Salamanca & Ávila

Before I tell you about my awesome weekend, here's a little update on mi familia. They're great. I told my host brother that I let him win in soccer, and he has challenged me to a rematch that will be commencing in T minus 30 minutes.... So I guess I better write quickly! My host sister & I have been bonding a little more, but even though she is technically a year younger than me, I can help looking up to her as this wise person because she can actually speak this language! No one in my family seems to have much interest in learning English, which is good, but it also means that I am forever the dumb girl. They actually had the neighbor's kids over for dinner and the two girls started were telling me stories so quickly that I had to tell them: "Más despacio, por favor. ¡No soy muy inteligente!" (More slowly, please. I'm not very smart!). They laughed, which makes me hopeful that at least some of American humor works over here. Usually when we are watching a TV show (which are nearly always American TV shows dubbed over in Spanish), I laugh at one part and they laugh at another.

Spanish food has taken some adjustment, but I have found some things I really like. Tortilla española (egg, potato, & whatever else they want to put in it, except an actual tortilla), lomo (some part of a pig... I've narrowed it down to the back of the neck or the loin, but it could be both or neither), café con leche (NOT with the whole packet of sugar in it, as all the Spanish women take it), pastries or churros with chocolate, yogurt, and all galetas (cookies) are my go-to Spanish foods. I know that sounds like a short list, but my mom here "cooks" a lot of normal, American-ish food, like chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, and unidentified fish. I think my biggest complaint is how much food they serve at room temperature... my own mom would have a fit. Anyways, Spanish food will never be my favorite, but I think it's making me a braver person and at least I'm not in danger of gaining thirty pounds like the kids in Rome!

So, on to Salamanca & Ávila. This trip was my baby - I planned the buses, the sites, and the hostel. Everyone would ask me where we were going, as if I had been to the city before. I felt a bit like a mom herding cats/kids, but it was fun. We all thought it would be a good first trip because it wasn't overwhelming, like Madrid, or far, like Barcelona. Plus, we didn't want to waste the beaches of Spain on a chilly January weekend, so off to Salamanca we went.

After using my handy dandy mapquests to get to the hostal (most of us thought hostal was just the Spanish name for hostel, but in fact it is a one star hotel), we headed off to the Plaza Mayor. And it lives up to its name - it puts Plaza Zocodover (in Toledo) to shame. It was a little quiet when we got there, but after 10 PM, that place had tons of people in it. We were a little shocked that the local teen hangout is McDonald's- I guess things don't change, no matter the continent. We're much classier, so we preferred to pay $1.50 for a glass of wine and get free tapas. We also perfected the European art of buying a baguette, meat, and cheese and calling it lunch.

There are two cathedrals there. This one is the "old" one built from 12th to 14th centuries:

It also has this really cool convent connected to it. Though most of it was destroyed in an earthquake, it still houses all these really amazing pieces of art and more. It actually has one of the oldest organs (think 14th century) in Europe:

There's also a "new" cathedral (16th to 18th centuries), because in Spain, one church is never enough:

II think the ceilings were my favorite part of the new cathedral. That and the astronaut that a cheeky renovator snuck onto the facade!

Needless to say, both are pretty dang old and very beautiful. We also went to the University of Salamanca, where tons and tons of famous Spanish writers and thinkers taught. I saw where Miguel Unamuno taught and now I'm reading his poems and novels in my Spanish Lit class!

Shopping was also a big draw in Salamanca. My "intercambio" (I practice my Spanish with her and she practices her English with me) told me about this four-floor Zara (the Spanish equivalent of H&M, which has begun to spread to the U.S.) in Salamanca that used to be a church. So of course we had to go! In Salamanca, Ávila, and Toledo, we have noticed a trend among Spanish women of a certain (say 60+) age: FUR COATS. They all have them. While we laughed at them at first, the chilly temperatures made us change our tune. Now we're looking for our own!

We stayed in Salamanca Friday and Saturday night, then took a bus out early to Ávila. While the bus station was a little sketchy and it was FREEZING, we had a fun time there. We stopped for the requisite café con leche, then made through the amazing city walls (the best preserved of any in Spain) on our way to mass at the Cathedral (we didn't want to pay to see it). They ushered us out pretty quickly after mass, but had I had more time in it, I think it would have been my favorite Cathedral thus far. It's in the Gothic style, has beautiful stained glass, and it's kind of dark and mysterious. We then made our way to the Convent of Saint Teresa of Ávila. There we saw St. Teresa's finger, with her ring still on it, and a couple bones of St. John of the Cross (lucky us). The Convent/Church was built near the spot where she was born, and there's an amazing gilded chapel over the exact spot she was born.

It was cool thinking of her actually being in that city and going to mass at the Cathedral. Before we caught our bus back to Madrid and Toledo, we spent some time sitting up against Ávila's city walls, eating our chorizo and talking in Spanish accents (when in Spain...). As an added bonus, some kind of festival was going on that weekend so we were given free bocadillos (sandwiches) on our way out of town.

Well, I think that's enough for now. We're off to Madrid this weekend and Sevilla the next, so plenty more blog posts will be coming... eventually. I miss you guys so much!

Love,

Maria

P.S. For those who care, Emily Thompson is alive. I apologize that she's not as good as me at staying in touch