Monday, May 2, 2011

May 1, 2011

May 1, 2011 - 7:45 PM

We made it! I am now in Salamanca! It is so wonderful here! Our host family is so nice! There are actually two other girls living here from Ireland! Their names are Sarah and Zara and they are sixteen! They seem super nice! They have been here for a week and will be here for four more weeks so we will be together the whole time we are here! 

Adelay and I share a room next to the Irish girls. It just has two small twin beds, a closet, and a nightstand, so it's quaint, but I LOVE it! Our host mothers name is Ana and she is wonderful!

10:00 PM

Well I am in love with Salamanca! It reminds me a lot of Florence! But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Today, the bus came to pick us up at 10:00 AM. The bus/shuttle driver said we were going to wait ten minutes before we would leave so Adelay and I put our bags on the bus and ran down a side street to a place we knew had free wifi. So we were down the street for about ten minutes just emailing and such, and then we came back to the bus and had a sad surprise. Liliana had set her purse down on the front seat of the bus and someone had come by and snatched it! Her purse had her camera and her wallet in it! I was so glad that Adelay and I had put our bags further back on the bus! poor Liliana though! So we had to wait for a long time while Liliana called the bank and filed a police report so we were about two hours late leaving Madrid! But all was well. We drove for about an hour, and then we arrived in Segovia. It was muy muy bonita! We got to see an Aqueduct that was built over 2000 thousand years ago and it is still standing... WITHOUT ANY MORTAR! It was crazy! Then we toured el Castillo de Fernando y Isabella. It was beautiful! Honestly, it was one of the most gorgeous castles I have seen! 

Then, we drove another hour and a half to Salamanca! Our host family was waiting at the bus stop to pick us up and I was a little bit nervous to meet them! But they are so nice and so helpful! They speak zero English, but I am actually kind of glad that they don't because it forces us to speak Spanish. We spend most of our time with Ana, and she is so helpful when we are trying to figure out how to say something or if we don't understand what she is saying. I think my Spanish will start coming really fast now!

Their apartment is up on the fifth floor of an apartment building on la Avenida de Portugal. Ana showed us around, then gave us some time to unpack our things. When she finished, she brought us a map and showed us where we lived, where the school was, and a couple major sites. With that, she gave us a set of keys and we were off! Adelay and I went and found our school so that we don't have any problems in the morning. It's about a fifteen minute walk which is great! The weather here is lovely, so I don't mind the walk at all! 

When we came back, Ana told us that she just needed ten minutes and she would have dinner ready for us! We came back into the room for a minute and then she called us out for dinner. She made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and although it sounds so normal, they were so good! Muy delicioso! She sat with us while we ate and asked us all kinds of questions! It was kinda intense because I'm so scared of screwing up, but it actually went quite well! I understood most of what she said and was at least able to formulate a half decent answer! Ha ha she said that she has been housing students for ten years! So I'm sure she is used to people trying to get used to the language! Quick side note, the lisp on the Cs and Zs is still so different! They also use the vosotros form all the time, which I am not used to! Anyway, she told us that she has given up trying to cook for the Irish girls because the don't like to eat anything! She said they told her they like pizza y papas fritas (French fries)! So she kept saying that she was so happy that we will eat anything! I didn't tell her that that I don't like fish because I figure it is all about the experience, so we will see how that goes! 

I love it here! I still miss home, of course, but I am really enjoying my time here! Well, I had better get ready for bed! Buenas noches! 

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