Experiencias en Salamanca

OFFICIALLY DONE WITH MY MASTER'S!!!

2010-06-09T01:52:00.001-07:00

Printing off 5 copies of my

Final Master's Project: €36,52

Making 1 copy on CD: €1,00

Seeing the smile on my face just before handing it in.... PRICELESS!!!

YES!!! It's true!!! After 10 months of rigorous study at the University of Salamanca in the Master's Program "Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language", I have officially handed in my last project! It is almost hard to believe because the time seems to have just flown by this year. Back at the beginning of the year, I remember doubting if I was even going to be able to pull it all off-- with all of the classes being in Spanish and all of the papers having to be written in Spanish, I was very unsure...

Thankfully, I have proven myself wrong and I have even done WELL in my courses! Although it's not the 3.99 GPA that I am used to from my undergraduate studies at Nazareth College, all of my grades were from 8.0 to 9.5 (Spain Universities do not follow the 4.0 grading scale, instead they use 0-10) and I couldn't be happier!! Studying in this program has been an amazing experience. I feel as though I am SO much more prepared to be a Spanish teacher now and I also feel lucky that my learning experience has had "un toque internacional" (an international touch). As I have mentioned before, my classmates were from all over the world (North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia) and that allowed for some great exchanges of opinions and ideas about teaching Spanish as a foreign language.

One of the most important things that I have learned this year is that foreign language teachers in the United States do something that is almost unheard of in other countries: speak in the the native language of the students (in our case, English) in order to teach the 2nd language. I quickly learned how much that is looked down upon in other countries. At first I tried to defend my position, thinking that at the lower levels, it was necessary to speak in the native language of the students, because how else would they understand? However, now I have a completely different opinion. When I get back, it is my goal to have a classroom in which ONLY Spanish is spoken because my studies have proven to me that it is the best way for the students to learn. If you still don't believe me, listen to this:

I just saw on TV that Anthony Orza (a Spanish teacher in Rhinebeck, NY near Hudson Valley) was awarded "el Orden del Mérito Civil", one of the highest honors in Spain, for his achievements in teaching Spanish in NYS for the past 40 years. Orza claims that one of his best practices as a teacher is not allowing the students to speak a word of English once they enter the classroom. Hearing his success story inspires me and makes me even more excited to return to Rochester and start teaching again. Check out the link below to read more about the story:

Spanish King honors NYS Spanish teacher

Here are a few more pictures from my proud day :)

Two of my classmates and I getting ready to hand in our Final Master's Projects!!!

Can you tell I'm happy??? Ha ha!!

Enjoying the beautiful sunny day with two more classmates of mine after handing in our projects :)

2 months to go...

2010-04-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe it, but tomorrow (Sunday, April 25th) officially marks my two months left here in Spain... it's so hard to describe the way I feel about this because it is such a mixture of feelings! The same thing happened when I got to the "2 months left" mark when I lived in Valencia 4 years ago. On one hand, I started to get really excited about coming home, and on the other, I started to get sad thinking about how much I am going to miss Spain. The same thing is happening now....

As you can imagine, I really miss all of my family and friends, but I am also really anxious to get back to start finding a Spanish teaching job and an apartment (hopefully in Rochester) and just to get back to the United States in general. There is so much food that I miss like chicken wings/fingers, American coffee, subs (with turkey as a meat choice!), cranberry juice and just about anything bbq, ha ha! But I guess the good news is that I will be home right in time for all of the summer cook outs! :) Another thing that I am anxious to get away from, which I remember bothering me the last time I lived here, is the smoking in public places. Although it is now prohibited to smoke in airports, bus and train stations, and any large public facilities (like hotels and restaurants) are required to have smoking and non-smoking sections, I feel like I am surrounded by cigarette smoke EVERYWHERE I go! There are so many small bars and cafés in Spain and even just walking down the street there are sometimes when I feel like I have no fresh air! After 8 months of this, I have finally gotten fed up with it because to me, it seems very unfair that smokers (who are engaging in an action that can harm the health of others) have more rights that non-smokers. I really hope that the next time I come to Spain in my life, that things will have really changed in this aspect.

Despite my hatred toward cigarette smoking and missing my family and friends a lot, I have also I started to think, "Oh my gosh! There is almost no time at all left! I haven't done HALF as much as I planned on doing when I first got here!! And I am really gonna miss this place!" I almost get this feeling of desperation sometimes, and I want to slow down time and make sure that I really take in every moment I have here while I can. The truth is that there is absolutely nothing that compares in the U.S. to the feeling you get walking down the streets of Spain... even though I have been here for 8 months already, I still get this feeling inside of me every time I walk to class, past buildings, squares and churches that are thousands of years old. You just feel like you are surrounded in history and beauty and you can't help but want to stop at a cafetería, have a café con leche and either watch the people walk by or read a book. I also know another thing that will make it really hard to leave is that the weather is finally starting to get really nice here, and it is making the city become more alive. The squares, parks and cafés are full of people at every hour of the day (and night-- ha ha, this place never sleeps!), just taking a nice walk or even sitting or laying down and relaxing.

En fin... this is just a little reflection I wanted to make when I got up this morning. There are A LOT more things that I am excited to come home to in the States and that I will miss horribly about Spain once I am gone, but that longer reflection will come later. In the meantime, I only have 2 more weeks of classes left in my Master's program!!! Then I have two weeks to get work done and 2 weeks of exams. Time is sure going to fly and I want to be sure that I do the work well and that I am able to enjoy these last two months that I have.... So that means it's time for me to get to work!! ¡Hasta luego!

Moroccan Getaway

2010-04-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

I definitely never thought I would be able to say that I had been to Africa in my lifetime, but after this past week I can officially say that I have! And it is all thanks to the adventurous spirit of my fiance, Brendan. Ever since we arrived to Spain, he had been telling me how much he wanted to go to Morocco. Now, I'll be honest... going to Morocco was never really was on my bucket list, but I know that moving to Spain may not have been on Brendan's either... So even though I was not all that excited about the idea (and even a little scared-- I knew absolutely nothing about Morocco!), I knew I definitely owed it to him. He convinced me by reminding me of the warm, sunny weather and of how this would be a once in a lifetime experience because it would give us the opportunity to learn more about a culture that we knew very little about. He was so right and I am so glad that we did it. Even though at times it was very overwhelming and stressful (due to the cultural differences), in the end, I mostly have wonderful memories of Morocco as a lively and enchanting country, full of thousands of beautiful colors, sights, sounds and smells.

To give you a better idea of where we were I have included the map of Morocco above. We spent 3 days in Marrakech (about in the center of the country) and 3 days in Agadir (a south western coastal city).

MARRAKECH

Like I said before, I had absolutely no idea what Morocco was like before going... but I had some very stereotypical ideas of northern Africa that I couldn't help but shake from my head: sand, deserts, camels, hot weather. Well as soon as we stepped off the plane I knew that I was right about the hot weather-- and it was sure welcome! (Just look at our smiles) :)

I also had the vision that everything in Morocco was going to be very old, poor and run down, but boy was I proven wrong as soon as we arrived to the Marrakech airport. It was one of the most beautiful airports I had ever been in! The style was very modern and I just loved it because there were mosaics everywhere, too! Below you can see a picture I took of the baggage claim area.

Before leaving Spain, we made sure to call ahead and confirm our hostel reservations, and we were glad we did because the first one we had made reservations for could not find our reservation! Thankfully, they eventually told us that they found it. We had heard some crazy stories about how the taxis work in Morocco (basically that there are no meters and you have to come to an agreement on a price before they take you anywhere). Therefore, we accepted the hostels offer to have someone pick us up at the airport-- Definitely a good idea because we later found out that everything we heard about the taxis was true!

