We weren’t prepared for the very un-Spanish weather when we arrived in Salamanca, but undeterred, we split into our pairs, met our new Spanish "mothers" and heaved our excessive amounts of luggage to the places in which we’d be living for the next week.
The first day allowed us to settle down into speaking Spanish and to get to know our families. The World Cup qualifiers in the evening were a priority, but as the only English people in an Irish pub in the middle of Spain, we had to make do with watching the England game on an iPad propped up on a bar stool which was both entertaining and memorable! Day Two marked our excursion to Madrid. We were given a tour by the incredible Alejandro and impressively, we managed to cram in El Palacio Real, El Parque del Buen Retiro, El Prado and La Reina Sofia amongst many other of the city’s cultural attractions. Even the literature enthusiasts of the group got a chance to visit Lorca’s statue and Lope de Vega’s garden.
We had all found Salamanca’s apparent obsession with frogs a little disconcerting, but thankfully the mystery was revealed to us the next day with a tour around the city. The University of Salamanca is not only Spain’s oldest university but also is home to "la rana". Spotting it, according to legend, is lucky and guarantees success in your studies. With the assurance that our summer exams were now all taken care of, we were free to enjoy our churros con chocolate, watch the Easter processions through the streets and even to take a trip to the cinema.
The next few days featured our Spanish lessons which were intense and very useful exam practice which
complemented the everyday Spanish we had been practising so far. Even the beginners class felt they had gained a lot from the experience which is credit to the brilliant teachers we had. We spent time after lessons together which was lovely, as we got to know girls whom we wouldn’t have had a chance to spend time with
ordinarily. The last night was a chance for all of us to learn some salsa (with varying degrees of success) and to let our hair down (including Mr Dalley) with the highlights being some truly incredible dancing and a visit by the ‘tuna’. A quick visit to the cathedral and Caitlin’s last minute "jamón sandwich" marked the end of a fantastic trip; thank you to all the girls and to the teachers for making it such a success!
Ronak VIA
