Las Ferias de Salamanca

New pictures of Salamanca are up on Facebook!  So, I have a lot of catching up to do!  My last blog post was on Monday.  Monday night after dinner, Meredith and I met up with one of our friends here, Tristan, for ice cream.  We went to the most popular shop in the Plaza Mayor and it was definitely worth the wait.  I had two scoops of "dulce de leche de Argentina," which is like caramel.  SO GOOD!  Monday wasn't a late night because all of us had our first day of orientation classes the next morning.  Class started on Tuesday and I feel really good about how they are going so far.  We have two hours of Spanish grammar, one hour of conversation, one hour of Spanish culture, and one hour of Spanish art history...it makes for a long morning.  But I am enjoying the classes, especially our culture class.  Despite the long mornings, days go by very fast here.  Once we're done with class, Meredith and I walk straight back to Angelita's home and have lunch with her and Fabian.  And then before you know it, it's 3:30 in the afternoon.  Siesta!  Usually we don't sleep during siesta.  Instead, we use that time to catch up with friends on Facebook and update our blogs.  We have been researching a guided trip to Prague in a couple of weeks so this free time has helped a lot.  On Tuesday afternoon we met with Carlos Cabrera, the academic coordinator for AIFS.  Below is a picture of his name on the wall of the Palacio de Anaya.  Only people who have received their doctorate from the Universidad de Salamanca have their names on this wall.

All of us AIFS students selected our classes on Tuesday and we should know our schedules relatively soon.  Carlos seems like a really cool person and is very eager to help us.  He has been with this program for at least 20 years.  And I should mention that AIFS is one of the longest standing programs for study abroad.  It has been around for more than thirty years.  It is very well respected.  If it works out that I get to take the phonetics class I signed up for, Carlos would most likely be the professor.  I think that Meredith and I both feel that our Spanish speaking abilities are already improving by having constant interaction with our family, store owners, and our professors.  Wednesday was a very exciting day for all of us.  We had class in the morning until 2:00 in the afternoon as usual.  But at 5:00 last night, our whole program went to the river, Rio Tormes, and rode paddle boats for a couple of hours.  I got some breathtaking pictures of the cityscape, if I do say so myself.  It was unbelievable!  We had so much fun.  Meredith and I, Tristan, Amanda, and Julia all rode together.  Julia is from Alaska and is also a full year student so we talked a lot about how excited we are that we have so much time in this city.  We both kept saying, "I can't believe I'm here!"  

We had tapas and drinks on the banks of the river before Meredith and I left the group to follow the parade.  Wednesday was the beginning of "Feria" in Salamanca.  It is an annual celebration for the city to celebrate their patron saint, the Virgen de la Vega.  The men and women in the parade were dressed in traditional clothing and carried flowers to honor the Virgen de la Vega.  The parade took us to the Convento de San Esteban in the Plaza de Anaya where the women placed their flowers for the remainder of Feria.  It is so beautiful.  After dinner last night, there were fireworks, or "fuegos artificiales," to mark the start of Feria and the fiestas.  They were honestly the best fireworks I have seen...ever.  We met up with other students at the residence hall and walked to the river to watch them.  Afterwards, we walked back to the Plaza Mayor and listened to a little bit of the free concert being held there.  Every one was out last night.  And I mean everyone.  Salamanca has about 170,000 people, which seems like a lot.  But the city isn't actually that big.  We can walk from our house in Jardines to the other side of the city at the Parque de San Francisco in about twenty or thirty minutes.  It's good exercise.  We walk everywhere!  Anyway, I bet 167,250 people out of 170,000 were out last night at the Plaza, the bars, or the casetas.  Casetas are little shacks that the bars have permission to set up in the streets during Feria.  They sell many things but you can get a drink and a pincho, or tapa, for a set price of 1.80 euros at any caseta.  We got back home around 12:30 this morning, which isn't very late for people here.  Most Salmantinos are out until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning!  Today is a fiesta so most stores are closed and there are no classes.  Sweet!  I slept pretty late today, for me.  I got up around 9:30 and got ready for the day.  Around midday, Meredith and I left to walk around the city.  We went inside the Catedral Vieja and listed to the service for a little while.  The music and the surroundings were...I'm running out of synonyms for "beautiful."  Awe-inspiring.  On another day, later this Fall perhaps, we are going to get a group of students together to go on a tour of another church, El Convento de San Esteban.  Fabian has told us that it is the most beautiful church in the city.  There are so many things to do today so I'm not sure what's in store for us later this afternoon.  I do know, however, that it won't be a late night because we have class tomorrow.  A few of us girls are trying to go on a weekend trip to Prague.  Hopefully that gets finalized later this week!  It's 2:30 and almost time for lunch.  I'll post again soon.  I send love to everyone back home.