My Favorite Picture

I know I haven't blogged in a while! Eek, the internet in our house has been down so it's been difficult to get online. I will work on updating you all on the past week or so, my trip to Santander, etc but today I wanted to share this picture with you. It is by far my favorite picture I have taken on this trip.

There are a couple things in Spain that are just cuter than they are in America…puppies, babies, and old people (with the exception of Queistie, Carolyn, Nanny, Popo, and Grammery...obviously no one can top them!). This picture was taken in the middle of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca during the afternoon. The Plaza is always crowded in the afternoon, filled with the hustle and bustle of children, students, businessmen, best friends, lovers, families, and my personal favorite, the old people. The man in this picture has a little scooter-walker (you know the ones that double as a walker and a wheel chair) and he was just putsing around the Plaza taking it all in.

I watched him as he slowly crept forward, stopped, and would look right and left, smile and continue moving slower than a tortoise. Then after he moved about 20 feet, he just stopped right in the middle of the street and sat down on his little scooter. I wish I could have captured the moment better but there was so much life going on around him and he sat down right in the middle of it just to observe. This picture is very descriptive of the old people here. Everyday they go out for a walk and then will sit on benches all over the city to take life in. This little guy sat on his scooter for probably a half an hour, resting and enjoying the life all around him. Afterwards he stood up and continued forward, inch-by-inch, stopping every few seconds to appreciate all that surrounded him.

I think one of the best parts of traveling and living somewhere different is the novelty of everyday life experiences. I am sure there are plenty of darling old people in Indianapolis breathing in every second of life with gratitude and appreciation. But at home I am sure I rush by, not noticing the simplistic beauty around me, just as many Spaniards rushed past this old man, some even annoyed that he had hunkered down right in the middle of the street. Traveling and being somewhere new where everything is different allows us the opportunity to experience boring, everyday things for the first time. To be in a position where nothing is familiar is one of the greatest gifts of travel. You are able to truly appreciate the charm, beauty, and life that exists all over the world.

Start of Session II

Today I started my second session of classes. The good news is I have improved SIX levels! Louisa has improved EIGHT levels (thanks to a new romantic interest who can't speak English). The new kids arrived on Saturday and Louisa and I met them Sunday. They all seem pretty nice but unfortunately not as interesting as our last group. Luckily there is a group from IU that arrived last weekend as well and in general there are so many new students! Literally Salamanca is flooded with new students from all over the world, it's really cool. I ran into some friends form IU yesterday, which was so bizarre to finally see familiar faces half way across the world.

I actually think I will enjoy this month even more than last month, which I never thought could be possible. In my grammar class there are a couple professors from Africa, Chinese students, French students, students from all over the world. There is only one other American that is my age in my class! I really enjoyed talking to the people in my class this morning and it was so interesting. The best part is we all speak different first languages so we can only speak to each other in Spanish. Looks like I will be practicing speaking even more so than last month because I can no longer resort to English!

My elective class is a business class and also has an extremely diverse group of students. Like my grammar class, most of the students are older and were sent here by their company for a month to improve their Spanish. The class seems like it will be really interesting and I know I will learn so much about the Spanish business world but also a lot about global markets and economies due to the diversity in the class. It is funny to be in a classroom with older students who have families and have worked 20 or 30 years, but I think it will be a wonderful experience.

Today in my business class we talked about how Spain has such weird schedules for work. Many people work 9:00-2:30 and then go home for the day or occasionally 10:00-2:00 and 5:00-8:00. It is funny how different things are here in Spain, even from other European countries. We read an interesting article about the importance of human contact and relationships in Spain and how it affects the business world. They would never dream of having a business lunch or dinner, because la comida is such a sacred time and it is so important to go home and eat with your family. People also don't really work from home here or utilize email, Skype, and other technologies like we do in the workplace. Obivously my first reaction is that it is often easier to send an e-mail or multitask and have a business lunch, but part of what I love about being here is a break in the middle of the day to forget about school, work, whatever, and have a relaxing lunch with Marianna and David, talking about anything and everything BUT school and work!

Yesterday there were restaurants and bars that flew the American flag for 4th of July! Louisa and I went out to celebrate the day of our country and it was hilarious how many Spaniards were running around with the American flag tied around their neck. We never expected them to know it was the 4th of July, let alone celebrate it! The Spanish people will have a fiesta for anything though. Either way Louisa and I enjoyed it and it made us feel more at home here in Salamanca!

Madrid

All in all, Madrid was a great trip. I wish I could have spent more time there. It truly is beautiful and there is so much to see! My friend Elena booked our hotel, which turned out to be apartments, which turned out to be a 40-minute metro ride to Madrid. Needless to say it was an adventure getting to and from our hotel. The bathroom also didn't have a handle and yes, I locked myself in the bathroom for the worst 5 minutes of my life and Louisa unfortunately locked herself in the bathroom for 20 minutes and we had to get someone to come open the door. After we both discovered our extreme fear of confined spaces (who knew!?) we were given free breakfast J I can't say the free breakfast was worth it, but I am happy to be home to Marianna with my bathroom door that has a handle AND my fixed toilet!

Wednesday afternoon we got into Madrid and took a siesta before heading out to dinner. It was a low-key night and then Thursday we were ready to explore the city. We didn't make any plans because we all needed a little breather from every moment being scheduled. Luckily we picked a great metro stop to get off at, walked around and did some shopping, visited the Palacio Royal, walked through the Botanical Gardens and El Retiro, and went   to El Prado. For not having plans or any idea of where we were going (we truly didn't have a map!) we did pretty well! Thursday night we experienced Madrid nightlife, which we discovered is much more expensive than Salamanca.

On Friday we met up with one of Elena's friends, Natia, who lives in Madrid. She is 32 and working as a policewoman in Madrid, but had originally studied to be a veterinarian in the States and lived with Elena's family. Natia showed us around Madrid and took us to all of her favorite places. It was really fun to talk to her and see different parts of the city. She took us to the gay neighborhood, Chueca, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was also Gay Pride Weekend so there were lots of fun events going on and tons of fabulous people watching. Chueca used to be a very poor and rough neighborhood but the gay community has completely revamped the neighborhood and now it couldn't be more charming.

Getting back to Salamanca was…well interesting. We had to call a taxi that never came, and then called another that took 20 minutes to get to our hotel. Got stuck in traffic, arrived late to the bus station. After what ended up being a 30-euro cab ride we literally watched our bus pull away. Then we had to re-buy bus tickets.  After all was said and done it was funny, there was nothing we could do to control the way the morning unfolded. While it was quite an expensive morning the bus station luckily had chocolate and coffee (and "viejos verdes" or gross old men that wanted to buy our coffees and chocolates) to help ease the pain.