It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Yep, it's official-- Christmas is on it's way! I wanted to share all of these beautiful pictures with you of Salamanca all decorated for the holidays. This is the first weekend they have lit them all up at night, since it is what they call "un puente" which literally means "a bridge" but it refers to a long weekend, since Sunday was "el Día de la Constitución" (Constitution Day) and today (Tuesday) was "la Inmaculada Concepción" (the Immaculate Conception). I think I would kind of relate this weekend in Spain with our long Thanksgiving weekend. Both seem like the official kick-off of the Christmas season, complete with busy stores and Christmas shoppers. Brendan came here to spend the weekend with me, which was really nice because we were able to get our Christmas shopping done and enjoy the lights around the city. Unfortunately now, it's back to reality for me... Last Friday was my last day of classes for the semester (whoo hoo!) and they have given us this full week off to study and to start projects and papers that are due in January. Next week I have my exams. Wish me lots of luck (as I am very nervous)!

La Plaza Mayor

Pretty side street next to la Plaza Mayor

View of "la catedral" from la Calle Rua

My Rotary Counselor's business (a former palace) all decorated!

Calle Toro

The street right next to where I live (Calle Zamora)

La Puerta de Zamora

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving in Spain was a success! :) On Saturday afternoon, Brendan and I along with Rebecca from my master's program and her friend Alison hosted the traditional feast in my apartment. It was such a great experience because the other six people that we shared the dinner with had only ever seen or heard about Thanksgiving in American movies. First time "Thanksgiving'ers" were my roommate Esther (Spanish), my Rotary host counselor's daughter, Eva (Spanish), and friends from class: Maribel (Spanish), Cristina (Greek), Elena (Estonian), and Mohammad (Iranian). One of my favorite parts about the meal was when they all said that they felt like we were in a movie and they all added how they never thought they'd be a part of a Thanksgiving dinner. I could tell that they really all felt so happy to be sharing the day with us and I for sure felt thankful that they were all there. The dinner could not have happened without the help of everyone.

Getting ready to "give thanks" (in 3 different languages, by the way: Spanish, English and French)

Pictured from left to right: (Brendan, Rebecca, Alison, Elena and Cristina)

Pictured from left to right: (Mohammad, Maribel, Eva and Esther)

I think this is my favorite picture of the whole day because it captures the true essence of Thanksgiving- everyone talking and passing around the food :)

Brendan's plate, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, vegetables, cheddar biscuits and cranberry sauce! Yum!

Dessert time: Estonian apple pie made by Elena (top), traditional pumpkin pie made by Rebecca & Alison (bottom right) and No-bake pumpkin pie made by me (bottom left)

Brendan and I happy to be together and to have some pumpkin pie! :)

Elena and Cristina enjoying the dessert

Rebecca and Alison- super happy to be eating pumpkin pie! Look at those grins!

Oh my gosh, we were so stuffed! What a good day!

My Rotary host counselor's daughter (Eva) and I

My roommate Esther and I

Pretty fall leaves (just starting to turn colors here)

My friend Maribel (from Murcia, Spain) and I

And to finish up, below is a little video that Brendan took of our Thanksgiving dinner (please take note that he is speaking Spanish!!) :) ha ha- Yay! I'm so proud of him!

Gone Turkey Hunting in Salamanca (Spain that is)

Yep, that's right! Even though I am far away from home, the tradition will go on!!! :) I am very sad to not be at home with my family, but I'm not going to let that keep me down. Brendan, along with Rebecca (an American classmate from my master's program) and Alison (an American friend of Rebecca's) and I will be sharing this most wonderful feast with my two roommates and a few friends from the master's program in my apartment this Saturday. In preparation for the Thanksgiving dinner, I knew I had to go out "hunting" as soon as possible for the most important part of the feast: "el pavo" (the turkey). The thing is, I knew turkey existed here, but I knew it wasn't quite as popular as "jamones y embutidos" (hams and sausages) (which are an essential part of this region of Spain's diet). In any case, I was lucky enough to get the help of my Spanish friend, Maribel, who said she wouldn't mind coming with me to "una carnicería" (a meat shop) to scope out the situation. In the end, we decided to go straight to "el mercado" (the market) which sells fresh vegetables, fruits, meat and seafood everyday. It turns out, that out of ALL of the vendors there (and there are MANY that sell meats and poultry) that only one place sold turkey!! I was getting a little discouraged at first seeing stand after stand with only ham and sausages hanging from the ceiling, but finally we found what we were looking for :) The sad part is that it had to be the only one with rabbits hanging from the ceiling, complete with all their fur, ready to be sold as dinner... while all I could think was how I see those little guys romping around my backyard at home and they are so cute! :( Needless to say, with the thought of Thanksgiving in my mind, I pressed on.