Our first hour or so in Morocco almost seems like a complete blur to me now. I remember one of my first thoughts as soon as we met up with our driver at the airport was, "Oh no, I really should have tried to learn some French before coming here!" Although the official language of Morocco is Arabic, French is Morocco's "unofficial" second language and it is the best language to know in order to get around easily. In Marrakech, English and Spanish were helpful most of the time, but Agadir was another story...

Anyway, during our whole taxi ride to the hostel we were overwhelmed by "cultural shock", ha ha! Our driver just kept talking to us in French, even though we really had no idea what he was saying, and we kept holding on for dear life as we experienced driving in Morocco for the first time!

As you can see above, the roads of Morocco are shared by cars, donkeys and motorcycles-- oh and don't forget bicycles, buses, trucks and pedestrians! Yep, they're all one big happy family!! But it seemed as though there were no real rules to driving. You know those yellow lines on the road? Well, in Morocco, they seemed invisible, ha ha! It was seriously scary at times!

Stop sign in Arabic

Coke can in Arabic :)

Once we arrived to the city center, our driver dropped us off near the main square (called "Djemaa el Fna") where we greeted by another guy, who thankfully spoke a little bit of English. He led us to our hostel through the square, which we came to find out very quickly is absolutely bustling with energy and action all day and all night. Above is one of the pictures we snapped during our walk.

Now, unfortunately, the arrival to our "hostel" was a little stressful to us because we realized that it was NOT the place that we had booked! Not only was the name not correct, but from the looks of it (see picture above), it was not within our price range! We immediately thought, "Oh great, here we are, getting scammed" but we later came to find out that the hostel we had booked at overbooked and therefore had to send us to one of their other accommodations, which just happened to be a much nicer hotel. And thankfully, we paid the original price we were expecting for the hostel.

Besides being happy about getting to stay in a much nicer place, we were very happy to be welcomed by the ever so famous Moroccan "mint tea". We had heard so many wonderful things about it, and as tea lovers, I can say that we were not disappointed. We even bought some mint tea later on in the week as a souvenir!

As you will see in many of the pictures below, walking through the streets of Marrakech can sometimes make you feel as though you have been transported back in time hundreds of years. However, when Brendan and I went to the bus station to buy our tickets to go to Agadir, we had a chance to see the more modern part of the city, complete with American franchises like KFC.

...and McDonalds... (which upsets me a little because I feel like it is the ONLY thing we are known for as Americans). I really don't think the people that I meet actually believe that at most, I eat at McDonalds maybe once or twice a year out of desperation because I'm in a hurry!

Although it was neat to see the more modern part of the city (and to know that there even was a more modern part), I really preferred to be in the old part of the city. Even though it can feel crazy at times, it is just so much more exciting! It was like nothing I had ever seen before in person-- only in movies. At times, I really couldn't believe I was there. Our first night in Marrakech, we decided not to venture too far from the hotel (since it is very easy to get lost in the small twisty streets, and there are hardly ever street signs visible). We simply headed to the main square to have some dinner and check out the scene. As you can see above, there are beautiful souvenirs for those that love to shop. (Although I must warn you, anybody that goes to Marrakech will end up wanting to shop-- there are just too many cool things to buy!)

Here is a view of the main square at night from the upper terrace of Café Glacier (one of the more popular restaurants/cafes in the square.) So beautiful, isn't it?

All of the flat white tents serve food at night for dinner. It is a great place to go if you are looking for something cheap and don't mind sitting close to people you don't know, ha ha. It actually reminded me a lot of going to a County fair back in the States. The air was filled with the smell of grilled meat and the tables were like long picnic tables. CAREFUL! One thing that we quickly learned is that many of the restaurants/businesses in Morocco will try as many ways to get you to spend just "a little" more money.... As soon as we sat down, they started putting small plates of "appetizers" in front of us-- olives, bread, and tomatoes-- but when I asked if they were free, our server said "no"! The people sitting next to us had already started eating theirs because they thought they were free, but we were able to say "no thank you" and they took the appetizers away no problem.

Our first meal in Morocco consisted of chicken tagine, skewers of grilled beef, couscous and bread. Everything was so good! And boy was it a relief to me to be in a place where there is no ham, ha ha! I am convinced that the people of Spain could not live with out ham, and for the majority of Moroccans on the other hand, eating pork is strictly forbidden according to Islamic dietary laws. (About 98.7% of the population follows the religion of Islam).

The next day, we woke up to beautiful sunny weather and temperatures that got up into the high 80's! We decided to check out the "Jardin Majorelle", recommended to us by a fellow Naz Graduate (Maggie Mullin) who had just been in Marrakech the week before. She told us that it was a gorgeous garden and the perfect place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the markets and old city, and she was right!

A couple playing chess

Such a beautiful fountain! It reminded me of Santorini Island in Greece with the white and blue mixture.

The tall trees offered just the right amount of shade to keep us cool from the hot sun.

After enjoying our time in the garden, we headed back to the old city center to venture through the Souks (Markets). Just as I said before, you will be really tempted to buy things, but I also must warn you that you have to be prepared for a completely different way of shopping. First of all, you better not expect to look at things calmly and at your own leisure. Hardly any of the store owners let you do that. If you are within 6 feet of their store, they will call out and say "Bon jour mademoiselle" or "Hello, come here please! Let me show you something!" and "I give you really good price!" They seem absolutely desperate to get you into their store. And once they get you in there, if there is something that you are interested in buying, this is where the hard part starts.... in Morocco, it's ALL about bargaining. At first, they will quote you a price that is probably 2 or 3 times the actual value (especially when they know you are a tourist)! Brendan and I spent close to 20-30 minutes with each vendor that we ended up buying things from, and I tell you, it gets REALLY tiring after a while.

Spices- and check out that python skin! Yikes!!!

Every corner you turn in the Souks has something new to offer

Lots of hand-painted ceramics

Snake charmers in the main square

Monkeys too!

I was wondering the whole trip why some women covered their faces completely, while others just their heads, and some dressed just the same as me...? If anyone knows the answer, I am still curious and would love to know.

Selling herbs

We had to be on the look out for motorcycles, bicycles and even donkeys and horses on the narrow pedestrian streets!

Here was a moment when I really felt like I had gone back in time- I loved it!

So many donkeys!

In one of the scarf shops, the owner showed us the traditional "desert" way to tie up the scarves.

In Morocco, you can be sure that almost ALL of the things that you can buy in the Souks are hand-made, like these grilling skewers. It was so neat to be able to see him make them right there in front of us!

Fruit stands outside the old city walls

Even though it was in the 80's, this was the typical dress of many Moroccan men.

It's a good thing the rugs were so big, otherwise I might have been tempted to buy one of them, too!

Doors like this one were all over the city- we couldn't take enough pictures!

Inside the Bahia Palace

Marrakech even has a free WiFi park! It was really amazing! It also had tons of free computer hubs with internet (like the one in the picture above) which I noticed many of the people were using to check out Facebook :)

Bus ride to AGADIR (4 1/2 hours)

Although I never really like long bus rides, this one was quite interesting (to say the least). Not only did I get scared for my life on MULTIPLE occasions, wondering if we were going to make it around the tight curve in the road, or if we were going to successfully pass a car in time without colliding with a vehicle in the other lane, but there was also a lot to be seen on the ride from Marrakech to Agadir.

