Carnaval!!!! Y la impropriedad política/Carnivale!!!!!!! Et pas de correction politique

The hot matador :) 

Plaza Mayor, getting filled up for the bullfight

Corrida de toros

Lauren and I in Plaza Mayor

Matching gitana costumes!!!

Yes, I can now say that I have partaken in a truly Spanish tradition and gone to Carnaval!  But I first have to mention the most exciting aspect of this weekend- the fact that Lauren came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hadn't seen her since July 25th, the sad, sad day that I left the Burrow, so I was ecstatic to see someone who has become one of, if not my best, friends.  She caught the train from Madrid on Friday evening, and arrived just in time for us to grab a quick bite to eat before the kitchens closed.  The four of us (Molly, Mary Kathryn, Lauren and I) went to Erasmus and got our favorite pincho, a tosta with goat cheese and caramelized onions.  It is really fantastic.  Molly and I wanted to try a clara, a lemon beer, but were thwarted and were brought a glass of the beer on tap (which happened again today, when we specifically ordered a clara at lunch).  Oh well.  We went home soon afterward, because we knew we would have to get up early for Carnaval on Saturday morning.  

We caught our bus on Saturday morning, all decked out in our costumes (matching gitana, or gypsy, costumes for Molly and I, and a witch-turned-pirate wench costume for Lauren).  Why were we wearing costumes?  Because Carnaval is essentially Spain's version of Halloween.  After an hour-long bus ride, we arrived in Ciudad Rodrigo, an itty bitty town west of Salamanca known for its Carnaval celebration (it had been recommended to us by many people as a good place to go for Carnaval).  We walked around the town for a little bit before climbing to the top of the old city wall, the ideal viewing place for the corrida de toros.  I guess none of us really knew what to expect from the corrida, so we were very surprised.  About ten minutes before the corrida was due to start, the church bells starting tolling, warning everyone who didn't want to run with the bulls to get the hell out of the street.  A very sizable group of men remained (including some older men, and also men without sneakers) to run with the bulls (anyone who wants to can do it).

Finally, the corrida began, and, little by little, groups of running men rounded the corner.  The bulls charged- well, sometimes.  All in all, they were pretty dull bulls.  It took a lot of provocation (people wildly waving jackets in front of their faces or grabbing at their horns) to get them to do anything.  But every once in awhile, they did something unpredictable (such as the one bull who bashed a guy up against a wall right in front of us (and, luckily, far below us!)and kept pushing him- the guy was fine).  It was an interesting experience.  

The next main event was the bullfight.  All three of us were really on the fence about seeing the bullfight, since we knew, even without having seen one, that it was extremely gruesome.  But we decided, in the end, that it was a Spanish cultural experience that we didn't want to miss out on.  Luckily, we were sitting next to a Peruvian named Jimmy (who is studying in Salamanca too) who was very knowledgeable about bullfights and was able to answer almost all of our many questions.  So I learned a lot about bullfighting yesterday.  For one thing, I learned that there are actually four different sequences, with four different bulls and four different matadores.  The first bull, who we named Enrique, was definitely a bad bull (which reflects badly on the ranch where he came from- it's a huge honor to have your bull in Carnaval), because he fell a lot, and actually had to be dragged by the tail (along with having colorful flags waved in front of his face by what I can only describe as the assistants to the matador) to get back up.  I felt especially bad for him- I could tell he was suffering a lot.  I also didn't really watch much of the first sequence, spending much of it with my face either hidden behind my hands or in my lap, and letting out a scream when a spear was driven into poor Enrique. 

The second bull, who we called El Diablo, made a much more valiant effort.  This second sequence turned out to be a lot more interesting, because the matador was also GORGEOUS (and also probably 15 years old), and incredibly cocky (a few times, he motioned to the bull to come with him in a true "come hither" look, and, in a show of defiance to El Diablo, he would thrust out his chin and look down his nose at the bull).  He let the bull get so close to him that his pants were stained with El Diablo's blood.  But his risky moves won him a lot of supporters in the crowd!

 

The third matador was pretty bad- the sword kept popping out of the bull, so it literally took him 7 or 8 tries to kill the bull (who we named Xavi), and the last was pretty good (although definitely not as cute as the really cute matador). 

 

NOTE:  IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ALL OF THE GORY DETAILS ABOUT A BULLFIGHT, DON'T READ THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the bullfight unrolls something like this:  the bull is released and runs around the pen for a few seconds, building up steam.  The assistant matadores wave pink and yellow flags in front of it to get it warmed up (and also to give the actual matador time to prepare).  A horse (wearing a blindfold so as not to scare it and body armor so the bull doesn't maul it to death) comes out, and it's rider drives a spear into the bull.  The bull, of course, is pissed, and charges into the side of the horse, but the horse is so solidly built that it won't fall over.  Then, once it has had a few minutes to recover (and is already losing blood), two guys with smaller spears come out and drive two at a time into the bull, so you can see white, bloodstained streamers sticking out of the bull and flapping back and forth as it moves.  Once the matador is ready, he drops his hat in the center of the ring and begins what is a truly beautiful part of the ceremony, where he waves his red flag back and forth and, with pure finesse, evades getting charged by the bull.  There were a few close calls, but, at any sign of danger, five or six assistant matadores rush out from behind the protective stalls to come to the matador's rescue.  The matador slowly wears the bull down, and, once he feels like the bull isn't responding anymore, he grabs a sword and drives it into the bull's skull.  If he hits the right spot, he hits the brain, and blood instantly comes gushing out of the bull's mouth, and he staggers a little bit before keeling over and dying (or he just falls over and dies right away).  Someone comes and cuts the bull's ears off and gives them to the matador as they cart the bull away (which, according to Jimmy, is used to feed the poor).  You can tell how popular the matador is by how many white flags are waving in the crowd, and he makes a victory lap, as old women throw their scarves, hats and jackets at him.  He kisses them and throws them back.  It was the type of hero-worship that I would imagine of a Beatles concert!!!  Then, the next matador comes out, and the next sequence begins.

Okay, enough of the gory stuff!!!!!!!  Despite the fact that I have never seen such cruelty and brutality towards animals in my life (because, let's face it, even though the bull has horns, it never stands a chance), I'm glad I went to the bullfight.  It is truly a cultural experience that you don't get outside of the Spanish-speaking world, so it was fun to partake in it.  However, I don't foresee any more bullfights in my future!!!!!!

When I referred to "impropriedad política" in the title of this post, I was talking about political incorrectness.  And boy, is it rampant in Spain, a fact that became obvious at Carnaval.  I'll go on a case-by-case basis:

Case #1: The Arabs:  These guys weren't even the worst of them.  I would be concerned if I saw someone dressed in a Halloween costume like this in the US.