Once it was my turn to order, Maribel and I told the butcher that we wanted a turkey in order to do a traditional American dinner on Saturday. Unfortunately, the butcher told us that he doesn't usually sell the whole bird, as I noticed right away because he only had turkey breasts. I'm not gonna lie though, the thought of cooking the whole bird here sounded a little overwhelming to me, so I was completely fine with the idea of buying the turkey breast all nice and clean and ready to cook :) ha ha! Anyways, he was very nice and informed us that he gets a fresh order of turkey on Wednesdays and Fridays so it would be better for us to come back Friday, and that way I could also buy a few turkey legs if I wanted, too. Maribel and I both agreed, as we did not like the idea of having raw turkey in the fridge for 4 more days. Mission accomplished! :)

Now, all that's left to do is start planning who's going to prepare what of all the other important dishes. Thanks to my mom and Brendan's mom, we will be able to have two pumpkin pies, stuffing and cranberry sauce, and Rebecca has also volunteered to make her amazing version of Red Lobster's "Cheddar Bay Biscuits." Oh my gosh, I seriously can't wait-- my mouth is already watering!! I'll be sure to take pictures to document it all and I'll write about it in my next post!

Alright... I better get back to planning this feast (oh yea, and I guess I should probably study and do my homework, huh? ha ha!) But before I do, I wanted to wish you all a very

¡FELIZ DÍA DE LA ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I'm so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family, and soon to be family- the Shea's :) For my parents and brother who I love so much because no matter what, they have always been there for me-- I miss you so much! For Brendan, the love of my life, who didn't even think twice to follow me half way across the world-- I don't know what I would do without you. Also, for Rotary for allowing me the amazing opportunity to live and study in Spain. And last but not least, even though it may sound a little silly, I am thankful for Skype which has allowed me to stay connected with my loved ones and always feel just a little bit closer to home.

Hello to Rotary District 7120

Here is a little 4 minute video of me talking a little bit about Salamanca, my masters program and my experiences so far with Rotary. I will let you know, there are a few times when I lose my train of thought-- so I apologize, as I realize this is not the best speech I have ever made, ha ha. The truth is, I am surrounded by Spanish so much that I do find it hard to speak and think in English at times. Also, I will admit that it made me nervous speaking in English with so many people walking by me and staring (probably thinking.... hmmm... what is that girl doing?) ha ha! Anyways, I hope this video helps to give you a little bit of an idea of what my experience in Salamanca is like so far. Enjoy!

P.S. I had my first dream in Spanish two nights ago since being here in Salamanca (the last ones I had were 3 years ago when I was in Valencia! :) (I've always heard that once you start dreaming in a foreign language, you know that's when you've really got it!) So excited!

Life around the "piso" with 2 Spanish girls

I've been meaning to write this post for the longest time! I know many of you are probably curious to hear about my living situation, so here it finally is!! I live in a 3 bedroom apartment in a very centric part of the city with 2 Spanish girls, Esther and Ana (pictured below). I feel so fortunate to have been put in contact with them through my Rotary host counselor's daughter, Eva, because they are a pretty good match for me. (The only thing I wish was that Spain saw smoking cigarettes a little more like we do in the U.S.) In any case, we really get along so well! There are many times that we will eat meals together, we joke around a lot together, and whenever they have friends over they always invite me to hangout with them. Besides being good company, one of the best parts is that by living with two Spanish girls I am even more exposed to the Spanish language, so it has really been great in helping me improve my Spanish (both listening and speaking skills!)

Here is a picture of the three of us having lunch together in our kitchen one afternoon.

Above is a picture of Esther. She is from Santander (the north of Spain), 22 years old, Senior Psychology student at the private University of Salamanca

Above is a picture of Ana and the lunch she made us. She is from Badajoz (Extremadura), 22 years old, Senior Education student at the private University of Salamanca.

This is Bolita (which means "Little Ball") Ana's hamster who we play with a lot :)

A view of the closet in my bedroom, and of course, pictures of home taped on :)

Where I do all of my hard work and studying!

Rotary flags on display!

Refrigerator (a little small for 3 girls) and microwave

Washing machine and sink

NOTE: (Dishwashers are not common and neither are clothes dryers)--

2 things I REALLY REALLY miss!

Gas stove and oven

Our retro style kitchen :)

Bathroom

Gotta love the olive green tiles- ha ha!

Hallway

Entryway to the apartment (I really love the mirror- typical Spanish!)

Living Room- The girls really like classic Hollywood movies (as you can tell from the posters)

Living Room

We're ENGAGED!!!!

