Segovia-Avila...Cubic (A 23-hour day) (Corey)

Yesterday (Saturday 1/23) was the group's first mandatory excursion to the Spanish cities of Segovia and Avila. Our bus left from the Plaza Fonseca at 9 and, as promised, Micah would not wait for anyone. Zach had to flag down the bus and he was less than 5 minutes late.

Segovia is a beautiful, small town about 2 hours east of Salamanca. It's famous for its completely intact Roman aqueduct which soars some 30 meters above the town's main plaza. Hopefully, we'll be putting some pictures up soon from Amanda's camera so you can marvel, like we did, at the enormity and architectural mastery of such an ancient structure.

We then headed the town's Alcazar (an arabic word meaning "palace." Many cities in Spain have an alcazar so the medieval royal families could stay somewhere as they traveled throughout the country.) It was certainly impressive, an old castle perched on top of a cliff with beautiful views in every direction, but I couldn't get interested the history as we moved painfully slowly from room to room as Micah (our group leader) explained the function and history behind every single bed, tapestry, and stained glass window.

(ASIDE): This is not to say I don't enjoy or appreciate the history of this country, in fact, I love Spanish history but EVERY SINGLE tour involves looking at some church, the story behind some patron saint, and the town's alcazar. All I'm saying is that our tour, was a little winded for a town with relatively little historical significance.

The tour was followed by a group lunch at the Hidalgo Restaurant where we were treated to the town's signature dish: "Cuchinillo." ( You cannot imagine how many times we had to ask throughout the day "What are we eating?" To learn that word.) Cuchinillo is a baby suckling pig that they brought out on a large trey to the delight of some and the horror of others. All it was missing was an apple in its mouth. The cuchinillo is cooked until the meat inside is soft (imagine duck) and the skin outside is hard (like lobster.) To break apart the cuchinillo, the camarero (waiter) takes the edge of a plate and bashes the joints of the pig until it separates. Afterwards, as per Spanish tradition, the waiter takes the plate and smashes it on the floor. Needless to say, it was one of those cultural experiences that would be hard to replicate elsewhere. As for the taste, well, it was ok, a little hard to get to the meat and a little fatty, but I would have been upset with myself if I hadn't tried it.

After lunch we headed for Avila, which I can safely say, was a thorough disappointment. Avila is about an hour back towards Salamanca and is famous for its completely intact defensive wall ("muralla") that surrounds the entire old city. The group had been looking forward to walking along the ramparts and taking some scenic pictures, but instead we had to go to a mysticism museum.

Mysticism was a spanish literary movement that blah, blah blah.... I could explain it, but honestly, its not worth either of our time. It was the stupidest museum I have ever been to in my life for more than one reason. Even Carlos, Micah's second in command, couldn't feign enthusiasm for it as we joked about the exhibits inside in Spanish. These were my reasons for disliking it:

A) They don't open the museum's bathroom on weekends which turned into a big problem for us after the bus ride to Avila. I questioned the lady working there about the bizarre policy prompting this response, "I don't know why the bathroom isn't open but we're not even allowed the bring the key. It's a problem because when I have to go the bathroom, I have to go all the way home." She was met with some incredulous stares.

B) The exhibits had little, if any, explanation and little, if any connection to mysticism. From the light jazz playing through the speakers to the bell rope connected to the ceiling, the displayed items looked as random as a wall at a typical Fridays restaurant. If you've been to Friday's you know what I'm talking about.

C) The exhibit that threw us all over the edge was a glass of water atop a stone pedestal. No placard, no explanation, nothing. Just a glass of water. We got one of those explanations, "It means whatever you want it to mean," and I wasn't having it. That kind of set the tone for what little time we had left in Avila.

After the museum we walked around the town, got a little history, saw the cathedral, found bathrooms finally, bought 5 euro bottles of wine and left. It's hard to say a lot about the town, we didn't even get to climb to the top of the wall.