I took the picture above because, in my opinion, it shows one of the more sad cultural differences. Dogs in Morocco did not seem to be valued at all. This one was digging through a box searching for food, and I noticed that as the man got closer to him, even though he wasn't even paying attention to the dog, the poor thing flinched and ran away with his tail between his legs, as if the man was going to kick or hit him! From what I saw, it does not seem normal for Moroccans to keep dogs as pets. Instead, they seem to only be strays on the streets :(

This was a happy sign for us to see at a rest stop! :)

We also saw some beautiful scenery along the way-- dramatic mountain scenes and even this lake!

AGADIR

Chicken with couscous (the best part was the raisins in the couscous-- so good!)

We made plans to go to Agadir based on the fact it boasts about having 330 days of sunshine a year and that it had a beautiful beach on the Atlantic coast... Unfortunately, the 3 days we were there, it was completely overcast (except for our last night, and it started to clear up at sunset). Oh well-- in the end it was good because it meant that we couldn't be beach bums and we got to get to know more of the city first hand.

Just another great example of the big happy family of modes of transportation on the streets of Morocco. Bikes, cars, taxis, people, and even this strawberry vendor!

We took the time to visit the Souks of Agadir- very impressive, but we found the vendors to be WAY too pushy in comparison to Marrakech.

The beach of Agadir at night time-- just gorgeous! The lights on the hill are Arabic characters... not quite sure what they mean though.

When we realized that our last full day in Agadir was also going to be overcast, we decided to take a little trip to the top of the mountain you see in the previous picture. Not only was it the site of the ruins of the 1960's earthquake, which destroyed the Kashbah (the old city of Agadir) but we also heard it had absolutely beautiful views from the top and camel rides!! We couldn't think of a better way to spend our day :) The truth is, even though the entrance to the ruins is free, it definitely was a bit of a tourist trap-- but I think it was worth it. The man in the picture above was one of the first to greet us and he kept begging me to take a picture of him and his baby goat (all with the motive to ask for money). Later, another man started to "lead us" around the ruins and told us a bit of the history of the earthquake, and then later asked for money as well. Both of the situations frustrated me, because this was a very common thing during our trip, but it just broke my heart every time and I couldn't not give them something! What really surprised though was that sometimes, they would actually scoff if you did not give them what they considered to be enough! Definitely a frustrating feeling...

Anyway, on to one of the most fun parts of our trip!

We got to ride camels for the first time in our lives!!! :)

The beginning part was a little scary because camels actually bend their knees completely in order to sit down (see the previous picture). Therefore, when they go to stand up, it is a very rocky ride!

Although the ride was not through a hot, sunny desert, we still considered it a highlight of the trip :) And maybe it was even better because, to be honest, I'm not sure I would want to be on one of them for too long. (Mine kind of tried to bite me when I got off and tried to pet it, ha ha!) The poor things are probably sick of carting people around all day long.

We had taken a taxi up to the top of the mountain, but we decided to hike down it to get back to the city. We had some great views on the way, and it was a great form of exercise.

The view of the beach from the top of the mountain

Just as I said, we had 3 days of overcast weather... except for our last night. The sun finally started to peek out just in time to make for a beautiful sunset.

Oh sun, we missed you!

We returned to Marrakech around one in the afternoon the day before our return flight to Spain. Due to lack of availability, we had to reserve to stay in another hostel, but this one was pretty nice as well. It was the perfect place to relax, and again, have some of that famous mint tea.

For our last night in Morocco, we made sure to get a front row seat on the terrace of Café du France to see the sunset, which turned out to be picturesque.

As we boarded our plane to return to Spain, I really found myself sad to leave. Even though we had our moments of complete stress and frustration, in the end, I really enjoyed this vacation. Brendan was right--this was a great learning opportunity that we may never have had the chance to experience again. Morocco, although a little crazy and overwhelming (compared to what I am used to) is completely enchanting. It has given us some great memories that we surely will never forget.

Signs of Spring

2010-04-03T15:12:00.001-07:00

Alright, alright, alright... I know that the weather in Salamanca has not been NEARLY as nice as it has been in New York the past few days (80 degrees and sunny!!!) In any case, on Thursday, April 1st, Brendan and I took full advantage of the sunny, 55 degree day we had to take a walk. And what we found was so beautiful-- signs of spring were everywhere! And I wanted to share the beauty with all of you...

Looks like fishing season has begun!

Great view of the Cathedral.

I couldn't believe how yellow these flowers were! So beautiful!

Budding leaves in el Huerto de Calisto y Melibea.

On our way back from our walk, we decided to hit up the popular streets of Salamanca to see how the festivities of Semana Santa (Holy Week) were going. Above you see the Plaza Mayor all decorated for Easter. Basically this whole week, all of Spain has been home to non-stop Holy Week processions. Brendan and I got a chance to see a few of them-- it is VERY interesting! I will be sure to post about it next!

After our walk, Brendan and I stopped at a local bakery to buy "torrija", a traditional treat of the Lent season. If you like french toast you will LOVE this! It is bread soaked in milk or white wine, then coated in beaten egg, fried in oil and then drizzled with honey and sugar. Yum!!! :)

Induction- Valladolid Rotaract

2010-03-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Rotary District 2201 had it's annual district meeting in Valladolid and the Valladolid Rotary Club decided that it would be the best time to have the official induction ceremony of the new Valladolid Rotaract Club!! (For those of you who are not familiar with Rotaract, it is basically Rotary, but for people aged 18-30. It's name comes from Rotary in Action). Both my fiance, Brendan, and I have become members of the club!!

The Valladolid Rotary Club was very excited about the creation of the new Rotaract Club and they wanted to do something special for us that day, which it really was. The lunch was delicious (modern tapas style with great wine!) Also, a few members from the two Rotaract Clubs in Madrid came to ceremony as well, and afterwards we went to "el Hotel Imperial" where we have our Rotaract meetings for some drinks.

It is sad because we only have 3 months left of our stay here in Spain. The two of us plan on participating as much as we can until then though :) Although I am only able to attend weekend activities every once and a while, since Brendan lives in Valladolid, he is able to attend the meetings during the week.

Take a look as some of the pictures below of the day of our induction ceremony:

Rotary District 2201 Meeting in the morning (Brendan and I were ushers/greeters).

The place where we had the luncheon-- beautiful!

A mixture of Rotaracters from Madrid and Valladolid.

More Madrid and Valladolid Rotaract members

Yay! We're an official club now!! :)

My First Visitor from Home!

2010-03-12T09:10:00.001-08:00

Courtney traveled ALL the way over to Spain for a week to visit me :)

Last Friday, Brendan and I made our way to Madrid to meet up with one of my best friends from home, Courtney!! The both of us were so excited because she is the first visitor we have had here! We decided to take advantage of our weekend by touring a little bit of Madrid, as well as taking a day trip to Segovia (only a 1/2 hour train ride from Madrid). Besides some really cold and rainy weather, we had a such a great time! Courtney has never been to Spain before, so it was fun getting to show her around and helping her get to know more about Spanish culture (and even the language, because she studied French in high school) Courtney learned some key Spanish phrases quick, such as "Hace frío"- It's cold. and "Una más"- One more (beer) :) ha ha! Here are some of our pictures from the weekend below:

Me and Court- Finally reunited after 6 months!!! :)

I got Courtney to try one of Spanish people's more favorite tapas- Grilled Octopus!

Tapas tasting at the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid (near the Plaza Mayor)

We enjoyed sangría and Spanish guitar music and singing at a small "locals bar" called El Mesón de las Guitarras

We toured the inside of the Palacio Real (Royal Palace)

La Catedral

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was just being able to relax and catch up with each other. We ended up getting an actual private apartment at our hostel and were able to make dinners on our own.