Although many of you may have already heard the news, I'm sure there are some people who haven't... but it's true!!! Brendan and I are engaged!!! It happened on Saturday night, October 24th in Salamanca on el Puente Romano (the Roman Bridge) and it was a complete surprise! I seriously couldn't be happier!!! I'll share the story with you below because I know many of you are dying to hear the details, and if you don't have facebook, you probably have not seen the pictures.... so here it goes :)

A little background information:

Earlier that day, Brendan and I had met up with Sarah Molbert (the other Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar here in Salamanca, from Louisiana) for coffee. She invited us to go to the movies at 11pm with her and her Spanish host-mom and friends to see "Agora" (directed by Alejando Amenábar from Argentina). Since I had heard lots of great reviews about the movie and we had nothing else planned at that time, I thought it sounded like a great idea. Brendan said it sounded good, too, so we decided to go!

A little more background information (ha ha!):

Little did I know that Brendan had been walking around with a diamond ring in his pocket ever since we had left for Spain, waiting for the "perfect moment"... because he told me he never knew exactly when it would be... :)

So anyways, right around 10 o'clock pm that night Brendan and I had just finished eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant, complete with frozen margaritas :) Since we had time to kill before we needed to meet up with Sarah for the movie, we decided to take a walk to the cathedral. On our way there, as we were walking down Calle Rua (the street you see pictured above) the moon caught our attention. The skies were so clear and the temperature was perfect for a fall night... P.S. I think this is where the idea of the perfect moment all began ;)

Once we got to the cathedral, we took a seat on a bench and just relaxed looking at the beautiful architecture. After talking a bit, Brendan asked me out of the blue, "How badly do you want to see that movie tonight?" I responded something like, "Not that badly, but we already told Sarah that we were going to meet up with her! I would feel really bad canceling now!" The conversation went on like that for a couple minutes as he continued to try to get me to change my mind, and I insisted on how bad I would feel! Finally, after he mentioned getting ice cream (I NEVER pass on dessert) I gave in... so I called Sarah and we made our way to Ben and Jerry's.

While I started to eat my Cheesecake Chocolate Brownie ice cream Brendan said a little awkwardly (and I quote): "Hey, I've got an idea! Let's go down to the river and see the Roman Bridge lit up! We've never been down there to see it at night!" Ha ha-- I need to insist on the awkwardness of the way he said that... because, now I realize, it was his desperate attempt to finally get that perfect moment to arrive. Nevertheless, I agreed, having absolutely no idea what was in store for me...

One of my favorite parts of this whole story is that as soon as we got down to the bridge I immediately smelled "home"-- since the river has many trees around it, the smell of fall was in the air and I loved it!
Once we were walking on the bridge, I remember talking to Brendan about how impressed I was that the first 15 arches of the bridge were built by the Romans in the 1st Century... he later told me he hardly remembered me saying it because he was so nervous-- ha ha!
Our walk across the bridge took us all the way to the other side, to one of the most beautiful views in all of Salamanca (the Roman Bridge, the Cathedrals, and the Clerecia (another beautiful church) all together). A few weeks ago, we had stopped to take a picture in this very spot during the day, but we both agreed that it is so much more beautiful at night.
Here is another view of the bridge with the cathedrals and churches in the background from that night :)

The Proposal

As we started to walk back home over the bridge again, I remember I started to feel a little chilly. Even though I told Brendan, a few minutes later once we had arrived at the exact center of the bridge he said (again, a little awkwardly)

"Why don't we sit down on that bench..."

So we did :)

I'll never forget him telling me that he loved me... probably three times before he finally blurted out "I can't wait any longer!" At that moment he got down on one knee and pulled a cloth pouch out of his coat pocket, pulled out the ring and asked, just like in the movies,

"Will you marry me?"

Of course I said YES :) Although, I couldn't believe it at first! It was a complete surprise!! It took me a couple of minutes to realize that it was really happening and all it took was Brendan telling me the story of how he asked my Dad's permission to marry me as my Dad was driving and making a right then very quick left hand turn!! Ha ha-- that's when it really hit me and I started to cry!!

Here is probably the best part of the story:

Not even a few seconds later after I started crying, along came Ken, a Canadian from my master's program at the university. He very casually stopped and said, "Hey guys, what's up?" Pretty quickly, he realized something was up because I couldn't stop crying and Brendan was still a nervous wreck- ha ha! We shared the news with him and he was so excited for us! He even offered to take pictures for us!! We are both so thankful that he happened to be passing by at that moment... I honestly don't think Brendan could have planned it any more perfectly :)

We couldn't stop smiling :)

Still a little teary-eyed here

Had to get a picture with the cathedrals in the background!

So happy! :)

And so in love :)

Finishing the walk over the bridge towards home...

Yay! We're gonna get married!!! :)

Back at my apartment we stayed up until 5 in the morning sharing the news with family and friends through Skype, phone calls, and instant messaging

As you can imagine, since we are so far away from home (and home is where we want to get married) :) serious plans probably won't begin until we return from Spain at the end of June/beginning of July. In the meantime, we'll keep everyone updated!

And by the way, thank you to everyone who has already sent their congratulations! It means so much to the both of us! Can't wait to be able to be with everyone in person this summer!