We got back to Salamanca around 8 to prepare for what we knew would be a big night as the group was ready to blow off some steam after a day of sightseeing. The night began with a little pre-drink (as the canadiens call it) at Christine's apartment right across the river, next to the cathedral in town. By the time we all left her apartment to hit the bars, there were 21 of us heading, en masse, to the plaza mayor. After seeing a lot of the bar scene in our first two weeks, we decided to go to a (club/discotheque) for some dancing.

ASIDE: I haven't quite figured out if a discotheque is the European word for a club or if they are two separate things with minor differences.

A man handing out free drink tickets in the plaza convinced us to go the the one club I have heard of called Cubic. I was pretty excited since I had heard good things from Mika, the japanese girl living in my house. She's been here since October and loves to go out so I trusted her opinion on the matter.

The club was on the pricey side (thats a relative term here since drinking is usually cheap) but we had an amazing time, dancing and drinking to typical club music you would hear at any bar in the U.S. (Black eyed peas, Kesha etc...)

After the bar, people got split up but 6 of us (Me, Zach, Pierce, Laura, Jackie and Jillian) ended up at a salsa club where we continued dancing until around 5:15 am.

ASIDE: Never in a million years did I imagine I would be interested/have fun salsa dancing but it was actually amazing. Dancing is way more enjoyable when you're not making a complete fool of yourself. Jillian and Jackie combined forces and within 10 minutes I could dance a basic salsa. I highly recommend it.

As we left we could see a huge line to get into the club, Spaniards love going out late and 5:15 is on the early side for them. Sunday was spent doing homework at cafes, writing this post, and finalizing travel plans for 3 separate trips. I would love to watch some american football (It's funny to have to differentiate "american football") but the game won't start until 12:30 am and I need some recovery time.

As promised there will be more post coming regarding my house, classes, trips and the like. Hasta luego.

Word of the day: Bostezar- To yawn (because thats all I could do en el museo de misticismo)

Bonus word of the day: Diablillo- Gremlin (because we realized Enrique is in fact, not good looking, but looks more like a gremlin.)

~Corey

P.S. I decided today that my last blog post of the semester will be entirely in Spanish. Sorry if you can't read it, but this blog is as much for me as it is for you dear readers.

A Post Script...

I forgot to say that I figured out what mi madre had been doing last weekend when she left and we had no idea where she was going. She went to el campo to kill a pig. I´m almost positive because we keep having different parts of ¨la misma cerda¨, which is really quite curious if you ask me. I told her I have eaten more pork in Spain in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life and she told me that she´s glad I´m enjoying it so much. That´s not what I said, but I guess I´m glad that she´s glad.

Also, my title from the last blog refers to the muffin that I eat every day during historia to fend off the hunger, (the second half of my small, buttery, zero-nutrient-containing breakfast) which is lovingly referred to as dank muff. However, Maika told us yesterday that in Spain it is rude to eat in class, so even the dank muff is now out. Mornings are not a fun time for me.

Vamos de fiesta esta noche y a Segovia manana.
Hasta luego, Amanda

Dank Muff (Amanda)

Ok, so while I agree with Corey for the most part, I have my own take on some of the cultural aspects, and a few more that he didn´t mention that I have found to be very interesting.

First of all, his food situation seems to be a little better than mine. While I am very easy to please in the food category and will eat just about anything you put in front of me, the schedule has been a little difficult for me to get used to. For breakfast, I have a cup of espresso filled with whole milk (which even for me is a bit much first thing in the morning) and these very sweet cookies which are literally just butter, sugar, and flour. I have to eat at least 5 if I don´t want to starve to death, and even those only tide me over until about 11. We don´t eat lunch until 2:30, so we usually go to a cafe or a bakery to get something during our break at 12, which is obviously fine by me BUT we also go to a cafe in the afternoon between lunch and dinner AND usually a cafe or bar almost every night after dinner. So that adds up to be between 5 and 10 euros a day just on snacks and drinks alone... and that doesn´t count going out at night. Maybe that´s just inevitable but it seems like I´m buying a lot of food for already having paid for 3 meals a day. But we found our favorite cafe and favorite pasteleria (owned by the perfect little Spanish woman to own a bakery... cute, soft spoken, young, nice. Just like a movie, it´s wonderful) near Cursos, and I guess spending the money is all part of being here. But overall I like Conchi´s (mi madre) cooking, and even though I feel obliged to clean the plate, mealtimes are usually very pleasant and even sometimes exciting when she makes something new.