La Plaza Mayor of Madrid

We woke up early on Sunday morning to check out El Rastro (Madrid's famous Sunday Market)

It was definitely worth it to go! There were so many good deals! These scarves were all only 2 euros, when they would normally cost anywhere from 6-12 euros anywhere else!

After spending the morning shopping at El Rastro, we got on the 1/2 hour zip train to Segovia to see the famous Roman Aqueduct.

This aqueduct was built in the 1st century and it was made simply by placing each of the stone pieces on top of one another... there is no cement or anything similar holding it together!! Amazing after 2000 years!

It was so cool to see it in person!

Side street of Segovia

La Catedral of Segovia

El Alcazar (Royal Castle) of Segovia

The king's and queen's thrones inside the Alcazar

Beautiful painting of the ceremony crowning Isabel as the Queen of Spain

The Royal Chamber

This trunk used to hold royal treasure and valuables! That looks like some serious business- nobody was gonna break into it, I'm sure of that!

We climbed the tower of the Alcazar to get a great view of the city of Segovia (it was too bad it was raining though)

Segovia

View of the country side of Segovia

After spending the weekend in Madrid and Segovia, Brendan headed back to Valladolid to work and Courtney and I headed back to Salamanca, since I have classes Monday-Friday. Although it did kind of stink that I had classes, Courtney and I made the best of our time together, checking out the beautiful streets and sites of Salamanca, including where Brendan proposed to me :), getting some typical Spanish food and drinks at some of my favorite places with my friends from the master's program, and even relaxing and watching a chick-flick one night with Rebecca (the other American in my master's program). It was so great to show her around the city I live in, introduce her to my friends in my master's program, and just be able to hang out with her. I really am missing home, so it has been so nice because she has brought a little feeling of home with her :)

Carnaval del Toro- Ciudad Rodrigo

2010-02-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

Today, Brendan and I went to the small, nearby city, Ciudad Rodrigo (about an hour by bus from Salamanca), with some of my friends to see the festivities of the Carnaval del Toro (Bull's Carnaval). Minus the very cold temperature (a high of 29-32 degrees F all day), which was made worse by a lot of wind, we had a great time and loved the city! In my opinion, Ciudad Rodrigo is one of those truly authentic Spanish cities, that when you're there, every corner you turn and everything you see just breathes "real Spain". Although, of course there were many other tourists there, you could tell that this festival really means a lot to the citizens of Ciudad Rodrigo because they were every where and they were so into the events! Just take a look at my pictures below to get a better idea of what goes on during the Carnaval del Toro:

¡Bienvenidos a Ciudad Rodrigo! (Welcome to Rodrigo City!) It is surrounded by a moat! Even though it no longer has water, it's so cool!

To start off the day, they blockaded off some streets leading to the Plaza Mayor, where they would later hold "una corrida de toros" (a bull fight), and had a running of the bulls. We stayed safe and far away from the action below by getting this hill top view. We were sure glad we did because we saw some guy get pretty beat up by one of the bulls! Scroll down to see the video! (Sorry about a few swear words, but it was really scary!)

One of the scariest parts (in my opinion) about the running with the bulls is that on the streets they blockade off, they have to put these safety bars on the restaurants and bars and that is really your only access to safety if you need it... after the running of the bulls was over I tried fitting through some with my cowboy hat on and had a tough time... imagine when you're in a hurry!! Even though I think this is a dumb thing to do in the first place, if anybody is going to do it, I would recommend that they be VERY skinny!

The Plaza Mayor (where the bull fights took place later at 4pm)

Food, rides and attractions

Yummy baked goods and bread! :)

Walking through the carnival

Miranda, Elena, Cristina, Brendan and Me having a "Clara" (half beer/half Fanta limón), well Brendan was having a real beer, ha ha!

Pretty cool snail costumes! People really went all out on their costumes, and I figured out why! The prizes for winning a costume category ranged anywhere from 300-900 euros!!

There were tons of people dressed as Sponge Bob, ha ha! Also, a lot of typical flamenco/sevillanas/matador costumes.

So that's about it... we got to experience a running of the bulls from a distance, spent the day walking around the markets and carnival, admiring the costumes, eating lots of food, and having some drinks with the locals. A lot of fun- great city to visit during this time of the year!

RUNNING OF THE BULLS VIDEO:

And this is why I love Salamanca :)

2010-02-12T07:44:00.000-08:00

Seriously, one of the best things about the city of Salamanca is the student spirit... Being home to one of the best universities in Spain, so many people come from all over the world to study here. And because of that, so much of the "life" of Salamanca revolves around the students. It is one of the most lively cities I have ever known in all of my life- even in the cold of winter- they don't mess around here! Although it can be frustrating at times because obviously, there are times that I need to study, and listening to loud, singing groups of young people walking down below my apartment doesn't help me to concentrate, I definitely make the time to participate in the fun, too.

This weekend is officially known as Carnaval in Spain (and in many other parts of the world). From what I've seen so far, it is just like Halloween, in the respect that everyone puts on some sort of costume and goes out with their friends... the big difference is there is no candy, and no "scary" theme. Last night, (Thursday) was the Carnaval Universitaria (University Carnaval). Lucky enough, yesterday, our Friday morning class that we were supposed to have today was cancelled, so me and my friends decided to go out!! :) Finding an outfit was very easy for me because my roomate Anna and her sister dressed up as cowgirls for Halloween. She was nice enough to let me and my friend Rebecca (also American) from the Master's program use the costumes. We had a blast being American cow girls together-- to get prepared for our role, I even listened to some of my favorite country music while getting ready :) Gosh I miss it! Here are some of the pictures from last night- enjoy!:

Cristina (witch), her friend from Greece (lady bug), Elena (fortune teller), Rebecca and me

Sooooo many people dressed up like Avatar-- I loved their costumes!

This is what the streets looked like everywhere we went!

Full of students in their costumes!

Look! It's "Where's Waldo"! :)

And more and more people!

What a great night! I just love the spirit of this place!

Tomorrow, Brendan and some friends from my Master's program and I are doing a day trip to a nearby city called Ciudad Rodrigo. Apparently, it hosts the best Carnaval festivities of all of the region of Castilla y León. We're looking forward to it!! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

La Peluquería

2010-02-03T05:18:00.000-08:00

Who would have guessed that I consider getting my hair cut one of the hardest things about living in Spain, ha ha! I know it sounds silly, but even in the U.S. I am nervous about getting my haircut somewhere that I don't know the hair dresser... so just imagine me walking into a place in Spain and trying to relax! Almost impossible, ha ha! There lots of vocabulary terms that I am unfamiliar with! Plus, I need to say that 3 years ago in Valencia I went to a place to get my hair cut and the girl went really fast and didn't do a very good job. I definitely didn't want a repeat of that because I really want my hair to be longer for my wedding day. Therefore, all I wanted today was a trim, but I also wanted to maintain the style I had with a longer layer in the back and the hair angled in the front around my face. So anyways, for the sake of any other girls and women who are like me when it comes to getting your hair cut and who may be going to Spain or living here already here is a list of words/phrases I learned today at la peluquería (hair dresser shop) in case they can every come in handy for you:

Quiero sanear las puntas= I want to trim the ends of my hair

(literally means "healthy-fy" the ends)

la raya natural = the natural part (of your hair)

escalado= angled

capas= layers

She really confused me when she asked me:

¿Te corto un dedo?= Do you want me to cut one finger?

When she held out her finger, I was imagining her cutting my hair according to the length of her finger (which would have been about 2 1/2-3 inches!!) and that scared me, ha ha! But then she clarified and said ¿Te corto un dedo o dos? and then I understood that she meant the width of her fingers.

