So I think I this might have been the busiest or most exhausting week since I’ve been here.

Classes are in full swing and since I feel like I’ve gotten more comfortable with the city and have made more friends, I think I didn’t stay home as much as I have in the past few weeks.

Oh and we had Maggie's favorite meal this week, rice with tomatoes, onions, green peppers and meat, that was a pretty big deal….

Maggie-so ready for lunch

Tuesday I had two classes. I ran into Mike at some point and he told me that there were tons and tons of students hanging around Plaza de Anaya that afternoon, so we went over and hung around and just watched the Spanish students, hoping that someone would come up to us and talk to us, but we weren’t s lucky and just sat there by ourselves. That night the students in our group went to an English class at the university to meet some Spanish students for intercambio. I met two girls and three boys who hopefully I’ll continue to see the next few months and be able to practice Spanish with. After that we ate dinner and then met up with some other students to go to El Savor, a little club that has lots of music and salsa dancing at. There was a guy playing guitar that we got to check out. That was really fun; there were tons of locals there. It’s a pretty classy place and it’s sure to have something really neat.

dude playing guitar

That night walking home there was a full moon, so I got some cool pictures of it and the city at night.

full moon

statue off avenida mirat


sideroad

Wednesday was classes, again, a free afternoon and then Bible study at night. Maggie and I both had a lot of work to do when we got back, so we just stayed in and studied.

Thursday was sooo busy. I had all my classes during the day. In the evening, I had to go watch a movie for my phonetics class. We have to watch a movie from a Latin American country and analyze the difference in accent. So I went to Maria Llena Eres de Gracia (Maria Full of Grace), a Colombian film about drug trafficking.

maria full of grace

They show them every Thursday, but I wanted to get a head start and not wait to watch one later because stuff really starts to pile up in a few weeks. So my friend and I watched it and then as soon as it was over, we had to run to meet the group, because we were going to see another movie together that night. Two movies in one night…I don’t recommend, especially if they aren’t in your native language.

So we met them and we all went to see El Laberinto de Fauno, a war/fantasy film about a little girl after the Spanish Civil War.

a big two thumbs down.

I hadn’t heard much about it, but apparently it won some Oscars. To say the least, it’s not a movie for the faint of heart. I’m definitely not one with a faint heart when it comes to movies, I enjoy a good war movie or a shoot-em-up movie, but this one, oh goodness, it was horrible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more brutal, graphic movie. There were times watching the movie where I just lost my breath and almost started laughing because it was so absurd. And the worst part is that no Spaniard that I’ve talked to so far had thought the same. Watching a Spanish movie and hearing Spaniards’ reactions to it sure has told me a lot about the culture here. I though that I had been a bit desensitized to certain things, but not at all compared to them. We talked to our professor the next day and he just shrugged it off, like it was no big deal. He said, “Sangre es vida!” (Blood is life) and went on. So needless to say, I was mad that I had to go and sit through it, now I’m kicking myself for not getting up and walking out.

So at least after the movie, I got to do something fun. Hannah’s flatmate was having a b’day so she invited us over to hang out and go out with them. So Mike and I went over after the movie and met her crazy French, Italian and Spanish flatmates. It was the funnest thing ever. These people are crazy, but crazy fun!! Everyone can speak Spanish, so that’s what we use to talk to each other, but there would be times when the two Italian boys would revert back to Italian or the French girl and guy would get going in French. I loved hearing all the different languages. So we hung out there for a bit and then went out to this really classy bar that I hand’ been to before. We just stayed there for a while. I met a bunch of Hannah’s friends, a few girls from England and a ton of girls from France. They were all soooo nice, I loved hanging out with them.

Mike, Me and Hannah


Antonio and Maurizio and two other boys

Friday I had class in the morning and then came home and hung around the house. Then we ate lunch… (pictured below)

welcome to spain

Yes, that’s french fries(fried), beef (fried) and an egg (fried).

I am going on a detox when I get back to the US. Just pomegranate juice, water and celery or something similar like that. Maggie and I have felt so tired since we got here, part I’m sure being that our sleep schedule is different, but we really think that even though we have plenty to eat, we’re a bit malnourished. No fresh vegetables, no lean meats. Just bread, fried foods and coffee. If anyone wants to send me some vitamins or supplements, I’d be forever grateful.

I took a little nap Friday afternoon cause I knew we’d be out later that night, then I went back to Hannah’s flat and hung with her and her roommates for a bit. Maggie’s brother and Stacy’s best friend arrived Friday evening, so I went to meet all of them after that. They are in for the week. We got some dinner and walked around a little. We went out with them that night, took them to the usual places.

maggie and brandon



random beautiful house

Saturday we all slept late. We met up after lunch and took Brandon and Ali around some more. We went to the cathedral and actually went in this time. Somehow we had never realized you could go in and look around, so after being here for 5 weeks and seeing the cathedral every day, we finally did it. It’s beautiful inside.

outside the cathedral


inside of the cathedral

After that we walked to the river and saw the statue in the famous Spanish work “La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes.” Not that any of you would know this, but it’s a novel we’ve had to read for Cine and lit and we’ve watched two versions of the movie which both include this statue. It’s a bull, can you tell??

the toro from lazarillo

So since Brandon go tot Salamanca, he was asking about ‘chocolate and churros’ and so after going to the river, he couldn’t wait any longer. So we took him to this chocolateria near our classes called Valor. So Brandon got his first authentic chocolate and churros and was a happy boy the rest of the day.

brandon and his churros

I met up a guy I had met at intercambio the past week for a little bit after going with the group and we went to this art expo for a little while. It was cool to see some Spanish art and have him help me with my Spanish and help him with his English.

After that I met up with Stacy and Dre and Laura and we met with two other girls from Intercambio named Laura and Beatriz. We went to a little café and talked for more than an hour, some Spanish, some English. These girls were sooo great, one’s from Valladolid, just near Salamanca and the other is from Extremadura, the region just south of Castilla y Leon (where Salamanca is). We had so much fun with them, talking about learning another language and problems we have with Spanish and English. After that we went to the Plaza with them for a little and watched this guy who was playing with fire.

playing with fire

Laura and Bea were great to hang out with, so friendly and willing to help you out. I love Spanish friends.

So after that we went back and ate at our houses and then met up a little later and went to a few bars and clubs. There was salsa dancing at El Savor which we checked up, but we only had one boy with us and salsa dancing isn’t that fun if you have no one to dance with. Fortunately I got home early Saturday night, since that hadn’t been the case Friday night.

Sunday I woke up feeling pretty sick. I’ve got a sore throat and am sneezing a lot. Maggie left Sunday morning for Madrid to meet her friend Jill at the airport. Jill is coming in for the week too, and she doesn’t speak any Spanish, so Maggie went to bring her back. So I met Brandon for lunch and we went to our favorite little food joint where you can get a sandwich for a little over 1 euro. Great for someone one a budget. So then we walked around a little, met up with Ali and Stacy and Dre and got some coffee.

Ali and Dre

I went home after that because I wasn’t feeling soo good. I did a little work and basically just sat inside and drank tea, because it was cold, cloudy and rainy outside. Brandon and Jill came over that night for dinner and got to meet the family. It was fun, Rosa even busted out a bottle of wine for the occasion. We had a great time, Brandon and Jill d0on’t know any Spanish, so we were translating and trying to get them to say stuff the whole meal. It was really a blast. They took Jill out after dinner, as it was her first night here, but I just stayed in and did some work, as I’ve been out a lot lately.

all the girls- Jill, Me, Rosa, Sylvia and Maggie