I must say that my favorite thing about the culture is how there are cafes and pastelerias and cervecerias and all sorts of food/hang out places all over the city. People are always going to hang out and have a coffee or drinks or tapas at all hours of the day (except from about 2-5, during which the city literally sleeps for 3 hours). I also love how the city comes to life at about 9 every night when people of all ages come out for tapas/dinner time and it doesn´t die down... especially on nights when students go out... until 5 or 6 AM. It is a very social culture and people spend most of their time outside their houses (which is very different from home, but I didn´t realize how much it changes the way of life until i got here).

Another thing I´ve noticed is that the Spanish men are not nearly as aggressive as everyone said they were going to be. All of the Spanish men I´ve met are very nice and even put in some effort to flirt instead of assuming we are easy American girls. The Brazilian men, on the other hand, are a completely different story. They´re crazy. Really good looking, but crazy. Something else is that the few times I have happened to make eye contact with a cute guy on the streets, they smile and say ¨adios¨. It really caught me off guard the first few times because we hadn´t even said ¨hola¨yet. I guess that´s how it works here though? Or maybe they are just letting me know they´re not sticking around and really do just mean ¨goodbye¨. Haha, it´s really not a big deal at all/huge cultural difference, I just thought it was interesting.

Anyway... tonight I went out for tapas with Evelyn and Jillian instead of going home for dinner and it was really nice. I can definitely get used to doing that after psych (since it goes until 9!). I started talking to one of the waiter guys who worked behind the counter and he could tell I wasn´t a fluent Spanish speaker (SHOCKING) and corrected me on some of my phrases (I really appreciate when people do that... we are clearly here to learn and it´s nice when people take time out to help!). Anyways, he is just starting to learn English and I told him that I am clearly trying to learn Spanish, so we exchanged numbers and are going to meet this weekend for an intercambio. I am SO excited because I am still so self conscious and not confident about speaking Spanish, especially to Spaniards, and I think this will literally be the best way to improve. And who knows, maybe it will be a good way to meet other Spanish people. The guy seemed really nice (and very cute, claro) so hopefully it will be a good experience.

Well, I am still deciding if I´m going out tonight... I met a girl from Belgium in one of my classes who is awesomeee (I kind of maybe want to be her, if possible) and we were planning on meeting up somewhere to intermix our friends, so maybe I will do that. I´ve been tired and lazy though, so we´ll see. I had the scariest nightmares all night last night, and have been in a very strange mood/really tired from not sleeping well. OH, and Adriana is coming to Spain soon EEEEE I cannot wait.

Hasta luego,
Amanda

P.S. My favorite quote from my teacher today: ¨Everything that is popular in America gets popular about 3 months later here... MacDonalds, Lady GaGa... ADHD¨. Funny.

Cultural Differences (Parte Uno) Corey

Whenever you go abroad, the first thing people warn you about is the culture shock, and while this is certainly not some remote, bug-eating, no internet, 3rd world country; every trip abroad will have some adjustment period.

Food has been one of the biggest changes (as it usually is for people like me who's diet consists of safe foods like pizza, chicken, pasta and lots and lots of carbohydrates.) Rosa (mi madre aqui) has been very accomodating and made sure to ask right away, "Que comidas no le gustan?" (What foods do you not like?)