At the end of the hair cut, she offered me the choice of having her:

secar las puntas hacia arriba= dry the ends of my hair flipping out

secar el pelo metido por dentro= dry the ends flipping in

¿Quieres laca?= Do you want hairspray?

In the end she did a great job and I was really happy :) I will most definitely go back to her the next time around.

I made it through the 1st semester!!!

2010-01-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

I can officially make the announcement that I made it through the 1st semester of my master's program!! Yipee!!! I am so happy!!! And the best part is that I even did well in my courses!!!

Spain's grading scale is a little different to the U.S.'s, but it actually makes more sense to me. Instead of being on a letter and 4.0 scale, it is simply on a scale of 0-10. If you get a 5 you are considered passing. Thankfully I have passed all of my exams (and I know a lot of you thought I was crazy to be worried, but trust me, when you are studying in a masters in another country and language it is hard!) To make things even better, I didn't get below an 8.5 in any of my courses and actually, the majority of my grades were above a 9.0! I feel so relieved! Classes don't start up again until February 8th so I can enjoy the next two weeks. I have a few Rotary presentations planned, I'm going to visit Brendan in Valladolid, and I will most definitely start diving into the wedding magazines I got sent to me for Christmas :)

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Conference in London

2010-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Whoo hoo, it's true! I just got back from a weekend trip to London, thanks to another great opportunity provided by Rotary International. About two months ago, I received an email from a Rotarian of Harrow, England (only a 20-25 minute train ride into London) inviting any Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars to come to a conference in London for the weekend of January 23-24th. At the time, I was so overwhelmed with school work that I couldn't even think about flying out of the country! However, about a two weeks ago, I was talking to the other Rotary scholars living very close to me in Spain (Sarah Molbert from Lafayette, Louisiana- also in Salamanca, and Caitlin Matyas from New Jersey- in Valladolid) who told me they were going! At that point, I had finally finished up my first semester and I think I was in shock about not having any work to do, ha ha! In the end, they convinced me to come with them, and all it took was them saying "We think you'll regret it if you don't!" and I believe they were right.

Since Valladolid has an airport, Caitlin was able to fly from her city, but Sarah decided to fly through Madrid. Even though we didn't book our flights at the same time, I was lucky enough to be able to fly on the same flight as Sarah. During our wait in the Madrid Airport we found the Rotary donation box seen above! It had money in it from all over the world- very neat to see!

Sarah and I arrived to London on Friday evening and headed to our hotel in Harrow, suggested by the Harrow Rotary Club, as it is where they used to have their meetings and they were able to get us a good deal (because staying in London is definitely not cheap!) It was a very nice place and even better because all of the other scholars were staying there, too, although many of them didn't arrive until Saturday morning. Friday night all the scholars that had arrived went out to dinner for fish and chips. It was a bit of culture shock for me having come straight from Spain because we arrived at the restaurant at 8:40pm and they told us we had to hurry up and order because they would be closing the kitchen by 9pm! Ha ha- in Spain, restaurants don't even open for dinner until 9pm!!

Caitlin and Sarah

Me with Chantel (from New Orleans, Louisiana, studying in Paris)

Saturday morning we all woke up and had the continental breakfast at the hotel together, then we met up with Gary, the Rotary member from Harrow who sent us the email, and his wife Valerie, and they went with all of us into London on the train. They took us straight to the District 1130 Headquarters, located very close to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, where the conference was going to be held. Since we had a bit of time before lunch, he told us that we could go take a walk around Regent's Park, also very close by. It really was a beautiful park with lots of birds, swans, ducks and squirrels. Also a lot of people out for a run or a walk. I wished it would have been spring because we were told it has over 400 species of rose bushes, of which none were in bloom :( but I bet they are beautiful when they are!

Pictured above from left to right: Sarah, Chantel, Damien (from South Africa, studying in Sweden), Anna (from Louisiana, studying in Turkey), Caitlin and me

Two very noticeable sights in London: the red telephone booths and the old fashioned model taxis (they are not normally green, the black one behind it is more normal)

At about 1pm all of the scholars had arrived and we all had lunch together at the District Headquarters. From there, the Rotary Club of Harrow had arranged a guided tour of London for us which was so great. We started off at the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married, then we went to the Millennium Bridge (both pictured above) where we got a nice view of the Thames River and the famous Tower Bridge. On our walk back across, we all passed a caramel roasted peanut stand, which a few of us just couldn't resist! It was a little chilly out so they were the perfect warm snack :) One of the coolest parts of the tour was when they took us to a pub built in 1667 called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. I could tell it was definitely more of a "locals" pub because I don't think there is any way I could have ever found it on my own. When you walk in it looks so small, but there are 2 levels below it! They served beers and cider from Samuel Smith's Brewing Company. Very worth the visit!

Cheers! Enjoying our drinks from the more than 400 year old pub!

(Pictured from left to right): Anna, Sarah, Chantel, me and Alexia (from Boston, Massachusetts studying in Denmark)

Our tour guide Sandra and John (Harrow Rotary Club member)

After the pub, we headed to famous Trafalgar Square and then to Piccadilly Circus. All in all, Saturday was an awesome day! To top it all off, we all went to dinner at a really good pizza place called Pizza Express. It was neat because they specialize in what they call Pizza Leggera (Light Pizza) which they cut out a circle in the middle section of the pizza and replace it with a green salad. It was so yummy because it was just enough pizza and a nice salad! Also it was Sarah's 23rd birthday, so we surprised her with a chocolate cake with candles for everyone to share. After dinner, all of the scholars and a the counselors that came headed back to the hotel in Harrow, and talked over some drinks in the lobby.

That night I realized just how weird it was for me to be completely surrounded by English! Although I do speak English with Brendan and every once and a while I run into English speakers in Spain, I am never able to communicate in it in public, like in bus stations and stores, for example. It took me all of Friday and Saturday to get used to not having to approach people speaking in Spanish! And then I had to flip the switch back on Monday already, ha ha! Oh well! I guess it's a good thing that I am automatically thinking in Spanish :)

I also noticed a big cultural difference between Spain and the U.S. other countries like the U.K. that I now have complete proof of: the importance of the engagement ring. All of the sudden, people were noticing my engagement ring and asking me, "Are you engaged?". I almost couldn't believe it! Two of the Rotarians noticed and three of the scholars! This has never happened to me in Spain, not once! The truth is, I have learned that engagements in Spain are not at all like they are in the UK, United States and Canada (and perhaps other countries). I remember my roommates being so surprised when I told them the news- they thought it only happened in American movies, not in real life. They also explained to me that in Spain, a man does not traditionally buy a diamond ring, get down on one knee and do a formal proposal. Most of the time, it is just a decision that is made one day between a couple, and then they go talk to their parents, tell them the news and celebrate with a party. Sometimes, they couple will give a gift, something like a bracelet, necklace or watch. Needless to say, it was very exciting to feel back in my own "culture" and actually feel the excitement of being engaged!! I still can't believe that none of my family members or best friends from home have been able to share the excitement with Brendan and I in person-- I really can't wait! :)

Anyways, back to the reason for my trip to London: the conference! The actual conference took place on Sunday from 11am until 5pm. People who attended were scholars studying in Europe and the Middle East from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Denmark, Antigua, South Africa, Japan, and Germany. A few counselors came and also many members of Rotary Clubs in England.