Case #2:  Indian:  When someone saw this man dressed like an Indian, he said, "How!"  Jeez.  Also, please note this man's child, dressed like a cowboy.

Case #3: The "American slave family": When this group came out during the costume parade, I thought something looked strange, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  The parents' faces were painted black, which I thought was a little strange.  Then, I decided that the dress the woman was wearing was a Mamie-esque dress.  The announcer only confirmed my suspicion when he said that this was a "black American slave family".  Good God Spain!  I'm pretty sure that something like this would be illegal in the US...

Case #4: "La china":  As we were walking down the street, we saw a group of Asian tourists taking photos.  A Spanish guy yelled at one of the girls, "¡China, fotos!" (Chinese girl, photos!).  Now, I was taken aback when I heard this.  First of all, it was unfair of him to assume she was Chinese, out of all of the other Asian nationalities she could have been, and secondly, he was throwing the stereotype of Asians as annoying photo-takers back in her face.

After we rode the bus back to Salamanca, we quickly changed out of our costumes and got ready to go out.  We went to a restaurant we had been wanting to try for awhile (and got our first really good sangria!!!!!!), and then went out dancing for about two-and-a-half hours at Camelot, a discoteca that we've really come to like.  They play lots of dance music, and lots of American music (the latter of which is nice, because we can sing along!!!).  A bunch of the people there still had costumes on, so it was interesting, to say the least!  At about 2:30, I got home, and couldn't feel my toes anymore.  I was so happy to get into bed, and when I woke up 7 hours later, I have never wanted to get out of bed less!!!!  But I got up, showered, and met Molly and Lauren for brunch.  We went to mass (my first mass in Spain!  Hooray!), and went to lunch after giving Lauren the requisite tour.  We grabbed lunch at one of our favorite cafés, and stopped by our favorite French pastry shop for a pastry (for me), a chocolate-covered waffle (for Molly) and then walked to the Plaza Mayor so Lauren could get ice cream.  We sat in the middle of the Plaza, because, with the sun shining and the temperatures hitting unseasonable highs, we couldn't resist.  It looked a little bit like a cobblestone version of Healy Lawn, so I got very nostalgic!  I can't wait until it REALLY warms up, so we can tan on the Plaza!

It was really hard to say goodbye to Lauren- it literally felt surreal, at so many points in the weekend, that I was seeing her!- but we're hopefully going to be visiting her in Madrid in about three weeks, so it won't be long until we're reunited (and she can show US around!!!!).  So all in all, it was a great weekend, and we have a group trip to Extremadura to look forward to next weekend!

I read a really tragic article today on the Washington Post online.  The headline was "Georgetown Student Faces Deportation," so, my interest grabbed, I clicked on the link.  What followed was a story about a Georgetown sophomore named Juan Gomez, an excellent student of Colombian origins whose parents came to the US when he was two.  He was living the American dream, truly enchanted by every aspect of his Georgetown experience.  But there's a chance he won't be able to stay in the country, much less graduate from his beloved school, because his parents, who came to the US on a tourist visa when Juan was two, never left, and were recently deported.  Juan and his older brother are still in the US for now, but there's a chance that they'll be deported too if something isn't done to change the US's immigration policy.  According to the article, Juan's family came to the US to escape a harrowing political situation in Colombia, and, while I don't believe that people should be given a free pass to come to the US and live undocumented, I think that denying people like Juan the American dream would be criminal.  The US is the only home he has ever known, and now, in pursuit of a finance degree, his dreams are within his reach, but the US government wants to deny him the chance.  I'm not trying to sway your opinion about immigration one way or another, because I know it's a very complicated issue, but please, take a few minutes to read this article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021600937.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Sending you all my love,

Kristen

Suiza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (¡qué sorpresa!)

Having fun in the snow

Amazing bakery 

Heidi statue

On the way to Maienfeld

At the Habsburg castle in Rapperswil

Rapperswil

Zurich

I have a lot of catching up to do, because this past week has been VERY exciting!!!!  I should start by explaining what has been going on with my host family, because let's just say that the honeymoon period has ENDED.  In the past week, I have come to realize that this semester, more so than in France, the host family/student relationship, at least with my particular family, is very much a businesslike relationship. So I don't feel as much a part of the family as I did with Angelita.  Part of what I dislike about my host family has to do a lot with cultural differences (but some definitely have to do with the fact that my family adheres to these rules more strictly than others).  In my pre-arrival packet, Celia talked a lot about the fundamental differences between Spanish and American families, among them being at home for lunch and dinner, not having friends over, announcing when you're leaving the house and come back to the house, and wearing shoes at home.  As for the last of these, for those of you who know me well, you'll remember that I NEVER wear shoes.  My grandma never lets me live down the fact that, when we were going to visit a newborn Tim in the hospital, I refused to put shoes on, saying that, "my mommy doesn't make me wear shoes!".  Well there you have it.  I didn't even wear shoes in the Burrow this summer, and those floors were probably the most disgusting floors I have ever walked on.  And I always forget to wear shoes around the apartment, which I think may annoy my host mom.

I have been feeling, for weeks, like I'm living in an oppressive household.  Not that I mean to sound dramatic, but it DOES sort of feel that way.  When Tim and I were growing up, our parents never really set strict rules for us, because we were pretty much good kids, so to have all of these new household rules, especially after having gotten used to living on my own as a college student and doing whatever I feel like, makes me feel like I'm reverting to a life of intense rules that I never had.  

Then, last week, something more concrete happened to upset me.  I needed to update my blog (and those of you who read it will understand how long it took me to type it!  and how much of my computer's battery I used to do so!!!!).  I went into the front bedroom (my host brother's room, but he doesn't live at home), which is where the modem is (and, hence, the best internet connection), and where there is a plug.  Because the entryway, which is where I usually do my internet, does not have a plug, and my batter was running low, I went into the front bedroom.  My host mom and host sister came in and my host mom, Ines, led it off by saying that, "I don't want you coming in here when Oscar is here this weekend." Well, duh.  And then my host sister, Noelia, said, "well, you're the only student who has EVER come in here.  You're not supposed to be in here.  You have your own room, so you should really be paying for two rooms if you're going to be in here."  Um, okay.  I apologized profusely, explaining for the millionth time that the internet doesn't reach my room and that I just needed to plug in my computer for a little bit.  Noelia was still not pleased.  I was really upset after they left the room.  I've been using the plug in that room every once in awhile since I got here, and they've never said anything.  I was not trying to infringe on their private space, but I'm not a mind reader- how was I supposed to know?  So then, right after that, we had a really awkward dinner, and I also had to ask Ines if Lauren could stay with us (because she's coming this weekend!!!!!!!! And I have an extra bed in my room, so I thought I would try).  I phrased it very diplomatically, saying that I had been talking to my friend and didn't know what the protocol was about having friends stay.  She just said, "no, she can't stay."  That's it.  I was really pissed by this point, but I just said, "oh, okay, I just wanted to check.  I didn't know what the rules were."  So that is the night that I decided that the honeymoon period was over.  The problem is, your host family can really make or break your experience, so it was upsetting to realize that this situation is less than ideal.

