Mi Busqueda para Espana y Yo

Monday, August 02, 2010

Day 5: Salamanca

Today was the first day waking up in Salamanca. It was so hot when I tried to go to bed last night but when I woke up it was perfect weather..I went out in a tank top and my denim shorts from Gap (thanks Mom) but I actually needed a cardigan but around noon, the sun came out and it was perfect. The weather is alot better here than Madrid, Madrid was wayyyy too hot but Salamanca's weather so far is really good. I had to take a shower in the morning but there's certain times in Spain that nationally they don't shower..like around 3pm you can't shower because it's their siesta and after 11 at night they don't like when you shower because the water's being used up already for all the bars and dinners going on..so I had to take one this morning but Lourdes (our house mom/homestay mom) wasn't up yet but I heard her alarm go off so I took a shower and it was the first real shower I felt I had this whole time..the door to the shower covered the whole tub and the shower was like a massaging shower so that was nice! After i got dressed, we still felt we had to wait for her to wake up because she said she was going to tell us in the morning about breakfast and lunch. Well when she woke up around 8..she said she set the table for breakfast the night before and she started cooking lunch while we were eating breakfast, it was weird and then during lunch today (where we had baked mostaciolli with bolognese sauce, watermelons, and an orange salad) she was cooking dinner haha. But her food's been really good, so far not any really authentic spanish dishes but good none the less and when we go to restaurants we eat authentic spanish food so it's okay to have some pasta! we met under the clock tower at the Plaza Mayor with our group and we walked to the University (which looks more like an old cathedral) but into this building that was a modern nice building with a lot of different rooms and that's where we took our placement exam. I wasn't that nervous going there and sitting down because it's only a control test to see where you are in terms of your language skills but i did want to see if i could make it into a good level (the levels are beginner, intermediate, advanced, and superior) and rodrigo thought i could place advanced. The multiple choice portion was supposed to be 30 minutes long but it felt sooo short..we had 80 questions and I got through to 70 and they said 5 minutes left and I answered one more question seriously and then they said okay time's up..5 minutes felt like 1 minute! (I asked Rodrigo about this and he said that in Spain, teachers go by quicker so I'll have to remember that) so I guessed the last part of the test but the oral portion of the test went really well it seemed! I was nervous because we did it in front of everyone but it was short and good..she asked me where I lived and I said chicago but i go to school in michigan then she saw my name and asked if i was a philipina and i said yes and my grandpa is part spanish (i'm pretty sure Lolo is right) and then we talked about that and Mommy was a spanish teacher and she said I'll have to come home and tell mi abuela how much I improved my Spanish and she said I think you'll do fine but if you think the level might be too easy or too hard you have 3 days to switch classes. So after our placement tests, we got an hour or two to shop around and walk around until we had to meet for our city tour. We went to a souvenir shop where I got shot glasses for paul and me and I remembered hat Mommy wanted a fan which I already got her and paella so I bought her a Paella magnet lol. I had a conversation with the cashier and he seemed nice..i asked him how u said shot glass in spanish then he was telling me where i could go for shots in salamanca and started giving me directions (little did he know that he could have been saying this in English and I wouldn't have known what direction to go lol) and it made me feel a little more confident cus I wasn't just saying okay or yes but I had as much say in the conversation as he did! then we met at the clock tower again and this time we met another ISA tour guide Isabel and she took us on a tour. I thought it was going to be a historic tour but it was a tour of the most important places and streets for students in Salamanca, it was helpful but I can't wait til the historic tour. SHe showed us all the important streets, where class would be, the university, and the ISA offices. all are pretty close to me so that's good! after our tour we went home..took pictures of our house mom's apartment before she came back for lunch so that we wouldn't have to do it while she was home cus that'd be a little awkward (torpo tortuga lol). Now all that's left is to get a picture of her..and hopefully her daughters too! I tried to get a picture of Rosie (who we called Drosie for the first day because that's what we thought they were saying lol) but she was SOO scared of us, she hid behind the table in the living room until Lourdes and Vanessa (Lourdes' oldest daughter) came home. She is such a cute dog but Vanessa said she's very very shy!
Just got back from the ISA office where we had our weekly meeting. Got our class schedule..grammar from 9-11, contemporary history from 11-12, a break, and then spanish culture from 1-2! very excited!!! ISA and Universidad Salamanca gave us our black messenger bags with the University's logo and a hat for free today with a notebook! That's exciting because we all know I love school supplies! We got our results from our placement and I got placed into Advanced (one away from Superior which is the #1 placement saying you basically mastered it) and I'm in group A which means I was borderline superior and advanced so that was kind of cool to hear!
After that we went to walk around we found BLANCO..it's a cool store..a mix of forever 21 and h&m but better quality it seems and I got a leather gray tube dress (i've always wanted a leather dress), a tank top, and a flower shirt for 23 euros total..the dress was 10 euros it was a great deal! then we had dinner which was tortilla espanola y verduras (vegggies) and i ate all my veggies! going to meet with people now under the clock tower..i'll tell u about tonight tomorrow!

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