Above is a picture of Gary starting off the day with a PowerPoint slideshow. We started off with small group discussions, in which all of the scholars were split into groups with Rotary members and we talked about how our scholarship experience was going so far, taking note of positives and what could be improved. Throughout the day we had a few guest speakers:

1) Esha Chhabra, a fellow Rotary Scholar from California, studying in London who talked about her involvement in eradicating Polio. She is a very impressive scholar, as she is very dedicated to the cause. Currently Polio only exists in 4 countries of the world: Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. She was born in India and her family moved to California when she was very small. Since she speaks the language, she has traveled to India with her local Rotary members more than a few times to distribute vaccines.

2) Ghazala Chapman, a Rotary member from Reading, England who was born in Afghanistan and talked about the history of Afghanistan.

3) Eve Conway: A former Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in the U.S. and now current Rotary member and future 2012 District Governor.

4) Professor John Russell, University of Bradford Peace Studies Department who talked about the resurgence of Russia in international relations.

In the middle of the day we stopped and had a great lunch and took a group photo (which I hope to get soon through email from Gary). To end the day we had one more breakout session in our small groups and discussed how we can continue to make the most of our time as a scholar in our study country and how we can be sure to achieve the goal of the scholarship.

(Pictured above): London District Governor, Martin Gudde

Attendees of the conference

More attendees of the conference

Saying goodbye!

I really am so glad I went to the conference this past weekend. Not only did I get to see London and have a great time, but it was also so great to get to know other scholars from all over the world and to hear all about their experiences in their host study countries. Based on what I heard, as would be expected, it seems like Rotary clubs are run a little different from country to country but the scholarship itself has been a great experience so far for all of us! And one thing's for sure, the Rotary Members of the London area are so wonderful! I am so thankful that they are willing to go through all of the hard work to sponsor this weekend every year because it has helped me to understand even more about my scholarship and how to make the best of it :)

Cultural Shock: Salamanca Libraries

2010-01-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

So, I know I'm breaking my own rules right now (because I told myself I couldn't blog until I got all of my work done that is due Friday/Monday) but I just have to get this out!! These past few days I have suffered cultural shock: Salamanca library style-- and I can't take it anymore!!!

Let me just lay it out simply. Firstly, I have never heard of such awful library hours in my life. All of the libraries here in Salamanca are only open:

M-F 8:30am-8:30pm (Oh, and by the way, some close during the lunch hour from 2 til 4pm)

Sat 8:30am-1:30pm

Sun CLOSED

My question is... WHERE DO PEOPLE GO TO STUDY ON THE WEEKENDS?? Because seriously, who wants to go to the library that early on the first day of your weekend!? And what happens if your apartment isn't the ideal place to study in because you get distracted/cold/can't concentrate because there are loud construction noises going on below?

Continuing on.... never in my life have I heard of a library...

1. that will not let you bring purses, bags or any other "carrying devices" into a library with you.

2. that won't let you bring your OWN BOOKS in with you!!

3. that makes you leave all of those things in a locker

In my specific university department's library here in Salamanca, you are only allowed to bring pieces of paper/notes, pens/pencils and laptops with you... Ok, I guess it may not so bad... but trust me, after a few times it really starts to drive you crazy!! Especially with the following example:

Yesterday, it was absolutely pouring in the morning, so instead of leaving my umbrella in the locker, I decided to try and sneak it up to the second floor with me (successful! ha ha- soooo sneaky!!) Well, unfortunately, I forgot it and realized it just as I was headed out the door into the rain again. So, with my coat, hat, scarf, gloves and purse on, I decided to run upstairs quickly to get it--OR NOT-- not even 5 steps into my descent of the stairs I was getting yelled at! I tried to explain that I had simply left my umbrella upstairs and I was on my way out the door (as she could clearly see by all of my layers!) but she told me that it didn't matter and that I had to put my purse in the locker-- it seemed so ridiculous to me!! Grrrr!

Other frustrations with my library (which I have heard of in other libraries before, but just because it adds on to the list it makes me more frustrated):

1. You can't bring in food or drinks (not even water)

2. There are not very many tables close to outlets to plug in a laptop

This second point is what finally has drawn me to write this blog post... the University of Salamanca is quickly approaching the undergraduate exam week, therefore, there are WAY more people in the library than normal. Because of that, I decided today that I would eat lunch earlier than the normal Spanish hour (so I ate before 2pm) so that I could arrive to the library when everyone else was eating and find a good place to sit. Well, boy, was I wrong! When I arrived, I'm not kidding, absolutely every table that had a plug next to it had papers and books sprawled out all over them and no one there... again, I couldn't believe it! Everyone had gone to lunch and left their stuff there!

I ended up bumping into Rebecca (the only other American in my masters program) who was also in the same predicament as me... no where to sit with our lap tops. For the mean time, we worked with the battery of our lap tops, but after an hour passed we decided that the tables with the papers on them were fair game. (Please correct me if you think we were wrong, but we both discussed that in any library we have every studied in in the U.S., people usually do not leave everything on a table if they are going to be gone for more than a 1/2 hour). That gives you enough time to go to the bathroom/take a quick walk to clear your mind/or have a coffee break... but anything longer than that and there's no sympathy for you...

Apparently here in Spain, that is not the case. When the girl showed up, whose "seat and table" I had occupied, she was not very happy. Actually, she was a little mad and said "I can't believe you moved my things and sat in my spot". I immediately apologized, but tried to explain that there was no where else for me to go with my lap top and since there hadn't been anyone there for over 2 hours I didn't think it would be a problem. I thought in this case she would maybe say, "Ok, well I guess since I don't need to use a lap top, I can move..."-- but I was wrong again! At this point, I was just so frustrated with this library that I decided to leave (since it was almost 4 o'clock and I knew the other one would finally be opening shortly). The disadvantage to the other one is that I do not have access to the WiFi there because I am not a student of that school... UGGGHHHH!

It just felt like one thing after another these past few days... I feel like I have no ideal place to study and do my master's work! I am really missing the Nazareth College library right now, where I was able to bring in as many bags as I liked, along with my own books, and even a huge coffee and food if I wanted to! *Sigh* Time to take a deep breathe...

I know I will survive... it's just really hard sometimes to get used to things that you don't want to get used to... in the mean time, I guess I better get back to work. I'm back at my apartment, and it's actually not seeming like such a bad place to study now, ha ha :)

M.I.A.

2010-01-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2010!!! Can you believe it is a new decade!?! I feel like it wasn't that long ago that we welcomed in the new millennium!

Anyway, sorry I've been M.I.A. for over a month now. Just reporting in to say that this is my last week to turn in projects for the first semester. After I've turned them all in I'll be sure to write about the amazing 18 day vacation Brendan and I took around Spain, including a visit to my former home, Valencia (and a Rotary presentation), then we went on to Jumilla (Murcia), Granada, Córdoba and Sevilla.

(Unfortunatley, I had to do a little bit of homework on trains and buses during the trip) Here's the proof! ha ha! Will write soon! I promise! :)

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

2009-12-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-29T07:53:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-25T06:25:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T00:36:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2009-10-27T13:20:00.001-07:00

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!

Missing all things fall

2009-10-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Sooooo... I'm currently freezing in my apartment about to go to bed and I can't help but think of the things I miss from home... like the wood fire that heats my parents house--ha ha! I was just informed by my roommate that the heat doesn't come on in Spain til about November.... really could go for some warmth right now!! And although it sounds strange, because I am complaining about being cold and I heard it was SNOWING last week in western New York--- I really do wish I could be back in NY for just a little bit... I'm really missing all things fall!! I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to give some good "care package" ideas for those of you who told me you were interested in sending some good old American things my way :) :) :) See my address to the left (Hint, hint-- ha ha!)

Things I miss about fall...