Over the four weeks I have been here, I have started to become really annoyed by Noelia too.  She is 26 and still lives at home (which is very common in Spain), but she is 26 going on 16.  She is incredibly immature and really can't do anything for herself, and even the sound of her voice sounds childish.  One particular fight I remember her having with Ines was the fact that she wanted to get a GPS.  The thing is, you DON'T need a GPS in Salamanca- it's teeny tiny!  And she was whining, telling her mom how much she needed one.  Meanwhile, Noelia doesn't really have a job.  She did recently get a job in Zamora, which is about an hour away, but she still lives at home and is around the house all the time.  So she's basically never going to grow up, because she doesn't do anything to increase her independence (even though she would tell you that she's very independent).  So the moral of all of these stories is that I'm very glad that I'll be traveling essentially every weekend for the rest of the time I'm here.  And luckily, I can limit how much I'm home.

So this weekend, I did just that, and Molly and I headed for Switzerland.  Switzerland?  Again?, you may be asking yourself.  And my answer to you is YES!!!! I was able to travel to my favorite country AGAIN!!! My dad joked with me that they should offer me citizenship with all of the times that I've been in the country (let's see, I've probably been in the Basel train station about a half-dozen times, in the Zurich airport twice, in Luzern, Interlaken and Mount Pilatus the first semester, and Zurich this weekend).   And, unsurprisingly, it completely exceeded my expectations!!!  I had been building up our trip to the land of fairy tales since we booked it a few weeks ago, and I knew Molly would love it.  After all, it's incredibly clean, environmentally conscious, and everyone is incredibly friendly (well, everyone I've come into contact with, at least).  But I think it's safe to say that I've converted her!!!!!!!

As usual, our trip began with a bus ride to Madrid.  We were dummies, and decided to save a few euros by taking the normal bus instead of the express bus.  NEVER AGAIN.  It took 3 1/2 hours, instead of 2 1/2, and we were both so tired of being in that bus that we were close to tears.  After a 32-euro cab ride to Barajas Airport (we decided there wasn't enough time for us to navigate the Madrid metro system to get ourselves to the airport), we checked in and caught our flight to beautiful Zurich.  Slightly more than two hours after setting foot on our plane, we were in beautiful Switzerland (although a 60 CHF- roughly $50- cab ride sort of dampened our spirits).  We stayed at a hostel that ended up being sort of on the outskirts of the city, and it was actually the same company of hostel that I stayed in in Luzern.  It is a simple hostel, but has all of the amenities (among them breakfast, which is included in the room rate, which comes in handy, given that meals are so expensive in Switzerland).  Not soon after we arrived at the hostel, it started to SNOW, so obviously, I was overjoyed and just had to go frolic in the snow for a few minutes.  Hi, I'm Kristen, and I turn into a five year-old when I see snow.

On Friday morning, we used the tram passes we picked up at the hostel to take the tram downtown.  We stopped by the tourism office and bought tickets for a tour that we had found in one of our guidebooks, a trip to Heidiland.  Heidiland as in the inspiration for Johana Spyri's novel.  So, um, this tour was pretty much made for us.  We were delighted that there were still tickets left on the day of, only to find, once we got to the bus, that there were only four other people on the tour.  Meaning that only four other people were equally uncool.  Or cool (in my opinion!).  There were two Indians and two other Americans, a woman from D.C. and a guy from Boston, so we all bonded.  Also on the bus was our tour guide, Peter, pretty much the funniest person EVER.  In very heavily accented English, he explained the geographical layout of Zurich and its environs: the Gold Coast, for the ridiculously rich people, the Silver Coast for the just plain rich people, the Copper Coast for the poor people, and the Diamond Coast, for the Chicky Mickey people (the nouveau riche, if you will).  Apparently, even Roger Federer, with his hundreds of millions of dollars, has a house on the Diamond Coast so he doesn't have to pay as much money in taxes.  Speaking of tennis players, as we were driving through what are apparently the slums of town, he said, to Molly and I, "Now, you two young ladies, be very careful of Boris Becker.  Because he has a house in Zurich and is reported to have fathered a child in one of these warehouses."  Well thank you Peter, I always knew Boris Becker was a bad seed.  

After driving for an hour or so, we reached Rapperswil, the City of Roses and home to one of the many Habsburg castles.  During a tour of said castle, Peter used Molly and I as examples of the imperial daughters who would be sold off in strategically-planned marriages.  From the top of the hill where the castle was perched, we could see all of the snow-covered roofs with smoke rising out of chimneys, and Lake Zurich in the background.  It literally looked like a village out of a fairytale, and I realized that we had picked the right place to come that weekend (and clearly, God was smiling down on us when he gave us so much snow!).  We had lunch at a little place that he recommended, because he promised that their cheese pie was very good.  It was actually just okay- definitely not the best thing I've ever tried.  After lunch, it was back to the bus for us, and we traveled through valleys and alongside the Alps to reach Maienfeld, the little town that was the inspiration for Heidi.  We couldn't actually go up to "Heidi's house" because of the snow (so, to our disappointment, we couldn't see Peter the goat), but we did get to stop by the Heidi fountain.  Since I was wearing boots, I trudged right on up the hill, but Molly, who was slightly behind me, was told (by Peter) that "you're not very smart" for trying to trudge up that way.  Molly was amused (later on, he told her that she was "a bad lady", but I can't remember what this was in reference to).

As we left sleepy, snow-covered Maienfeld, Peter was telling us about the organic products that the farmers in the town grow.  He called them "happy products," because they lead happy lives and, if they're animal products, they come from happy animals.  Lovely.  From there, we drove to Liechtenstein, which now brings my principality count to two (Monaco was the first one I visited).  It is literally a one-street principality, but, after showing us said street, Peter told us that he would let the "4 estranged Americans go free like birds."  So we got some souvenirs and then went to a brasserie for some hot chocolate.  Then we started our ride back to Zurich, and, as we drove back into the city, Peter told us, after showing us a club that had come highly recommended (and that we couldn't find again) that, "listen, I know you're all a cultured group.  Ladies, if your man really loves you, he'll buy you a nice, top-of-the-line Swiss sewing machine."  Molly and I were pretty much having a laughing fit on the bus.  