I told myself going into this semester that I would be open to trying new things and never say no to a food I hadn't yet tasted. That resolve was tested at my first lunch when Rosa prepared an authentic spanish paellla. Thankfully it was a chicken and not a sea food paella since I had told her "No me gusta comer pescado."

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the dish (for sure I picked around some of the vegetables but I ate the majority which is the best I can do.) I've learned I have a better chance of liking the food if I don't ask beforehand what I'm eating. It's all about your mindset going into that first bite.

There have been only two foods I have flat out refused to eat after trying: green peppers and potato salad. I felt bad about telling Rosa I didn't like her food, but I figured it was a better option than cleaning up the inevitable vomit that would have been on her floor.

Since those initial food forays I have been eating meals I consistently like and can boast a more balanced diet than at any point in my entire life. As I told my girlfriend on skype just now, "I have eaten more vegetables in these past two weeks than in the last two years."

The Spanish meals are different than America in terms of the type of food (obviously), but also the size of each meal and the time it is eaten. A typical food day for me goes like this:

Breakfast: (Whatever time one wakes up (7:40 for me)) A piece of buttered toast and a tall glass of cafe con leche. This may sound spartan to some but as a college student who consistently wakes up at noon, this is the biggest breakfast I've had in 2.5 years.

Lunch: The biggest meal of the day (aka the American dinner.) Usually something very hardy like a soup with beans and chorizo or a heaping plate of pasta, or chicken with potatoes. There's always a basket of bread to the meal followed by a simple salad with tomatoes or corn. The salad is followed then by one of four fruits: oranges, kiwis, pears or bananas. Such a heavy lunch is conducive to siesta afterwards.

ASIDE: Siesta, for those who don't know, is an afternoon, respite, rest (whatever you want to call it) where the typical spaniard will nap for 20-30 mins before continuing to relax in their home until around 4-5 pm when they go back to work or school. It is a misconception that siesta should consist of a 4 hour deep sleep in the middle of the day, its meant as a time to relax, read a book, watch a movie or just take it easy. I haven't adjusted my body to the siesta schedule yet, so I usually take the time to do work. Other times though I'm so tired from partying the night before I sleep for two hours.

ANOTHER ASIDE: The concept of siesta is laughable to most Americans. While I'm not complaining about the extra free time, its frustrating that the city shuts downs for a few hours (stores aren't open, schools break so kids can go home) making it impossible to get chores done. Right now Spain has the highest unemployment for people ages 20-32. Maybe its because they only work 20 hours a week? Just saying...

Dinner: Similar to lunch, chicken or potatoes, paella, spanish tortilla or a rice dish accompanied by bread. Salad is always an option but the fruit is often replaced by some sweet postre like pudding or flan.

What's interesting about the meals in Spanish culture is that they hold less significance as "family time" than do meals for most Americans. This is because lunch and dinner are eaten at home EVERY SINGLE DAY, no exceptions at 2:30pm and 9:30pm sharp (times vary a bit from family to family). American families attach more significance to the times we DO all eat together since they are much less frequent than the typical spanish family. Because of this, dinners here are casual, quicker, and usually involve the TV to some capacity. I can't think of a single lunch I didn't watch spongebob squarepants (bob esponja here) and the simpsons or the news during dinner. The fact that Rosa has a 9 year old son probably has something to do with it too.

The lunch to dinner stretch of 7 hours without food is a long time to the untrained stomach, so I find that around 7:30 I'm always eating tapas at a bar with a classmate trying to hold ourselves over until dinner. But tapas are a whole different thing which I'll talk about in one of my next few posts. Hope this was informative, sorry if you were reading this expecting something akin to me and Amanda's first drunken post. Give us time and we'll write another funny one we swear.

Hasta la proxima vez,
Corey

P.S. My travel schedule is amazing the next few weeks and is as follows:
1/22: Segovia & Avila with the Emory group for a day trip
1/30-31: Back to Madrid to see some friends from school
2/5-7: Marruecos!!!(Morrocco) So excited for this
2/12: Cadiz for Carnaval!

