I have officially been in Spain for three whole weeks! Time flies by so quickly here! Before I arrived in Salamanca, I kept thinking, “Wow, I have a whole semester in Spain!” Now, I realize how fleeting a span of time four months really is and how quickly the semester is going to go by, and that makes me want to appreciate every single moment of my time here. I am so incredibly fortunate to be here, and I really feel like God has put me in this particular for a specific reason, although I’m not sure what the reason is yet. For those of you who don’t know this story, I almost went to Lebanon Valley College because I was really interested in their study abroad program in Salamanca, but ended up choosing Gettysburg instead for financial reasons. Then, when I got to Gettysburg, I didn’t think I would have time to study abroad, much less graduate with a double major in Spanish and English, but somehow all of my courses managed to fit into my three-year graduation plan. Finally, the semester I found out I could actually go abroad, Gettysburg decided to start a new program in Salamanca. If that’s not fate, I don’t know what is.
My classes started on the Wednesday of my second week here in Spain and are going wonderfully so far! I’m taking one literature course at the Universidad de Salamanca, which I really love so far. My class has surprisingly few Spanish students in it, which means that my professor is very willing to help out non-native students like me and the four other IES Abroad students in the class. For example, we only have to read four novels during the semester, while native Spanish speakers will read five. I’m also taking a course called Literature and Cinema in Contemporary Spain, which is really fun and interesting so far. Basically, we’ll be comparing movies and their book counterparts. I also have a class called Regionalism and Spain and a Spanish Grammar class through IES. Finally, I’m most excited about my teaching internship through IES Abroad. Basically, I have class once a week for an hour and a half, where we study the Spanish education system and teaching techniques, and then I have six hours where I actually teach in a local school. I find out my school assignment tomorrow night!
Last weekend, we had an IES-sponsored excursion to Toro and Zamora, two smaller towns in the Castile and Leon province. In Toro, we went to a beautiful vineyard called Estancia Piedra. We got a tour of the winery, and at the end we had a wine tasting. Then, we visited Zamora, the hometown of one of our orientation leaders. We had some free time to explore the city, and then we had lunch (which, by the way, is the biggest meal of the day and happens around 2:00 in the afternoon) at this awesome underground (literally) restaurant.
After the excursion, I had another four days of classes (no classes on Fridays here!!!), which flew by incredibly fast. Then, this weekend, I took a wonderful trip to Asturias, a region in northern Spain, with a few of my friends, Xina, Laura, Jenn, and Matt. We stayed at a hotel in Noreña, just outside Oviedo, the capitol city of Asturias. We got there at around noon on Friday, went to the hotel to check in, and then explored Oviedo for the night. We spent a few hours in a Sidreria, a cider house/bar, because Asturias is famous for its cider. The next day, we traveled to Gijón, which was definitely my favorite part of the weekend. We got to see the Plaza Mayor of the town, where there was a wedding going on, and the Iglesia San Pablo (a church) near the beach, where there was another beautiful wedding. Then, we walked along the gorgeous beach for a couple of hours, just talking and collecting shells and enjoying the view. We had dinner in Gijón and then went back to Oviedo for the rest of the night. We got back to Salamanca at 8:00 Sunday night, where I came home and had dinner with my señora. I love her so much! She was almost as excited to see me after the weekend as my own mother would have been.
Tomorrow, I’ll start my second full week of classes. I’m really looking forward to getting into the swing of things with classes and getting back into school mode, which has been a little difficult here, since there are so many wonderful things to do in Spain besides homework! To wrap up, I still love it here, and I know I’ll come back and visit this city again one day. It already feels so much like home that I can’t imagine not coming back. The transition to life here was just so much smoother than I ever imagined beforehand, and although I miss my family and friends at home, I’m having such a wonderful time here, and I know they’ll be waiting for me when in December. I know this semester is an experience I’ll cherish forever, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And now, to end on a semi-inspirational note: when my parents left me at Philadelphia International Airport at the security gate, I hugged them goodbye and turned around to face the gate. Immediately, my eyes landed on a sign nearby that was advertising the Peace Corps. It said, in huge block letters, something along the lines of, “Never have to start a sentence with ‘I should have…’” The timing of this was so perfect, as I was feeling sad and a little scared after saying goodbye to my parents and sister. Thanks to this semester in Spain, I will never have to start a sentence with those words.
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