We had asked Peter if he had any recommendations for restaurants where we could get fondue, because we wanted to try to get fondue for Valentine's Day (the next day).  He told us the name of a hotel, but, when we went there, the maître d' told us they were booked for the next day but they had space right then.  So we had fondue, and, taking Peter's advice, ordered what ended up to be kind of an expensive bottle of white wine.  But we finished it all, and he was right, it went very nicely with the fondue!!!  

After Friday's grand adventure, we decided to do some exploring of downtown Zurich on Saturday.  We visited the Swiss Museum, which was actually really interesting and proved to be the perfect activity, because it was snowing pretty heavily at that point in the day.  For the rest of the day, we basically just wandered around, stopping every so often for some sort of hot drink or some kind of chocolate.  Let's just say that we had our fair share of Swiss chocolate on this trip, per Alex's request, of course!  Of particular interest was a visit to Sprüngli, of which there are several in the city (speaking of several, there are also a ridiculous number of Starbucks in Zurich, none of which take American Starbucks gift cards that we were hoping to spend).  They had all sorts of adorable Valentine's Day desserts on display, but, when I went up to the counter to order a particularly cute one, an individual-sized heart-shaped cake with pink frosting and all sorts of flowery decorations, I was told, when I asked, that it had nuts, as did all of the other Valentine's Day desserts.  So I was given the one pastry that didn't have nuts, which was not at all cute.  So I told my mom when I got back that I want to be allergy tested when I get home to see which nuts I actually AM allergic to (other than peanuts), because these pastries had hazelnuts and almonds.  But luckily, my pastry still tasted good.

We made a reservation at an Italian restaurant that we had found that afternoon, because we figured that, for Valentine's Day dinner, a lot of places would be booked.  But when we showed up, we discovered that we were the only non-couple, some of the only people under 25, and the only person not dressed entirely in black (we were both wearing pink and white).  So we felt a little bit out of place.  And then, we both ordered soup and salad, and I'm pretty sure that they took their pretty time making our dinners just to spite us for not ordering entrées.  For dessert, we ordered one tiramisu to share (because the chocolate cake, naturally, had nuts), and they brought us two, so, not wanting to waste, we sucked it up and each had one.  Afterwards, we had strawberry margaritas at a random bar, where we happened to run into our two Australian roommates from the hostel.  We were also asked by an incredibly strange man, who only spoke broken English, if we had Chapstick that we could lend him.  He followed that up by saying, "I don't have AIDS or herpes."  The fact that he said that made me even less inclined to give him my nonexistent Chapstick (and I wasn't about to part with my lip gloss!). The Aussies were planning on finding one particular club and asked if we wanted to come, so we said sure.  The problem was we never found it, so we went back to the hostel, feeling a little bit dejected at having gotten all dressed up in our pink finery for nothing.  

Yesterday morning, we headed home with heavy hearts, both agreeing that we would much rather stay in Zurich for the semester than go back to Salamanca.  The flight was uneventful, and the bus ride only slightly more so.  But Molly's seat mate on the bus was, I'm pretty sure, taking drugs on the bus.  Molly moved to the seat behind me, because there was no one else sitting there and she wanted some space, but I was sitting across the aisle from this guy and he was rolling God-knows what kind of cigarettes and took several strange-looking pills (while his hands shook uncontrollably).  Molly had to move back next to him once more people got on the bus, but luckily he got off very soon after that.  So, at around 7p.m., about 10 hours after starting our journey, we arrived back in Salamanca.  I realized, when we got back, that we had gone an entire 3 days without being poisoned by the smell of cigarette smoke all around us- what a nice feeling!  And I discovered, upon checking my email, that I had received my final Stras grade, and I OFFICIALLY PASSED ALL OF MY CLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was incredibly relieved, so, at least for now, I don't have to go to summer school!  

If you haven't really been paying attention to this ridiculously long entry, here's one thought you should pay attention to: GO TO SWITZERLAND!!!!! It is the most amazing country in the world!

Sending you all my love,

Kristen

¡La visita de Kate!

El castillo de Peñafiel

Thoroughly enjoying our wine tasting

Georgetown group (and friends!) at the castle

Sorry to disappoint you, but this is going to be another one of those painfully long catchup posts that you all know and love, so if you don't have a lot of time on your hands, read no further.  I would like to think that you're sitting in Saxbys, or some equally amazing coffee shop, nursing a small skim hot chocolate or a café au lait, and reading my blog, but I know you all have busy lives, which brings me to another point- KEEP THE UPDATES COMING!!!!  I love hearing what's going on with all of you and how life is going back in the good ole USofA.  But in case any of you were wondering what on earth is going on in Salamanca, here goes.  Nothing really earth-shattering has happened, but, rather, little victories and losses.  Hopefully you will find some of the anecdotes amusing!

The internet continues to be an issue, but I am slowly accepting the situation.  There are certain times when all I want to do is sit in my bed and watch an episode of The Daily Show (thanks, Kate, for getting me thoroughly addicted to it!), but I know that that's just not a possibility.  The connection at home has been decent (knock on wood) recently, but I'm thinking that won't last forever.  So, for those of you who haven't noticed, I've put a disclaimer as my Skype status: if I'm supposed to be on Skype and I'm not, I haven't forgotten (in fact, I don't think I've ever forgotten about a Skype date), but I'm most likely having some sort of internet disaster.  So bear with me, and I'll reschedule as soon as I can!  I do have an anecdote along these lines: I was supposed to Skype with a friend about a week ago, and, literally the second he called me, the internet connection in our THIRD café/bar of the day completely died.  We started out in a place called Café Novelty, which has the best ambience but a shaky internet connection.  And each time the internet dies, I have to ask the elderly waiter if he'll unplug and then restart the modem.  He always does it, but is sort of nasty about it, as if to say, "Do you REALLY expect me to know how to do this?".  So we decided that skyping at that café wasn't going to happen, and we migrated to Irish Rover, a bar that, surprisingly, has the best of any internet connection I've found.  Well, that was great, but they were setting up for a concert, so we knew that skyping would be impossible.  So we moved again to Café y Té, which is my least favorite place (my internet connection is never great there, and it's REALLY smoky).  We successfully skyped with Kristin, but right as Josh was calling, it decided to die.  I felt awful, but, luckily, he understood about my internet situation (or lack thereof).