You can be sure there will be posts about all these trips, but in the mean time I need to write about beerpong mondays at the Irish Rover, the eventual trip when Amanda gets her nose pierced after a few chupitos, and the more serious posts (since its fun as an "extranjero" to observe a different culture from the inside.) One last thing!

Word of the week: "Botellon"- Pregame (literally: drinking socially in the streets)

Dos Gatitas (Amanda)

HOLA chicos y chicas! So it has been a week and a half exactly since we've been here and I feel like I'm finally starting to getting acclimated to being here. Starting to is the key phrase... I still definitely feel like a foreigner (and people look at me like I am too) and always seem to be out of place. Except at the Irish Rover where I feel right at home! We went on Monday night for their international beer pong tournament and although it's known to be a very American bar (which it admittedly was, evidenced by the music and the setup... oh yeah and the giant beer pong tournament going on), I met a lot of people from Morocco, Brazil, Holland, New Jersey (frat stars, but exotic in their own ways), and Spain, claro. Evelyn and I were partners and our team, Dos Gatitas, dominated. Not really, but we did win two matches which was pretty exciting! It was definitely a very crazy, adventure-filled night, but the next day classes were ROUGH. We have class all morning and as much as I love little gremlin Enrique, sitting through his class hungover was pretty close to torture. It would have been worse if the gremlin gods hadn't bestowed him with great gremlin looks. Gremlin.

Since I'm on the subject of classes, I am happy to say that I really enjoy every single one of my classes which has never happened before. Grammar tends to get a little tedious, especially because it's two hours every morning, but I'm definitely learning a lot about the language and the culture in general. I am really trying to not sit with the American kids because we have all been sitting together, but there are students from China, Ireland, and Korea in my class and they are all really great. I'm also learning a lot about their cultures and am constantly surprised by how much I'm learning how different our lives are. Yesterday our teacher started talking about how hitting kids used to be ok in schools, etc, and then we went around the room and talked about how much/how hard our parents hit us. HA. It was so strange... all of the Chinese students were talking about how bad they are and how much their parents hit them, and all of the American students were just frozen in our seats. Very different cultures. And then my Emory classes are just great because they are so small, we are all so comfortable with each other, and the teachers are GREAT. Anyways, enough about that.

My señora and I had our first looong conversation tonight during dinner and I am so glad it happened... she's really great and has made me feel at home as best she can, AND when I came back at 4:30 the other night on a school night she asked why I came home so early. And then when I came home at 6:30 a few nights later, knocking over everything in my path and very obviously waking her up, she nonchalantly said she was happy I was enjoying the Salamanca night life. AND she makes dank (Corey) food.

I must say that I think our Emory crew is great which is obviously a blessing, but also a curse at the same time. I am perfectly happy hanging out with them all the time which can get dangerous because sometimes I feel like I'm not stepping out of my comfort zone at all. I did buy two pairs of shoes in the last two days though. Relevant. Anyways, this weekend we're going to Segovia and Avila, I just bought a ticket for Morocco for two weeks, and then the second weekend in February we are hopefully going to Cadiz for Carnival (apparently the European Mardis Gras). I can't wait to start traveling! Ok, I'm getting a little bit drunk and I'm rambling so adios for now, hasta luego!

Amanda

Our first Saturday night (Corey)

I have been trying for days to make my own post but a typographical error on my part has, until now, prevented me from logging onto the me and amanda's joint account. Finally I've figured it out.

So last night was our first Saturday night in Salamanca, so naturally anticipation was high to do it right while work is minimal and the novelty of our new homes has yet to wear off. Our first stop was at an Irish pub just north of the plaza mayor called O'Haras. Half of our group went there earlier in the week for tapas but, as I hadn't, I had been looking forward to a fun evening of watching some playoff football (American football.) A friend name Bruce assured me that he would be there promptly at ten pm to watch the Cardinals plays the Saints as the bar was known for playing American sports (a rarity here evidently.) When I arrived later, not only was Bruce not there, but the 70 inch TV was showing the Barcelona vs. Seville match: futbol, not football.

