out all the ‘fun’ stuff to study. I’ve got an exam Thursday and a paper due and a lot of other little stuff. So we’re just going to study a lot this week, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

I miss you all, keep me updated on your lives!!