I've really been missing Georgetown lately.  Maybe it's because I still feel like I haven't gotten into a rhythm here (last semester it took a few weeks after class had started for me to really start feeling comfortable), but part of it is that I really DO miss Georgetown- the place itself, as well as all of my friends.  It also seems that my Hoyas have forgotten how to win games, and also how to get along.  At the beginning of the season, The Hoya, the student newspaper, sent one of their reporters to practices to talk to many of the players, and also to JTII.  All of the interviewees, when asked how the team was getting along, said that this team was gelling better than any previous team.  However, that story went to hell when the boys started losing a few games (five in a row, to be exact).  Not only were they losing games in pitiful fashion, but they were also starting to turn on each other (apparently Chris and Jess got into a physical altercation during a game).  I mean, they're obviously playing badly because their biggest fan isn't there in the front row, pep band side, 2nd seat in from the aisle, but that doesn't give them an excuse to turn on each other when the going gets rough.  I honestly don't know how the situation reached such a low, and, to be honest, I'm shocked that Coach Thompson let it get to this point.  But luckily, my Hoyas finally broke their losing streak, but it's pretty clear that something isn't (or multiple things aren't) right.  And while any lesser fan would take this as an opportunity to distance themselves from the team, I am no such fair-weather fan.  I love my team whether they win or lose, although God knows I'm a much happier person when they're winning and getting along with each other.  And, before I forget, in other random sports news, Red Sox spring training starts tomorrow!!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other Georgetown news, I was really excited that, on Thursday, I got a shout-out on Georgetown Radio.  Ever since I figured out I could, I have been streaming Georgetown Radio live on iTunes, and two of my friends, Henry and Allison, have a show that I particularly like- they have incredible music taste!  Anyway, the show is from 2-4 p.m. my time on Thursdays, so I have time to listen after lunch.  I was listening on Thursday, and wrote on Allison's Facebook wall that I was listening from Salamanca, Spain and loved their show.  Another girl had just posted that she was listening from Seville (also in Spain).  After the next commercial break, Allison announced that there were two listeners from Spain, one from Salamanca and one from Seville, so I definitely felt more connected to my beloved school.  Being able to listen to Georgetown Radio, which I didn't even do at home, is really comforting and is a very nice reminder of home. 

We are now in the midst of our third week of classes at USAL, and, for the most part, they're fine.  The fact that the Guerra Civil is one of the more complicated events in modern history is a little scary, especially given the fact that two of my classes deal, to varying degrees, with it.  I also missed a history class where my professor did an intro to the political climate in Spain in the 1930s (I was trying out a social anthropology class that met at the same time and turned out to be a disaster), so I had tog et the notes for the class I missed.  It was something I was really nervous about, probably unnecessarily, because I had never even asked anyone for  notes in France.  However, there was a girl sitting next to me in class the next day who seemed to be taking really good nots, and one look at her note-taking style and choice of pen set French tricolors waving in my head.  You see, French students don't take bullet point notes- no, they write, essentially verbatim, in paragraph form.  And the pen was a fountain pen, which is very quintessentially French.  So I knew, completely based on stereotypes, that she would have incredible notes, so I asked her during break (in Spanish) if I could photocopy her notes.  She said sure and took me over to the photocopy room, and once we discovered that we both speak French, we spoke it until it was time for class to start again.  I was completely psyched to practice my French, because, frankly, I'm going through France withdrawal.  When I was bored in class last week, I drew a picture of the Eiffel Tower et environs in my notebook, so it's pretty clear where my head was.  And then, yesterday in my Latin American literature class, we were reading an excerpt from our latest text, and there was a quote from Villemain talking about his perception of historians and how he thinks that they should not be purely objective and unattached emotionally to what they study, but, rather, affected emotionally.  This was in French, and the professor asked if anyone spoke French and would mind reading the passage sot that the class could get the full sense of the quote.  Well, my hand flew up right away (I'm such a dork!)- the opportunity to speak French?!?  Do I NEED to be asked twice????  So I read it, and once I was done, the professor asked if I could translate it.  Oh shit.  How did I not realize that she was going to ask me to translate it to Spanish?  Well, I got about 2/3 of the way through, and then there were two words right next to each other (souhaiter, which means to wish, and espérer, which means to hope) that are very similar in French but identical in Spanish, so I got flustered and the professor had to translate the rest.  I felt like a little bit of a fool, but after class, a guy came up to me and asked where I was from, telling me that my French accent was really good.  I felt a lot better after that!  

On Friday, and American expat psychologist came to talk to us (us being the Georgetown group), about culture shock.  Before the workshop, we were all whining, because essentially all of our orientation activities thus far have been completely worthless.  But this one was incredibly helpful!  Claire was really nice, and had gone through a lot of the same emotional turmoil when she arrived in Madrid to study decades ago.  It was so nice to have a licensed professional be able to sympathize with what we're going through and actually ask, "How are you doing?"  It made me really miss Dr. Hennessy, though, because some of the things that Claire said reminded me of her.  One thing she said that really stuck was that, when you're homesick, you should do things that make you happy.  She showed us a picture of the woods and said that, for example, if hiking makes you happy, you should go hiking.  Of course, when she said that, I thought of all of the hikes I've done with my dad, and started to cry (surprise surprise).  So I decided that, among my diverse interests, there are a few that I can definitely partake in while I'm here:

1) Exercise: Molly and I joined the gym a few weeks ago, and, while I don't have time to go every day, I went three times last week (and would have gone more if the weekend hadn't been so busy), and absolutely love the gym.  Like FreeFitness was in Strasbourg, my gym is an "American-style" gym, with lots and lots of cardio machines!!!!!! I always feel so much better, about myself and about life in general, when I work out, so it turns out that this gym was a great find!

