Santander

Hello friends!

I'm sorry that it has been awhile since I've blogged. Our internet was out at the house for the majority of last week and we were out of town this weekend. So let me start where I left off last time and take you up to this very moment.

The weather in Salamanca got better starting on Tuesday, and our moods got better too. The cold weather was really starting to wear on us and we have been so happy to welcome the warm sun each afternoon after our classes. It still starts off a little chilly in the mornings, but by the time we're done with class the weather is perfect. It's probably been in the 80's every afternoon here. Muy bien.

We have really been wanting to try this Spanish/European fast food company called "Pans & Company" so on Thursday we decided that we would skip lunch at our respective houses and eat Pans together in the Plaza. The food, the company, and the weather was all very good as we sat and talked and read together in the Plaza for the majority of the afternoon. There has been a big festival going on for the last 2 weeks (as I mentioned in my previous blog, the video is from the festival) so on Thursday there was a Spanish radio station there to hear what the people of Salamanca had to say about all of it. Katie and katie left at about 5 and Calli and I stayed to read a little more and we listened to the DJ's as they interviewed different people walking through the plaza. When I saw one of the DJ's walking toward Calli and I, I had a moment of panic and then calmed myself as she chose to interview Calli first. She started speaking very fast asking Calli lots of questions. I guess Calli kind of got nervous too and couldn't really understand the girl and so when she put the microphone to Calli's mouth all Calli could say was "No hablo mucho Ingles". Oops. She meant spanish. Everyone knew that, so it was OK. So then the girl says (in spanish), OK then we will talk to your friend here and put the microphone up to my mouth and all I could think to say was "I speak even worse than her" but what came out was "mas menor" which means "more smaller" or "more younger" to which Calli burst out laughing and I just put down my head. Every eye in Salamanca zeroed in on us and the main DJ at the front just kept repeating "mas menor...hmm....mas menor".

On Friday after class we left to go to a town called Santander for the weekend. Santander is a beach town in north Spain. We were a little nervous about the weather because when we got there it was really cold, but the next morning when we walked out of our hotel the sun was shining and it was a really pretty day! We stayed at the beach all afternoon. We had lunch at telepizza, which is another European fast food place and went back out to the beach. We've all been reading a lot on this trip. I started a new book, A Severe Mercy, and I have not been able to take my nose out of it since I opened it. Santander was beautiful. We went to the cutest little park on Saturday afternoon. We saw 2 brides getting married, lots of little kids playing in beautiful green fields, and a beautiful, old palace. In the park there was also a small zoo that had penguins, ducks and sea lions. Dinner Saturday night was kind of an adventure. We took a taxi to a Mexican food restaurant (yes, they have mexican food in Spain) but the restaurant was completely empty so we wandered around the town until we found somewhere better. Dinner was very good, and Santander was fun to walk around in at night. Calli got a lot of pictures of Santander, so I will steal them from her and post them soon.

We just got home and are worn out and ready to go to bed. I will try to be better about updating more frequently. What an adventure we are having here in Spain! I hope that who ever is reading this is getting to experience it a little bit with us :) more later...