Salamanca

Well! Sorry for the delay in updates! Getting settled here in Granada has kept me quite busy! Also..it's actually pretty hard to put pictures in my blogs..every time I put in a picture it takes a really long time beause sometimes it won't upload or the picture will be in the wrong place..etc..

As you could see from the video posted below, it was somewhat magical to be back in Salamanca again. Every time I walk through the Plaza Mayor in the center of the city I just have to stop and take in its beauty. It's strange, having walked through that same plaza every morning to go to class, that it would still be something new, something just as awe-inspiring as it was the first day I walked through it.

But other than the opportunity to walk through my plaza once again, I had a wonderful week in Salamanca visiting with one of my best friends, Jackie, my host family, and other friends in Salamanca.

It was surreal walking out of the train station when I arrived. Being back in the city again, seeing everything just as it was when I left was a strange mix of newness and familiarity. I've been trying to find the right words to describe this feeling. It's as if I'm back to a world so familiar, but that feeling of familiarity and comfort in Spain is a new feeling for me. Ha, tell me if I'm making any sense...I wasn't really in that honeymoon stage anymore where the newness of everything leaves me in this exciting, uncomfortable state of not knowing what to expect. Now, I do know what to expect: I remember the culture, I remember the effort it took just to understand what people were saying to me, I remember constantly being self-aware, not always knowing the right thing to say or do - all uncomfortable, yet exciting new adventures for me. But returning to this, I had reached a different level of comfort. I was coming back to people and places that I knew, to a world that I've been to before - and that was a new, different feeling; with its own kind of honeymoon and adventure.

So the very first night I arrived (at around 12:30am..) Jackie turns to me with this big smile on her face and asks me if I want to go to our favorite salsa club, El Savor. Surprisingly I had energy (I have no idea why after almost 24 hours of traveling), and said yes! So we had a nice night of dancing, came back at about 4am, went to bed around 5am, and I didn't wake up until 2:30pm the next day! I went out to coffee with another Salamanca friend that afternoon and then went to my host family's house. It was so good to see my host family again - my host mom, Maruchi, was so excited to see me and we chatted it up for a good portion of the night. She was so generous, giving me a key to her apartment and reminding me that her house was my house. Her house had changed so much, though! But not just her house..her tiny little dog changed quite a bit! Observe:

BEFORE AFTER

Don't know if you can see it that well, but it grew quite a bit! So I visited with Maruchi for a good portion of the week (ate her paella - the BEST paella in the world) and Jackie and I went out dancing at El Savor just about every night that week. It was good to be back. Nothing had really changed that much, the people that I know from there just as nice and welcoming as before. Jackie held 2 dinner parties at her house with delicious plates of tortilla espanola (which she covered in mayo and ketchup..actually quite good - with the word "amigos"/"friends" as you can see)

She also made a delicious lasagna another night, we went out to karaoke another night (where it looked like some guy was plugging his ears as we sang "Cielito Lindo." This made us laugh very hard as we were singing and made it difficult to finish the song. We later discovered he was just talking on the phone..hahaha), I spent the last couple days at Maruchi's house and went out to a very nice lunch for her birthday that Sunday. Overall, I had a good time in Salamanca and miss my homies there, but am also excited about being in a different part of Spain for this upcoming year.

Thanks for reading and sorry again it took so long to post!!

Adventures in Salamanca

p.s.

the picture on this page is of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca! It's breathtaking!

p.p.s. I'm gonna post pictures soon!

Some photos of Dublin, Ireland!

This is what I saw as I got off the plane in Ireland. It was nice of Westlife to extend such a greeting! I felt right at home..hahaha. (I thought Chris Leee might especially like this).

A picture of O'Connell street - one of the main roads in Dublin. You can see the Spire and a huge statue of Colonel O'Connell (I don't know if that's really his name..I just think it adds a nice ring). :)

The tiny entrance to Trinity College.

More Trinity..too bad the photo doesn't really pick up the green green grass.

A figure of Jesus in a glass case that I saw in the middle of the busy O'Connell street. I thought it was interesting...