2) Having visitors: Kate, our first visitor, came this past weekend, and, besides the fact that she WAS our first visitor, it was absolutely amazing to see her!  The last time I saw her (at the very beginning of November), she wasn't engaged yet!  And now she is (although she isn't getting her ring back from being resized until this coming weekend)!  It was so great to catch up with her and hear all about life in Firenze- it sounds like she's going to have an amazing semester, because there are five new Georgetown girls there, AND she's having a ton of visitors.  And plus, she is clearly madly in love and so excited about planning her wedding.  I can't wait until next year, so we can all help plan!  I think our apartment will just about be Wedding Central!!!!!!  we got to take Kate around Salamanca and show her some of our favorite tourist sites, restaurants (she was especially excited to try tortillas- not in the Mexican-food sense- and chocolate y churros) and bars.  We had a really great time on Saturday night; even though we were exhausted from having gotten up at 6:30 to go to Peñafiel and had been on buses and tours all day, we still had fun.  We found one discoteca, Camelot, that we really liked, and spent awhile dancing there, after having gotten a beer each at dinner and a couple of shots at Niebla.  We decided to check out Irish Rover (yes, the internet place), but discovered that it was actually sort of lame, so we went to Dollhouse, another bar where we had gone on Kaley's birthday and really liked.  However, we had gone on a Thursday and didn't realize that Saturdays were basically old peoples' nights.  There was a lot of "Twist and Shout"-esque music, with some '70s, '80s and current hits thrown in for good measure.  The lowlight (as in embarrassing moment) of the night came when an oldish man (probably in his '40s) grabbed my shoulders and made me lead a train around the bar.   I grabbed Kate's shoulders in desperation and made her lead, and after one go-around, we were done.  And the funny thing is that, in the US, people of that age would have been in asleep hours before.  We called it a night at the respectable hour of three, especially given the ridiculously long day we had had.  After chocolate y churros (I couldn't bring myself to get the latter again) the next morning and visits to a couple of tourist spots (the rana, the Cathedral and the Roman bridge), we said our goodbyes to Kate and prepared to se Jésucristo Superstar (yes, yes, the Spanish version of Jesus Christ Superstar).  It was pretty hilarious at times, even though it ended not with the resurrection of the title character but with his death.  So the ending was sort of depressing.  When they played the title song, though (the one that pep band plays), I couldn't help but smile!!! And Molly and I have been humming and singing it ever since!  but, going back to Kate, I realized that the next time I see her will be when we're both back on American soil and are both preparing for life as the Fantastic Five in our apartment next year!  I can't wait!!!! AND, there is a very real possibility that Lauren is coming to visit not this weekend but the next, so I'm already freaking out a little bit (in the best sense!) at the thought of another one of my best friends coming to visit!!!!!

3) Traveling:  Molly and I have been getting antsy to travel for several weeks now, and Peñafiel was a good way to get our feet wet a little.  It was a lot of fun- we drank our fair share of vino at a bodega wine tasting, ate our body weight in food at a lunch paid for by Georgetown, and toured a castle atop a hill in freezing cold temperatures and whipping winds.  I felt sort of bad, since all of us besides Kate are taking classes in Spanish, but I was truly impressed by the amount of Spanish Kate remembered from one year of taking it in high school (and, if there was any ambiguity, she spoke Italian and we basically got the gist of what she was trying to say).  So this weekend, Molly and I are going to Switzerland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And I have definitely been building up my favorite country in anticipation of our trip.  We're staying in Zurich, and are hopefully taking a day trip to Strasbourg on Saturday.  In any case, I will be ecstatic to be back in the country where I feel like I'm breathing fresher air, drinking cleaner water, and interacting with the friendliest and happiest people in the world.  The next weekend, we're planning on doing a trip to Ciudad Rodrigo (hopefully with Lauren), where they apparently have an excellent interpretation of Carnaval festivities (yes, Lent is almost upon us, thank God!  And yes, I'm doing my usual giving up of all sweets, although I am going to let myself have cake on my 21st birthday!).  The weekend after that, we're doing an all-weekend Georgetown trip to Extremadura, which includes Oviedo (where part of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, an excellent movie for those of you who haven't seen it, takes place). I think we're basically going to have something going on every weekend in March (including, hopefully, a trip to Portugal the weekend before my birthday) and then we have our eagerly-anticipated spring break trip to England and Ireland in April!!! I'm already dying of excitement for that trip!!!!!!!! I can't wait to start traveling again, and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to do so!!!

4) Talking to family and friends: As usual, Skype has been a godsend, however flawed the connection may sometimes be.  I don't really have anything else to say about it, but whoever invented it is a genius/my new best friend!!!!

5) Movies/TV: I have done my best to stay up-to-date on my favorite American TV shows, especially now that I've finished Gilmore Girls.  I have iTunes season passes for The Office and Gossip Girl, so have stayed tuned-in as the action has unfolded.  I am also working on catching up on the Daily Show, because I think Jon Stewart is one of the most hilarious people ever, and I just love his political commentary!  But one thing Claire said was to surround ourselves with things that make us happy, so whenever I need a good laugh or a dose of gossip, I tune in!!!!

I hope all is well with you, and, as always, I am sending you my love,

Kristen

¡Vamos Rafa!/Allez Rafa!

Georgetown chicas out celebrating Kaley's 21st

¡Vamos Rafa! El número uno mundial y el ganador del Abierto de Australia de 2009 (el primer para un español)

Nadal (1) derrota a Federer (2)  7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2

Translation: Let's go Rafa!  The world number 1 and winner of the Australian Open 2009 (the first for a Spaniard)

So why do I have all of this about the incredibly good-looking Rafa Nadal?  Well, for starters, you all know how big of a tennis fan I am, so it's only natural that I would pay attention to the season's first Grand Slam.  Also, Rafa is Spanish (from Manacor, Mallorca) and is the Spanish people's media darling.  I figured that talking about the match would give me something to talk about with Jesús, my host sister Noelia's boyfriend.  I know that he loves sports, so today at lunch, we talked tennis, so I was happy to finally be able to find something to talk to him about.  The second lunch was over, we rushed into the living room and turned on the match, only to find that it was match point in Rafa's favor.  The second the match was over and the lovable Spaniard collapses onto the court in elation, we could hear car horns blaring outside in celebration of another Grand Slam (the 6th for the 22 year-old, well on the way to breaking Pete Sampras's record of 14) for the Matador from Manacor.  

Before lunch, I had been listening to the match on Australian Open radio on my computer, and I decided that I wanted to experience the moment on Spanish TV, watching it with Spaniards.  It was really cool.  I said to Noelia that I hope there are Davis Cup matches in Spain while I'm here, because I really want to go to one!  Well okay, I just looked it up, and there IS a round against Serbia March 6th-8th in Benidorm (which would most likely also feature Novak Djokovic!), which, I think, is basically in the middle of nowhere outside of Alicante.  And the cheapest ticket is €160 for a three-day ticket.  Ugh.  Expensive.  Also, I don't know how I would get there.  But it IS very tempting!  It would be incredible to watch a Davis Cup match.

So besides tennis, which is probably boring you all, what else is going on in Sally Manca?  Well, not much.  It's still raining pretty much every day, and a trip that we were supposed to have to Peñafiel for a wine tasting yesterday got postponed until next weekend (which means that Kate will be able to come with us!  Yay!!!), so we basically did nothing yesterday.  Molly and I came to the realization yesterday that there really is not much to do in Salamanca.  We have spent the majority of our time in cafés, especially since those are some of the only places that have internet.  So our days are spent surfing the World Wide Web, and, since I've been sick this weekend, we haven't gone out.  