Within minutes though, I ran into Sydney a girl from our group, and then Brandon, and within 20 minutes there were 6 of us from Emory watching as Barcelona embarrassed Seville, going up 4-0 at half. With the game a blowout, the bar reluctantly changed the channel to some playoff football where another blowout was taking place, this time the Saints over the Cardinals. We met another group of 6 americans there as well as an Emory alum getting his MBA in international business. After many beers, and some rioja for the ladies, we decided to head to another bar before meeting up with the rest of our group at a yet unknown location.

ASIDE: I want to apologize to Sydney. I don't remember exactly what prompted it but I told her to, "shut up," very harshly while we were hanging out with the emory alum, named Connor. It was meant to be a joke but it came out very strongly and,, while I thought it was funny at the time, it was mean and I probably shouldnt have said it. So Sydney, lo siento.

Our next stop was Chupiteria, translated as "place for taking shots." Chupito is a shot in spanish. It was a crowded, small bar with minimal seating and filled with smoke. The only thing on the menu are shots, not drinks, so you're encouraged to take a shot and leave, not really stick around. Brandon and I stationed ourselves at the bar for 1 euro whiskey shots while Sydney, Jessica, and Kristen fought the crowds of people. Sydney was in full belligerent mode so, as friends do, we made sure she didn't drink much more before Kristen walked her home.

Another highlight was our (me and Brandon's) decision to take a "diablo verde" shot which was nothing more than a shot of Absinthe. Absinthe, if you've never had it, tastes like a mixture of death and black licorice and is usually very very strong. It has an iridescent green color to it, which makes it appealing, but honestly I can't think of many liquors I enjoy less besides sambuca. After the shot, Brandon had to walk around the plaza outside the bar for fear of throwing up. He soldiered through though.

Finally we got in contact with the rest of our friends and met them on the other side of the plaza mayor at a placed called Jack Daniels. With that kind of name, I was expecting the Spanish version of a dive bar with low lighting, wooden tables, and some rock music. A more fitting name might have been Red Bull and Vodka: People everywhere, full and crowded dance floor, trendy bartop, and lots of flashing lights. We danced there, by then our group had swelled to around 15, until I decided I wanted to go home. When I went outside though, I remembered hearing about a late night food place up the street and within a minute I was devouring a hot dog at a cafeteria alone.

As I passed the bar to actually go home, I ran into half of the group, getting ready to go back to our friend Christine's house. I didn't get home until 5:30.

ASIDE: On the way home from Christines, Michael was attacked by a spanish guy when he wouldn't give the man a cigarette and then 3 euros. Mark, who was standing ten feet away, scared off the man who had Michael on the ground by yelling, "NO ESTA BIEN!" It was the only thing he could think to say, but it worked and the men ran off. I guess being 6'6'' gives you an intimidating presence.

Hasta la proxima vez

We drank a lot tonight. Paid a total of 5 euros. I got a free ride home in a taxi. I think I love Salamanca.

Why DON'T other people get hungry at this hour? (Amanda)

Corey said he would be the first to post, but not on my watch. I just got back from our first real night out and I must say it was really fun, considering muchos de los espanoles todavia tienen finales, and that people are still trying to get accustomed to being here/not going out yet. Tonight we were mainly with other Emory kids, plus two girls from Germany, and we went to two different bars which both seemed like really great places (very different- the first was more of a Spanish hang out bar and the second was more of a party bar). We all spoke Spanish pretty much the entire night and, at the end of the night, when we went to Leonardo´s, I found myself thinking completely in Spanish and not even being able to think of the words in English. It´s pretty awesome being completely immersed in another language and having it be the only form of communication between a lot of the people here... and not being able to remember my own language is pretty great too!

