So sorry it's been so long!!

Hi Everyone,

I'm so sorry it has been so long since the last time I updated my blog! I promise, I will try to update more often... life has just been very busy since I arrived in Spain. Not only am I already super busy with classes, but I have also had to open a bank account (very hard to do in a foreign country), obtain the equivalent of a Green Card here in Spain (also very difficult-- everything is such a bureaucracy), and I have already visited 2 Rotary Clubs in the area!! On top of all that, I still don't feel very settled in and I was sick at the beginning of this week with Acute Pharyngitis :( Yuck! I guess I just have to remind myself that I don't have to write about everything that is going on... just little updates with pictures and videos. So here's my first attempt, ha ha!!:

Just a little something neat that happened yesterday, I got to see the prince and princess of Spain!! They were here to attend the ceremony for the official beginning of the academic year at the university!! It was so exciting!! So now all I have left to see is Spain's President Zapatero because 3 years ago in Valencia I happened to be in a park when the King and Queen drove by in a car, waving to the crowd!! :)

In case you don't know what they look like, Prince Felipe is the tall guy with the beard and Princess Letizia is the small, pretty woman with long hair :) (Obviously they are the ones shaking hands with the people in the crowd.)

Hope you enjoy the video and I promise to give more updates soon! Now, I'm off to class, then I have to come back and write a paper that's due tomorrow!!

Opening Ceremony for Masters

What an incredible day! :) Today was my "first day of classes" which ended up being a beautiful opening ceremony for my masters program: Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. I never imagined it being so formal-- and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it felt to walk through the Facultad de Filología (School of Language and Literature) of la Universidad de Salamanca as a student. Here I have included pictures of me standing outside the room where our opening ceremony took place. You might be able to see on the walls behind me in the picture below that there are names of people with a design for each. I learned today that they are names of people who have achieved their Doctorate in the school. The lettering is red, which I heard is supposedly "la sangre de un toro" (the blood of a bull.)

The ceremony took place in a beautiful lecture room (inside the door in the picture on the left labeled "AULA MAGNA") where I got to meet my fellow classmates and professors. I felt so proud to be there, especially after I found out that 180 people applied to be in the program and only 34 of us made it! I also got a very big surprise!!! This whole time I thought that it was a 2 year masters program-- but I was wrong!!! They recently changed it to a one year program so I am going to get a Masters Degree out of this!!!!! :)

That is definitely good news, but I'll tell you, it has made me SO much more nervous!! Although the professors all seem to be nice they were also very intimidating because they kept explaining over and over again how important it is in this masters program to study and do work outside of class. I also found out today that our Final Research Project is due June 7th, 2010 and I felt sick to my stomach. I know it's not that close, but it's really not that far away either!!! I just feel so much more pressure now, and since I am not a native Spanish-speaker I feel even more nervous about being able to do all the work!

Despite all of my nervousness about the actual work, I am so excited about the group I will be surrounded by because we are a very multicultural!! Although the majority of the students are from Spain, I am the only student from the United States, and there is representation from Chile, Iran, Greece, Mexico, Italy, South Korea and Canada (that I know so far!) And the most amazing part is that our uniting language is Spanish (not English as usual) :) After the opening ceremony we all went out to a local café to have a drink and get to know one another. I am so excited to get to know everyone better!!

I got my schedule for classes today and it looks as though I have classes in the evening Monday-Thursday (some time between 4pm and 9pm) and then some Fridays I have class in the morning, in the evening, or no class at all... it depends on the week. Not too bad looking right now... but we'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks ha ha!

El piso (The flat) A.K.A. The apartment

Thursday, September 10th

As I already stated before, the people that I have had a chance meet here in Salamanca have been wonderful. My host counselor, Fernando, and his family have done so much for Brendan and me, but especially his daughter Eva. She is 23 years old, just like me, and she has done nothing but dedicate her time to making sure I am settling in well.

First off, many of you know that before leaving I had absolutely no idea where I was going to live once I got here... I had an option, but due to poor communication it didn't seem for sure. In any case, that option was a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 of Eva's friends from the university. That first morning, Eva met up with Brendan and me so I could go see the apartment. Everything worked out very well because it is where I am living now!! :)

It is a good price, has WiFi, is located close to my university and the downtown area, and it even has a beautiful view of the top of the cathedral and typical Spanish balconies!! :)

I think the best part about it is that I will be living with 2 Spanish girls :) Unfortunately, they are not here right now because their classes don't start until October and they at their parents houses.... but I can't wait to get to know them-- especially so they can tell me where everything is in the kitchen because I am completely lost-- ha ha!! Although I feel very lucky because Brendan has already left for Valladolid to find an apartment of his own (with a Canadian guy who is also going to be teaching English in Palencia) and it does not seem as though they are having quite as good of luck as me. Definitely missing him so much!!

Finally in Salamanca!!!

After a 31 hour trip on 3 planes and 1 bus with many long layovers, Brendan and I have finally made it to Spain! :)

Rochester-->Washington D.C.-->London-->Madrid--> Salamanca

I can't tell you enough just how good it feels to have that done and over with. It was so long and so tiring :( Even having been here 3 days now, I still don't feel caught up on sleep or adjusted to the new time zone, but for any of you who know Spain, part of my problem is most definitely because they have quite the night life here... and right now Salamanca is "de fiestas"-- ha ha-- so you can probably guess how much sleep I'll be getting this week! I feel like I haven't stopped moving since I got here... hence, the reason I have not been able to update you all until now. I know many of you have been anxiously waiting-- so here it goes!!

Wednesday, September 9th

I'll never forget waking up on the bus ride from Madrid hearing the woman behind me saying "Look, there's Salamanca!" It was 11:30pm and I had fallen asleep... but when I looked up I almost couldn't believe it. I had seen pictures of the cathedral before, but seeing it in person for the first time was amazing, especially from a distance! Since I have been here, I have learned

that Salamanca is known by many as "la ciudad dorada" or the golden city. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture myself, but here is one that I found on the internet that I think demonstrates perfectly what I saw from on the bus that night.

I was just so impressed! The stone that many buildings were built with in Salamanca have a yellow tint so it truly does look like a golden city, especially at night when the city glows with all of the lights.

Not only does Salamanca have beautiful golden buildings but, from what I have seen so far, it is also has people with hearts of gold :) As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar I was assigned a host Rotary counselor here in Salamanca. His name is Fernando Prado and he and his family have been nothing but amazingly hospitable. Fernando's wife, Magdalena, and two of his daughters, Eva and Virginia, offered to come meet us at the bus station that night and they took us to the hostel that they arranged ahead of time for us to stay in. We were so relieved to meet such friendly people because unfortunately, Madrid was not such a great experience for us. We had a 4 hour wait in the airport before our bus arrived and many of the people we spoke with (to ask for directions or information) were very rude :( It made me so sad!! It was so nice to meet Fernando's family after such a long trip.