HOWEVER, on Thursday night, we did actually have a real night out.  Kaley, one of the girls in my program, turned 21, and we took her out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and then out to several bars.  We got to the first bar at around 11:30, which is way before Spaniards start going out, but by the time we left that bar, we were already incredibly tipsy.  Even though Spanish shots are about half the size of American ones, and a lot of them are very sugary, they don't have the same effect as American ones.  But we were still having trouble standing up straight.  Our remedy for tipsiness? Dancing, of course!!!!!!! At another bar.  It was a lot of fun!  Then we went to another bar (I think it was our 5th of the night), and it was soooooo packed that it really wasn't fun at all.  So we left, at about 4:15.  It was a really fun night though.  It was just a little frustrating, though, because, so far, the Spanish boys we've met at clubs (note that I call them boys, NOT men) have lived up to their reputations of being skeezy.  The catcalls never stop once they see a few tall, blond, or American-looking girls walking around, so it's left us wondering where all of the nice Spanish MEN are.  They HAVE to exist somewhere!  

One good thing that came out of this weekend was that we joined the gym!  I'm so excited!!!  I can't wait to start working out again!  I decided that, after Thursday night's boozefest, I would go out for a run.  That was a great idea.  But when I got over to the track across the river, I decided that it would be a good idea to do lunges halfway around the rather large track.  BAD IDEA.  I am still in an incredible amount of pain, pain that no amount of Advil will remedy.  I need to get back into shape.  This gym seems amazing, though, so I'm really excited to start working out there!

I just sent off a batch of postcards on Friday, so hopefully you'll all receive them soon!  I hope all is well with you, and I'm 

Sending you my love,

Kristen

Lo último de Salamanca/Le tout dernier de Salamanque

Hoyas celebrating Obama's inauguration!  (2 people from our group are missing)

l-->r  Kaley, Pam, Molly, me, Carter

OUR NEW PRESIDENT!!!!!!!! (I had to include this one!)

Plaza Mayor by night

Overlooking the Old Cathedral

Everything looks better in black & white!

As promised, I finally have some pictures!  By now, you are all well aware of my well-documented quest to find internet in Salamanca, and, miraculously, I'm actually online at my apartment right now (knock on wood, because who knows how long it will last?!?)!  But things are definitely better now in Salamanca, even though each day presents a new struggle (i.e. the fact that it rains EVERY day, and no, I'm not exaggerating- I'm glad that I learned my lesson while living in D.C. this summer and now bring my ellaella everywhere- umbrella for those of you who are not Kate, Dave, or anyone who I lived with this summer!).  But I'm settling into life as a salmantina, even though I'm afraid I'll always be seen as a gringa.  I am slightly confused when I walk down the street and am not harassed by many of the people giving out pamphlets or asking you to give blood.  Is it because I don't make I contact with them, or do they know my dark secret, that I'm an American???  Sometimes I feel like I'm walking around with a sign on my back proclaiming my nationality, such as yesterday, when Molly and I were leaving the bank and heard a guy yell over to us, "Do you speak ENGLISH?!!!!!!"  Really?  Are we that obvious?  The guy, an Australian, pretty much did a victory dance when he saw us, which was actually quite funny, except for the fact that we have no sense of where anything is and couldn't help him find the language school he was looking for.

As was the case last semester, getting a bank account has proven to be a complete hassle, and an experience that leaves me eternally frustrated, but not a bit surprised.  Last Friday, we went with Celia, our program director, to Caja Madrid, one of what seem like hundreds of banks in Salamanca.  We were informed that, in order to open an account, we had to go to the police station and obtain a form saying that we don't permanently reside in Salamanca.  Great.  It was in a part of town that I was not familiar with, and when Celia proposed that we all go on Monday, I panicked.  I have class during the time they wanted to go, and I really didn't want to go to the police station by myself (yes, I know I'm a wimp).  So Molly and I decided to bank shop, heading next to Barclay's, a bank that held the promise of English-speaking employees.  We did manage to talk to the one English-speaking employee in the branch, and, after taking all of our information, he told us that our accounts would be ready on Monday. 

We had class all day on Monday, so went back on Tuesday.  The second we got there, though, he told us that he couldn't open accounts for us, because Barclays' policy is that you have to live in the given city for at least a year (which we're not- we're leaving in June).  Go figure.  I actually started laughing.  Of course.  This seems to be my lot in life- difficulty opening a European bank account.  One nice souvenir from the Barclays employee was that he gave us the name of another bank, Santander, that he thought had a special plan for students.  And sure enough, we went to Santander and found that they DID have a plan for students!!!!! And, while we have to wait another 5 or 6 days to get our cards, at least we HAVE bank accounts!!!

So enough about banks, I know you probably don't want to hear about it.  It's just a funny (or not so funny, depending on how you look at it) anecdote from my European adventures.  So, classes.  Yeah, they've started.  And the excitement of the first week, of finally getting into a routine here, has most definitely worn off.  I just had such a terrible academic experience last semester that I'm hoping, with all of my being, that this semester is different.  One major difference that I've already noticed is that participation is actually a word Spaniards know.  As in participation from students.  Wait, you mean that's allowed?  Not only is it allowed, but it's a way of evaluating students!  All of my French professors would blush at such a heinous idea!  So that's a big, and welcome, difference.  Another difference, this one not as welcome, is the fact that I have reading- as in LOTS of reading- for my history classes.  For one class, I have a 200-page packet that I have to read throughout the course of the semester.  Great.  I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of reading on planes, trains and buses during all of our travels this semester.  One nice thing is that I only have one class without other Georgetown people, and even WITH those Georgetown people (which means awesome study seshes once it gets closer to exam time), I've managed to meet a few other people.  In our history class today, Carter and I started talking with a German Erasmus student, who turned out to be really nice.  So at the end of class, he asked for my phone number and told Carter and I that he would call us to go out for drinks!  Yay!  We have a foreign friend!  Someone we speak Spanish with!

So let's see, what's on tap for the foreseeable future?  Well, next week I'm joining the gym (I wanted to wait until February 1st so I wouldn't be charged a full month price for 2 weeks), and I couldn't be happier.  I REALLY need it, especially with all of the drinks I have to buy in order to get internet.  One of the highlights was on Tuesday, when Molly and I went to the Irish Rover, a bar/internet lover's heaven.  In lieu of the usual coffee (for her) and tea (for me), we decided to go a little crazy and get vodka y limón (the latter being Fanta lemon soda).  YUM!!!! It was 6€, so we're definitely not doing that very often, but it was really good.  But yeah, I need to join the gym.  There's a really good one by my house, so I'll go sometime early next week when I have time. 

