Salamanca, y pronto Segovia!

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since an update, but I honestly just haven't had much to talk about! Life has basically been wake up, school, lunch, siesta, and then whatever for the evening, some evenings I have just relaxed at home.

Going caseta-hopping with API 

I am glad the ferias are over, honestly. I mean I enjoyed getting pinchas (tapas) at the casetas sometimes, but  I'm glad to have emptier streets again. There is a point that is a place where 2 fairly busy streets meet to make a cross and there's a fountain on one of the busiest sides, so during ferias  there were casetas all around the fountain, which caused human traffic jams. I saw them removing some of the casetas today, and I'm happy those will be gone!

Another thing I'll be glad when it's gone is this weather! It's actually been HOT for the past week. I know all the Texas people are like "yeah yeah, hot whatever" but trust me, it's hot here too! The "problem" here is that there are NO CLOUDS unless it's raining. Seriously, the sunshine is scorching. According to the forecast (which lied to me last time) it's supposed to be in the upper 60s starting next Monday, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for that. The worst part is that I didn't bring any shorts because a) API told us that people here don't wear shorts (LIES, I've seen more butts hanging out here than in the States!) and b) because I was expecting cooler weather. No stores are still selling shorts either because it's not supposed to be this hot out anymore. It's September people, it's time for Fall!

So I'm excited about a couple of things coming up. Tomorrow I have my first intercambio! An intercambio is where you meet up with a person (through a school program) who wants to learn your language, and you want to learn theirs. So for example, my intercambio partner is a girl who I think is 19 (maybe 20, I don't remember) and she speaks Spanish and wants to learn English, so during our meeting up we'll spend half the time speaking Spanish and half the time speaking English! How cool is that? I hope it's a great meeting. :)

Picture from the Roman bridge in Salamanca
with a view of the cathetral.

Another thing I'm excited about is this Friday, when the rest of the students arrive, we're going on a "cultural tour" of Salamanca! I know we've lived here for almost a month now and have probably seen most of the things on the tour, but this is our chance to actually learn about them. When I say "the rest of the students" I mean all of the people who did not do an early start program. I chose the early start, which got me here 2 1/2 weeks earlier than them and I'm taking a full intensive month more than them. I'm glad I did it, for sure. This gives me the opportunity to brush up on my Spanish, and then we retake the placement exam after the month is over. This way I can either place into superior or into advanced again, but at least I know I've learned.

I think the thing I'm most excited about though is this coming weekend. The school of cursos internacionales has excursions on the weekends for affordable prices, so Amanda and I bought our tickets today to go see Segovia y La Granja! Segovia is the city that has the Roman aqueducts, and La Granja was a summer palace of the kings of Spain. I'm pretty excited about it! I wish I could go on other excursions with that program, but the one to Portugal that they have is on the same days as our API trip to Paris. Sad day, because I really enjoy it when one price is all inclusive and I don't have to do anything to plan it. :/

Flowers from Matt all the way in Spain :)

Life is finally about to get pretty busy around here! I'm looking forward to my weekends being filled with activities and traveling. :)

On a final, happy note, yesterday was my 2 year anniversary with Matty! Yay! I know that may not seem like a long time to some of you, but this has been my longest (and most wonderful) relationship! I'm excited to see what our future brings. :)

I think my goal for this blog will be to update once a week, because really, there's usually not much to say if I do it in smaller time increments than that! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!