Go-Go and a very tired Vanessa checking out the Irish views on the two-story bus (Go-Go slept most of the way on the plane..)!

The first adventure...arriving.

WELCOME/BIENVENIDAS to my new blog. Firstly, the title of my blog, "las nuevas aventuras" means "the new adventures" in English. That's how I see my time in Spain right now, as a new adventure. Life after college. The "real" world. Ha. And so far, it has been adventure. So, I left from San Francisco at around 2:35pm on Sunday and arrived at 7:35pm in Madrid. Needless to say, it was a long, but ultimately not that bad of a flight. Since I got only about 5 hours of sleep the night before, I definitely slept for about half of the first leg of my flight.

I arrived in Dublin, Ireland and had a 7 and a half hour layover! So, I figured I might as well visit the city since I had so much time and had never visited my Irish homies before (I am part Irish, after all...) So I took a day trip pass (only 6 euros! yes!) into the city center. I was told I needed to see Trinity College, the Dublin Castle, the Spire, the Ha'pney (i think that's how you spell it) Bridge, etc (and no, I didn't try the Guinness. I would've..if only I liked beer..). So I'll post photos later! Like many might've guessed, Ireland is very GREEN nation. And I mean that in the literal sense of the word. The grass is bright green which is beautiful in contrast to the grey stone of the old buildings and I noticed lots of people wearing green. Ha ha. I didn't meet any other Kellys however, but I'm sure I was surrounded by them (who knows, we're probably all connected in some distant way..). Half of the experience however, was listening to people talk. I loved the Irish accents. Even though we both speak English, it's soooo very different. I had a hard time understanding people and vice versa! I ordered a cup of water at McDonald's and the woman looked at me like I was speaking another language..hahaha...so I had to repeat myself a couple times. I had a good time, but unfortunately couldn't get a hold of Kristin who is staying in Dublin! arrrrgh! Sorry, Kristin!

Well anyways..after Dublin I arrived in Madrid. I was REALLY happy I listened to my parents (thanks mom and dad!) about getting a taxi or some form of transportation other than the Metro (which I would normally take to the bus station) because 1. my bags were HEAVY (but don't worry mom and dad, I lifted them with my knees and not my back. :) ) and 2. the bus station that I usually used to travel to Salamanca didn't exist anymore! It closed and moved to a completely different Metro location in Madrid. So, I took a private shuttle to the train station where I THOUGHT I could get a train to go to Salamanca. WELL, as it turns out, there were only trains leaving to Southern Spain from that station, so I quickly had to grab a taxi to the other train station where my Salamanca-bound train was. By this time it was about 9pm. My train was at 9:30pm. I asked the taxi guy if he thought we could make it to the train on time, he shrugged and told me he wasn't sure. So I tried to tell him that if he thought I couldn't make the train that he should just take me to the bus station where there was a bus leaving at 10pm (and this was when I found out about the location change of the bus station), but I'm not sure if he understood me completely! Talk about language culture-shock once again!

So, I arrived at the station around 9:15 pm and had to buy a ticket. I stood in a line where this cute but SLOW couple were buying their tickets and saying their good-byes. I was getting very impatient because time was running out. This woman behind me looked impatient as well so I asked her what train she had. We were going on the same train, so she told me she'd buy my ticket for me while I tried to get my luggage to the platform downstairs! aaah! So by the time I got downstairs I rushed to put my luggage on the train while the girl arrived with my ticket just in time. She helped with my luggage and I gave her a big hug, telling her in broken Spanish that there was no possible way I would've made that train if it wasn't for her!

SO, needless to say, it was somewhat hectic, but (looking back) a fun adventure getting to Salamanca. My dear friend Jackie (who I met in Salamanca when I studied abroad) met me at the train station and my Salamanca adventure started there. I'm staying with her now and am still getting accustomed to the time zone (I slept until 2:30pm today!).

Well, this is the first of many blogs, but please remember I love personal emails as well and updates on what everyone is up to. I miss you guys, but am looking forward to this adventure.

Hasta la proxima vez...ciao. :)