As we were going and Evelyn, Michael, Corey, and I decided that there was no way we were going home without some comida, one of the German girls said ¨porque siempre tienen hambre los americanos a este tiempo de la noche?¨. I guess it´s true... what are we to do without Steak and Shake!? But we were clearly the stereotypical Americans, which I guess was ok because everyone really seemed to love us and were endeared by our broken and faulty Spanish (we got some free botteas de agua at Leonoardo´s. Try doing that by speaking perfect Spanish). Leonardo´s is a delicious fast food place we found tonight where the guys who work there are tan amables and we will definitely be going back.

Pues, it´s 4 am and we have clase from 9 am to 2:15 tomorrow (and Fridays are our easy days...) BUTTT, tomorrow is a big day because, after talking to some super sketchy Spanish girls at the bar tonight, I decided I am getting my nose pierced tomorrow before our lovely tour de Zachary (they tried to convince me to get my lip and/or temple pierced but Corey was the voice of reason) and Brandon, Jackie, and Corey will be there to A) buy me a few drinks beforehand and B) hold my hand through the horror.

A little aside, since I haven´t really said anything about mi senora, I just wanted to say that she is great and although she speaks really fast and uses words I have never heard of, she has been so understanding and generous with the whole luggage situation, she makes great food, and we have even been able to joke around with each other a little bit... but a lot of the times I nod and say ¨si¨ and es sufficiente. I also have a Japanese student who lives with me who doesn´t speak a word of English and barely speaks Spanish, so the communication is pretty difficult but we definitely try. Tonight we sat at the table for about 40 minutes having what I am pretty sure were two completely different conversations. It got pretty awkward at some points... but it´s all part of the experience. My senora is leaving tomorrow and left me in charge of doing a bunch of things and to be honest I have no idea what I´m supposed to do. So that should/will be fun. Also, as far as my classes, I am taking three a traves courses internacionales and two at the Emory center, and I really love all of them and especially all of my teachers. The people here are just SO much cooler than the people in America overall (I realize I don´t really have a legitimate reason to say that, but it is just my perception so far... maybe I´m still just enchanted with this place, who knows). Anyways, I decided I´m not taking the PEI course, which is a direct enrollment into classes with Spanish students, but I´m ok with it because that gives me a month of traveling to do whatever I want after classes end before I have to be home. So, voy a dormir, y hablaremos pronto. Adios!

Amanda

P.S. Today Karen turned to me during class and said ¨I just want to see what his abs look like, that´s all. Just a little peek¨. I´m not the only one dreaming of Enrique...

Donde están nuestras maletas?!

Hola chicos y chicas! Corey and Amanda here, coming live from Anubis bar in sunny Salamanca, Spain. After clicking "create blog", we ceremoniously chugged our 2-euro jarras de cerveza, a whopping half liter of mystery beer. We arrived in Salamanca four nights ago and so far it has been everything but sunny. It snowed for the first time anyone can remember when we got here (que raro!) and has been rainy, windy, and cold ever since. But that hasn't stopped us yet! Another huge downer is the fact that neither of us have any of our stuff... literally, we are missing our suitcases that we spent so much time and effort packing, not to mention that thousands of dollars worth of our belongings and contact lenses, and both of our birth control, are lost in space.

AMANDA ASIDE: Never fly British Airways... not only did I miss three of my flights on my way here because of them, but they can't find my bags anywhere and refuse to refund me any money because my bags aren't technically lost yet ("lost"=10 days. Whatever). Anyways, I didn't carry anything on the plane except my wallet and a book to read and an empty pack of gum, thank goodness, so I have been wearing the same clothes, washing my hair with my senora's face wash and conditioner (porque no puedo leer español), and carrying my school books in a shopping bag (bago de chopear).

