Week 2

This past week was much different than my week on the Camino de Santiago, but equally enjoyable. I met my group of American students in the Madrid Airport last monday, and then proceeded to orientation in Salamanca Spain. While we were in Salamanca, we visited many old castles and churches with beautiful architecture. 

This cathedral has paintings that depict scenes from
the bible. The intention was to convey the stories
to people that could not read. 

This Courtyard is part of an ancient university
in Salamanca. This part of the university
has been converted into a museum, but there
are still students in other buildings. 

This cathedral is very close to where we stayed in the city of Salamanca.  Every night we could see its towers Illuminated in the night sky.

My experience in Salamanca was full of wonderful tourism and sight seeing, but at first I was disappointed by how much English the American group was speaking. This was a shock to me, because  the first week I had been in Spain, I was surrounded by Spanish speakers the entire time, and learned an incredible amount every day. When the American group arrived, I was at first very happy to have friends again, but soon realized that I was not learning any Spanish at all. By the second day, I found a group of friends within the American group who were as intent upon learning Spanish as I was, and things began to progress in a more positive direction.

After four days in Salamanca we moved to our host families in Segovia. I think I was very lucky to end up with the host family I have here. The mother is an excellent cook, the father has a great sense of humor, and the daughter Marta, is my age, and she has been introducing me to all of her friends. This weekend, Marta and I took a trip into Madrid to be part of the celebration for her soccer team Atlético de Madrid. On Friday Atléti won the euro cup against Chelsea (of England?) and I became their newest fan. The Celebration was Saturday night, so we took the bus into madrid, and met up with some of Marta's friends to join the festivities.

Here I am with Miguel, Marta, and Laura, celebrating Atlético de Madrid's victory

The next two days, Marta and I explored Madrid. This was very useful for me because I started to get a sense of where I will be living, and how to use the metro. We went to some beautiful parks, and I also became acquainted with the restaurant 100 Montaditos, which serves food at very low prices. Marta and I were also very lucky because on Sunday we decided to go to the Palace of Cebelis, and it was the last day for free admission to the observation balcony on the 8th floor. from the balcony, we could see all of madrid. For free!

Marta and I are at the pool in Retiro Park

Marta and I on the balcony of the Palace de Cebelis

Marta and I at Parque del Templo de Debod

Today Marta needed to register for her classes at her school, so I went with her to do that. The Universities in Spain are much different than those in the United States. Firstly, tuition is far cheaper than finding room and board. The school did not seem very preoccupied with it's appearance either. this was very different for me, coming from St. Lawrence where every side walk block is perfectly aligned. Also, the students pick one career to study, and stay in the building for that career for the entire four years. This was a big contrast for me, because sometimes my classes can be all the way across campus. Despite these differences, many things reminded me very much of my  college experience, such as the dining hall with food that just wasn't quite as good as home, and thousands of excited chattering students excited about upcoming classes.

Overall, I'm very glad that I ended up with the host family I have, because I will still be able to spend time with Marta while we are in Madrid because we will both be studying and living near each other. It makes me happy that I have already met so many spanish friends my age.

The View of a palace from Parque Templo de Debod