Flavored coffee seems to be non-existent here, so if anyone happens to find pumpkin, vanilla, or caramel coffee (with the beans already ground) it would be the highlight of my day to get some!!!
Spain also hasn't discovered candy corn (a favorite Halloween treat of mine!) Boy are they missing out!
Can you believe it, they don't have chocolate chip cookies here!!! A bag of chocolate chips would be amazing so that I could try and make some myself to share with friends!
I am a lover of Craisins (dried cranberries)-- yet another thing Spaniards are missing out on. For now, I am lucky because my mom sent me some last week :) but they are running short! I have been sharing them with my Spanish friends and they LOVE THEM! It's hilarious because all of them have been like "oh-- they're raisins!" and I say "No, they're not... try them!" and they always react saying "Wow-- you're right, they are different! And they are gooooood!" ha ha!
Gosh I really miss pancakes and their inseparable partner maple syrup. Also, I had brought little maple sugar candies with me to give as gifts and I have run out-- so far it looks as though everyone I have given them to has enjoyed them, so it would be nice to have more to give as gifts if possible :)
Finally, I am also a big tea drinker once it starts to get cold and unfortunately here, I have yet to find a large variety of tea... my favorite tea flavors are vanilla, caramel, and also anything with berries! :)

Soooooo... again, if you ever get bored and you are looking for something to do.... you can always send a small package to me with a goodie inside!! I promise I won't mind ;) ha ha!

Soy extranjera (I'm a foreigner)

2009-10-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

This past month, unfortunately, I have been reminded that when you travel to a foreign country, you may not be surrounded by things that you love all of the time... and you may not always feel happy and comfortable. Many of you who know me well, know that I sure do love Spain. It's true! I had an amazing experience 3 years ago studying in Valencia, and I absolutely love Salamanca-- it is a beautiful city! And in both cities I have been lucky to make so many friends, who are so generous. But up until I arrived in Salamanca, I had definitely forgotten about the little things that really made me miss home the last time I was here. Especially the simple things... for instance, just fitting in... It has really started to bother me and I feel like I need to get it out...

Like I said before, I have gotten to know so many Spaniards who are so hospitable and so nice (essentially all of the people I have gotten to know so well and who have taken the time to get to know me) but unfortunately the other extreme definitely exists. Most of these "extremes" are people I come across on the street or in a store. In other words, they are "strangers."

For example: This past weekend, Brendan and I wanted to take a day trip to a nearby city called Zamora. At the bus station, when we went up to the ticket window I asked for one ticket to Zamora for 11:00am and to return at 7:00pm. Unfortunately, I didn't know that when you take a bus to Zamora, you can only buy your ticket one-way... and he informed me of that with such a rude tone. I said, "okay" then just the ticket for 11:00am. The price was 4.45 euros so I handed him a 5 euro bill and he rolled his eyes at me as if that was ridiculous said, "You don't have exact change?" It was so embarrassing because there were people behind us and he made me feel so stupid!

Another example: Yesterday after I had lunch, I came across a small store selling fruit. The apples looked good, so I decided to go in and buy one. The older man running the store approached me very nicely but when I said I wanted to buy "one apple" he started complaining about how absurd it was that I only wanted to buy one! As he was weighing I asked very politely if I could have a bag for it, and he actually started to swear at me and told me to get out of the store! I couldn't believe it!! Obviously, I will never go back there again... I can't even describe how awful I felt after that happened. Before I walked into the store I knew I wanted to go to the library to study after that, but I found it very hard to concentrate. All I could do was keep replaying the scene over and over again in my head.

Any time something like that happens to me I can't help but think: What was it that made them act so mean/grumpy/rude?? And I can't help but wonder: Did they act rudely because of something I did, or said, or the way I said it, or just because of the way I look (blonde hair, blue eyes)? In the beginning of my stay here in Spain I often tried to tell myself, "Well, maybe they were just having a bad day..." but can that many people be having a bad day!? I don't think so!!

In this past month I have come to realize that being a "foreigner" is one of the hardest things I have ever had to experience in my life. There is nothing worse than feeling like you don't fit in... like people don't want you to be where you are... Luckily I don't feel this way all of the time, but it is those few times in the street, or in the store or at bus station that really hit hard... it is a memory that is very hard to forget.

In conclusion, one of the main thoughts I have had out of these experiences is that I personally would never want to make anyone else feel that way. So, it is my goal after these next 8 months when I go home, when I am no longer the "foreigner," to keep these experiences that I have had in mind. We all know that the United States is one of the most diverse countries there is, and that it is made up of people from almost every shore of the world. We are diverse, and with diversity, many times, comes misunderstanding and intolerance. But I am urging everyone to have more patience for this diversity and to try to be more accepting of the differences that we come across each day. When you are not the foreigner, it's not hard to take for granted how easy it is to go about your life from day to day... but if you have ever felt like a "foreigner", there is truly nothing worse. For my sake, and for the sake of anyone else who is feeling like an outsider, too, please keep my thoughts in mind.

Rotary News

2009-10-09T02:40:00.000-07:00

So, I think it's about time I updated everyone about my other duties here in Salamanca (besides being a grad student.) As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, while I'm here in Spain, I will be visiting various Rotary Clubs and giving presentations in order to promote good relations and understanding between Spain and the United States. So far I have visited two clubs. The first club (el Club Rotario de Salamanca) is the one that my Rotary host couselor, Fernando Prado, belongs to. Below is a picture of the room where they meet every Thursday at 9pm for their meetings.

As you can see, it is a pretty small room (not anything like the room where the Pittsford Rotary Club meets- ha ha!) but it is perfect for them because they only have 11 members (all males by the way).

1st Presentation: September 17, 2009 (Club Rotario de Salamanca)

Unfortunately, on the day I was to present to my host Rotary club I had class until 8:45pm and my professor kept us late, so I ended up arriving late to the meeting :( so I have yet to see how they begin their meetings, but I'm sure I will have another chance to attend. In any case, once I arrived they were discussing upcoming events (which I didn't really pay much attention to because I was too nervous thinking about my presentation-- ha ha!) My presentation went very well, especially because I was able to project my PowerPoint onto a screen for everyone to see! They were all very impressed with and surprised by my Spanish-speaking abilities. They later explained to me that in their opinion, it is not usual for an American to speak without a heavy American accent, so I felt pretty good :)

Above is a picture of the President of the club, Ricardo Gómez Marcos, and I doing the traditional exchange of club flags.

My host counselor, Fernando Prado (on the left)

I know they look really serious in this picture, but I promise they are really nice- ha ha!

Since the meetings are held at the Palacio Prado (Fernando's place of business), after the meeting we all went downstairs to have dinner in the restaurant. Keep in mind that by this time is was already 10:30pm-- yep, that's Spain's dinner time-- ha ha! The food was great, although the amount was a little too much for me so late at night. We started off with paella (typical rice dish with chicken, mussels, and squid), then had pork ribs with salad, bread and roasted potatoes (and wine of course!), and finally dessert and coffee. Since I was the only woman in the group, I could tell they tried to make the conversation more interesting for me. They asked me a lot of questions about my family. After dinner some of the guys stay and play cards and smoke cigars together, but I didn't stay for that... ha ha! Not really my thing ;) All in all, a very good experience. Everyone was so nice and offered to help me with anything if I ever need it.