COREY ASIDE: Amanda has yet to use deodorant. We're all suffering. But seriously, Belgium airways is also terrible, they know where my bags are but they refuse to deliver them.

Anyway....

We got to Spain on Saturday and spent the night in Madrid where the 18 of us bonded over tapas and drinks, reveling in the fact that we are all now technically 21. It was mágico and really great how well all of us got along. The next morning we drove northwest for two and a half hours on our way to Salamanca, and when we arrived we were immediately passed off to our eager familias. You'll hear more about the boring stuff from us individually. So far we haven't really gone out except for one awesome night at the Irish Rover where Corey and Brandon WON the international beer pong tournament (and Amanda watched Spanish soap operas with her señora). They will all return Monday night, 1/18, to defend their title.

Last night we went to a restaurant that overlooks la Plaza Mayor and drank some (that's a relative term) Spanish rioja. We met an alcoholic one year old... we are not kidding, her mom kept giving her wine. She literally drank more than Jackie. (but not us... no one can keep up with us). We're actually blacked out right now. Just kidding.... it's a Wednesday, nobody goes out on Wednesday. But we are going to buy another 2 euro jarra of mystery beer. Uno momento..........................(gracias para su paciencia)..................................

The coolest part so far is how much our Spanish has already improved- we pretty much only speak Spanish here (there are definitely some times when we are all together and find ourselves speaking English but we are really making the effort). 5 hours of Spanish class every morning will do that to you. There's a lot of class but the teachers are really cool and laid back for the most part. In fact, we have a teacher named Enrique (nuestro amor) for our clase de historia de España from 11-12 every day.

AMANDA ASIDE: This man may be el hombre de mis sueños. He is either 26 or 34 (or possibly 45, his age is a mystery), but he is bellísimo and a really good, engaging teacher (apparently that turns me on), really nice, funny, interesting, passionate. But en serio, I think his class is going to be great- I have him for historia del arte also and both classes have been engaging and it's only the second day. Also, he's really into riding his bike, which makes sense because, from a direct quote from Corey Moser, "of course he's a cyclist, how else could he have a body like that?". Corey is straight (I think?) and even he notices his beauty. Also, when he tries to say English words, it's the cutest thing in the world. Especially when he says "power point". Corey can vouch...

COREY ASIDE: So today Enrique called Amanda out in class, in front of about 30 people, for literally drooling and smiling as she stared longingly at him. He said something to the effect of, "porque estas sonriendo todo el tiempo?" She was really embarassed. But the class seems super easy. All the professors know that we're here to have a good time as well as learn, so they're very relaxed about homework an tests and such. I've come to learn the word for hangover very well ("resaca.")

AMANDA ASIDE: In rebuttle, he asked why I was smiling all the time, and said it was really nice that I am so happy... I AM A HAPPY PERSON. I wasn't drooling at all, definitely not any more than the rest of the girls in the class.

COREY ASIDE: Jackie said to me after our first class, "I want him all over the place."

Pues, overall it's been a really great start to what we hope will be an incredible semester. So far we've mainly been hanging out with other Emory students but we've only had class for 2 days and have already met a lot of international kids. There are surprising amount of Asian kids here, which, according to Loli, one of our teachers at the Emory center, "es un problema". Ha. She didn't mean it like that but it was funny. (She said she didn't mean it like that but we think she definitely did). It is really cool though because a lot of them don't speak English so our only form of communication is Spanish.

Well hopefully we will keep writing on the blog, so stay updated! And we hope you are all having a good semester, but not as good as ours. Adios amigos!

AyC

P.S. We are renowned for making up Spanish verbs that should definitely exist, for example: chopear= to shop (preferably at H and M or El Arbol)

tapear= to have tapas

fiestar (claro)= to party!

ODM= Oh Dios Mio (the Spanish "OMG")

El Violador= the rapist that lives on Amanda's street. We're not kidding, he was arrested in December but who knows if he's still in jail. It's kinda funny but kinda not...