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!!