Success!

I found a hot water kettle!  Yay!  It took me a little longer than I had hoped, but today after our afternoon class I was able to make it to a store before closing and sure enough there was a small kettle for a decent price.  I’m so excited that now I can make coffee! J  I was just telling my friend Liz that it amazes me that Spain has such good coffee everywhere except here at our residence hall.  For those that don’t know, last year I learned quickly that the coffee here at the hall was not very tasty, and so I ended up spending so much money on buying coffee every morning on the way to school.  It was a great cultural experience, and not very expensive, but still – I could have saved that money!  So this year I brought a travel coffee press and my own ground coffee, and now I have a way to boil water in my room! Oh the things we do for the simple pleasures in life…

Anyway, I don’t want to you to think that all my day consisted of was searching for a kettle (although it was on my mind).  No, today was the first day of classes.  Classes start at 8:30 in the morning and are located in a building about 20-25 minutes walking from the residence hall.  It is a walk that I really grew to enjoy last year and I look forward to it again this year.  The mornings in Salamanca are cool, which is a great way to start the day because by afternoon it is so hot we’re just sweating by the time we get back to the dorms for lunch.  Anyway, the morning classes are 50 minutes long with a 10 minute break between each.  Our first three classes are Spanish-American Literature, then Society, Politics and Economy in Modern Spain, and then Spanish Art.  At 11:20 we have a break until 12:00.  During this time we grab a cup of coffee and a snack, and just relax.  After the break we have two more classes: Spanish Grammar and Modern Spanish: Social and Geographic Variations.  The morning classes end at 2:00 p.m., which also is the time that shops close and everyone has lunch & siesta.  We come back to the dorms for lunch and, those of us who can, take a nap.  Afternoon classes begin between 4:40 and 5:00, depending on the day, and last until between 6:45 and 7:00.  The classes also vary with the day.  Today, for example, we had Popular Culture, and tomorrow we have Film class (my least favorite, by the way).

So, that was the day.  Long and intense, yes, but it went by quickly.  I can only hope that all the days will go by quickly.  Now it is about 8:15 and I am waiting for the cafeteria to open for dinner at 9:00.  Yes, dinner is at 9:00 p.m. – and that’s early.  They’re serving us dinner at 9:00 because we’re foreigners; most Spaniards eat dinner closer to 10:00.  Such a different lifestyle here!

Oh!  In my wanderings yesterday I snapped a picture of the statue of Fray Luis de Leon, who was a sixteenth century Augustinian friar and writer that attended the University of Salamanca as a student, and then later became a professor and vice-rector of the University.  Last year I somehow missed getting a shot of this famous statue, which sits in the Patio de Escuelas (the main courtyard) of the oldest university buildings.  For me, it is not only awesome to stand in the same place that someone so well-known stood & taught over four hundered years ago, but I come away feeling that by studying here I get to be a part of history, and now I am (or will be) among the long list of hundreds of thousands of graduates, so many of whom have contributed so greatly to the Spanish language.  What a privilege!