Even though my mother has a gift and history of helping me to book the best plane ride possible in economy, I did not sleep much on my flight over from Washington to Madrid. I didn´t sleep because I sat next to some Spanish chicas that had just studied english in Santa Barbara. They were from Pamplona and had many answers to questions about things like where I should go while I am here, what their school system is like, and what fiestas they would be going to this fall. It seemed like a fast flight because after receiving my vegetarian paella (I told you my mother was good), I fell asleep to a movie and awoke just before I recieved my breakfast.
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| Calle Toro with everything closed! |
When I arrived in Madrid, I saw many people wearing Christian paraphanelia and I couldnt really understand. I thought maybe there were church groups that liked to go on group vacations together, but Leire, my spanish flight neighbor told me that the Pope himself would be coming to Madrid that week and that many people were coming together for the World Youth Day. Lucky for me, the airport had prepared for the influx of visitors and opened many more information booths throughout the airport. This was a great help because each of them were so nice for having to work on a Sunday morning (something that I later found to be rare.) I found my way to the metro from the airport, met some nice people on the subway, and hopped on a bus from the bus station to Salamanca. I know many of you will believe this when I say I fell asleep on the bus before it even left the station. I don´t remember leaving Madrid. Which is a shame because I didnt get to see anything through my window. The drive to Salamanca takes 2 hours and 45 minutes and I slept for most of it. I did manage to wake up every now and then to see a beautiful view of a shallow rolling landscape with corn or sunflowers that made the horizon look lively and colorful. As we entered the city, I immediately saw the Catedral Nueva y Vieja that would peek out at me many more times during this week in various places. When I got out of the bus, the city was very hot and very inactive. Sundays during siesta was the source of my first feeling of anxiety and fear of traveling solo. I found a map at a fruit stand and began my walk to where my apartment was. This walk that was 2km and supposed to take maybe 10 minutes took me about 45. I stopped so many times because my backpack on my back was so heavy and the sun was so hot! The streets aren´t labeled like they are in California, so many times I would go too far and miss the street that I wanted to turn on. When I found my street, I was so discouraged because there is construction and they are ripping up the sidewalks and I couldn´t imagine that anybody lived there. I will add a picture of this later. So at this point I was kind of scared because I started to think about worst case scenarios. 6pm couldn´t have come any later when I met Clara, my landlady, and I was finally let into my apartment. It was so nice to relieve my back of my luggage and to know that a shower could come soon. Right away I met my really really really nice Chinese roommate, Monica. She knows only a little bit of English, but can speak spanish simply so that I can understand. After I unpacked she knocked on my door asking if I ´tiene hambre´? I said yes but it didn´t seem like I would be able to find any food, it being Sunday and all. She told me she had made something and I thought for sure that would be a problem because I do not eat carne y pollo and I hadn´t disclosed that yet. To my great surprise she had made tofu!! I was able to have a plate of her tofu and fall asleep at an appropriate time.
Monday was a holiday, Asunción de la Virgen, and most all of the shops were closed yet again! I had to go out to get breakfast and ended up with a sandwich vegetal with lots of mayonnaise. I walked myself around and took pictures of pretty things and old buildings. Visited my new friends at the internet cafe and watched all of the well dressed older women on a bench in the park. Most of my day was spent simply walking around the old city, enjoying the plaza mayor, talking to my new Chinese roommate, and being hungry.
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| Couchsurfers in Plaza Mayor! |
At around 9pm, I met up with Claudia, a new couchsurfing contact. With Nick´s advice, I became verified on the site to be able to visit with people in the many places that I hope to go. I intend to search couches near where I visit to see if anybody seems like the type to join me to coffee, tea, or a drink. I requested Claudia because she is working on her masters in Psychology in Salamanca and loves to smile :) She is from Brasil and on Monday night I was able to meet her Brasilian sister who will be studying Economics. I also met Luis, her friend from Chile, Jose, from Belgium, and another gal from Poland. It seems that some of the couchsurfers got together for Tapas and I was able to join them! We went to three different tapas bars, stopped for some time at an outside bar, and then went to their favorite bar. They drank a lot and we all had a great time! I got home much too late for my first day of school.
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| Mi Escuela! |
I love my class so far! The instructor is so animated and helpful and patient. Her name is Maite and she is from Salamanca. I start at 9am every week day and we spend 2 hours studying grammar and 2 hours talking for a well rounded day. Many of the topics I have learned before in high school, but it is helping me so much to learn them again with a professora. I have three other girls in my class, two from Germany and one from Holland. One is named Ninja, and she is also my apartment mate. She is always laughing and always happy. A great walking partner indeed. They gals are all at about my level or more advanced. It has really helped me to become more comfortable with speaking spanish in general and in situations when they are really necessary. But even now, I have not practiced with my new friends. Many of them are German, and we don´t always have the ability to say what we would like to in Spanish. I have learned a lot about their education system and a few of their words. After learning so much in one week, I see the benefit. I plan to figure out language lessons when I get to Talavera de la Reina.
Other exciting things that I have done this week is going to tapas with the Germans, watching the supercup between Madrid and Barcelona, walking along the Rio Tormes, dinner with Luis, and salsa with my classmates. One of my favorite things so far about my time here is that the people are very nice, and I feel welcome. More to come with Segovia and my second week!