2nd Presentation: September 29, 2009 (Club Rotario de Salamanca, Plaza Mayor)

As small as Salamanca is, it actually has two Rotary clubs! The other one, specified by "Plaza Mayor" meets on Tuesdays at 9pm and has 22 members (3 of which are females.) I was really nervous to go because I thought I wasn't going to know anyone there, but a member from my host club came to introduce me to them :) I quickly found out that the Plaza Mayor club also has an Ambassadorial Scholar from the United States! Her name is Sarah Molbert and she is from Louisiana-- very nice girl, who I just met today. Her Rotary host counselor, Paco, was very nice and invited the two of us to have lunch with him so we could all get to know each other. I'm sure I will meet up with her again soon! :)

I was able to see the beginning of the Plaza Mayor meeting, which started with the traditional ring of the bell, however, after that they just got straight down to business. Before my presentation they discussed an upcoming excursion to a nearby town (which they invited me to attend!) and they talked about a previous fundraiser they had for cancer research.

Below are some pictures of me presenting to the Plaza Mayor club:

I started off by passing around the Pittsford Rotary Club roster and copies of my PowerPoint on paper, as they don't have a projector in the room where they meet.

Speaking in front of a crowd in Spanish is a WHOLE lot different than doing it in English! (I was so nervous!!)

Ha ha-- I think this picture is priceless! As you can see by my face, I'm a little confused/overwhelmed. This group definitely asked me some tough questions. For example: What do you think about Obama's stance on health care? Which city do you think is best fit for the 2016 Summer Olympics? Do you think that people in the United States have more individual freedom than they do in Europe? Is it true that everyone in the U.S. owns a gun? Phew-- definitely glad that's over!!

When all was said and done, things went very smoothly and we had a very nice dinner where they still continued to ask me questions. One of the women commented on a trip she took to the U.S. and how much she admired the patriotism of the United States-- seeing the American flag flown everywhere-- even on people's front porches! She loved it!

The President of the Plaza Mayor club, Joaquín Miranda Zafra, accepting the Pittsford Rotary Club flag. (He didn't have a flag for me just yet, but he told me that I will definitely be invited back before I leave to get a flag to take home with me.)

Visit to Valladolid

2009-10-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a visit to Valladolid-- the city where Brendan lives! :)

It is about an hour and a half bus ride from Salamanca-- really not bad at all! The bus ride was great because I was able to get a lot of reading done for my graduate work and it was really neat to be able to see some of the countryside of Spain! On the ride back today, I paid a little more attention to the view outside the window, which on the way to Valladolid looked very boring to me because much of the land in this area of Spain is very dry and flat. However, on the way ack to Salamanca I noticed dozens of sunflower fields!!! :) It was so cool because a long time ago (when I didn't know that my future would involve living in Spain) I got a poster from my parents (that is still hanging in my room at home) of a sunflower field in Spain. Today was the first time I was seeing it in person!!! Unfortunately, it must be past their peak time because most of them were dry and bent over :( The man sitting next to me told me that the fields we saw were used to make sunflower oil and that there are other fields that are specific for cultivating sunflower seeds ("pipas" in español)-- which if you didn't know, many Spanish people are OBSESSED with them!! So many people eat "pipas" and I've heard that it is not uncommon for them to just spit them out on the street, ha ha (although I have never seen anyone do that.) I also saw a large herd of sheep grazing, with the farmer right there with his three sheep herding dogs! Pretty neat!! (So on a special note to my Uncle Paul Z. who, during a family Skype session with me yesterday, asked if there was a lot of agricultural land in my area and I replied "no, it doesn't look like it to me so far-- just really dry land!!"-- I guess it's not true) :)

Anyways, so my visit to Valladolid was really nice (of course, because I really miss Brendan and it was so great to see him) but also because it is surprisingly a really nice city!--Although, I'm not gonna lie... Salamanca is way better ;) Since I had never heard of Valladolid before this summer, and I had really never heard of anyone going there to visit, I had no idea what to expect... Here are some pictures to highlight my weekend in Valladolid:

Relaxing in the Plaza Mayor

Cool fountain in the Plaza Zorrilla

Beautiful outdoor café that we went to in order to get some reading done

Yep, that's me hard at work... reading articles for my masters program

There were peacocks in the park (El Campo Grande)!!!

Such a beautiful park!

Say cheese-- pretty cool sculpture in the park :)

The beach!! With Ione, from Valladolid (who I met this summer because she stayed with the family I nanny for during a summer exchange program)

Beautiful "fachada" of a church

La Plaza Mayor

On our walk to the downtown center :)

Picture time! :)

2009-10-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

Salamanca, Spain- My new home :)

The famous "Plaza Mayor" (Main Square)-- so beautiful at night!

"La Clerecía" (Church) and "La Casa de las Conchas" (House of Seashells)

El Puente Romano (The Roman Bridge): The first 15 arches closest to the city were built by the Romans in the year 89 (that's right-- of the 1st century) in order to cross "el Río Tormes" (the Tormes River.) The rest of the arches were built in the 16th century.

"La Catedral Vieja" (The Old Cathedral)

Construction from the 12th-14th Century

A view of "la Catedral Nueva" from "el Huerto (Garden) de Calisto y Melibea" Construction from the 16th-18th Century

Brendan and I climbed up to the top of the cathedrals

(both the old and the new are connected.)

So sorry it's been so long!!

2009-09-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-09-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Moving Out Mania

2009-08-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

It's official-- I am moving to Spain in one week and there's no turning back now! (Well, technically, if you asked my parents I'm sure they'd strongly remind me that I could always move back in with them! Ha ha ;) wink, wink... Sorry, I love you Mom and Dad, but Spain is still definitely calling my name!) Seriously though, just look at that picture!! Even though it is a beautiful pile of packing perfection (if I do say so myself-- he he) I'm serious when I say that there's no way anyone is going to get me to touch that for a very long time! I'm sure all of the thoughtful, loving family members and friends who helped that day would agree because NO ONE believed that we could get all of that stuff into that 10x10x10 ft storage locker. Thankfully, we did it!! :) And I seriously can't thank everyone who helped enough! You are awesome!

By the way, I must add that this huge pile of stuff is not just mine. It is also my boyfriend Brendan's. He is moving to Spain, too! (I know-- what a guy ♥) :)

Brendan got a grant (job) from the Ministry of Education of Spain to be a North American Language and Culture Assistant (A.K.A. an assistant in English classrooms in Spain) during the 2009-10 school year. Click here if you are insterested in finding out more about this grant. He will be teaching in a high school in a small city called Palencia, about a 2 hour train ride north of the city I will be living in. But I'm not complaining, especially when I consider the alternate choice of a plane ride over the Atlantic Ocean-- I feel so lucky! We are both so excited for the adventures that will be coming our way throughout this year! :) Hmmm... now what to pack in my suitcase...?

About Cori's Blog "Experiencias en Salamanca"

2009-08-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

Just a little over a year ago, I learned the exciting news that I had been selected as the Ambassadorial Scholar for Rotary District 7120 for the 2009-2010 academic year. For those of you who are not familiar with the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, the following is a little bit of information I got right from the official Rotary International website, www.rotary.org:

The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarship is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries and geographical areas. The program sponsors several types of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for qualified professionals pursuing vocational studies. While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country.

In my case, my host city and country is Salamanca, Spain and I am going to be a graduate student at la Universidad de Salamanca. At the university I will be studying in the Masters program called "Enseñanza de español como lengua extranjera" or Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.

Since graduating from Nazareth College in May of 2008, I have completed my first year of professional life as a middle school Spanish teacher at the Greece Central School District and I have started my Masters Degree in Bilingual Education at SUNY Brockport. Although I know that pursuing this scholarship does mean putting all of this on hold, I am confident that my experiences throughout this next year will be well worth it in the end. I am so excited to see what Salamanca has in store for me, and also, to be able to share my experiences with all of you here-- Enjoy! :)