Another thing to look forward to is Kate's (yes, bride-to-be Kate!!!) visit.  She's doing a tour of Spain, since she has another few weeks before classes start up in Florence, and she's arriving in Salamanca on Friday.  We'll spend Friday night here, and then will head for Madrid on Saturday.  AND, to make it an even more amazing weekend, Lauren is finally in Madrid (thank God she made it safely!!!) after her whirlwind trip around the Middle East.  I can't wait to see both Kate and Lauren, so I think it will be a good bonding weekend for the three of us and Molly! (and hopefully Mary Kathryn too, who got here on Sunday!).  

Finally, yesterday Molly, Mary Kathryn and I finalized our spring break plans.  Our spring break is from April 3rd to 13th, which is a really good chunk of time.  Our original plan was to go to Ireland for the majority of that time and go to Barcelona for the Coldplay concert on April 9th. Or so we thought.  So yesterday, Mary Kathryn was booking the Coldplay tickets, and it wasn't until her order had been confirmed that she was told that the concert was, in fact, on SEPTEMBER 9th...meaning that we reversed the digits.  She feverishly sent an email to the web admin and will be getting a refund, but it was a hectic few minutes!  So we decided on England from the 3rd to the 8th and Ireland from then until the 13th.  I'm sooooo excited that we have booked at least one trip, and I think it will be a lot of fun!!!!

It's the weekend for me now, and we're actually going out for a friend's birthday tonight, which will be really fun!  And on Saturday, the Georgetown group is going to Peñafiel, where there is a castle (obviously right up my alley!!!!!!!!!!!), and then we're having a wine tasting (ALSO right up my alley!).  I'm excited to do something different than sleep in on the weekends (which I NEVER do at home but find myself embracing now, because I figure I need it) and watch Gilmore Girls for the rest of the day.  But, on that note, I have finished Gilmore Girls!!! (after it essentially took over my life last week!)  I was really sad to finish, but was at least somewhat pleased with the ending.  Not that that interests many of you who are reading this, but it's sort of a big deal for my housemates for next year (and friends!).  Anyway, I should go get ready, but I hope all is well with all of you, and I'm

Sending you my love,

Kristen

¡El primer día de clases!/Le premier jour des cours!

I decided to do a bilingual title this time because one of my friends mentioned that she misses the French titles of my blog. So now they have been resurrected for your general enjoyment! I am luckily in much better spirits than I was on Saturday, in large part because I am moving towards acceptance of the nearly nonexistent internet situation in Spain. I may have mentioned this in the last post, but it seems that, in more ways than one, Spain hasn't really embraced 21st-century technology yet, so, coming from one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world can be a bit of an adjustment. Silly me for assuming I would have an internet connection comparable to the one I had last semester, based solely on the fact that it said in the information I got on my host family that they had Wifi. Silly me. I should have known better.

I thought that Sundays in Strasbourg were dead, because, as I mentioned on several occasions, nothing is open on Sundays. Well, not only is nothing open on Sundays in Salamanca, but, if you go out for a nice Sunday afternoon stroll, NO ONE is out and about. It's sort of a ghost town. I met up with three of the Georgetown girls for chocolate y churros (the latter of which continue to disgust me) and two hours of conversation. An ENORMOUS group of what appeared to be fresh-off-the-boat Americans came into Valor, Salamanca's premier chocolate y churros venue, and, to make ourselves feel superior to the newbies, we spoke almost exclusively in Spanish. The truth is, our level of Spanish is probably a lot higher than those in other groups, because Georgetown is one of the only schools to offer direct matriculation programs. Many of the Americans I have met are coming here to learn Spanish, which to me is a silly idea. To start out with no Spanish is a big gamble, so I hope it pays off for them.

After leaving Valor, I went to the Irish Rover, a bar and my venue of choice to get internet, mostly because the connection has been the most consistent out of all of the places I've tried. I felt a lot better after talking to my parents again and getting a chance to surf the web for awhile. I'm still working on putting up pictures, which is proving to be a painstakingly long process when an internet connection is less than perfect.

So you're probably wondering what sort of classes I'm taking, because, after all, I did partly come here to study (although I certainly appreciate the traveling/going out part of the experience more). So here's my schedule:

Monday:
9-11 Politics and violence in Spain in the 1930s
12-2 Introduction to Spanish Poetry
4-6 Modern Spanish History: The Inquisition
7-8 Latin American Literature

Tuesday:
9-11 History of Spain from 1939 on
1-2 Introduction to Spanish Poetry
6-7 Modern Spanish History: The Inquisition

Wednesday:
9-11 History of Spain from 1939 on

Thursday:
10-12 Latin American Literature
1-2 Politics and Violence in Spain in the 1930s

You'll notice that I only have 5 classes this semester! Only 5! Compared to France, this is already a vacation, although I get the sense that I WILL have a little bit of work to do throughout the semester. I already had my first class today, and the professor seemed really nice, and, unlike a lot of European professors, seems to believe in class participation as a way to further the learning process. What an idea! There were a few foreign students too (3 from Germany, 1 from the UK, 1 from France, and Carter, me, and one other American, who goes to Roanoke College and knows my friend Marett), and she seemed very happy to have us in the class. So I still have 4 classes to go to, but the first one made me optimistic about how this semester will go!

Sending you my love,
Kristen

Algunas dificultades

I don't really have much to say, so I guess this will probably be the shortest and least epic of all of my posts, but let's just say that Spain isn't everything I was expecting it to be. Much of this frustration stems from the fact that, for the past three days, the only place I can get internet is in a café, which means that communication with my family is scarce and communication with my friends is nonexistent. I don't mean to sound like a little spoiled kid who can't survive without stuff, as has been alluded to, but when the internet is your only lifeline to the people you love, it's a big deal if you can't get it. I realize that I was spoiled last semester, because I lived in a country where the internet is a lot more common, because it seems to me that Spaniards haven't quite graduated to 21st-century technology yet. So please excuse me for saying that my experience, thus far, has been anything less than perfect.

So if I have a Skype date with you and you find, at the agreed-upon time, that I'm not online, don't be offended. I'm not not online because I don't love you or don't want to talk to you, but I'm not online because I haven't been able to find anywhere with sufficient internet access. As you can see, from my lack of enthusiasm in this post, I feel, basically, blah. And yes, I realize that this was MY decision to spend an entire year in Europe, but that doesn't mean I can't have difficult times during this process. I'm not expecting (nor do I particularly want) sympathy or advice from any of you, just understanding. So hopefully, I'll have the chance to speak to all of you who are reading this sometime during my semester in Salamanca! I hope all of you are well, and, as always, I'm sending you my love. Hopefully I'll be in better spirits for my next entry!

Kristen