| Jul. 2nd, 2007 @ 06:07 pm Travel Blog: España |
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Hola, amigos y amigas! I have arrived in Salamanca, Spain, now with access to internet, so I will be updating here whenever I am not too tired from walking around the city all day. My first update will not be too detailed, but will include photos.
Día Uno:
- Two gin and tonics, a tearful goodbye to my boyfriend at Logan Airport and 6.5 hours later, I landed in Paris. Note: Duty-free shop in the Charles de Gaulle airport for some reason smelled of farts and feet.
Here I am, awating my flight from Paris to Madrid, Spain.
-flight to Madrid is gorgeous! Landing a little messing, probably due to the wind blowing off the near by mountains. Flew over the Pyrenes Mountains and a large French river, which I am yet to figure out its name.
Pyrenes
French river
-Got to Madrid, was very tired, got lost looking for my luggage, went in through the "out" way to get my luggage, got my luggage, waited for the shuttle to my hotel room, called the hotel and then realized that i had to call the hotel to get the service... bummer...
-met up with roomate, Liz Viera, very sweet girl, in the hotel room, and then we decided to take a mini adventure to Madrid's Avendia de America at 10pm. Yeah. Almost got lost in the ghost town area of where our hotel was, but was saved by a taxi and a persistant security guard. Also, ate chinese food. The chinese people spoke Spanish. Very awesome and a little out of this world.
Día Dos:
-I left the hotel room at 9:30am, had a nice 6 Euro "Buffet Libre" breakfast, complete with delicious coffee, cold cuts, cheese and various cookies. Caught my shuttle at 10:30am to go to the airport, gave my seat up to a couple because there was no space and I didn't need to be back at the airport right away. Get to the airport at about 11:30am, met with the rest of the URI crew (Caroline, Emilia, Saul, and others I met there), including the director of the program, Mario, his wife, Susana, and their daughter Ivera-Lucia. Waited on a "VIP bus" (inside joke) to leave for Salamanca, left late because someone got lost at the airport.
Yeah, she's pretty cute...in pictures!
-Stopped for lunch and I murdered my first plate of paella! It was sooo fucking good and the shrimp had eyes.
Paella!
-Got to our Residencia, which is a convent! I have my own room with its own bathroom. The nuns here are extremely sweet. I get Breakfast, lunch and dinner, which is sometimes nice and sometimes not, but it's nice of these people to do this for us. We also do NOT have a curfew.
-After getting settled, I met Emilia and Saul at La Plaza Mayor. Gorgeous place at night. Then, Susana, Mario and their daughter show up. I had a coffee, played pirate vs. little girl with Ivera-Lucia, running about the plaza, Mario bought us Sangria.
Me in La Plaza Mayor, in which I ran many laps pretending to be a pirate behind a little girl
-I was given a tour of some of the nice bars, had a delicious and almost messy "Chupito de la Casa" or "House Shot" (shot glass, plus mini chocolate coated waffle shot cup, Bailey's topped with whipped cream) at "La Chupitería" (it's a shot bar!). Stopped in Camelot, happening dance club where people who can't dance go to look stupid (people watching there is amusing). Showed an astronaut on a cathedral (yes, you read correctly!) and was told of a frog hidden in the details of the door to La Universidad de Salamanca. If you find it, you will have a good school year. Was dropped off at my dormitory and I went to bed.
Día Tres:
-went to a mandatory meeting at El Colegio Amor de Dios (I think that's the name) at 8:30am, went to sit in a class at 10am (Modern Spanish Narrative) and another at 12pm (Post-war Spanish Novel). After that, I had lunch, walked about the deserted streets for a bank during siesta (bad idea... don't so it). Returned to my room, found the internet was working, went back out. Western Union sucks, as any one else who exchanges money does. Went to the supermarket and bought stuff for mad cheap. Found la Libreria Cervantes where I bought notebooks and the post office where I bought stamps. I did all this on my own. Returned to my dorm, chit chatted, played on the internet, went to dinner, was forced to go out with the girls at around 11pm, had two shots at La Chupitería (Perfecto Amor y Tequila), went to Camelot, made fun of people from afar, danced with the girls, left at 11:45pm, ran into and greeted Emilia, Saul, Susana, Mario, Ivera-Lucia, Prof. Basanta, Roberto (assistant director of the program) and a few professors I did not recognize. Went to my dorm. Here I am now.
And there you have my long winded update! More to come! |
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